How AI In Marketing Has Evolved Over The Years To Provide Ultimate Consumer Engagement

Artificial intelligence offers a new kind of customer experience that’s elevated and more immersive than ever before. When it comes to it’s impact, AI has had a significant one across many industries, including that of marketing in particular.

According to SalesForce, 22% of marketers are currently using AI-based applications with an additional 57% planning to make use of it in the next two years. The growth of the AI market in the US alone is significant with the expected growth rate through 2021 to have been around 50%.

So what progress has AI in marketing made over the years? How has it evolved and what does the future look like in its quest to provide the ultimate consumer engagement.

Examples of AI in marketing

AI as a technology comes in many different formats within marketing. From this alone, it shows just how quickly artificial intelligence has been welcomed and accepted into the business. Here are just a few examples where AI is being used for marketing purposes.

Recently, a lot more content creation both for organic advertising and paid has been written by AI. Would you read an article written by an AI? Would you notice the difference between an article or social media post written by a human vs AI?

In 2016, an AI called Wordsmith churned out 1.5 billion pieces of content alone. Imagine how much of that now exists online? AI in content marketing proves to be a growing contributor to the internet, however, it still requires humans for features and opinion pieces.

Targeted ads used information and data traditionally from cookies but since the online world has become cookieless, many businesses have relied on contextual advertising. However, this sort of ad targeting has benefited from the use of AI.

AI tracks user behavior so if you’ve searched for a product on Google then you’ll likely see this product again on a website you look at later on. This is AI ad targeting at work!

Chatbots have become a popular option for many marketers to advertise when it comes to promoting websites with these AI-powered features in place. Chatbots use AI technology to provide customer service to those who need it, around the clock.

The chatbots use both a knowledge base for its answers but can also use artificial intelligence to learn from the interactions it has with users online.

Google has implemented machine learning AI to help with filtering the query process for its users. Rankbrain is software used which learns from each user query to apply the right results for users with similar queries.

Marketers can make use of this filtering process to determine what their own customers are after.

The different stages of AI over the years

AI is considered to be the fourth industrial revolution after Information Technology appeared back in 1969.

In terms of evolution in artificial intelligence, it can be divided into three stages which are:

• Artificial Narrow Intelligence
• Artificial General Intelligence
• Artificial Super Intelligence

The first stage, Artificial Narrow Intelligence is a limited one in scope with intelligence being restricted to one functional area. It’s considered weak in AI, however, these ANI systems can easily process data and complete tasks at a significantly quicker pace than any human being is able to.

ANI systems are able to process data and complete tasks at a significantly quicker pace than any human being can, which has enabled us to improve our overall productivity, efficiency, and quality of life.

Artificial General Intelligence is the second stage and covers more than one field. For example, it can do problem-solving and abstract thinking. This is one that’s mostly on par with adults and the transition between this stage and ANI has taken some time to achieve.

This is by no means a small feat to have achieved around 2020, getting us ever closer to Artificial Super Intelligence. This stage surpasses human intelligence across all fields and is likely one that many would be most fearful of.

Despite it taking a while to get from one stage to another, the opportunities that AI can present in life across all aspects, is a mammoth one.

The future of AI in marketing

So what is the future of AI in marketing? Where is it heading? The evolution of AI in marketing has certainly changed the way businesses market their product and how customers engage with it.

It’s apparent that AI is transforming those involved in a marketing role. It provides more insight into the decisions that are made and can assist in a lot of the daily tasks that marketers have to do in order to successfully advertise what they’re selling.

As such, digital marketing strategies are changing and are providing valuable insight into customers both old, new and those who have yet to be converted.

We are likely to see a lot more content generation happening online as AI technology transitions to its next stage. The technology is becoming more aware and its ability to think beyond just statistics is certainly developing.

The way businesses collect information and conduct data analysis is also set to inform marketers more efficiently on how to reach their target audience. Not only that but future decision-making can be influenced through the quality and detail of the data available.

Marketing teams and marketers can also benefit from the real-time personalisation that artificial intelligence brings to the table. A lot of marketing is directed at the user experience and when you offer a tailored and bespoke service or delivery in marketing, it’s likely going to secure more customers and general revenue for businesses.

Artificial intelligence in the domain of marketing is constantly advancing and with the global total corporate investment in AI reaching almost 68 billion U.S. dollars, it’s an industry that’s only going to get bigger and better.