From personal assistants to legal counsel on parking fines, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have established their potential as disruptive technology that will alter industries.
With each passing day, further discoveries enable AI to become more sophisticated and viable in our world. Naturally, like all things digital, AI has had a profound impact on digital marketing as well. From Google’s RankBrain search engine algorithm to Amazon’s personalized recommendations, it is powering the world’s leading organizations and changing the face of the modern digital marketing landscape.
Currently, I work as senior vice president of marketing at CUJO AI, an AI-driven network security and intelligence company. We are in a prime position to witness how machine learning can shake up a whole industry. Our algorithms help to classify and protect gigantic amounts of data and cover more than 325 million devices in the United States.
This kind of scale would not be possible if we didn’t combine human intelligence and ML algorithms -- there is just too much data generated every day, and human analysts cannot analyze it all. Utilizing machine learning for this helps us to protect millions of homes in real time.
Years ago, computers were powerful enough to compute huge volumes of data, but they lacked the ability to identify market trends and “think” about how the data can be utilized effectively. This is where AI distinguishes itself. It combines the computational strength of a machine with the cognitive ability of a human to not only work out monotonous processes in the blink of an eye but to also expand computed data to adapt to a given scenario or identify marketing trends.
As more brands and marketers are choosing to leverage the speed and automation afforded by AI to preserve resources and save time, there are several trends to pay attention to.
Chatbots
Chatbots have come a long way from the days of the witty robots we looked to for entertainment purposes, and usage is expected to soar (subscription required) between now and 2025. With chatbots, businesses can provide round-the-clock engagement for their users in a conversational way. From your website or application, all the way to your Facebook page, chatbots can be added anywhere and everywhere.
I am seeing businesses continue to realize the untapped commercial aspect of chatbots, and I am confident this will continue. For example, a brand could leverage this tool to assure consumers get the best travel packages or dish out customized recipes for their users.
It’s essential to remember that chatbots cannot solve complex queries yet. While they can definitely be a valuable element of the automation process, they cannot -- and should not -- become a tool to distance yourself from your consumers. There is nothing worse than trying to get a personalized answer and receiving a generic, irrelevant bit of information from a bot. The secret here is to define at which point a human customer support agent should step in and save the day.
Voice Search
Another aftereffect of the rise in chatbots and AI-powered virtual assistants is the considerable rise in voice searches. There was once a case for people feeling more comfortable typing rather than voicing their search terms. However, statistics dispel that notion, as nearly 60% of consumers have comfortably used voice search to find business data in the last year, with almost half admitting to using voice search daily.
AI has now advanced to a point where Google’s algorithms can understand human speech with 95% accuracy, according to a report presented at the Code Conference, as reported on by Recode. This enables businesses to deploy algorithms to understand human speech better, and digital marketing needs to begin to account for how spoken speech differs from what’s typed out.
As AI-led appliances, such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home, gain more popularity, voice search is becoming a major search method for marketers to consider. Companies that want to be a part of this change must optimize their content, ensure that their websites load quickly and consistently share information that brings value to the end user.
Behavioral Analysis
Digital marketing thrives on data input, and AI has propelled the era of big data to great heights. As more and more devices are being manufactured and used daily, platforms and websites offer insights into consumer patterns and further customization possibilities.
AI has enabled marketers to segment such data and identify behavioral trends and consumer preferences. It has allowed the digital marketing sector to fine-tune advertisements, campaigns, websites and pages for conversion. Social media is a vital cog in this data-driven age, as it allows for in-depth insight into how consumers function. I have little doubt that AI will reach a stage where it will enable programs to handle crucial campaign decisions, alongside the capability to craft its own outreach strategies based on the datasets.
Marketers today have a responsibility to carefully handle and store the information that is available to them. Protecting user data is essential in the age of privacy issues. If the users cannot trust that their data will be secure, we will not be offering excellent customer experience.
In a rapidly evolving industry, the hallmark of a successful marketer is their ability to keep an eye out for developing trends and technology that revolutionize how processes are carried out and how business is done. AI has already had far-reaching implications in the digital arena, and the future looks promising for marketers who have shown the eagerness needed to embrace this disruptive technology.
As the world prepares for a more digitized economy, I believe AI will play an integral role in shaping the way brands attract, engage and convert prospects into long-term customers. For marketers looking to gain an edge over their rivals, it is not only imperative to be adept with the latest tools and trends. You must also think outside of the box, innovate and create.
