Generative AI offers Marketing a moment to shine in 2024

What a journey 2023 has proven to be! Yet, the prospect of the boundless opportunities that lie ahead in 2024 are nothing short of exciting, particularly for marketers!

The current surge of interest in generative AI among C-suite executives is now paving the way for marketers to invest in and adopt a wide range of automation and AI technologies. While generative AI is a powerful tool, traditional AI will continue to play a crucial role in the equation, and businesses expect to reap benefits such as increased revenue, cost savings, and competitive differentiation.

The user experience – powered by generative AI – is also progressively molding individual and consumer expectations. People now expect the same seamless user experiences both in their professional lives and daily routines.?Therefore, organizations are now exploring the possibilities to create hyper-personalized experiences, automate repetitive tasks, and gain valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences by leveraging generative AI.

The AI Marketing Revolution: A Guide for Leaders

New research from The IBM Institute of Business Value found that almost half?of CMOs say that failing to adopt generative AI quickly will hurt their ability to stay competitive. It also found that more than 70% of CMOs expect to use generative AI for content personalization in the next year or two, and an even larger number (78%) will use it to analyze data and capture insights from digital and social channels by the end of 2024.

As business leaders embrace generative AI to transform their marketing efforts, they must be aware of three essential themes to stay ahead of the curve:

1.???? Marketing can be the pacesetter for enterprise-wide generative AI.

2.???? Content creators are freed from feeding the beast.

3.???? With generative AI, hyper-personalization at scale is no longer a pipe-dream.

With awareness comes action, and there are three things that every leader needs to do right now:

1.???? Position marketing as the model for generative AI-driven workforce transformation.

2.???? Prioritize creative ideation and high production value in marketing content.

3.???? Build 360-degree customer profiles using integrated data.

With more than half of CMOs are expected to use generative AI for content personalization in the next few years, it is crucial for these leaders to prioritize creative ideation, production value, and tie content to touchpoints and moments of truth along the customer journey. The nature of customer interactions will become?more of a dialogue rather than a “point in time,”?requiring marketers to leverage generative AI to remember interactions and act with knowledge and context for future touch points.

Securing sensitive data is also critical when leveraging open models with customer data to create personalized experiences. Based on IBM Consulting’s learnings from early pilots and client discussions, a heightened emphasis on the?proper collection, structuring and usage tracking of customer data will be critical, so?foundation models can effectively use data to customize, content recommend channels, and offer and provide relevant insights.

What’s next in 2024

Overall, generative AI presents a golden opportunity for the field of marketing to excel heading into the new year. However, the skill requirements are changing dramatically. A marketer’s comfort with data?and technology?was advantageous in the past, yet as business start to scale generative AI, this will change to being a mandatory requirement.

Content creation will also be experiencing a sea-change given how the process of adopting generative AI is not simple or linear.?Tuning and training models to deliver the desired output requires patience, creativity and strong governance. Implementing automated, hands-off generative AI content generation is not a short cycle, it will require thoughtful and careful execution.

At IBM, we continue our focus on the humans we serve and understand it takes a collective effort to bring together AI and people to invent and build experiences that some once thought unfathomable now a reality. We are helping usher new technologies into the world with trust and transparency, and our consultants are poised to help our clients succeed.

To gain more insight into how generative is transforming marketing, download the full IBM Institute of Business Value CEO’s guide to generative AI – Marketing here:?https://ibm.co/4a6wf8Z?

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