Technologies That Drive Marketing in 2017, Part 5: Artificial Intelligence

Before anything, let’s make something clear: artificial intelligence isn’t Skynet, and it’s not going to take our jobs. In fact, by helping us marketers create more human experiences, it makes our jobs much easier.

Here we show you a quick overview of what AI is and how it’s beneficial to marketing. We’re also compiling a report where we take an in-depth look at AI as it was in 2016 and how it’s going to evolve in 2017.

Artificial Intelligence for Natural Emotions

Who out there enjoys creating and maintaining spreadsheets? Nobody. (Sorry Frank.) It’s not fun.

Instead of straining our eyes trying to fix a typo in row 3265, we could dream up the next viral video for our brands. Or use that time to answer two more questions on Twitter. Send an email.

In short, we need automation where automation makes sense. Why spend a human’s time on tasks that need no human interaction? AI technologies help us spend more of our time on mastering the human touch.

AI isn’t going to replace marketers and marketing teams. It isn't going to replace human intelligence. Instead, it promises to free us from “repetitive drudgery”.

Artificial Intelligence in Buyer Journey Mapping and Hyper-Personalization

By presenting clear and reasoned options in the midst of the “omnichannel decision fatigue” AI can create a shortcut for marketers developing buyer maps.

The time we save by dealing with only the decisions that matter we can re-use to produce creative content that fills up that buyer map meaningfully.

Content marketing natively with artificial intelligence

With the helpful suggestions of an artificial intelligence, marketers can refine their native content. Recognizing subtle changes in audience behavior could elude a human eye easily, but not a good algorithm.

AI isn’t plug-and-play, nor will it “take over” your world. It simply offloads the unimportant so you can focus on growth and be building your business.

Without having to spend time analyzing performance, creativity becomes the differentiator. Again.

Engagement and AI

Your customer service department doesn’t need to grow out of bounds. Similarly, you don’t need to annoy your customers with long waiting times while listening to horrible music.

Instead, you can deploy a chatbot to fill in the blanks until a human can give their attention. Think virtual assistants like Siri, Cortana, or Alexa.

An AI can fill in gaps where human interaction is not feasible or scalable. Customers are accepting — and expecting — the limitations of the technology. In exchange they get value, and the technology gets better and less limited every day.

Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, and The Value of Early Adoption

While compiling our report we found that most big plays in the marketing space are still wide open. You can still get in on the ground floor for a lot of them, including AI.

Whether that’s frontline customer service or back-end strategic analysis, artificial intelligence can put you ahead of your competitors. Much like outsourcing the heavy lifting of marketing to agencies or fractional CMOs you should outsource everything non-essential as well.

Ready to learn more?

On our website, we go more into details about the technologies we discuss here. And our report compiles an in-depth analysis of the best marketing technologies for 2017.

We’re also keen on hearing your experiences and thoughts about these topics. Have a good story about an AI chatbot saving the day? Or a great case study how these humanized tech platforms helped your business succeed? We’d love to hear — and share — them!

Let us know which part you found the most helpful!

Our report for 2016’s digital marketing trends, complete with predictions for 2017. Request your copy now before everyone else!

Michele Price is fractional CMO at Growth Hacking CMO, Chapter Director for Startup Grind Houston, and on-air personality for Breakthrough Radio.