What is AI's Role in Marketing in 2024?

With all the chatter about large language model processing, AI can seem intimidating. But in reality, AI is already part of the marketer’s toolkit – and in many different ways. From collecting and analyzing data to inform your digital marketing strategy in real-time to optimizing SEO, machine learning already drives strategy for many e-commerce businesses. But instead of utilizing only standalone tools that focus on just one question or problem, a future-looking marketing plan integrates AI across functions.

How AI is Shaping eCommerce in 2024

Whether you’re selling in a marketplace or directly to consumers, your eCommerce business is impacted by AI – even if you’re not using it yourself.

• New players like SHEIN and Temu are shaking up e-commerce by drastically reducing prices, forcing traditional retailers to squeeze margins to stay competitive. Their aggressive pricing and rapid growth are pushing businesses to find innovative ways to differentiate and survive amid rising advertising costs and tighter profit margins.
• AI Overviews are changing SERPs by providing answers directly on the page, reducing the need to click through. At the same time, SearchGPT, a generative AI tool, is reshaping search by delivering tailored, conversational answers, challenging traditional SEO strategies and altering how content is ranked.
• As new businesses enter the market, they can leverage data analysis and AI to determine what product categories are the most profitable. Then, they can quickly bring to market new, innovative products, often at lower prices, to sell to an established customer base.
• Your competitors are analyzing available data to craft marketing campaigns that will target your high-value customers and convince them to buy from them instead.

Designing an AI Strategy

To design an effective AI marketing strategy, consider your high-value customers’ priorities and determine what AI tools can best help convert their browsing into sales. Customers want to easily find relevant products and information through search, and they expect content to be personalized. But they also want to choose what data to share, when, and with whom. With all that in mind, here are some key ways to integrate AI into your digital marketing plan:

Collect and Analyze Data

With the pivot to first-party data that respects user privacy, it’s more important than ever to have a firm grasp on what data your business currently gathers. AI can help you understand past data and predict future trends.

Optimize Ads

Reaching new customers is all about discoverability, and paid ads like Google’s Performance Max or Shopping Campaigns can help your business target potential customers who are similar to your existing high-value customers. Effective ad buys are ones that are informed by past data, and AI can help your business tailor a marketing campaign to meet those new customers where they are in the digital ecosystem.

Automate Common Processes

Whether you’re deciding how much to spend on an ad buy or what segment of your customer base to target, decision-making takes time. By using AI tools to automate tasks and processes, your business can be sure that your digital strategy is rooted in data and can react quickly to changes in the market.

Create Versatile Content

ChatGPT and other LLMs have been making waves when it comes to content, and for good reason. Marketing campaigns require a vast number of assets. Using LLMs to develop first drafts of assets around common themes can save your business time and money – as long as you assess the quality and accuracy of your materials.

Personalize Customer Outreach

Use chatbots for customer service and to offer potential buyers' information to encourage purchase. Exploit your data – and your AI content tools – to determine which customer segments and personas should receive what messaging journeys.?

Be Future-Ready with NetElixir

By learning about your high-value customers and constantly developing and refining new ways to connect with them, you assure your business’s future success. LXRInsights, our proprietary, AI-powered digital marketing platform, will revolutionize your customer acquisition and engagement strategy by identifying your current and potential high-value customers and empowering your business to target, engage, and win them through more effective campaigns.?

Ready to learn more? Get started with LXRInsights today!