Has AI Really Changed Digital Marketing?

Ken Braun is the Founder of Lounge Lizard Worldwide Inc., a Top 10 Internet Marketing Agency.

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Without a doubt, artificial intelligence is having its day in the sun. AI is impacting all types of businesses in consequential and foundational ways. We’re feeling the effects industrywide in marketing. But is AI really improving digital marketing?

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Simply put, yes, I think it is. AI is rewriting how we’re reaching, engaging and communicating with our target audiences. Let’s take a closer look at how, and then I’ll share some advice on getting started with the technology.

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Implementing A Dynamic Content And SEO Strategy

AI-generated content is all the rage right now, with AI applications like ChatGPT generating great content outlines and foundational text that are grammatically accurate.

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But that doesn’t mean content creators should be looking for new careers. In fact, we need good content creators more than ever. We still need human eyes to double-check accuracy, provide personality and color, and ensure the theme is correct within the intended context.

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One significant drawback of ChatGPT has been its lack of current information since it was only trained on data up until September 2021—until now. As reported recently by the BBC, ChatGPT can now search the internet in real time. (As of now, this feature is only available to premium users, though.) This will be a game changer for digital marketers looking for an AI tool that gets the job done.

Video Creation Without The Production Costs

When it comes to the dynamic medium of video, which continues to grow as the preferred content source for 18- to 24-year-olds, we’ve had great success with AI video generators at my agency. With no previous production experience, we create professional content without expensive audio and recording equipment.

SEO Keywords And Optimized Content

Another place AI is making great strides is in SEO, both in conducting keyword research and developing optimized content for specific audiences and industries. AI can easily create title tags and meta descriptions and is excellent for suggesting SEO-focused changes to existing content.

SEO powerhouse Semrush has its own AI-powered writing assistant, as does Grammarly. However, we have found that pairing ChatGPT-4 with the Keywords Everywhere browser add-on is the best option for crafting SEO-optimized content of superior quality.

Personalizing Digital Marketing

AI is also helping marketers personalize digital marketing efforts and drive better results by tailoring consumers’ experiences to match their needs and desires. McKinsey & Company reports that more than 70% of consumers expect personalization and that it’s driving digital behavior. Furthermore, McKinsey found that “companies that excel at personalization generate 40 percent more revenue from those activities than average players.”

Amazon, Netflix, Facebook and Spotify are examples of companies with sophisticated personalization engines that present curated recommendations to their users.

There are a number of AI tools that can help you with this. For our clients, we often recommend Amazon Personalize.

Better Understanding Your Target Audience

AI is helping us collect and analyze vast amounts of customer data more efficiently. AI can collect and analyze data about customers’ demographics, interests, preferences and behaviors at lightning speed, freeing humans to concentrate on higher-level functions.

Through Semrush, which uses machine learning algorithms to gather data, we’re able to instantly analyze audiences and generate in-depth insights into competitors to inform our client strategy. Additionally, we bring in Google Ads Performance Max to customize and place bids for search engine marketing that drives leads and conversions.

Segmenting Your Audience

Once you have a broad understanding of your target market, AI can break the audience into smaller segments based on shared traits like age, city, zone, neighborhood, interests, past purchases or browsing patterns. We have found great success for our clients using Google Analytics 4.

Automating Marketing Tasks

With AI, you can build automated workflows triggered by specific actions or behaviors on many marketing platforms. For instance, you can deliver targeted information based on a user’s choices or send customized follow-up emails with AI-generated content depending on user activities.

AI also can help you continuously test, analyze and optimize your digital marketing strategies. With AI tools, you can track important metrics (such as ad performance, audience engagement and conversion rates), keep an eye on the success of your customized ads and do A/B testing to see which changes are most effective for specific audience segments.

Getting Started With AI

When getting started with AI, don’t get overwhelmed. There’s so much to learn, and new tools are debuting daily. Look for tools that offer features that align with your goals and that can be scaled for growth. Talk to your IT people since they may better understand the changes taking place.

AI in digital marketing is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It requires strategic planning, the right tools and continuous optimization. Start small, learn from each implementation and gradually expand the scope of AI in your marketing efforts.

A Final Word

Although AI may appear to be a perfect solution that saves you time and money, remember that it cannot replace human innovation. AI is a tool to support and improve your marketing initiatives. Make sure you’re monitoring any activities you use it for, from content production to your social media ad budget, to make the most of the technology.

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