With rapid advancements in technology, digital marketers continually face the exciting challenge of staying ahead in a field that evolves every day–an evolution driven by artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and virtual reality. Having that in mind, it is paramount to stay informed on these emerging developments and essential skills to remain competitive.
The Growing Impact of Technology on Digital Marketing
We’ve all heard the term ‘AI’–whether in the news, on your favorite podcast, or in your favorite email newsletter. This word, now deeply integrated into our everyday vocabulary, continues to find new ways to aid digital marketers. Some of these include AI personalization and AI content creation.
AI Personalization
So, how can AI help digital marketers target their audiences in an even better way? Through AI personalization! According to Molly Hayes and Amanda Downie of IBM, AI personalization allows digital marketers to customize their communication and personalize their product recommendations and services for individual users. With AI personalization’s ability to analyze customer data and learn from your target audience’s behavior, your brand can improve customer experiences and strengthen customer engagement.
How Can AI Personalization Benefit Your Business?
AI personalization can benefit your business in a variety of ways. Some of them include:
- Enhanced Engagement: Content personalization helps sustain user attention by giving them information that they actually care about.
- Better Conversion Rates: Appropriate suggestions give your company a better chance of your target audience purchasing your product or service, which can inevitably increase your sales.
- Saving Your Company Money: Since automation can help create a number of different marketing campaigns, product recommendations, and customer service experiences, companies can use their now-free resources to focus on different areas of their company. Additionally, studies have shown that personalization programs have the potential to decrease the costs of customer acquisition by approximately half.
AI Personalization in the Real World
Now that you know the benefits of AI personalization, you may be wondering, “This sounds great and all, but how is it implemented?” Wonder no more. For instance, Amazon and Netflix use AI to make personalized product recommendations. They achieve this by using AI to examine their customers’ browsing history, social media interactions, and buying behavior to help them offer products that suit their audiences’ interests.
AI Content Creation
Another crucial way digital marketers have been using AI has been through the means of content creation, more specifically, AI content creation. In his article, certain AI tools essentially help create and recycle different sorts of content, which can consist of text, images, and videos. Some of the more well-known content creation tools include:
- Copy.ai: A GTM AI platform that has the capability of generating things such as ad copy, blog posts, and social media posts.
- DALL-E: An AI generator that can create visuals from text.
- SEO and Content Optimization AI-Powered Tools: Help make your content both engaging and searchable.
AI Content Creation Benefits
Companies that leverage AI in their content creation practices are able to benefit from the following:
- Constantly Keep Your Content Fresh: With the power of AI, companies can now speed up the wait time for new content ideas to surface within their marketing team. AI expedites this process, which can save your company time, money, and resources.
- Ensure Top-Notch Standards: With no limit to the amount of content you need, AI makes certain that your content is of the highest quality and aligns with your brand.
- Recycling Content: AI can aid in repurposing your content by tailoring it to each unique platform, ultimately maximizing its reach and engagement.
How Would AI Content Creation Aid Your Brand?
As many companies’ sales and marketing teams wrestle with monotonous, labor-intensive tasks, AI tools, like Copy.ai, can increase the efficiency in these departments. It does so by accelerating routine processes in content creation, demand generation, sales operations, as well as other duties.
The Rise of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR)
When you think of the terms augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), does your mind immediately jump to the world of gaming? Well, think again because AR and VR have made their way into digital marketing. As mentioned by Vikas Maheshwari of Digital Doughnut, AR augments real-world environments with digital overlays, whereas VR generates a totally immersive digital world experience for users to navigate. These allow digital marketers to engage with their customers in a more interactive way, something far different than past marketing efforts.
How Would AR and VR Add Value to Your Company?
The following are just some of the ways AR and VR can bring value to your business and customers:
- Enriching Customer Experiences: Your customers’ experience may be enhanced through interactive environments through the means of providing virtual try-ons, virtual tours, and virtual product demonstrations. For example, digital marketing brands have the ability to create apps that utilize AR, which give their customers the chance to see what a pool might look like in their backyard prior to having one built. On the flipside, VR allows marketers to create hotel tours, for example, to let potential customers see what it’s like to be there before they book their stay.
- Increased Conversions and Engagement: AR and VR give marketers the power to craft engaging experiences that can build a strong connection with their target audience. For instance, a movie theater’s marketing department’s VR campaign could entail a virtual trek to a world-renowned movie studio that lets users see what it’s like to be on set.
- Personalized Touch and Customization: Digital marketing agencies can use AR and VR to personalize interactions based on the preferences of their users. So, if we look at AR, your users’ browsing history and preferences can influence customized product recommendations for them.
Final Thoughts
By now, you should have a clearer understanding of the value that the latest and greatest trends in digital marketing–AI, AR, and VR– can bring to you and your customers.
Has your digital marketing department tried implementing any of the above methods in your strategy? Let us know in the comments, we’d love to know!
Author: Sam Cuellar
Digital Marketing graduate from DePaul University, Part-time Marketing & Sales Coordinator at the National Institute for Social Media, and professional bass player with a passion for music, weightlifting, and music.