Artificial intelligence is going to change everything we do in advertising and marketing, but not in the way we think. The truth is that if used correctly, RPA software and intelligent machine learning can give companies and agencies the power to provide extraordinary experiences for customers. The kind of campaigns that move the customer on an emotional level.
After all, that is the key to a loyal customer base. The people who come back again and again because they know on a gut level that a business understands them. Steve Jobs saw this after a calligraphy class inspired his design for the iconic mac fonts. Creativity and intelligent automation seem like the furthest concepts from one another, but in fact, they are intrinsically connected.
We are currently drowning in a sea of data. This data contains valuable information about consumer preferences, their likes, and dislikes. The key to creating something that consumers truly want. Even giants, such as holding companies dedicate a massive amount of resources to crunching the numbers.
Combining AI with creativity can open up a whole new field of marketing and advertising. There are three ways this can take shape, and they are all interconnected.
Targeted Experiences – when you add AI to the marketing mix, it opens up a whole new category in the funnel. This means curated experiences for every different type of customer in the market. Capturing Millenials and Baby Boomers with the same campaign, using powerful messaging that appeal to each group. This isn’t the stuff of tomorrow. Many agencies are already deploying AI technologies to their advantage and producing creative that works across the board. According to Entrepreneur, AI will help companies target customers more accurately and place budget dollars where they belong.
Tighter Budgets – speaking of dollars, the analytical power of AI software will help solve one of the most age-old problems in advertising. Funding campaigns that deliver on ROI and help companies take calculated risks that pay off. Marketing and creative wants the budgets to be higher, and businesses want to cut costs. There is no “right” or “wrong” party here. A large part of advertising is trial and error, but that means wasted money. However, when businesses and agencies use intelligent machine learning software to analyze customer data, a lot of the guesswork goes out the window. This creates a positive feedback loop, where money can flow to the projects that need it and build richer marketing experiences.
A Marriage of Creative and Data – any marketing manager worth their salt knows that the best creative is made possible by data and analytics. Machine learning algorithms are making this symbiotic loop stronger. They perform elaborate functions without slowing down the customer experience. This allows creative teams to get fast feedback, giving businesses time to change their approach and become agile. Instead of waiting for analysis to determine if a campaign is resonating, with MLA’s, companies can get results almost in real time.
Don Draper would have killed for the kind of value AI can add to creative. It’s a chance to leave the guesswork behind and make more impactful campaigns. Like it or not, advertising and marketing are just one of the many fields AI is going to change.