What is Artificial Intelligence?
Sure, almost everyone likes to talk about A.I. But what exactly is A.I.?
One of the most common definitions of A.I. is ‘simulation of human intelligence processes by machines or computer systems.’ Certain algorithms can be installed in computers that add some human intelligence to help in problem-solving, learning, thinking, etc.
The use of A.I. is increasing day by day & is no longer limited to movie screens. It is being used in many tasks like driving automobiles, recognize people and places, detect fraud, predict financial markets, virtual assistance to playing games, Robots & recommending customized products to customers, etc.
AI market is forecast to grow to 12.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2020. Worldwide revenue from the AI market is projected to reach as high as 97.9 billion U.S. dollars by 2023. At least 31.7 billion U.S. dollars have been invested in this particular AI category (source – Statista). In the coming days, this area of technology is extremely promising.
The primary industries where A.I. can be seen are healthcare, e-commerce, food tech, marketing, financial services, logistics, entertainment, gaming, etc.
Artificial Intelligence in Marketing
One of the most important domains where A.I. is used is in Marketing. Statistics show that around 55% of marketing companies are implementing A.I. Moreover, 75-80% of consumers expect marketing companies to understand their needs wherein they are looking for a particular product or service.
In all of the sales technologies used in marketing, A.I. stands out as the fastest growing technology. It is projected to grow at a faster rate with improvements and advancements in A.I.:
Scope of A.I. in major areas in Marketing:
In the Marketing domain, there are certain areas where A.I. is being used extensively:
Forecasting of sales
A.I. helps to accurately determine sales that can happen in the future. Data from certain channels like emails, phone calls, meetings, etc. can be gathered, which helps to predict future sales. Historical data of consumers is compared with real-time data so A.I. can make a prediction based on these values.
Understand consumers’ shopping trends
There are a variety of shopping trends in the market. For example, if we consider ‘clothing’ as a commodity, there is a vast possibility of items based on gender, age, color choice, size, type of clothing, etc.
A.I. creates customized profiles of customers based on such data so marketing companies can know about the product their customers are looking for.
Automatic ad targeting
Advertisements are the backbone of any company, be it a product-based or service-based. A few years ago, marketing agents were required to go door-to-door and advertise for their company. Now, with advanced technology and A.I., certain automation in ads is possible.
Based on the characteristics and shopping trends, ads can be directed digitally towards a consumer. It allows for a wider reach on a local as well as global level.
Chatbots
For big companies like Google or Facebook, it is not possible to send an immediate reply to every customer due to a huge number of customers. In this case, a chatbot is a feasible solution that engages with customers in real-time.
Chatbots are A.I. driven programs that simulate a conversation in natural language. This allows companies to engage with their customers 24*7. Giving out information via FAQ, sorting out a support category, welcoming customers after signing up, etc. can be done via chatbots.
Voice Assistants
We are already surrounded by famous voice assistants like Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, Microsoft Cortana. For marketing, all of these provide ‘voice shopping’ for a quick and elegant shopping experience.
Voice Assistants are powered by an A.I. that can process human language and convert them into text. People can make a purchase just by talking with a smart device. It is estimated that by 2022, more than 50% of people in the world will have a smart speaker device at their home.
Dynamic Pricing
It often happens that the demand and supply in the market keep fluctuating and this is based on several factors. A.I. can help to monitor this fluctuation, study the current pricing of products or services, and suggest suitable discounts and offers.
Due to the efficient algorithms and technology, A.I. can compare past pricing models with the current one, take into consideration the demand-supply situation, and adjust prices accordingly.
This helps the marketing department to dynamically change the pricing structure of its products and services.
Below graph denotes how CMOs are using A.I. in Marketing for their organizations:
Conclusion
Thus, besides other fields, A.I. plays a huge role in Marketing. The ultimate goal of marketing is to improve sales and grow business and A.I. accelerates that growth tremendously.
Major cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud are providing the tools and infrastructure for A.I. and Machine Learning. Facebook is also using A.I. to improve search results, offer recommendations, recognize people and objects in photos, detect false news, etc.
With increasing capabilities of both – hardware and software – and advanced sub-branches of A.I. like Machine Learning, Fuzzy Logic, Neural Networks – the use of A.I. will see an increasing trend in the market in the coming years not only for marketing but also for other domains.
