To some, it’s extraordinary; others believe it threatens their careers, and by extension, their livelihoods.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been making waves in the marketing industry due to its ability to process and analyze vast amounts of data at lightning speed. With the rise of AI for business, marketers can increasingly create and execute personalized campaigns tailored to specific audiences.
However, such technology also has its drawbacks, and these need to be taken into consideration. Let’s discuss the pros and cons of AI in creative marketing, as well as Laurelow’s approach to using this mechanization for good.
What is artificial intelligence?
Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think and learn like humans. AI systems can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as perception, reasoning, learning, decision-making, and natural language processing.
AI is a rapidly evolving field that includes fields such as machine learning, deep learning, neural networks, natural language processing, robotics, and computer vision. These technologies enable AI systems to process large amounts of data, recognize patterns, make predictions, and learn from experience.
It has a wide range of applications, from personal assistants like Siri and Alexa to self-driving cars, medical diagnosis, fraud detection, and financial forecasting. As AI continues to advance, it has the potential to transform the way we live and work even further.
How is artificial intelligence used in marketing?
Artificial intelligence (AI) has numerous applications in marketing, helping businesses better understand and engage with their customers. Here are some ways in which AI is used in marketing:
- Customer segmentation and targeting: AI algorithms can analyze customer data to identify patterns and segment customers into groups based on their behavior and preferences. This allows marketers to personalize their messages and target customers with relevant offers and promotions.
- Predictive analytics: AI can be used to predict customer behavior, such as which products they are most likely to buy, when they are likely to make a purchase, and how much they are likely to spend. This helps marketers to optimize their marketing campaigns and maximize ROI.
- Chatbots and virtual assistants: AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can interact with customers in a conversational way, providing personalized recommendations and answering their questions. This improves customer experience and reduces the workload of customer support teams.
- Content creation and optimization: AI can analyze customer data to identify the types of content that are most effective in engaging with them. Generative AI also generates content, such as graphics, product descriptions, social media posts, plus optimize text for search engines.
- Ad targeting and optimization: AI can analyze customer data to identify the most effective ad targeting strategies and optimize ad campaigns in real-time to maximize ROI.
Overall, AI is a powerful tool that can help marketers better understand their customers and deliver personalized experiences to drive engagement and loyalty.
Because power is not inherently positive or negative, however, you’ll need to learn how to use it for the benefit of your business and customers.
Advantages of AI in Creative Marketing
Personalization
One of the most significant advantages of AI for business is the ability to deliver personalized content to your target audience. By analyzing large amounts of user data, AI algorithms can determine what type of content is most relevant to individuals. This often leads to more personalized content that resonates with users and is more likely to engage them in conversations.
Cost-effectiveness
With AI, repetitive tasks can be automated, saving time, and resources. Marketers no longer need to invest time manually analyzing massive datasets; AI can do it more efficiently and accurately! This means they can focus on more strategic tasks such as developing creative campaigns, testing new strategies, and building stronger relationships with clients.
Powerful Predictions
AI tools can predict the behavior of customers based on past transactions, social media activity, and other factors. Marketers can use this insight to target their promotions accordingly. Predictive analytics allow marketers to develop ad campaigns with higher accuracy since they are based on statistical predictions rather than assumptions.
Drawbacks of AI Marketing Tools
Dependence on Algorithms
AI-powered marketing heavily relies on algorithms to create recommendations and predict results. Marketers need to be vigilant, ensuring that they don’t oversimplify the data and that they still think critically about overall patterns.
Limited Data
Since AI is trained on and analyzes data that already exists, limited data could restrict the ability of AI to understand user behavior and create personalized content. For instance:
- AI may struggle with predicting the taste of a demographic that it hasn’t analyzed yet. Similarly, it could have data that does not appropriately represent a group.
- On an individual level, if a website has only a few data points about a user’s past purchases or chatbot conversations, it may not be able to make accurate recommendations about what products they might want to buy next.
- Generative AI art or writing is not purely “creative” because it can only recombine or paraphrase what already exists, which commonly results in generic styles.
That’s why humanity is so important, even in an industry that seems threatened by AI: your own unique, attention-grabbing style of communication can’t be replaced.
Ethical Concerns of AI for Business
With the rise of AI in multiple industries, ethical issues have arisen alongside it.
In marketing, companies may use AI software to analyze personal data, monitor user behavior, and influence decision-making. This has led to privacy concerns and questions about the ethical implications of AI.
Another prominent issue is that of bias and misinformation. The “common knowledge” that AI learns from is not always objective or true, AI can end up restating harmful or false information.
Marketers can address these issues by:
- Being fully transparent with the general public about their use of AI.
- Thoroughly fact-checking all statements and looking out for biases.
- Getting to know your audience through more than just algorithms; conducting your own polls, surveys, and other forms of primary customer research.
- Responsibly storing customer information.
- Complying with all ethical standards of the companies they serve, plus local government regulations.
- Creating or refining clear guidelines about the use of AI by other employees of their businesses.
How can businesses use AI for maximum ingenuity?
As one of many sources of inspiration.
Think of your role in using AI as a specialized art gallery owner or a museum curator. Because not everything AI creates for you will align with your brand and goals, you’ll need to guide its direction into refined, cohesive collections of work, making plenty of adjustments along the way. Your job is to take the vast expanse of knowledge available in AI’s datasets and make it your own to better serve your customers.
We encourage you to try the following methods that have served us well.
Brainstorm
Provide an AI writing tool with a prompt or a general topic, and it can generate a list of ideas that you can then expand upon. These prompts can also help you explore different angles and perspectives on any particular topic, plus some software like Jasper allows you to collaborate in real time with coworkers.
Solve Writer’s Block
Sometimes, even after brainstorming, determining a written structure can be the hardest part. AI writing software can also put together coherent outlines and a few basic paragraphs to get you started.
Construct Color Schemes
AI color scheme generators such as Huemint can quickly generate a color scheme based on a specific input, such as an image, written concept, or existing color palette. They have the added benefit of ensuring that all colors harmonize with each other.
Find Reference Images
Some artists get direct inspiration for what to draw or paint from AI art generators like DALL-E 2. This is especially true for abstract or surrealistic creatives, who would otherwise splice several photos together to get clear ideas of how their compositions should look.
Make Digital Editing Easier
Adobe Sensei is included in various Adobe applications to enhance their capabilities and automate mundane tasks.
- Image manipulation: Adobe Sensei can help automate certain image manipulation tasks, such as selecting and isolating objects, changing backgrounds, or applying filters and effects.
- Video editing: the technology may assist with video editing tasks, such as auto-ducking audio to make dialogue easier to hear or automatically correcting shaky footage.
- Font matching: it can identify and match fonts in images and documents, making it easier for designers to find and use the right font for their project.
- Personalization: Adobe Sensei analyzes user data to personalize editing experiences, such as recommending content or suggesting changes to photos or videos.
Determine Which Visual and Written Language Your Customers Prefer
Ad platforms like Google Ads allow for automated A/B testing. They automatically alternate between the two versions of the ad and track which version has a higher click-through rate, conversion rate, or other relevant metrics.
Additionally, automated A/B testing allows for real-time optimization based on recommendations from AI, meaning marketers can quickly adjust their ad campaigns based on the results of the testing.
Which types of AI will your business use?
It’s not a question of when, but how.
Keep up with your competitors while freeing up time for genuine creativity. Contact our art and marketing studio for personalized advice about how to move forward.