Machine learning will allow sales and marketing software to do things without explicit instructions.
IBM Watson is loquacious: It tells jokes, answers questions and write songs. Google’s AI platform can read lips better than professional lip readers do, and it is capable enough to master video games within a short period. Predict actions on video two seconds before it begins with MIT’s AI. Tesla has an AI platform that successfully powers the company’s self-driving cars. All these things are propelling us closer to the world where machines are more intelligent than humans.
Automation and artificial intelligence are profoundly transforming the trade and commerce industry. Scientists, marketers and futurists agree with the notion that the emergence of artificial intelligence and automation will have a significant impact on society.
Artificial Intelligence in the Field Marketing
Artificial intelligence is a hot topic in marketing. It is considered the next frontier of marketing. AI is a broad term that has covered a wide range of different technologies. The concept of AI refers to technology that is seeking to mimic human intelligence. AI includes a broad variety of capabilities such as voice, image recognition, machine learning and semantic searching. Marketers like to wax lyrical about new exciting updated technologies. They bang on AI for image recognition and speech recognition. It also prevents data leaks in marketing and helps in targeting drones at remote communities.
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Marketers believe that AI will accelerate sales and marketing. In next few years, it is expected that we are going to have autonomous, self-driving marketing automation. Machine learning will improve sales as well as marketing software and allow software to do things without explicit instructions. Whether it is predictive lead scoring, content recommendations or email acquisitions, machine learning has improved it.
AI transforming markets
Traditional marketing or outbound marketing campaigns are far less efficient in winning and retaining a customer than they once were. AI is important to gain sustainable competitive advantage in this always-connected, real-time world where marketers are required to deliver continuous, customized, insight driven interactions with customers on an individual basis.
Brands that have understood the significance of AI and putting the right system in place to scale are successful in creating a competitive advantage which is very difficult to replicate. Because artificial intelligence is not about technology, it is about delivering the perfect combination of content with context.
Big data beget big complexities and machines are better equipped to unravel the enormous complexities. The introduction of new and more sophisticated technologies are available increasing the gap between strategy and system. Marketers and leaders are seeking alternatives to close this gap.
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Moreover, demand for customized conversions and personalized experiences is accelerating. This means marketers are required to have a right system place to deliver personalized experiences to customers. AI also have made it possible for brands to manage the execution of in house data because it is as valuable as the brand itself. Marketers are using innovative AI based systems to execute strategies to deliver revenue growth and cost reductions. It is also mitigating the risk of damaging customer relationships.
AI implication in Inbound Marketing
AI applications have a significant impact in marketing. Different applications are known for playing different roles across the customer journey. Some are known for attracting customers while other are used for conversions and re-engaging past customer. You can divide these applications and their implications concerning RACE framework.
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AI, particularly machine learning, is an integral part of marketing. Here is the list of five real-world examples which can help you to understand how AI and machine learning is dominating in the field of marketing.
IBM Watson
IBM Watson is a cognitive system — or strategic partnership between system and people. Having Watson means you have an AI platform for business that can help you to uncover insights, engage with the customer in new ways and make decisions with more confidence.
IBM Watson allow you to build chatbots and virtual agents that answer customer queries and help marketers to respond to their needs quickly and efficiently. Watson is working with people in 45 countries and 20 industries. It is helping people to work faster and work smarter than ever before.
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IBM Watson is successfully transforming customer experiences with bots. Chatbots let you interact with organizations in real-time. They speak to us, answer questions and offer support within seconds. It also allows you to add a natural language interface to the app, website or device. These bots help in breaking down the barriers in fast and efficient customer communications.
AI Platform of Tesla
MIT ranks Tesla second in the list of world’s 13 Smartest Artificial Intelligence Companies. This electric auto manufacturing company is taking advantage of machine learning technology to collect data from its cars on the road. The company then uses the data to build a better performance into its autopilot features.
Autopilot features, the results of AI technology, is successful in reducing accidents by 50 percent. The company makes the use of radar as a primary control sensor, camera, and additional technology as a supplement. However, AI technology is helping the car to understand the object more clearly in its way.
MIT
MIT has published a paper on new artificial intelligence platform, which is known as AI2. This platform makes use of human input combined with machine learning to reduce false positives and to increase its ability to predict the cyber-attacks. Cybersecurity professionals are facing daunting tasks. They are required to protect enterprize networks from threats, limit the damages when data breaches occur.
Cybersecurity is a challenge in industries where the companies are short-staffed, and they are unable to find trained staff. In such case, the AI2 platform can help businesses to ensure cybersecurity. The AI2 platform is capable enough to predict cyber-attacks with 85% rate of accuracy.
Uber
Uber is not only a company that schedules rides, but it is also as a software and technology company that heavily relies on machine learning and artificial intelligence. The amount data that the company is required to handle is huge and the machine learning help executives to that data for business value.
Uber is not extremely open about its technology, but it helps with logistics and many other aspects of the business. Uber is continuously expanding the use of machine learning by investing in autonomous vehicles. Uber makes the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence platforms to figure out ways to retain their customers and to increase customer value.
Salesforce
Salesforce is the largest tech company on the list. AI has introduced Einstein platform in 2016, which is customizable for customers and makes the use of machine learning, deep learning, predictive analytics, natural language processing and smart data discovery. This AI platform has introduced the larger trend among tech providers which are using AI and machine-learning technology to improve its own business.
451 Research said Salesforce is making the use of customer data including emails and collect activity data from tools such as Chatter and the external sources like social media. It also makes the use of signals from IoT devices and uses them to train machine learning models to drive features within the applications.
Artificial intelligence is a new trend that is bringing a storm in the world of marketing. Many marketers are still wondering in the dark. They don’t know how to leverage AI strategies in everyday marketing campaigns.
AI-driven marketing solutions sound like future of marketing, but some creative minds are here to take over the most tedious and time-consuming tasks that marketers are struggling to deal with. Above mentioned real-world examples of AI suggest it is offering marketers an unprecedented ability to improve personalization, productivity, and performance.
Final thoughts on marketing and AI
“Everything we love about civilization is a product of intelligence, so amplifying our human intelligence with artificial intelligence has the potential of helping civilization flourish like never before – as long as we manage to keep the technology beneficial.“
— Max Tegmark, President of the Future of Life Institute
We have only scratched the surface of marketing and real-world examples of AI and machine learning technology.
From Siri to self-driving cars, from Google’s search algorithms to IBM’s Watson to autonomous weapons, artificial intelligence and machine learning are useful in all functions of business. AI is going to shape the future of marketing and provide a way to forge the relationship between companies and clients.
