Interviews, insight & analysis on digital media & marketing

The pitfalls of marketers’ assumptions

By Pauline Buil, Marketing Director of Deployteq

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has sparked excitement and apprehension across various industries, including the marketing realm. 

While AI is often portrayed as a threat capable of replacing human jobs the reality is more nuanced. When used correctly, AI can positively contribute to marketing efforts. 

This article explores the effects of AI in marketing automation, the pitfalls of marketers’ assumptions, and how it can improve omnichannel campaigns without taking control away from marketers.

The role of artificial intelligence in creative marketing

AI is crucial in creative marketing automation by leveraging data points and algorithms to revolutionise marketing strategies. It enables improved email segmentation, personalised product recommendations, relevant communications, quick A/B testing, and attention-grabbing subject lines. However, viewing AI as a trusted advisor rather than a replacement is the key. Marketers should lead the way using AI as guidance.

AI can accomplish various tasks that benefit marketers, including:

  1. Sending highly relevant campaigns: Personalisation is key to engaging modern consumers. Algorithms analyse user data and behaviour to automate content and timing in omnichannel campaigns. Marketers can create highly personalised communications with tailored subject lines, body copy, imagery, promoted products, and calls to action, achieving a level of relevance that would be challenging to achieve manually.
  2. Optimising content: AI can use campaign data to identify content types that drive remarkable results and tailor messages to the intended audience. Marketers can unleash maximum impact with minimal manual effort by optimising future campaigns based on audience preferences.
  3. Predictive analytics: Predictive analytics algorithms, armed with historical consumer data, detect patterns and trends that humans may miss. This knowledge enables precise audience segmentation and provides insights into the perfect timing, frequency, and content of emails, enhancing campaign effectiveness.
  4. Automated testing: AI enables automated testing that simulates real-life scenarios and conducts A/B testing faster. From email templates to subject lines, this dynamic duo uncovers winning combinations that increase engagement and conversion rates, ensuring flawless execution of personalisation and dynamic content within emails.

Benefits of AI in marketing automation

Embracing AI offers several benefits for marketers, including:

  1. Boosting efficiency: AI automates repetitive tasks such as list segmentation, email scheduling, A/B testing, statistics deciphering, and copywriting. This efficiency allows marketers to focus on strategic elements of their campaigns that increase productivity.
  2. Improving engagement: AI helps build more engaging emails that resonate with the audience and provide personalised experiences. Subject line generators fueled by AI capabilities compel clicks and spark curiosity. Dynamic content within emails delivers tailored experiences, fostering valuable customer relationships.
  3. Continuous optimisation: Algorithms identify trends and patterns from campaign data, enabling marketers to refine messaging, targeting, timing, and content. Automating data crunching and analysis ensures ongoing optimisation without excessive manual work, maximising overall campaign performance.

Limitations of AI

While AI brings advancements to the industry, it also has its limitations:

  1. Building genuine relationships: AI lacks understanding of human emotions, intentions, and context necessary for authentic connections. The human touch, characterised by empathy and adaptability to individual needs, remains essential.
  2. Producing unique and creative content: AI struggles to produce original content, relying on learned patterns and examples. Human creativity, involving intuition and thinking outside the box, remains vital.
  3. Managing and understanding qualitative data: AI faces challenges in capturing the subtleties expressed in qualitative data, such as surveys. Human expertise is necessary to derive meaningful insights from qualitative data.

The future of AI

The future holds promise, with advancements in hyper-personalisation and natural language processing contributing to better customer understanding and communication. Though expect stricter regulations like GDPR will protect individual privacy rights and ensure responsible data handling. Ethical considerations, including algorithmic bias and fairness, will gain increased attention as AI evolves.

We asked Sjuul van der Leeuw, CEO of Deployteq, his thoughts: “Outside of AI, people are beginning to embrace such emerging tech daily. This is because it has ultimately been brought in to empower workforces, and as it evolves, it should become increasingly higher on the agendas of businesses to educate their staff on how to use it appropriately and most efficiently.”

AI has the potential to revolutionise marketing automation by improving efficiency, engagement, and campaign optimisation. Marketers can leverage it to deliver highly relevant campaigns, utilise predictive analytics, and conduct automated testing. However, it is important to acknowledge the limitations of AI in tasks requiring the human touch. Managers should embrace AI to enhance their efforts and guide their employees on the strategic use of AI. By understanding the pitfalls of assumptions and leveraging AI effectively, marketers can create innovative and impactful campaigns while remaining in control of their strategies.