5 Simple Ways to Use AI for Marketing

With the onset of Artificial Intelligence (AI) advancement, savvy marketers and business owners have been trying to understand how they can use AI for marketing.

However, while AI has revolutionised marketing, many professionals must be more open to embracing its capabilities thoroughly.

The apprehension of adopting AI for marketing stems from several reasons, such as a fear of the unknown. AI can be complex and technical, requiring specialised knowledge and skills many marketers may not possess. Additionally, there is uncertainty about the potential benefits and drawbacks of AI implementation.

Some might even fear that AI will take over their marketing jobs. At this time (and in the foreseeable future), this is highly unlikely unless their job is one-dimensional and purely process-driven.

AI for Marketing

Benefits of AI for Marketing a Brand

While concerns about AI’s potential impact on the marketing industry are understandable, it is essential to recognise that AI is a tool to enhance human capabilities, not replace them. By embracing AI, marketers can unlock new opportunities and achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness.

Firstly, AI can automate many time-consuming tasks, freeing up marketers to focus on strategic thinking and creative problem-solving. This allows them to dedicate more time to building strong client relationships, understanding their needs, and developing innovative marketing campaigns.

AI can provide valuable insights into consumer behaviour, preferences, and trends. By analysing vast amounts of data, AI can help marketers identify opportunities and make data-driven decisions. This can lead to more targeted and effective marketing campaigns.

Thirdly, AI-powered tools can help marketers create high-quality content more efficiently. AI can generate ideas, write copy, and even create visual content, freeing up marketers to focus on strategy and oversight.

However, it’s important to note that AI is not a magic solution. Human creativity, empathy, and strategic thinking are still essential for successful marketing. By combining the power of AI with human ingenuity, marketers can create truly innovative and impactful campaigns.

Ultimately, the future of marketing lies in a collaborative approach between humans and AI. By embracing AI as a tool, marketers can unlock new opportunities, enhance their skills, and drive business growth.

5 Simple Ways to Use AI for Marketing

While it might seem complex, small businesses can easily leverage AI to enhance their marketing strategies. Here are a few simple ways to incorporate AI into your marketing efforts:

#1 - AI-Powered Content Creation

Marketing content, specifically written marketing copy, is essential to the marketing mix. Each piece of copy serves a different purpose to cater to customers’ needs at different stages of the customer journey.

These forms of written content can include:

  • Web Copy, such as Landing Pages and Product Descriptions – To inform and persuade.
  • Sales Letters – To sell and convert leads.
  • Social Media Content – To build brand awareness and drive traffic.
  • Blog Posts – To educate, entertain, and inspire.
  • Email Newsletters – To nurture leads and foster loyalty.
  • Whitepapers and eBooks – To establish authority and generate leads.

By strategically employing different written content formats, marketers can effectively communicate brand messages, attract and retain customers, and drive business growth.

Jasper.ai and Copy.ai are AI writing tools that can generate high-quality blog posts, social media content, and email copy, saving you time and effort.

ChatGPT and Gemini offer free versions that are more than capable of assisting in content creation tasks or vetting, editing, and improving existing copy.

#2 - Personalised Marketing

Personalised marketing is a strategy that tailors marketing messages and experiences to individual customers based on their preferences, behaviours, and past interactions. Businesses can deliver highly relevant content, product recommendations, and offers by leveraging data and analytics. This approach enhances customer engagement, improves conversion rates, and fosters stronger customer relationships.

For example, online retailers often use personalised product recommendations based on a customer’s browsing history. Email marketing campaigns can be customised with personalised subject lines and content, addressing the recipient by name and referencing past purchases.

AI-powered tools can segment your audience based on demographics, behaviour, and preferences.

For example, you can run personalised email campaigns by sending targeted emails with personalised content and recommendations using platforms like Mailchimp or Kit.

#3 - Social Listening

Social listening is the process of monitoring and analysing online conversations and mentions about a brand, industry, or specific topic. It involves tracking discussions on social media platforms, forums, blogs, and other online channels to gain valuable insights into customer behaviour, industry trends, and competitor strategies and tactics.

Social listening tools like Hootsuite, Brandwatch, or Sprout Social can monitor social media conversations and identify trends, customer sentiment, and potential crisis situations.

#4 - Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) continues to be a pivotal strategy for improving a website’s visibility in organic search engine results. In layman’s terms, it is getting a website to appear on page one of Google.

One key to SEO success is publishing high-quality, informative, and engaging content focusing on semantic search and natural language processing.

A significant aspect of creating SEO-friendly content is identifying popular and search-interesting keywords. Instead of guesswork, AI-powered tools like Google Keyword Planner (free of charge), SEMrush, or Ahrefs can discover relevant keywords and optimise your content.

As mentioned above, AI-powered writing tools can be employed to create written content (specifically SEO-friendly content) and improve its quality and readability.

#5 - Data Analysis and Insights

Data analytics powered by AI for marketing is collecting, organising, analysing, interpreting, and communicating data to gain insights into customer behaviour, market trends, and the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

Critical areas of data analytics in marketing include:

  • Customer Analytics – Segmenting customers, mapping their journeys, and assessing their lifetime value.
  • Campaign Analytics – Focuses on tracking performance metrics, conducting A/B testing, and evaluating channel effectiveness.
  • Market Analysis – Identifying trends, assessing competitors, and segmenting the market.

Marketers can better understand their target audience by effectively analysing data, optimise their marketing strategies, and ultimately drive business growth.

Most websites have analytics tools (or plugins) with statistics to help businesses understand how visitors interact with them.

Google Analytics is a popular free AI-powered tool that provides detailed insights into website traffic and user behaviour.

Business should analyse their data regularly to adapt to market trends and consumer behaviour.

AI and Human Creativity

By leveraging these tools, businesses can streamline their marketing efforts, improve efficiency, and achieve better results  with AI for marketing.

Remember, while AI is a powerful tool, it should be used with human creativity and strategic thinking.

J C Sum

J C Sum is a certified management consultant (TR 43:2015), an American Marketing Association Professional Certified Marketer (PCM®) in marketing management as well as a certified digital marketing strategist (SSG-WSQ accredited) with 14 years of experience specializing in search engine optimization, content marketing, and analytics. J C holds a Bachelor of Arts from National University of Singapore and is the author of "Evolve, Adapt or Collapse". He has been featured on The Straits Times, Business Times, Channel News Asia, The Edge Singapore, CNA938, and Money FM 89.3.