The idea of artificial intelligence (AI) as a marketing tool is gaining steam, with new automation-related SaaS brands popping up every week. But can this form of "intelligence" really make an impact on your digital marketing strategies? 

Adweek recently reported that AI is expected to help companies drive growth in 2021 through the ultra-personalization of user experiences. AI can indeed help companies deliver a level of customization to clients that wouldn't be feasible through manual labor alone. The term artificial intelligence can be a little misleading, however. Today's AI is still very much powered by human actions. The terms assisted intelligence and augmented intelligence, as used by PwC, may be more accurate to many marketing use cases.

Marketing AI typically uses a series of workflows triggered by a defined action or inaction. These automations keep working, even if your team has gone home for the night — a huge draw in terms of creating client touchpoints and generating leads. 

Email marketing is an excellent example of workflow-driven automations in action. There is little downside to using email automations if the workflows are set up well. If a subscriber responds to an automated email, such as an order update, it typically goes into a queue to be addressed by a human team member. In this instance, the use of AI in email marketing is a great bridge between your team and audience. 

The sound of a "how can I help you?" message popping up on websites and social media is nearly ubiquitous at this point, and with good reason. A quality chatbot can create a sense of attention from your brand at all hours — even if the contact is aware they're talking to a bot. More people than ever are willing to engage with a chatbot, and bots can generate up to a 90% response rate.

After completing a customer service chat, 27% of consumers were not clear as to whether they had engaged with a person or a chatbot. 

- Source: PwC

The idea of offloading work on a chatbot is appealing, but bots are limited by the workflows and scripts that power them. While bot-only interactions can be perfect for delivering information or a well-timed promotion, many exchanges will still require eventual transfer to a human operator. 

Ultimately, AI marketing automations should support, not replace, your team's work. The key is mixing software, strategy, real human engagement, and high-quality collateral. If you arent’ seeing the results you want from current marketing efforts, artificial intelligence tools alone may not solve the problem. Before you implement a new AI automation, our team can ensure you have the right strategy and balance to see real gains. When you're ready to dig deeper, so are we — contact Alex Rossman any time at alex@rossmanmedia.com.