John Wanamaker famously said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”
The marketing and merchandising pioneer recognized the difficulty in knowing which marketing efforts are truly effective. Marketers are constantly challenged to develop messaging that resonates with the right audiences at the right time. The uncertainty makes it tough for marketers to demonstrate a clear return on investment.
The most creative campaign in the world can fall flat if it doesn’t speak to customer needs. Marketers need keen insight into their customers’ priorities, expectations and behaviors to make every dollar count.
That’s why marketing is a primary use case for generative AI. AI-powered tools can rapidly analyze data from a wide range of sources to identify trends and patterns that humans might miss. Marketers can gain valuable insights for optimizing campaigns and increasing customer engagement.
Gen AI is particularly effective when it comes to personalization. Today’s customers expect highly personalized messaging and offers, which gen AI can help create through data analysis. Gen AI can also automate many routine tasks and help draft content and visuals.
How to Leverage Gen AI in Marketing
Data Analysis
Today’s marketers have vast amounts of customer data at their disposal, but effectively analyzing it can be difficult with legacy tools. Gen AI can help marketers better understand customer behavior and intent, allowing them to identify their target audiences and tailor content to better resonate with them. GenAI can also predict market trends, enabling marketers to make informed decisions about campaign strategies, product development and resource allocation.
Creating Content at Scale
It takes a vast amount of content to support marketing campaigns — content that must be fine-tuned to the needs of various audiences and personalized for specific customers. GenAI can create diverse content formats at scale, allowing marketers to reach a wider audience with tailored messages. With an unconstrained ability to create content, marketers can also micro-segment their audiences with the optimal messaging, marketing channel and timing for each communication.
Streamlining Marketing Processes
GenAI can automate various marketing workflows, such as social media posting, email sequencing and campaign management, increasing efficiency and productivity. Automation enables marketers to focus on more strategic initiatives, saving time and reducing costs. Gen AI can also conduct market research in a fraction of the time it takes humans to do so while providing deeper insights and the ability to generate more personalized messaging.
Challenges of Gen AI in Marketing
Trust is a critical component in marketing. Customers must have confidence in a brand’s ability and intention to provide value and deliver on its promises. Trust is earned through consistent, reliable performance, positive customer interactions and honest communication.
Marketers must take care to ensure that gen AI does not violate customers’ trust. If customers suspect that campaigns are AI-generated, they may assume that the messaging isn’t genuine. Human oversight and control is critical to ensure that content reflects the brand’s image and values. Marketers should also be transparent about the use of AI in marketing and assure customers that their data is protected.
Data accuracy is another challenge of using gen AI for marketing. While most organizations have large customer databases, the information isn’t always accurate, up-to-date, consistent or relevant. Bad data will lead to incorrect AI output and poor decision-making. Marketers must take pains to cleanse and correlate data and address potential biases.
How Cerium Can Help
Most marketers start small by integrating off-the-shelf gen AI tools into their existing workflows for incremental increases in efficiency and effectiveness. Over time, they can begin to customize gen AI for their specific needs, ultimately incorporating a full suite of precisely tailored AI capabilities.
Cerium can help marketers develop a gen AI strategy that enables immediate results and builds on each success. We can identify use cases, aid in tool selection, develop pilot projects, and assist in implementation, integration and customization. We also have data management and data platform experts who can help ensure that marketing data is kept current and accessible. Let us help you leverage gen AI to reap full value from every marketing dollar.
