AI and the future of digital marketing

M.R. Taufique | Published: September 10, 2024 20:29:10

The rapid growth of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and digital media is quickly changing how people buy products and how marketers connect with customers. New tools like big data, artificial intelligence (AI), advanced analytics, GPS, and other mobile and internet technologies are transforming business models. Among these, AI is getting a lot of attention in marketing because it is becoming more powerful, less expensive, and can handle large amounts of data.
AI is a game-changer, reshaping how businesses operate in various industries. As the AI technology continues to evolve, future marketing, especially digital marketing, will need to adapt by using new strategies for sales, online shopping, customer service, and tracking customer behaviour.
Marketing is always evolving, adopting new methods like digital marketing to better reach and understand customers. Digital marketing can be most effective if it can manage the massive amounts of data being created, and AI has already proven to be a valuable tool in this area. AI has transformed digital marketing by helping marketers make faster and more accurate decisions based on data. For example, AI-powered image recognition technology helps companies decide the best way to create and place ads on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, which strengthens their digital marketing strategies. Because of this, many companies are already using AI-based services like Amazon Lex, Google Assistant, and Microsoft Cognitive Services as part of their digital marketing efforts. By adopting AI, companies can better interact with customers, improve market predictions, and automate more of their processes.
One of the key differences between AI and older types of information technology is that AI can learn and improve by using data like text, audio, and video. This means AI gets better over time based on the data it receives, and its performance improves as a result. We can describe AI’s performance at three levels:
Mechanical Intelligence: This is the ability to do simple, repetitive tasks with little learning or adaptation, like what you see in factory automation. In digital marketing, for example, machine learning (ML) can help divide online customers into small groups based on their preferences so they can get personalized recommendations.
Thinking Intelligence: This is the ability to make decisions by learning and adapting systematically, like self-driving cars do. For example, AI chatbots can now understand different customer accents and other specific customer issues.
Feeling Intelligence: This is the ability to recognise and respond to human emotions. In marketing, AI can help create brand messages that connect with customers’ feelings, though this capability is still being developed and has a long way to go.
Today, the amount of data generated by machines and people is too much for humans to handle. AI is becoming the best solution for analysing this data because it can do things that traditional methods can’t. While traditional methods rely on existing knowledge to make conclusions (deductive reasoning), AI can also learn from the data itself without needing prior knowledge (inductive reasoning).
Over the past decade, AI has gone from being a buzzword to an important business tool. It’s being used in almost every industry, especially in digital marketing. AI-powered tools are also helping customers choose the best products by predicting what they might like, which encourages them to buy. Offline, companies are combining AI with tools like facial recognition to better understand and target their customers with personalised promotions. In supply chains, AI is becoming more popular because it helps companies manage their inventory better, reducing waste and improving efficiency.
While AI has raised some ethical concerns, especially about privacy and surveillance, its benefits in business and marketing are hard to ignore. Some worry that comparing human abilities to machines challenges human superiority. Despite these concerns, AI continues to be an important tool across different sectors.
In the near future, the role of AI in marketing will only continue to expand, driving even more sophisticated and personalised customer experiences. As AI technology evolves, businesses that embrace these advancements will be able to predict consumer needs with unprecedented accuracy, create highly targeted marketing campaigns, and automate complex processes seamlessly. The integration of AI will not just enhance efficiency but also open new avenues for innovation, enabling companies to stay ahead in an increasingly competitive digital landscape. Those who adapt and leverage AI will set the standards for success in this new era, where technology and human insight combine to shape the future of customer engagement.
Dr. Khan M.R. Taufique is a faculty member of Oxford Brookes Business School, OXFORD, UK and a visiting Associate Professor
of American International University Bangladesh (AIUB). ktaufique@brookes.ac.uk, raziuddin@aiub.edu