The Alliance Between Human and Artificial Intelligence in Marketing

Robot vs Humans is a topic that has often been portrayed in Hollywood films and renowned science-fiction books. Their relationship is usually characterised as adversarial: two parties that either fight or exploit each other, like in Robot or Ex-Machina for example. In fact, despite public curiosity and recent technological advancements, there is still a big divide in predictions about AI; While some believe it has vast potential, others remain sceptical.

Although the majority of analysts regard artificial general intelligence (AGI) — whereby a computer could completely replicate human intellect — as a remote possibility best relegated to science fiction, they accept that automation is coming and will change the landscape in many professional fields. As with previous technological shifts, people tend not to be fully aware of them until they affect their daily lives. Take drones, for example. They were initially regarded as a passing fad only of interest to tech geeks. Now, they are used by hospitals to send blood samples and medicines, and by farmers to check how crops are growing. The same goes for AI; people will not begin to re-evaluate their opinion until they see some practical applications of the technology.

AI is generally positively perceived in the marketing industry because many long and energy consuming tasks can be delegated to software and thus reduce the workload of human staff. This positive attitude to AI is reflected in the changes that are already happening. In this article, we are going to go through some of the ways marketers could collaborate with AI to improve their performance.

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Analytics

Artificial intelligence can be very effective when analysing big data. Data can be processed on a scale that would be impossible by conventional means, which results in more accurate predictions of trends and customer behaviour. For example, users switch devices all the time. They use phones, computers, games consoles, and ideally, we can link the type of content to the specific device they are on. Which devices do people spend more time on at a particular time of the day? Is there a correlation between age and the social platforms used? Knowing this allows you to create more targeted content, better engage your community, and ultimately increase sales.

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Audience Targeting

Big data can also be used to find a target audience. If you are launching a new product, you need to target a specific audience. You can’t afford to waste time and resources trying to convince people who are never going to buy your product. So, how do you target the right audience? This is where predictive data comes in. Let’s say you are buying a hairdryer on Amazon. A vast array of data detailing the habits of previous customers might indicate that you are also likely to purchase a hair straightener, or a specific shampoo. In this way, you can pinpoint the specific audience for your product.

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Content marketing

Once the audience is defined, you need to create the right content. However, many agencies struggle to publish enough quality content. AI driven software can help here. AI Writer, for example, lets you enter a headline and find relevant related information on the web. This generates content fast and increases the reach. This is not science-fiction anymore, it is reality. In fact, last year the Washington Post published 850 articles with AI software called Heliograph. This saved staff writers a lot of time which could be invested in other tasks where AI is less useful. Indeed, there are undoubtedly still tasks which technology can’t perform unsupervised, such as building personal relationships with clients (calls and meetings) or organizing events.

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Branding & Communication

Humans use their intuition to tailor their messages correctly to different kinds of audiences. AI then predicts which words are most engaging and can reword what you are trying to communicate. Persado in this sense, is a software that:

“uses its proven predictive language model, which pinpoints the exact words, phrases, visuals and emotions that will maximize engagement, to build stories that seamlessly reflect each brand’s unique voice, each campaign’s unique context, and each audience’s unique interests.”

Thus, the hours spent planning the path to tell the story of a brand and thinking “is this catchy enough?”, “am I using the right words?” are reduced to minutes, if not seconds.

Recently, it is more and more common to see a little chat pop-up in the bottom right corner when visiting a web page. It’s not a poor employee whose task is to greet every visitor to the page, but a chatbot. Think about how much time you have wasted on hotline numbers before being served. How long have you spent on websites trying to find the right section? Chatbots solve these problems. They ask concise questions to understand your needs and then redirect you to a page that contains the information you’re looking for. Some of these chatbots are so advanced that they are almost indistinguishable from a human.

Chatbots improve customer experience and streamline the way your business communicates.

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Ethics

Although AI is helping marketers perform better, this revolution does not come without ethical issues. In the case of writing software, who is going to take credit for the written article? Who responds to a plagiarism suit? A similar ethical discussion arose when self-driven cars were first introduced. The German government has already stipulated that AI systems in cars “must choose material damage over hurting people.”

As businesses increasingly need to harness AI to remain competitive, a common ethical code will become essential. Let’s not forget that AI is created by humans, and it’s our responsibility to use it safely and ethically.

The majority of professional fields will undergo digital changes in the near future. Some fear that AI is going to take their jobs. Others think that AI will disrupt the professional landscape and create new, more interesting jobs. There are many hypotheses that might be considered. What is certain is that those who attempt to close the door to digital disruption will fall behind. Thus, we should ask ourselves “what can I do with the time AI buys me?”, since there will always be tasks more suited to humans than machines. For example, a PR agency completely run by AI would be impersonal because it’s an area of marketing where building relationships between professionals is essential. There is still space for a touch of humanity in every profession. Being scanned by a robot is not the same as seeing your doctor, even if they can deliver the same results. You wouldn’t feel the same after you left the practice, because you are not a malfunctioning car; you are a human being in need of both physical care and psychological reassurance.

Although we keep up with the latest technological trends at THE RELEVANCE HOUSE, we firmly believe in the primacy of human interactions. We love building brands and stories that connect human beings and lead them to action. Our passion and creativity is something that AI cannot emulate. At least not yet.

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Photo credits:

Photo 1 by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels
Photo 2 by cottonbro studio on Pexels