Forging Ahead with AI in 2019 to Change Digital Marketing – But How?

Artificial intelligence has always been a topic of obsession for the masses. The human fascination with AI dates right back to the 50’s with graphic novelists and cinematographers building movie and stories around AI inventions. Little did we know that the days of AI have arrived.

In the last 5 years, the digital media has undergone massive transformation. From the way we react to the digital era, to the digital era taking over our civilization completely; the transformation of media was inevitable. Digitalisation has forced human beings to mutate as a race. With the fast moving developments and easy access to information we now look for quick solutions. As per studies, it is now proven that an individual’s attention span does not exceed 20 seconds. That alone explains the dawn of the AI age.

In the past one year, the latest trend on the digital media front included Chatbots. Chatbots being a mode of improvement in the customer service department and providing easy solutions. But as always, it has its shortcomings. A chatbot while essential to answer customer related queries, were limited to just a certain set of answers; leaving the conversation mechanical and forced.

While chatbots were of use for a certain set of individuals and organisations, some others turned to Artificial Intelligence to seek more personalised solutions. An AI was able to grasp knowledge and integrate it to develop itself further. This very feature sets the two extraordinary innovations apart.

But as nature prevails, the digital species needed something better than this. This is when the artificial intelligence stepped in to better a users experience with a chatbox! An AI integrated Chatbot is all that is buzzing in the digital market today. These chatbots provide the user with a compete human interaction at an optimum rate.

Reading the language and analysing the words used, these AI integrated chatbots use the concept of Natural Language Processing (NPL) and Machine Learning (ML) to develop the answers they give in response to queries. Unlike rule based chat bots, the AI Chatbots give an almost human like response to queries giving it the natural touch a conversation requires.

An AI is a set of codes and heavy set of algorithms written by developers to advance the programs ability to work at an optimum level. It boosts the chatbot’s ability to provide real-time solutions with more accurate results and least amount of human interaction needed.

An AI Bot is the new master of personalised experiences that is clearly needed to hold a customer in today’s fast paced market. It not only helps provide user with solutions for their queries but also understands their inquiry to help optimise its ability to provide solutions in the future.

The digital era is all about evolution and AI plays a major hand at revolutionising the digital market. With the simple ability to collect and analise data, it helps apply quick solutions to the problems faced by the masses. As per my understanding of the current market, here are some ways I think AI is sure to change digital marketing –

Quick Customer Support

With real-time interaction and the ability to grasp and respond to queries quicker, AI has helped create the perfect human interaction for customers. This not only saves the time of the customer and provides them with quick solutions, but also helps the customer have a smoother user experience.

Effective Marketing

AI plays an important role in marketing better. When a user has a great experience using an AI chatbot and answers the bot with all their concerns, it basically provides the bot with personal data that can then be analised and used to improve their experience in the future.

Increased Productivity

An AI integrated chatbot does not require human intervention. This means that other than the upkeep and regular testing, a human resource can now be redirected towards other important fields of work. This not only increases productivity but also increases the workforce in an organization.

Better ROI

ROI is the core purpose of any business. A better ROI can be achieved through AI. With quick real-time responses, accurate solutions and a better interaction with customers, the AI Chatbot is by far the best solution at increasing the ROI of an organisation.

Content Curation

The content curated can be personalised to an individual’s needs simply through analysis. The AI’s algorithms allow it to understand what a customer needs and help tailor the responses as per the person.

User Experience

With responses that have optimal human touch, the AI chatbot ensures that a user has the best experience during interaction. And as a marketer the first rule is “A happy customer is a long term customer!”.

Analysing Customer Behavior

The AI chatbot is the best gift science could give a marketer. Just the ability to analyse and act on a customer’s behaviour is half the solution marketers have been looking for ages.

With the use of AI industries can revolutionise the way marketing works. Not just the chatbots but also marketing in general is so influenced by artificial intelligence, that there is no saying where the media is headed today. From social media sites to search engines, each mode of information and communication is influenced by AI. Google Ad words, Facebook Pixel Marketing, even Microsoft Office is influenced by the AI technology.

Data in today’s word is one of the most important resources for any business. The ability to collect and analyse this data is another such great wonder that influences this AI era. The secret to a successful brand if you ask me is purely based on the company’s culture, customer satisfaction and connectivity. Achieve this and you can rule your market. With AI all these 3 golden points become key!

A company’s culture sets the bench mark for customers and the people in the organisation. With the integration of AI in every process, you ensure a smooth functioning within the organisation. AI driven recruiting sites ensure the best resources that can optimise productivity.

AI driven communication is like gold to an organisation. Not only does it give the company an analysis on what its customer needs but also help understand the mind-set of the people in the organisation. This means that organisers can analyse internal communication to smoothen out bumps and bridge communication gaps through the AI technology.

And most importantly with the help of the data it optimises customer satisfaction. The very goal of any business is to have the utmost satisfaction and support from its customers. AI now enables us to do just that!

AI like any other form of virtual support cannot be considered perfect. It has its flaws that need to be taken care of. While it promises real-time interaction and with optimal human touch, it does not mean that there are no errors that are faced by users. Human intervention and constant maintenance is always needed. AI if misused can lead to catastrophic results. It is highly essential to ensure that there are no misuses. It also leads to a decrease in human interaction. With the digital age interactions have become limited and continue to decrease further with time. Researchers have shown studies that state human interactions will decrease too by almost 30% over a duration of certain years.

Many organisations have now adopted an all AI driven function and aim at achieving the best results in time. Our obsession with AI and fascination with the way it functions is what has lead to its arrival in to civilization. While it is yet to integrate itself in our society like they show in movies, we can safely say that it is time we shall accept it completely to help achieve targets that were once impossible.

This alone is the biggest trends in the digital media this year and is sure to stay for a while. With companies like Google and Facebook adopting the same on a wider aspect, we should strive to use it in the right form to help the digital era grow.

By Dhananjay Arora, Founder & CEO, Kwebmaker Digital Agency