What are the benefits of AI for marketing and sales?
Indeed, AI has capacities that are comparative to human cognitive capacities such as perception, reasoning, learning, interaction with the environment and problem-solving. In addition to saving time; AI can also bring automation, forecasting and personalisation.
Automation
It allows machines to make decisions, or at least to assist humans with a decision. For example, AI can help marketers and salespeople automate and streamline their workflows, such as scheduling, posting, sending, and tracking their campaigns and activities. AI can also help them automate and optimize their content creation and distribution, such as generating engaging and relevant copy, headlines, images, and videos.
Forecasting
It is based on having a strong correlation with data, to anticipate and develop models for future scenarios. For example, AI can help marketers and salespeople forecast and predict customer behaviour, preferences, needs, and expectations. AI can also help them forecast and predict market trends, opportunities, and threats, and adjust their strategies accordingly.
Personalisation
This refers to the capacity of AI to design and produce strategies to meet individual requirements. For example, AI can help marketers and salespeople personalise and tailor their message and content to each customer segment and individual, based on their data and insights. AI can also help them personalise and tailor their offers and recommendations, based on their purchase history and feedback.
These benefits will redefine marketing and sales industries towards faster, more accurate and efficient practices, which will ultimately lead to higher customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention, as well as increased revenue and growth.
What are the challenges of AI for marketing and sales?
Reshaping marketing and sales also refer to changing the workforce or training. Indeed, to integrate AI into marketing and sales it requires experts to drive this complex technology. The solution could be to hire new staff or could be to train marketing and sales teams to understand enough about data analysis to translate problems into AI questions.
However, this also poses some challenges, such as:
The skills gap
There is a shortage of qualified and experienced professionals who can work with AI and data, especially in marketing and sales. According to a report by LinkedIn, the demand for AI skills has grown by 190% since 2015, while the supply of talent has not kept up. This means that finding and hiring the right people for AI-related roles can be difficult and costly.
The ethical issues
There are also some ethical and social issues that arise from the use of AI and data in marketing and sales, such as privacy, security, transparency, accountability, and bias. For example, how can marketers and salespeople ensure that they are using customer data in a respectful and responsible way, without violating their trust or rights? How can they ensure that their AI systems are fair and unbiased, and do not discriminate or harm anyone?
The human touch
There is also the risk of losing the human touch and connection that is essential for building and maintaining relationships with customers. For example, how can marketers and salespeople balance the use of AI and automation with the need for human empathy and emotion? How can they ensure that their AI systems are not too intrusive or annoying, and that they still provide value and relevance to their customers?
These challenges require careful consideration and regulation, as well as continuous learning and improvement, to ensure that AI is used in a beneficial and ethical way for marketing and sales.
What are some examples of AI in marketing and sales?
AI is already present in the marketing and sales industry, and there are many examples of how it is transforming the way marketers and salespeople work and interact with their customers. Here are some of them:
Robotic Marketer. As mentioned earlier, Robotic Marketer is an example of an AI-powered marketing strategy platform that can create a personalized and data-driven marketing plan in record time. The platform uses AI and machine learning to analyze market research, trends, and consumer insights, and generate a 50+ page marketing plan tailored to the business goals and objectives. The platform can also integrate with existing CRM systems, such as Pipedrive, HubSpot, or Salesforce, to provide even more powerful insights and automation capabilities.
