How 28 Brands Are Using AI to Enhance Their Marketing [Infographic]

For a moment, let’s not worry about the looming predictions of a super-intelligent robots ending humanity’s reign over the planet.

Let’s focus on the present and the wildly creative fun we get to have with all the new artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities that are available to us as marketers.

First, a quick definition:

Artificial Intelligence
noun

the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.

 Not so scary, right?

In fact, AI is swiftly solving a lot of the sales and marketing woes resulting from countless consumers expecting personalized experiences from brands and the small teams behind them.

Many of the AI technologies in the sales and marketing sphere today are built to automate or extend a single marketer’s abilities by acting as the highly-specialized, tireless interns that we’ve always wanted.

They focus on one task, do it very efficiently and consistently, and allow us to focus on tasks that require more of a human touch.

From personalized movie options to answering your questions while shopping online to supporting sales, AI is being used by brands around us every day.

Netflix, for example, is using AI to provide personalized recommendations for viewing, even down to the cover image used for your favorite show or movie. And YouTube saw a 50% increase in watch time on videos when AI was implemented to provide recommendations.

But it’s not just video that’s seeing an increase with personalization.

80% of marketers say that their content is more effective when personalized with the help of AI.

Google is helping to draft emails with you via their predictive text option in Gmail.

Sephora is using chatbots to talk beauty tips and purchase suggestions with users, helping to take the edge off of the sales pitch by making it into more of a personal conversation (like it would be in-store).

Customer service departments are adopting chatbots at a very quick rate, and it’s predicted that 85% of all customer service interactions will be powered by AI in 2020.

While chatbots do take some upfront effort to get set up, they allow businesses to save a lot of time and human resources by fielding easy questions and sales pitches without human involvement. It’s predicted that, by 2022, chatbots will be responsible for saving over $8B annually.

AI is much more than just chatbots and content support though. For more on the brands you know and how they’re using AI to power their sales, marketing, and customer experience, check out the infographic below.

With AI taking on a lot of the heavy lifting and showing no signs of stopping, a lot of people are worried about it taking their jobs, but the current AI being used in marketing and sales is helping to take on tasks, not full jobs.

It’s most likely that “AI's rise and ensuing surge in productivity will spur a plethora of opportunities for employees to upgrade their skills and focus on creative aspects.”

So dive in - maybe start with a simple chatbot - and set yourself and your customers up for a successful blend of technology and human creativity. It’ll take some work, but it will be worth it.

For those who want to take a deeper dive into the superintelligent-AI-takes-over-the-world scenario, Nick Bostrom has a pretty technical breakdown called Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies that you might want to check out.