Navigating AI:
Improving the performance of marketing

In today's fast-paced digital landscape, marketing organisations are constantly seeking new opportunities to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their marketing activities.

One key technology that promises to revolutionise the marketing industry is, of course, Artificial Intelligence (AI). With its ability to analyse vast amounts of data and identify trends that can be acted upon, AI has the potential to transform the way organisations operate and be more effective in their performance marketing.

I believe AI presents several challenges that marketing leaders must address to ensure its appropriate usage within their organisations.

In this article, I will share my thoughts on navigating the world of AI to encourage its effective implementation and usage within your marketing organisation.

Adapting to unprecedented change

AI tools and recommendations are everywhere – most likely in your X feeds, across Meta and on LinkedIn – making it almost impossible for marketers to know which are credible, which are simply prompt-enablers for ChatGPT or which are completely unsuitable for use in their organisation. And like technology advancements before it, there’s rightly scepticism, fear, unanswered questions, and a need to mitigate risk through shadow IT policies for staff.

Let’s be clear. AI is not a magical solution that can solve all of your marketing woes or, on its own, achieve your strategic objectives. Understanding the capabilities and limitations of AI is crucial. It is essential for your team of marketing professionals to have a solid grasp of these concepts so they can leverage AI effectively, and start investigating how your marketing function could evolve.

Additionally, marketing leaders should educate their teams on the potential benefits and risks associated with AI, fostering a culture of knowledge, awareness, openness, and trust.

Bringing your team with you

Incorporating AI into your marketing organisation necessitates a cultural shift. So foster a mindset that embraces technology and encourages your teams to use AI as a technology that empowers them, rather than replaces them. Transparent communication is vital in dispelling any concerns or fears among employees regarding potential risks to their jobs due to AI.

Defining the specific objectives you hope to achieve through AI implementation is a big part of that. Whether it’s improving customer segmentation, automating repetitive tasks or providing more timely predictive analysis, establishing goals can guide your teams towards using AI in a way that aligns with your overall marketing strategy.

Set realistic expectations and encourage experimentation, while also emphasising the importance of measuring and analysing outcomes to refine your approach.

Supporting your teams effectively

Providing proper training and support is crucial in enabling your teams to effectively navigate AI, equipping them with the necessary skills and knowledge to leverage AI tools. But it’s just as important to encourage segmented responsibilities.

At Revere, we provide the team with a regular feedback loop to help identify areas for improvement and ensure ongoing development in the ever-evolving field of AI. It’s a great way to identify areas that will have a meaningful impact, and which are credible solutions that should be adopted. Please get in touch with me if you want to know exactly how we’re managing this shift.

What meaningful looks like is different for every organisation. Identify pain points to determine where AI can bring the most impact and then allocate resources accordingly. That’s how we’re adopting AI at Revere. We ask: where can AI have the most impact for us as a business, how can we bring our incredible teams and culture on that journey with us and, crucially, how can AI enhance our client’s connected marketing strategies?

Having cohesion between AI and your teams

I believe it’s essential to strike a balance between human expertise and AI capabilities. While AI can automate repetitive tasks and provide valuable insights, human creativity, intuition, and strategic thinking remain irreplaceable. It’s something that’s central to our own AI implementation at Revere, from generative AI to wider martech evolution.

As AI inevitably becomes increasingly integrated into the workplace, with barriers to adoption and compliance broken down, it is important to address any potential concerns or scepticism among your teams. Rather than replacing human marketers, AI should be seen as a route to evolve, augment and enhance skills, and foster a collaborative environment between AI and human marketers. And the adoption is now – this isn’t a futuristic vision.

Where AI could assist with the effectiveness of your technology stack

So, how could AI assist you in delivering more effective marketing activities, applications and SaaS? From Salesforce’s Einstein, to Microsoft Dynamics Customer Insights or prompt-interfaces that utilise ChatGPT, there are many applications that could enable more effective marketing functions:

• Marketing automation with personalised email marketing: Personalise email marketing campaigns based on your customer’s demographics, interests, and engagement. This can help you to increase open rates, click-through rates and conversion rates, and provide an increased value from marketing back into your business. And then AI could be used for lead scoring, enabling your sales teams to prioritise their efforts towards the customers of greatest value.
• Predictive analytics: Create more targeted and effective marketing campaigns by predicting buyer behaviours, such as which services customers are likely to buy or which marketing channels they are likely to respond to and through.
• Chatbots: AI powered chatbots can be used to facilitate customer engagement 24/7. This can free up customer service representatives to focus on more complex tasks, with AI providing first-line support services to customers at all times of the day.
• Keyword research: Analyse large amounts of data with ease to identify the most relevant keywords for a website, campaign or long-term strategy. This is a great way to create effective content that is more likely to rank highly in search results.
• Technical SEO: Discover tools that can identify and offer to fix technical SEO issues on your website. This includes broken links, duplicate content or slow loading times.
• Application development: AI can assist with the development of bespoke applications through automated testing, defect identification, fix prioritisation, generate test cases and pilot-phase launches. This is a huge area of evolution, assisting with an increase in the quality of developments.
• Paid activation: Leverage AI tools to automate bidding on paid media campaigns, optimise targeting, personalise ads, prevent fraud and then report on successes. Human management is still essential to interpreting the intelligence provided, but marketers will be able to focus on evolving activities in a far more timely manner, ultimately leading to more effective performance marketing.
• Social listening: Gain a holistic view of your brand’s perception by identifying and tracking relevant conversations across a variety of social media platforms. This can help your business to stay up to date on what is being said about brand, products and services. It can also be used for competitor insights or to identify trends that need to be acted upon.
• Influencer marketing: Some AI tools can support your influencer marketing strategy by identifying influencers who are talking about your brand, products and services, or who can provide a route to reach and engage with your target audiences. 
  

Having a regulated approach

Keeping up with the latest advancements in AI technology is essential. The AI landscape is rapidly evolving, and marketing leaders need to stay informed about new tools and trends to keep ahead of the curve and maximise the benefits that AI can offer.

Alongside the clear advantages that AI brings, encouraging appropriate use of AI involves addressing ethical considerations. Data privacy and security are paramount when using AI technologies, especially when it comes to handling sensitive customer information. Indeed, many organisations are limiting access to tools such as ChatGPT to reduce risk.

Your organisation must establish clear guidelines and protocols for data collection, storage, and usage, ensuring compliance with relevant regulations and industry standards, as well as with your own business’ policies. Communicate transparently with your customers regarding the use of AI in marketing initiatives, as this builds trust and promotes ethical practice, potentially setting you apart from your peers.

Moving forward with AI

Navigating AI in your business is not a one-time effort but a continuous journey. Stay abreast of the latest trends and advancements in AI technology and be willing to adapt your strategies accordingly.

Marketing leaders must understand the capabilities and limitations of AI, identify areas where it can bring the most value, and strike a balance between AI and human expertise and experience. The value of your team must not be underestimated or taken for granted, but all of us must adapt in this increasingly AI-driven technology environment.

Embrace a growth mindset and encourage a culture of innovation, where new ideas and approaches are welcomed. But have processes in place to record how effective your transformational journey is, through due diligence of the applications, to the results that are achieved.

I see so much value and tangible benefits in what AI offers right now, and I’m appreciative of the speed that these tools are evolving. The whole team at Revere are embracing AI to unlock new levels of effectiveness in their activities, while delivering meaningful experiences and performance marketing for our clients.

Note: Various AI tools have been piloted as part of the creation process for this article. Through prompts, Simplified, Bard and Claude are tools that have provided insights that have been adapted. And further, to provide sources of statistical evidence to back up the points raised.

But, and to back-up the transparency point referenced in this article, this content has not been generated directly by AI tools, nor would we ever consider that approach for our clients unless requested to do so and with their full agreement.