AI Could Put ‘Holy Grail’ of Retail Offers Within Reach

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the way companies approach data-driven customer marketing.

The benefits of AI in marketing are substantial, experts say. AI-powered systems offer the potential to unearth insights from customer databases, automate crucial campaign management tasks, and engage with buyers in more natural ways.

“A digital marketing transformation is underway, and AI is driving it,” Aruna Ravichandran, SVP/CMO at Webex by Cisco, told PYMNTS. “AI promises to be a game-changer in the world of marketing because it equips marketers with sophisticated tools to easily decipher trends, analyze data, predict consumer preferences and behavior, and develop actionable strategies using that information. In 2024, we can expect more brands to use AI to deliver highly personalized content to target audiences at a larger scale. With the ability to deliver tailored content at scale, AI will help brands cultivate stronger connections, engagement, and higher conversion rates.”

Growing Uses for Data Analysis

AI technology is expected to drive enhancements in personalization, customer segmentation, and real-time marketing optimization.

“AI is most useful for marketing in its ability to power advanced personalization strategies,” Jean-Matthieu Schertzer,  chief AI officer at Eagle Eye, told PYMNTS.  “For a long time, we’ve said that true one-to-one engagement is the ‘holy grail’ of retail marketing, and with AI, that grail is finally within our reach.”

One fundamental way AI is being used in marketing is for data analysis. Hannah Parvaz, a business strategy consultant at Aperture, is leveraging AI to analyze data from 2023 and 2022, focusing on identifying and understanding the impact of significant events, such as an app launch or media coverage. By examining the data before and after these events, Parvaz and her team can assess whether the impact was negligible, minor, or substantial, providing insights into the effectiveness of various marketing initiatives.

AI is also a valuable tool for creativity and creative tasks. “AI also helps me with ideation: so when we are working on any new creative briefs or copy, especially for scripts for UGC [user-generated content] videos, I often input real customer language around how they describe a company or product and then brainstorm different hooks and messages based on the reasons customers use a product,” Parvaz shared.

Research is another area where AI is making an impact. Parvaz highlighted a specific example: “When there have been algorithmic changes with our favorite advertising platforms, or when Apple made changes to their attribution model, the SKAdNetwork, I have been educated by Perplexity.”

She further explained, “For example, when SKAN4.0 was released, I spent time understanding how the different postbacks are graded and measured, and what that means in human language is that after there were big changes to how marketers can measure the performance of their advertising in 2021, from having lots of visibility to very low visibility, some of that visibility is coming back — as long as you understand how to set it up.”

Productivity Booster

Alexander Kuznetsov, digital reputation expert at RCheckUP, told PYMNTS that his agency is harnessing AI to boost productivity.

“At RCheckUP, we actively integrate AI into our daily operations to maximize efficiency and creativity,” Kuznetsov said. “One vivid example is using AI-generated images to manage and enhance a Twitter account.”

AI tools allow marketers to understand and get ahead of emerging online narratives, Alex Merrill, director of product at Accrete, told PYMNTS. He also noted that AI agents can detect potential brand threats, enabling marketers to respond promptly with counterstatements or other forms of engagement.

Merrill said Accrete’s Nebula Social platform, which focuses on cultural narrative prediction, has already demonstrated the power of AI in marketing.

“For a mobile gaming client, we recently identified top influencers based on their community influence rather than follower counts, and our Nebula Social tool then created a preliminary marketing plan with an influencer recommendation,” he added. “That recommendation was not the influencer with the highest numbers, but one that highest predicted chance of going viral.”