How to Use AI and Automation in Digital Marketing

Imagine if you could run social media ads that were personalized for every user. Or automatically generate and send newsletters to a thousand subscribers based on what they love to hear from your brand. All of that is possible, thanks to artificial intelligence or AI.

In this blog post, we’ll inspire you with different ways to use automation and AI in digital marketing and take it to the next level. We’ve also dropped some recommendations for AI tools and marketing automation platforms, so make sure to check them out.

Understanding AI and Automation in Digital Marketing

“You can think of AI like a super-powered brain that can process a ton of data in a split second, figuring out what works for your audience (or different segments of it). It predicts what they like before they even know it themselves, and picks up on their sentiment based on their online behavior.”

— [ Ian Nicholls, Founder – AutomobilGarage.com ]

Simply put, AI works like a human brain with 100x processing power. It can perform highly complex calculations, analyze chunks of data, and recognize patterns—all at lightning speed.

Automation, on the other hand, takes care of the heavy lifting. We’re talking about scheduling posts, sending follow-up emails, and even tweaking ad campaigns in the background.

Together, artificial intelligence and automation can give your marketing efforts a turbo boost, transforming how you engage with your audience, forever.

The Key Benefits of AI and Automation in Digital Marketing

Let’s see what AI and automation have to offer when it comes to digital marketing:

1. Personalization at Scale

Sending personalized holiday cards to your relatives is one thing. Personalizing emails for a hundred strangers, another.

Thankfully, AI can analyze user behavior to understand what they want and deliver personalized content across the board. 

For starters, you can automatically recommend products to the user based on their browsing patterns.

2. Improved Customer Experience

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Nobody likes waiting. Not even that customer who has already bought ten times from you and is head over heels with your brand.

With AI and automation, you can not only personalize customer experience but also speed it up so that no one is left hanging.

In fact, you can also anticipate their needs to provide a smoother and faster experience.

3. Enhanced Data Analysis and Decision-making

Remember, how we said AI can process vast amounts of data within seconds? Yeah, so it can also turn that into actionable insights (think user-friendly reports) pretty quickly.

This makes data-driven marketing a breeze, so every move you make is backed by facts, not guesses.

4. Efficiency and Cost Reduction

Let’s be real—running a business isn’t cheap, and time is money. Silly errors and repetitive work can waste a lot of resources.

That’s why marketing automation is a must. You can automate social media posts, email campaigns, and even customer support queries, freeing up time for the bigger things.

Key Areas to Apply AI in Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is a vast field. So, let’s break it down into six main areas where you can apply AI and automation to reap their benefits:

1. Content Creation and Curation

Have you ever brainstormed an idea for hours only to realize days later that it simply does not deliver? That’s no longer a problem with artificial intelligence.

AI can generate ideas faster than a popcorn-maker. It can analyze current trends across different platforms to figure out what type of content or topic your audience really wants to see.

For example, if you run a food blog, you can feed basic recipe instructions into Jasper and it will transform that into a hot-selling article.

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And if you are a content curator lost in the midst of endless articles, videos, and social posts—AI can help you as well. It finds what’s relevant based on different contexts—location, time, occasion, target audience, etc.

Take Spotify for example. It leverages AI to curate different playlists, personalized to each user’s taste. Imagine doing the same with your content using AI.

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2. Email Marketing

Did you know that 63% of global marketers turn to automation for their email marketing campaigns? That speaks a ton about the role of AI in digital marketing.

Especially when you can whip up entire workflows to automatically send out personalized emails based on user behavior with AI-driven tools.

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And we’re not just talking about personalized subject lines, but the entire email content. You can recommend products in your newsletters based on the user’s recent browsing history. Or send a follow-up email with related discount offers.

3. Social Media Marketing

As fun as social media is, keeping up with its trends is like chasing your tail – impossible. Unless you have some magic AI technology that can analyze the best times to post, find out what type of content resonates most with your followers, and even schedule posts across multiple social platforms.

To top it off, AI can also analyze social media sentiment—that means it gives you a real-time pulse on how people feel about your brand. It can track mentions, hashtags, and overall sentiment so that you’re always ten steps ahead of any negative feedback.

4. Pay-per-click (PPC) Advertising

PPC campaigns are some tough nuts to crack. You have to manually tweak bids, then create ads from scratch, and monitor their performance like a watchdog. But what if you could put all of that on autopilot? That’s exactly what AI does! It automates ad targeting, bidding, and even ad creation.

Not only that, but it can also automatically adjust your bids in real time based on how well an ad is performing. This type of smart optimization can get you higher click-through rates without overspending.

As a result, you can run data-driven campaigns with a high level of precision targeting that would be nearly impossible to achieve if done manually.

5. Customer Service and Chatbots

While small businesses might be able to handle the load of queries they receive per day, it gets tricky as you scale up and increase your customer base. And adding more human reps just means more expenses.

AI-powered chatbots can help you with that. They can handle basic FAQs, process orders, and even tackle tricky customer issues by forwarding them to human agents when needed.

And the numbers are pretty convincing: Chatbots can cover up to 80% of routine customer support questions, which means you can save around 30% on customer service costs.

Take Sephora’s chatbot, for example. It asks users about skin type and preferences, then suggests products that fit their needs. It feels like you’ve got a personal shopping assistant at your beck and call, rather than just a chatbot.

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6. SEO and Content Optimization

SEO feels like shooting darts in the dark for most businesses. You’re always “guessing” the right keywords or doing hit-and-trials to see what works. But that’s no longer a worry with AI.

Let’s understand this with an example. Say, you run a website design agency and want to rank higher for the keyword “custom website design.”

Now, with AI tools, you can see what’s working for your competitors—the right keyword density, the best content structure, certain headings or topics that Google favors, etc.

On top of that, you can use AI to monitor the performance of your website pages and provide suggestions—tweaking meta tags, opportunities for internal linking, or updating old content for better rankings.

AI Tools for Digital Marketers

AI and automation go a long way in cutting manual workload, setting up data-driven campaigns, and driving customer engagement. But that doesn’t mean every AI and marketing tool is worth the penny.

So, let’s explore some popular choices and understand how you can find the right tool for your business.

1. Popular AI Tools for Digital Marketing

Below are 7 favorite AI tools for digital marketing along with key features:

• Jasper AI: AI-powered copywriting, audience-specific writing, customizable tone, generates content variations

• Frase: SEO content briefs, real-time competitive analysis, keyword/structure/content suggestions, analysis of top-ranking pages

• Hemingway: enhances content readability, highlights passive voice, flags complex or hard-to-read sentences, AI-powered tone variations

• Canva: smart layout recommendations, AI-based design suggestions, automatic color and font matching

• Surfer SEO: AI-driven SEO audits, content optimization suggestions, keyword density analysis, on-page SEO recommendations

• Tidio: AI-powered chatbot, automates customer interactions, smart product recommendations, learns from user queries

• Seventh Sense: AI-driven email scheduling, personalized send times, boosts open rates, analyzes individual engagement plans

2. Popular Marketing Automation Platforms

Below are 7 marketing automation platforms that you can try:

• HubSpot: AI-powered email personalization, automated email sequences, marketing funnel automation, automated customer segmentation, chatbots for customer support

• Mailchimp: multi-channel marketing automation, drip campaigns, email automation workflows, predictive insights

• Klaviyo: automated email and SMS flows, triggered messages based on user behavior, abandoned cart recovery, product-based recommendations

• Customer.io: time-based messaging automation, dynamic segmentation, behavior-triggered campaigns

• Omnisend: automated workflows across emails/SMS/push notifications, cart abandonment sequences, product recommendation emails

• Salesforce Marketing Cloud: automated digital customer journeys, multi-channel campaign automation, lead scoring automation, lifecycle marketing workflows, dynamic content personalization

• Drip: eCommerce marketing automation, behavior-based email triggers, personalized post-purchase follow-ups

3. How to Choose the Right Tools for Your Business

Here’s a quick guide to help you pick the right AI/ marketing automation tool for your business:

• First, figure out what you want to achieve with your marketing. Do you want to generate leads or drive customer engagement? Choose a tool that fits your goals.

• Go for no-code tools that are easy to use and don’t need a lot of training. 

• Check if the tool has solid AI and integration features. Look for things like personalization, automation, sentiment analysis, and predictive analytics.

• Make sure the platform can grow with your business. You don’t want to hit a wall when things take off.

• Good customer support is always a win.

• If you’re stuck, consider reaching out to an AI consulting company for personalized advice and custom AI solutions for your business.

Conclusion

AI and automation enable businesses to work smarter, connect with audiences on a deeper level, and achieve better results.

By incorporating AI into key areas like content creation, data analysis, and personalized customer experiences, you can unlock new opportunities to grow your brand and stay ahead of the competition.

With the right tools and strategies, harnessing the power of AI can be your secret weapon for scaling campaigns and streamlining marketing efforts. Start using AI-powered tools and take the first step toward smarter, more efficient marketing.

Find out how Webnode AI website builder can simplify your website creation

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Author Bio:

Neha Arora – Neha is a content marketing specialist with over 3 years of experience in creating engaging and effective content for various SaaS companies. She specializes in developing content strategies that drive website traffic and generate leads.

Contact: neha@thestartupinc.com