With the relatively recent application of technology to marketing comes the rapid rise of artificial intelligence. But what is it exactly and how can it help you? Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of computers to perform tasks, which includes using data to help people make decisions and also to make and apply decisions without human intervention.  In doing so, AI has the potential to take on an enormous amount of manual, time-consuming work, such as collecting data, analyzing it, and making recommendations.

Because of this usefulness, AI is now being built into many marketing applications, including predictive analytics, personalization, messaging, and content creation, among others. In fact, according to the 2017 State of Marketing survey of 3,500 marketers by Salesforce Research “AI is the leading technology where marketers expect the most growth over the next two years. Marketers anticipate AI use will grow by 53% — a much higher rate than any other tech types.”¹ The report goes on to say that “about half (51%) of marketing leaders are already using AI, with more than a quarter planning to pilot it in the next two years. Unsurprisingly, high performers lead the way with 72% reporting current use.” The bottom line is that if you haven’t jumped on the AI bandwagon yet, you’d better think about it pretty quickly or you’ll likely be losing ground to your competitors. The good news is that AI-driven applications are fairly intuitive to use and offer you a raft of benefits you’d be hard-pressed to find in even the most talented of marketing teams. The combination of AI with great market talent and an effective marketing technology stack makes for a winning formula.

To help you get started, we’re pulling together a new blog post series to examine the AI revolution in marketing. Here’s what we’ll cover:

• Part 2: Specific Use Cases and Benefits to Marketers
• Part 3: How to Leverage AI in B2B Technology Marketing
• Part 4: Challenges and Roadblocks
• Part 5: Considerations When Integrating and Using AI
• Part 6: The Future of AI in Marketing

Stay tuned for the second blog post in our series on specific use cases and how you can benefit.

About the author

Kim Ann King is the author of “The Complete Guide to B2B Marketing: New Tools, Tactics, and Techniques to Succeed in the Digital Economy.” She has helped launch and build several pioneering Internet companies and writes frequently about artificial intelligence, marketing technology, e-commerce, and cybersecurity.

[1] Fourth Annual State of Marketing report, Salesforce Research, April 2017. http://www.salesforce.com/assets/pdf/datasheets/salesforce-research-fourth-annual-state-of-marketing.pdf