Artificial Intelligence and Marketing in 2018

Now that we’re a few months into 2018, it is about time to look back at the projected trends for the year. While some of these predictions may have fallen out of the popular conversation, one certainly has not. Artificial intelligence and marketing in 2018 continue to be something on practically every digital marketer’s mind. But why? Now that we’re three and a half months into the year, what have we learned about artificial intelligence and marketing? Well, in short, quite a bit. Even though we started the conversation about AI years ago, a lot has changed. As digital marketers keeping up with industry trends, there are a few things to keep in mind about AI.

Artificial Intelligence and Marketing

While the list of ways that AI is affecting marketing could go on forever, we’ve highlighted a few of the key things to keep in mind. Is there anything important that we left off the list? We’d love to hear what you think in the comments below!

SEO and AI

Perhaps the two best-known acronyms in digital marketing these days, SEO and AI are now extremely important to one another. For years, search engines have been getting smarter. Google has been developing sophisticated algorithms to determine the user’s search intent for years. However, AI is the next great development in improving the user experience. Since AI is all about machine learning, it can be used to learn about users’ search intent and generate better results. So, the SEO practices that we know today, which are already shaped by AI, are only likely to change further throughout 2018 and beyond.

Need For High-Quality Data

Machine learning requires immense amounts of data to work as effectively as possible. Since computers are able to analyze this data exponentially faster than humans, there is practically no limit to how much data these machines can interpret. However, this means that the outcome of machine learning is highly dependent upon the quality of data available. Therefore, the more precisely that data is measured and made available, artificial intelligence will be more productive.

AI and Smarter Recommendations

Whether you are a digital marketer or not, anyone using the internet has shared the experience of seeing smarter recommendations. Think about it, you’re scrolling through your Facebook feed and you see an ad for a car just days after you read that article about the newest make or model. Or that playlist you’re streaming comes to an end but Spotify continues to play the music that perfectly fits your tastes. This is not to mention Amazon’s recommended products. Ultimately, people are being driven to make transactions online in entirely new ways. If the products people want to buy appear to them naturally, that will surely affect the way that people interact with search engines.

The Role of Dynamic Pricing

Over a year ago we wrote a similar blog about artificial intelligence and marketing. Obviously, a lot has changed since then. However, one thing that hasn’t changed is the role of dynamic pricing as it relates to the consumer experience. With more users than ever online and people becoming increasingly comfortable making transactions online, AI has more high-quality data (see above) than ever at its disposal. This means that prices can adjust even more rapidly to account for purchasing patterns worldwide. If consumers can’t count on today’s price is the same tomorrow, how will that influence their purchasing patterns?

As we mentioned above, there are really countless potential intersections of artificial intelligence and marketing in 2018 and beyond. However, the important thing to keep in mind is that AI continues to shape the digital marketing landscape. At this point, we really have no reason to expect anything different looking ahead. This impact online will extend far beyond digital marketers too. As user experience becomes paramount to AI, internet companies will be looking for more UX developers than ever before. In fact, we’ve got a few job openings right here at Track5Media, LLC. Regardless, there is a lot to look forward to with artificial intelligence and marketing.