With AI, a whole new frontier is emerging right before our eyes - and most marketers are just beginning to chart their exploration. There are so many possibilities and unknowns - but the promise and accessibility of AI tech is quickly becoming tangible and all-too-real. Marketers that dove in head-first earlier this year with ChatGPT, for example, quickly saw the potential value AI could bring to their work product - and started to test different ways to fold it into their workstreams.

Like most early adopters, marketers looking for ways to leverage AI recognize that they may make some mistakes - but because of the significant impact that AI-powered applications can potentially deliver, taking calculated risks is “worth it”. These forward-thinking marketers understand that with every success or victory achieved with AI, there may very well be a failure or setback right around the corner - after all - ‘Rome was not built in a day’. However, they also know that ‘Rome’ was built one stone, one road, one building at a time - so getting started right now without delay is 99% of the battle.

So, where and how should marketers look to fold AI into their workstreams? Below are a few suggestions:

HYPER-TARGET AND PERSONALIZE LEAD GENERATION

AI-powered lead generation tools can analyze oceans of data in real-time - such as every prospect and customer action across all your properties and touchpoints - and provide real-time, actionable insights on how best to follow up (email, phone, call), what to include/say in that follow-up (white paper, eBook, etc.) and when to follow up - optimizing activities associated with top and middle funnel prospect and customer engagement results.

With these real-time and in-depth insights powered by AI, marketers can more confidently focus time, personnel and budget on high-quality, sweet-spot prospects - and develop hyper-targeted and personalized campaigns that resonate with each individual prospect and customer based on their individual, personalized needs - greatly improving conversion and close rates.

With AI, marketers and brands can instantly become much better “listeners” to the needs and wants of prospects and customers - and can leverage that intelligence to craft content and communications that are 1:1 relevant to each prospect’s unique interest and needs - building trust, brand preference and engagement..

DIFFERENTIATE THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

AI can also help marketers to improve the customer experience by delivering more personalized - and instant - 1:1 support and assistance for prospects and customers. For example, chatbots powered by AI can answer prospect or customer questions in real-time and can even provide guidance and recommendations to prospects and customers based on their interests and behavior. Marketers can also leverage AI to make sure the online experience is personalized and relevant to each individual prospect - making the research and shopping experience for prospects and customers simple, easy and valuable - building brand loyalty and brand differentiation over the short and long-term.

ENHANCE SALES TEAM EFFECTIVENESS

AI can also provide your sales teams with the real-time insights into prospect and customer behavior they need to properly and strategically engage with prospects at the right time - with the right message, asset and/or offer - to greatly improve engagement and ultimately close more deals, faster.

Marketing and sales leaders recognize the power and effectiveness of trigger-based response strategies when aligned to specific customer or prospect groups and specific activities/actions. But with AI-powered tools, marketers can now do this at the individual prospect and customer level - delivering exponentially more value to each individually unique prospect or customer.

With AI tools, sales teams are more effective. First, they can now focus their time and energy on prospects and customers they “know” are truly ready for engagement. Second, AI can help sales teams more accurately predict future sales by better identifying and understanding any potential opportunities the moment they arise vs. using market-standard formulas. And lastly, it helps sales teams improve their overall efficiency and effectiveness - shortening the sales cycle and driving more revenue and growth to your business.

CONCLUSION

Now is the time to start tapping into the power of AI. Just about all marketers see its promise and potential - but only a select few have chosen to truly embrace it.

The good news is that there is still plenty of time to educate yourself and start down the pathway of incorporating AI into your workstreams, workflows and business processes to improve the return on your marketing spend and maximize the value of your sales teams.

The bad news is that every week, month, quarter, year you delay… your competitors that are already embracing it are moving further and further ahead.

So, the time for action is NOW!