The Rise Of AI-Powered Marketing

As small businesses strive to carve out their niche in digital marketing, the quest for relevance, visibility, and customer engagement can feel complex and daunting. Fortunately, AI-powered tools represent a disruptive and revolutionary way for businesses at every level to power up their marketing potential.

Not long ago, AI was considered a futuristic topic reserved for tech giants and mega-corporations. The reality is that AI has been around for a while, but it has rapidly transitioned from behind-the-scenes code to forward-facing apps that anyone with internet access can use.

AI promises to unlock unprecedented levels of personalization, targeting, and strategic optimization for businesses. Using AI-powered marketing isn’t just about automating mundane tasks, it???s about harnessing the power of data-driven insights to deliver tailored experiences that resonate with consumers on a level we’ve never achieved.

Let’s delve into the fundamentals of AI-powered marketing, and provide some practical insights for implementation.

UNDERSTANDING THE AI-MARKETING STRATEGY LANDSCAPE

Knowing that AI tools exist is one thing, but what does it realistically bring to the marketing table?

At its most basic, AI represents the ability of a machine to simulate human intelligence to analyze data, recognize patterns, and make informed decisions on its own. In marketing, that translates to things like personalized recommendations and predictive analytics (about consumers).

Let’s take a look at a few examples of AI in marketing that you may not have even noticed:

• Amazon predicting your next purchase
• Google Maps routing you to your destination
• Apple unlocking your iPhone by scanning your face
• Gmail finishing your sentences
• Netflix recommending shows and movies

WHAT’S NEEDED IN AN AI-MARKETING STRATEGY

In short: data. Implementing AI-marketing strategies rely on the use of information about your consumers, whether that’s first-party data you’re collecting, data from your CRM, or a curated list.

Businesses can leverage the processing power of AI algorithms to analyze datasets and identify patterns and trends. That allows for businesses to create more customized marketing campaigns that allow for incredibly targeted messages.

If brands want to set themselves apart from others they need to leverage the power of search and show up when their customers are looking. The search landscape is evolving as AI becomes more commonplace, and consumers are demanding answers to their questions that are clear and concise.

As you’ve likely already noticed, Google has implemented generative AI into its search queries to provide quick answers. But it’s not just Google, all search engines are using AI to refine their searches.

The data those algorithms are pulling from come from multiple online directories and publishes, making it a necessity for businesses to expand their digital footprints. In other words, your business needs a robust online presence to signal to the AI that Google and other search engines use that your information is relevant and accurate.

In fact, a 2024 study by Yext found that businesses with listings and correct information across at least 75% of relevant online directories online saw an average increase of 186% in Google website clicks.

That means that having correct information on extended network listing websites, such as Hours.com, City Squares and YP can impact your search traffic from Google.

IMPLEMENTING AI TOOLS IN MARKETING

The idea of implementing AI tools may sound daunting at first, but there are plenty of user-friendly tools at our fingertips to get started.

At Federated Digital Solutions, we offer strategies like FDS Local, our local listings and reputation management platform. FDS Local uses AI technology to optimize business’s information on the Internet for AI-powered search.

We also partner with organizations like Simpli.fi to provide curated lists to our clients for targeted campaigns like addressable geofencing.

Integrating AI into your marketing campaigns doesn’t require you to have to reinvent the wheel. Look for ways that you can incorporate AI into your workflow to improve things like data analysis and customer segmentation.

If your business needs help incorporating AI-powered marketing into your strategy, the team of FDS can help! Contact us today to find out how we can help you start collecting more of, and the right kind of, data. We’ll help you develop a plan to start integrating AI-powered tools into your marketing to get the best, most targeted results to maximize your ROI.

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