AI and the Near Future of Marketing

The latest AI innovations from tech giants like Google and OpenAI are poised to radically transform marketing as we know it. At recent events like Google I/O 2024, Google Marketing Live 2024, and the OpenAI Spring Event, the major trends were clear – AI will be everywhere, powering multimodal experiences and enabling better, cheaper models. In a world drowning in information, brands will need to be omnipresent across platforms and screen times to stand out.

How Future Marketing Looks – 9 Predictions

#1 Content Creation and Personalization

Generative AI and large language models (LLMs) will become the primary tools for creating marketing content at scale – product images, descriptions, ad copy, emails and more. This AI-driven content will be highly personalized for individual customers based on their data, preferences, and context. Across ad platforms, we’ll see tools that streamline the creation of tailored, high-quality content with less effort by leveraging your brand guidelines. Soon, all ads and messages will be composed in real-time by AI for each user, crafting super-tailored messages from your core assets. The combined power of LLMs and generative AI will enable rich, multimodal content like AI-generated videos with visuals, audio, and descriptive text for immersive brand experiences.

#2 Automated Media Buying and Targeting

AI will fully automate media buying and targeting processes. We already see this within Google’s Performance Max, Demand Gen and  Meta’s Advantage+ campaign types and solutions that rely on broad targeting and real-time optimization to reach the right audiences. My bold prediction – in the near future, campaigns will simply require objectives, budgets, and basic targeting parameters like geo-locations. AI will then dynamically identify and reach your ideal audiences by analyzing your first-party data and making predictive recommendations.

#3. Streamlined Measurement, Insights and Forecasting

Data analysis will be entirely automated through conversational AI interfaces. You’ll be able to simply ask for the KPIs and visualizations you need, receiving tailored reports with graphs and insights answering your specific questions. Leveraging your existing data, platforms will provide optimization suggestions and forecast results for different scenarios. Say goodbye to spreadsheets and endless manual analysis hours. We already see hints of this streamlined analytics experience in tools like Google Analytics 4 and the latest ChatGPT data analysis capabilities.

#4. Accelerated Creative Ideation and Testing

Generative AI will rapidly ideate creative concepts, ad campaigns, slogans, and visuals, allowing marketers to experiment and iterate at unprecedented speeds. This will accelerate innovation and continual optimization of marketing strategies. Google has introduced AI creative solutions for images (Image FX), music (Music FX), and video (Veo) generation. OpenAI’s Sora, Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, Runway and Suno are pushing creative AI boundaries. Even now, we can visualize ideas in minutes rather than days – no more lengthy briefings and revision cycles with designers and brand teams.

#5. Conversational Marketing and Intelligent Engagement

LLMs will power highly intelligent chatbots and virtual assistants capable of natural, contextual conversations that improve customer engagement and personalized recommendations. Having 24/7 conversational support will become the new normal across brands. These AI agents will guide purchase decisions through intuitive dialogues. We’ll see multimodal voice and video assistants emerge. I predict custom AI agents dynamically created for each user based on their unique data – an assistant that resonates with one’s personality, demographics and behaviours to build trust. On top of that, we will see more use of AI assistants like ChatGPT and Google Project Astra which will create completely new user experiences and more space for promotions.

# 6. Influencer Marketing and AI influencers

New business models will emerge with brands collaborating closely with influencers and content creators. Product placements could be automatically detected in content, dynamically serving relevant ads to interested users. We’ll see immersive, multi-layered content types that boost engagement and expand brand touchpoints. Brands will increasingly leverage AI-powered “synthetic” influencers – companies creating, hosting, and managing AI avatar celebrities for branded social promotion.

#7. The Search Engine Reformation

The era of 10 blue links on Google is ending. Users are shifting to get direct answers faster, skipping the traditional research process. We’ll see question-answering search engines from major AI platforms like ChatGPT and Claude, using real-time data to directly respond to queries. New entrants like Perplexity offer a search experience centred entirely around extracting answers. This will drastically alter search marketing dynamics. We may see market share shifts and declining performance for paid search and SEO tactics. Search engine optimization could be replaced by an entirely new discipline focused on Artificial Intelligence Optimization – AIO

#8. Seamless Localization and Translation

LLMs and generative AI will facilitate realtime, contextually accurate translation and localization of marketing content for global audiences. This lowers barriers to entering new markets while automatically accounting for linguistic and cultural nuances. Combined with digital product proliferation and globalized delivery, it will intensify competition. Brands will need to  double down on quality, sustainability, social responsibility, diversity and authentic brand positioning to differentiate.

#9. The Rise of “Infinite Loop Marketing”

Infinite Loop Marketing is a transformative approach that prioritizes long-term customer relationships over single transactions. It emphasizes continuous engagement, integrated journeys, ongoing feedback, seamless omnichannel presence, and tailored personalization to maximize lifetime value. Rather than sporadic campaigns, it fosters lasting connections and turns customers into loyal brand advocates. Dialogue Automation Services provided by DiALOGiFY could help you with that.

Now, imagine this model turbocharged by AI’s capabilities – delivering hyper-personalized experiences, automating interactions, fostering deeper ties, enhancing customer value, and building vibrant communities around your brand. Infinite Loop Marketing driven by AI creates a self-reinforcing growth cycle leading to sustained success.

What Advertisers Need to Consider:

• Manage Expectations: Historical performance metrics may not translate, so set realistic expectations as cost models, targeting precision, and channel effectiveness evolve with AI.
• Adapt Search Strategies: Prepare for disruption and potential declines in traditional high-performing channels like search. Shift focus to AI-optimized platforms and new search paradigms.
• Embrace Competition: AI lowers barriers to entry, so anticipate intense competition requiring innovative, creative advertising approaches to stand out.

What Marketers Need to Consider:

• Upskill AI Literacy: Develop expertise in areas like prompt engineering and leveraging AI tools to optimize content, analysis and engagement.
• Be Agile: Shift from platform management to strategic decision-making using AI-derived insights to elevate creative and contextual marketing efforts.
• Stay Competitive:Closely monitor AI evolution across platforms, aiming to continuously test, learn and implement new tactics faster than competitors.

Conclusion

The AI marketing revolution has already begun, but there’s no need to fear this transformation. Instead, embrace it as an opportunity to reimagine your marketing strategies and capabilities. Rather than being replaced, you can use AI to augment your efforts in powerful ways.

While aspects like streamlined content production, automated optimization and hyper-personalization will become the norm, marketing fundamentally remains about strategic thinking and authentic brand building. AI is simply a potent tool that, when leveraged effectively, will exponentially amplify marketing performance and customer resonance.

Thriving in this new era requires an open mindset, willingness to evolve, and commitment to lifelong learning. Those who upskill their AI literacy and proactively experiment with emerging tactics and technologies will gain a decisive competitive edge.

Marketers are entering an unprecedented period of accelerated ideation, creation, and delivery. More resources can be diverted to strategic, creative, and analytical endeavors that drive meaningful brand differentiation.

While the specifics of this AI-driven future remain uncertain, one thing is clear – marketing will never be the same. The brands that wholeheartedly embrace this revolution will be the ones that flourish for decades to come.