Today’s chief marketing officers (CMOs) need to swiftly grasp and embrace the potential of artificial intelligence (AI). That is true even for those in technology companies.

The advent of AI brings forth the potential for marketing automation to a high degree; enhanced productivity and scalable performance, enabling even smaller marketing teams, say even in startups, to significantly amplify their output’s quality and quantity. Additionally, AI unlocks unprecedented levels of prediction and personalization that were previously unattainable through conventional software.

Since November 2022, the AI landscape has undergone remarkable transformations, particularly with the emergence of generative AI tools like ChatGPT. These tools have revolutionized marketing practices by granting access to incredibly powerful AI capabilities that continue to advance rapidly. Now, anyone with the ability to type a text prompt can harness this technology, reshaping the marketing industry.

Marketing teams today are achieving astounding results by leveraging generative AI tools, prompting a fundamental reconsideration of how the discipline operates.

AI is Changing the Content and Marketing Game

Generative AI, however, represents only the initial stage of a much broader AI revolution. While ChatGPT and similar tools are currently in the spotlight, being used in marketing automation, AI technology has been steadily growing in potency, scalability, and affordability for the past decade, mostly behind the scenes.

For the most part, CMOs are just beginning to witness the tip of the iceberg in terms of what lies ahead. So it’s no surprise that numerous CMOs are devoting their attention to artificial intelligence.

Indeed, generative AI itself has the power to revolutionize the way CMOs strategize, create, and execute marketing initiatives. However, the impact of AI extends far beyond generative tools and encompasses every crucial aspect of marketing. From shaping marketing strategies to enhancing content creation and personalization, from leveraging analytics to optimizing SEO efforts and more, AI holds immense implications for the entire marketing landscape.

Why CMOs Need to Get in Now

CMOs who embrace AI technology at this juncture have the opportunity to gain a significant competitive edge in their respective markets, within their organizations, and in their professional trajectories. By recognizing and harnessing the potential of AI, CMOs can position themselves to achieve remarkable success and overcome their competitors in the rapidly evolving marketing landscape.

Let’s consider a straightforward example that highlights the disparity between traditional software and AI. Suppose you aim to maximize the open rate of an email sent to 10,000 subscribers by optimizing the send time. Using traditional software, you would typically follow these steps:

• Analyze past emails within your system to identify the most successful send times for similar emails.
• Research industry best practices and available online resources on optimal email send times.
• Consider the audience’s geographical distribution and time zones, making adjustments or utilizing features in your email software to accommodate different regions.
• After all the analysis, make an educated guess on the best send time and schedule the email.

This traditional approach demands considerable effort and lacks scientific precision. However, with AI, the process takes a different shape:

You utilize an AI tool capable of automatically analyzing subscriber behavior and determining the optimal send time for each of the 10,000 subscribers.
In this scenario, and many others, AI not only automates parts or entire marketing processes but also operates autonomously to achieve goals more efficiently and effectively at scale, surpassing human capabilities.

AI has the ability to establish its own rules, navigate unique paths, and continuously learn and improve. Consequently, it provides a smarter approach to nearly any task at hand, making the software and machines we utilize on a daily basis genuinely intelligent. As a CMO, leveraging AI empowers you to drive marketing initiatives with heightened efficiency and effectiveness, propelling your organization forward.

Here’s How AI Can Help With Your Marketing

When we refer to “artificial intelligence” in the context of marketing, we use it as a broad term encompassing various tools, techniques, and technologies that enable machines to exhibit intelligent behavior. AI has the potential to revolutionize your email campaigns, eliminating uncertainty and delivering high-impact results. With AI, marketers can:

• Efficiently clean and refine email lists, removing duplicates and ensuring data accuracy.
• Personalize email content tailored to the preferences and characteristics of individual prospects or customers.
• Customize email send times based on the optimal timing for each prospect or customer.
• Automatically generate engaging email newsletters.
• Create compelling email subject lines that significantly improve open rates.
• Automatically generate portions of emails or even entire email content.

Gone are the days of sending emails and hoping for the best. AI has transformed the performance and predictability achievable in email marketing, empowering marketers to achieve exceptional results with greater precision and effectiveness. With AI-driven capabilities at your disposal, you can elevate your email marketing efforts to new heights of success.

AI’s value extends far beyond generative AI, as it has the potential to revolutionize every critical aspect of your marketing organization, making it more intelligent and effective. The AI framework provides a comprehensive understanding of how AI can transform your marketing practices:

#Planning: AI can contribute to building intelligent strategies by analyzing vast amounts of data and providing valuable insights for informed decision-making.

#Production: AI has the capability to generate intelligent content, streamline content creation processes, and enhance creativity.

#Personalization: With AI, you can power intelligent consumer experiences by tailoring marketing efforts to individual preferences and delivering personalized messages at scale.

#Promotion: AI can assist in managing intelligent cross-channel promotions, optimizing campaign performance, and ensuring seamless coordination across various marketing channels.

#Performance: By leveraging AI, you can turn raw data into actionable intelligence. AI can analyze advertising performance, ad spend, and audience data from multiple platforms at scale, providing valuable recommendations on what works, what might work next, and suggesting appropriate actions to take.

Moreover, AI tools encompass language and visual AI capabilities, which can even automate the writing of ad copy or generate numerous variations of ad creatives within seconds, enabling marketers to experiment and optimize campaigns efficiently.

By embracing AI in your marketing endeavors, you unlock the potential for enhanced productivity, personalized experiences, and data-driven decision-making, ultimately propelling your marketing organization to new levels of success.

Content Marketing

Regardless of the type of content you work with, AI can significantly enhance your efforts. In today’s landscape, AI is not only capable of understanding natural language in written, video, and audio formats but also possesses the ability to generate written content, create images, generate videos, and produce audio.

This opens up a realm of powerful AI applications for content marketers, enabling them to:

• Align content with user intent, ensuring relevance and engagement.
• Create and edit images, audio, and videos, optimizing visual and auditory experiences.
• Optimize content for search engines and voice-based interactions, enhancing discoverability and accessibility.
• Personalize content recommendations for each individual user, tailoring experiences to their preferences and needs.
• Tailor language and messaging for specific target audiences, delivering more impactful marketing messages.
• Conduct research and develop content calendars and strategies, facilitating efficient planning and execution.
• Generate content topics and brainstorm innovative content angles, fostering creativity and differentiation.
• Write and edit blog posts, landing pages, web pages, and various content formats, saving time and improving quality.

Thanks to AI, the process of creating, personalizing, and scaling a content marketing program has never been easier. Embracing AI technologies empowers marketers to achieve new levels of productivity, personalization, and scalability.

Looking ahead, the roles within marketing teams may undergo significant transformation. AI-focused positions such as marketing AI specialists, AI ops leaders, AI trainers, machine managers, recommendation engine directors, directors of deep learning, VPs of augmented intelligence, and chief algorithms officers may find their place in organizational structures. As a result, these roles will redefine the required knowledge and skills needed to drive growth, shaping the future of marketing teams.