What Is Martech? Learn 5 Ways to Use AI in Marketing

Marketers never have only one task to focus on at a given time.

Marketing is comprised of multifaceted workflows that stem from the stages of ideation to strategizing and execution of campaigns and goals. All of this means that marketers have to divide their work into tasks that often consume a lot of time separately and concurrently.

In order to alleviate some of the pressure of executing each task to its fullest, marketers are turning to artificial intelligence technology to help automate aspects of their job that have become tedious or overly time consuming.

What is martech?

To understand how marketers are using martech, you first need to understand what martech is.  

Basically, marketers are using the growing tech boom to their advantage by investing in new tools and technologies that help them automate their work. Martech fuses the words marketing and technology by encompassing complex ideas of AI automation into tangible use cases for marketers at all levels.

What is martech used for?

Though it may not be immediately clear how the worlds of marketing and AI relate, it’s obvious that there are many benefits to automating marketing processes. Things like asset management, data analysis, content management, and more profit from some form of AI automation.

The following five use cases of AI in marketing demonstrate how using artificial intelligence to automate aspects of marketing is not only the way of the future, but also of the present.

1. Data analytics by means of machine learning (ML)

Data analytics is a process of extracting, sorting, cleansing, examining, and analyzing data sets from which conclusions can be drawn. Data analytics is used to help marketers make more informed marketing decisions based on patterns and trends found in the extracted data.

There are four types of data analytics that are beneficial for marketers to use: descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive.

• Descriptive analytics is the first stage, or the identification stage. An example of this applicable to marketing would be a rise or fall in site traffic, email subscribers, engagements on social media, or follower count.
• Diagnostic analytics allows marketers to identify why the aforementioned examples occurred. Was it due to a new marketing tactic? A better social media presence? What was the cause for the rise or fall?
• Predictive analytics helps marketers predict what might happen next based on previous data. By collecting data over a period of time, machine learning (ML) algorithms can work through the data, sort it, and predict outcomes of future marketing strategies. It can also help with identifying opportunities for growth and audience targeting.
• Prescriptive analytics uses historical data and external information to help marketers with finding the best course of action (i.e. “next steps”) for a given situation.

The overall point of data analytics is to help marketing teams with making decisions and bettering outcomes based on historical data. If machine learning algorithms accurately identify trends based on demographic data from site visitors, the marketing team can craft targeted outreach to certain groups of people, which can draw higher traffic, engagement, and profit.

2. Content management

As content marketing continues to be acknowledged as a part of strong marketing strategies, the tools to manage content creation and dissemination become more sophisticated. Content marketing is the side of marketing that deals with creating content and sharing it with various audiences.

Types of content creation include articles, graphics, photos, videos, downloadable assets, and more. Content marketing heavily relies on finding the right audience, engaging them on social media and through email, and ensuring they see your content and potentially share it on their online platforms.

AI automation comes into play with content creation in the form of content management software. This software provides marketers with a platform on which they can create and optimize their content. Popular content management systems act as all-in-one platforms where written and visual content can be created, engagement can be tracked, and campaigns and marketing strategies, like calls-to-action (CTA) can be analyzed. 

3. Social media management

Social media management is probably the most obvious form of martech and AI automation marketers can point to. Because social media lives wholly online, the process of automating a task within the realm of social media is comprehensible on a large scale.

Adding automation to social media marketing processes might be best suited for larger, growing, or enterprise companies rather than small businesses. Why? Well, the point of social media management solutions is to simplify the processes by which marketers engage users on multiple platforms, and typically, larger companies have higher follower counts and engagement across their social platforms.

Social media management software lead the pack in terms of ease of use for managing multiple social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) by allowing users to schedule when their content should be posted, track conversations, and track the success of posted content.  

4. Lead and customer relationship management (CRM)

Lead management and customer relationship management (CRM) are two separate aspects of marketing. Lead management refers to the way that marketers interact with and engage potential customers (leads), whereas customer relationship management pertains to existing customers whose relationships need to be nurtured and continually tracked to ensure their satisfaction with a company’s marketing approaches.

AI automation is beneficial for lead management and CRM in similar ways, which is where customer relationship management software comes into play.

Because leads are interested potential buyers, it’s up to the marketing team to make sure their leads have access to email newsletters, gated content (reports, checklists, etc.), and webinars – all processes that can be automated and tracked. For example, email marketing software can help marketers create email lists, target large sends, and manage new subscriptions and unsubscribers.

Existing customers, on the other hand, need to be maintained and engagement needs to be tracked. The relationship exists, but it needs to hold strong; thus, CRM tools help marketers to keep track of their existing customers through a single record system. Customer relationship management tools help marketers track interactions between existing customers as well as the potential ones, like email correspondence, sales, and the opening or closure of accounts. CRMs provide a uniform, coordinated experience for marketers and customers alike. 

5. Digital asset management (DAM)

Digital asset management (DAM) is a process that helps marketers to organize, store, access, and share rich media. Rich media includes photos, videos, music, and other multimedia formats. Ergo, DAM solutions help aggregate rich media content.

Automating asset management is key to success for marketing campaigns because it allows marketers to have a singular source for storing these rich media assets, i.e. a collective information center for said content. DAM technology fuels martech as it provides marketers with a centralized source of digital content and data management. Digital asset management solutions are used for improving workflow and enhancing organization.

Digital asset management software houses and indexes rich media files to group them into searchable, shareable, and convertible files. DAM software also deals with content permissions and rights.

Marketing technology is simpler than you thought

Artificial intelligence is often posited as a high-tech term that alienates non-tech-savvy individuals, but in reality, the smartest marketers are already using AI automation to amplify their reach and enhance their marketing strategies. Don’t be left behind!

While all these martech tools are useful, they can put a strain on your budget — especially if you're subscribed to similar software already. Believe it or not, over 40 billion dollars is wasted on misused software each year. Ensure your money is spent as efficiently as possible by signing up for G2 Track today.