Thanks to movies such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Terminator, there has been some suspicion over the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) in society. Perhaps because of Hollywood, these technologies have often been related to robots and machines that could one day take over the human race. Could this be a possibility? It's unlikely, which is why we shouldn't quake in fear whenever machine learning or AI is mentioned.

For business owners looking to market their companies, the use of machine learning should be actively encouraged.

Thanks to the technologies inherent in low code no code platforms, they will have the opportunity to save their businesses from extinction. And no, this isn't through the creation of Terminator-like machines that can crush the competition, although that might sound like fun. Rather, it's through the way machine learning can be used within digital marketing strategies.

What Is Machine Learning?

 

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Before we discuss the advantages of machine learning in marketing, it's important to define what the term precisely means.

As we suggested, it's closely linked to artificial intelligence. This is the form of intelligence demonstrated by machines, such as the chess-playing computers that emerged in the late 70s. These computers could replicate human intelligence when going against their opponents, and they learned from their mistakes and experiences as they won and lost their games. This learning is known as "machine learning", and business owners are beginning to understand the benefits of this technological advancement for themselves. 

Machine learning is playing a part in many aspects of digital marketing, such as social media marketing, affiliate marketing management, and content creation. It can benefit both business owners and customers alike and should be actively welcomed rather than greeted with any degree of caution.

So, if you're a business owner looking to grow your business, consider how machine learning and the wider future of automation could help with your marketing. Here are some examples.

1.   Personalizing Your Website Experiences for Customers

The more relevant your website is the better, as site visitors will stick around for longer and hopefully make a purchase.

Improvements can be made via machine learning, as many of today's leading website builders incorporate tech that adjusts and promotes content according to the user's search behavior. Customers will see images, ads, and popups that are tailored to them personally, and this form of ecommerce visual merchandising will encourage them to interact more with your business.

Netflix users will understand this type of machine learning, as the algorithms, the streaming giant uses push specific content to its users. Many other businesses implement this technology, such as Starbucks that recommends drinks customers are likely to enjoy via the machine learning in the company's mobile app. So, apply how this technology could benefit your website and business apps when promoting bespoke product recommendations to your customers.

2.   Providing Better Customer Service Through AI-Driven Chatbots

 

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Customer-serving chatbots are a constant on most websites these days. Customers interact with them via the live chat functionality on sites and get the answers they need almost immediately. This vastly improves the level of customer service and cuts down on the wait time that exists when interacting with human representatives.

As chatbots incorporate machine learning, they can recommend products and services to web users, depending on the questions they have asked. They can do this in real-time during live chat or after via Facebook Messenger and similar comm tech. These AI-driven marvels collect customer data too, so marketers can get a better insight into the buying mindsets of existing and potential customers. Such advances can improve business outcomes.

3.   Imparting Greater Understanding of Customer Behaviour

When you better understand customer behavior on your website, the more you can do to optimize your site according to their needs. You will have the incentive to increase page load times, change content, and come up with new digital signage solutions to better suit customer spending habits. Analyzing customer activity patterns on your website can be time-consuming and laborious (and also very complicated), but life can be made easier with machine learning.

Machine learning can be used to identify and predict user behavior. As we suggested earlier, changes to your website can happen automatically if the right technologies have been implemented. You can also gather the data gathered by the AI-powered tools on your website and use it to alter and improve your website marketing efforts.

4.   Improving Influencer Marketing

Machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) are making a difference to the way brands approach influencer marketing. These technologies can help brands identify the right creators, suggest the relevant content to these brand advocates, and predict and calculate campaign ROI.

In an age when consumers are driven by the word-of-mouth recommendations of the people they follow online, the machine-learning tools that offer these capabilities shouldn't be overlooked. Such tools fall within the brackets of social listening, social monitoring, and promotion-optimization, and are useful for both brand marketers and brand advocates alike.

5.   Optimizing Advertising

Marketers can generate affiliate traffic through paid online advertising. Ads can be optimized according to particular demographics and this encourages more clicks from interested consumers. However, finding ways to deliver the right ad content to the right people is a complicated process so there isn't always the ROI that marketers expect.

Thankfully, machine learning can ensure ads deliver to expectations. The technology can be found within such advertising platforms as Facebook Ads and Google Ads. Thanks to the AI-driven algorithms these platforms use, marketers can find the right audience for their ads and promote them when the expected user audience is most active.

This is because machine learning can predict user interest and availability based on their online behavior, such as their internet searches.

As such, marketers can expect a far better ROI, as time won't be wasted targeting the wrong kinds of people. There is a greater chance that their ads won't be overlooked by their target demographic either.

6.   Boosting SEO

 

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SEO is the lynchpin for many digital marketing practices. If marketers get it right, they can push their websites further up Google's search pages. If they get it wrong, the opposite can become true.

Google itself uses machine learning to determine where websites rank on their search pages. Their technology can spot those businesses that use suspicious link-building tactics, for example, and penalize them by lowering their website rankings.

Thankfully, business owners can also take advantage of machine learning to improve SEO. They can use the online tools that use this technology to find the best keywords for their content.

Such tools can also suggest which web pages need to be better optimized for SEO, and data can be gathered to pinpoint opportunities for link building. As many people now use voice search, marketers can also use available tools to choose voice search-optimized keywords.

These tools include Ahrefs, SEMrush, Automator, and Moz. These are near-essential for marketers looking to improve their SEO metrics and their marketing campaigns, as higher rankings mean greater leverage over their competition. They can also avoid common SEO mistakes, such as using the wrong keywords when tailoring their content.

7.   Creating More Successful Email Marketing Campaigns

Social media may be at the forefront of many marketers' minds when appealing to their demographic, but email marketing still has a place. However, it does still need to be relevant, as emails can be deleted or end up in spam boxes if email users reject the marketing messages that are coming through to them.

This is why marketers are always on the lookout for quality marketing automation software. With the right tools at their disposal, they can improve email content, determine the right demographics, and use previous responses to determine the right time to deliver emails.

With relevant content that drives customer engagement and scheduled delivery times that increase the chances of a click-through, businesses can benefit from a greater ROI. MailChimp and Automizy are both examples of marketing software that incorporates machine learning, and there are many other tools of their kind on the market.

8.   Improving Content Curation

Content is king! That's a phrase all marketers will be familiar with, as they know the better their content is, the more engaged their prospects will be. But where exactly does machine learning come in?

Well, we have already provided the answer in part because machine learning can be used to improve both email content and tailor website content for SEO purposes.

Marketers will be interested in such AI-powered software as Phrasee, for example, a copywriting tool that uses machine learning to create better email subject lines. Content creation tools along the lines of Frase.io are also useful, as such software uses machine learning to help marketers create content with the keywords needed for SEO.

These are just two examples but there are many other tools out there, including those that use machine learning to help marketers curate the content their demographics will be interested in.

Final Word

As machine learning within software development advances, marketers will benefit from the increasingly more advanced tools available to improve their marketing efforts. Such tools will save their businesses from extinction, which is a far cry from the beliefs of doomsayers who predict machine learning will bring about destruction.

We haven't touched upon every capability of machine learning here, but if you're a business owner, commit to further research to learn more about its uses within your digital marketing approach.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sam O' Brien - Chief Marketing Officer, Affise

 

Sam O'Brien is the Chief Marketing Officer for Affise-a Global SaaS Partner Marketing Solution and industry leader in affiliate marketing. He is a growth marketing expert with a product management and design background. Sam has a passion for innovation, growth, and marketing technology. Here is his LinkedIn.