By Vikram Kumar
Source: Entrepreneur
From print to digital, marketing has changed at faster clip in the last five years than during the previous 50. This rapid evolution doesn’t show signs of slowing down. Marketers generally rely on SEO, social media, content marketing, paid advertising or email marketing to gain leads. However, over the last year, the digital marketing arena has witnessed some dramatic changes. Here are the seven new developments regarding digital marketing that every marketer must know.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) holds exceptional future opportunities in digital marketing. Many organizations are already depending on the cutting edge features of AI, and many more are slowly starting to implement AI for their digital marketing efforts. For example, companies such as Uber, Microsoft, Pizza Hut, and others are already using AI to automate various activities.
According to a Gartner analysis, AI technologies will be pervasive in almost every new software company by 2020. AI is one of the most significant commercial opportunities for companies and will increase global GDP by 14% by 2030. In other words, companies that do not adapt to artificial intelligence fast will be at a severe disadvantage within the next few years.
In the realm of digital marketing, AI can examine consumer behavior, search patterns, and utilize data from social media and blogging platforms to assist businesses better understand how consumers discover their products and services.
Chatbots
Chatbots are a perfect example of AI in practice. These virtual assistants use instant messaging to chat in real-time with customers. Moreover, they also offer benefits such as outstanding service, meeting customer expectations, automating repetitive tasks and respond 24/7.
Mastercard recently created a Facebook Messenger bot that, with the help of natural language processing software, deciphers what a customer wants and responds accordingly. In fact, various reports state that chatbots will be an essential part of digital marketing. Innovation Enterprise state that 85% of customer service will be powered via chatbots by 2020. According to IBM, businesses can save over $8 billion per annum with the help of chatbots by 2022.