By Marc Mazodier
With AI, developing more targeted and sustainable marketing strategies is no longer an impossible task. Here are ways AI can revolutionize your marketing while earning you brownie points in sustainability.
Everywhere we turn, someone is trying to sell us something. Social media has caused a sharp rise in consumerism, with new products being advertised to us every day. Additionally, celebrity and influencer culture has created a false reality for consumers everywhere, who now feel intense pressure to buy new things and keep up with trends consistently.
While that might be great for profits, the general public is increasingly concerned and frustrated by this, as this consumerism has a negative impact on the earth. For marketing strategists, there is a fine line between ensuring the success of their business through their sales, and still ensuring that their organization is taking the right steps to be more eco-conscious.
Here lies the question: why should marketing strategists invest in AI? There’s a plethora of reasons: it can be useful for email campaigns, content creation and effective social media management. The most pressing reason, however, is to help reduce waste and have a positive impact on the environment.
Marketing strategies must change and adapt to the times we’re living in – that is not new. But is understanding the role of marketing in a global environmental crisis clear-cut? Although it sounds complex, it doesn’t have to be.
As marketing strategies have changed over recent years, budgets have increased. Yet spending on market research has been declining. This is a real tragedy, especially considering how AI is revolutionizing market research.
Investing in data gathering, data processing, and analytical skills might seem like a big expense, but AI predictive modeling can have a strong effect on marketing planning and implementation. Companies could adopt a more value-based approach and aim to provide customers with targeted products that meet their specific wants and needs.
Investing in data gathering, data processing, and analytical skills might seem like a big expense, but AI predictive modeling can have a strong effect on marketing planning and implementation.
Market research has always been conducted through focus groups, interviews, surveys and analysis to identify the wants and needs of consumers. However, when participants know that they are partaking in a research group, this can trigger different demands and even biases. With the use of AI, there are so many more data sources available for market research to study. User-generated content (UGC) provides them with the opportunity to spot trends forming and to predict customer needs. This can be done through customers’ purchase history, browsing behavior and social media activity, which all hold a wealth of knowledge if utilized correctly.
Alongside UGC, marketing departments can use large-language models (LLMs). The rapid development of LLMs means these tools can mimic and understand a wide range of human behaviors. Marketing researchers have therefore used them to predict and provide survey samples to work off. Whilst these tools are in their early stages, and can’t be 100% perfect, they are an excellent tool to work with. You could learn about how people in Australia do their makeup and compare it to their European counterparts, helping to ensure targeted launches in each respective region.
Not only are these tools an excellent way to spot and predict trends due to past purchases, but using AI means your data is more extensive and far more up-to-date. Reviews, complaints, new uses for existing products and specific mentions of product attributes can all help to capture the essence of a consumer’s wants and needs. AI has the ability to delve into the emotions and opinions of consumers in ways that couldn’t be done before.
AI has the ability to delve into the emotions and opinions of consumers in ways that couldn’t be done before.
Implementing AI tools into your organization’s marketing strategies will be exceptionally useful for your business in more ways than one. It can make your marketing strategies more targeted, as you will have a deeper understanding of the wants and needs of your audience. And by creating products and strategies that target specific wants and needs, you will naturally generate less waste.
Less waste usually means more profits, but it is bigger than that. Less waste will mean your business can have a real, significant impact on the world. Good sustainability practices are paramount for businesses. Whilst having a good effect on the earth, it will also improve your image and help you to gain and retain new customers. Consumers are becoming more aware of their own carbon footprint, which means they are more aware of yours. Plus, in a global cost of living crisis, they are certainly being more careful about where they are spending their money.
Investing in AI and integrating it into your marketing strategies means that you can leverage data more consistently. As that data continues to grow each day, it is more urgent than ever for the success of your business and for the good of our planet too.
About the Author
Marc Mazodier is Professor of Marketing at ESSEC Business School and holds the Accenture Strategy Business Analytics Chair and the ESSEC Beauty Chair. His academic research focuses on brand management and marketing communication efficacy.
This post was originally published on here
