Insights and Strategies that Demystify AI in Marketing

At our G2 Reach 2023 event, I had the privilege of participating in a riveting conversation on how today’s leaders can master AI in their marketing. While I am not a marketer (although I like to think I dabble), I was able to weigh in on the AI landscape on G2 and share how we’re innovating in our own Labs team.

Moderated by Advisor Carilu Dietrich – who formerly led marketing at Atlassian and helped take the company public – this session explored the practical impact of AI on modern marketing strategies in a landscape where hype often overshadows reality. My fellow panelists included Paul Roetzer, Founder & CEO at the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute, and Elena Lenena, Global AI Product Lead at Google. 

During the discussion, some crucial themes stood out as instrumental for leaders in marketing, so I thought I'd recap the top three for you — all underscoring how marketers could optimize performance and drive efficiency using AI.

Embracing AI literacy 

Paul began the conversation with an engaging history of AI, sharing the Marketing AI Institute's mission to promote AI literacy and educate people about AI's impact across industries. What this means for marketers is simple: mastering AI literacy isn't just optional; it's essential. 

To effectively leverage the transformative power of AI, marketers must educate themselves and their teams about the capabilities of AI. As Elena noted, Google is another source of AI education through its newsletters and other resource channels. By investing time to understand AI, all leaders can unlock their full potential in their marketing strategies.

Enhancing efficiency and creativity with AI

When we talk about AI, one phrase frequently used is 'augmented intelligence.' The idea is that AI can help to amplify our human skills rather than replace us. In our discussion, Carilu exemplified this by envisioning a future where AI helps with taxing tasks, giving us more time for creative endeavors.

The takeaway here for marketers is two-fold. Firstly, we should recognize AI in marketing not as a threat but as an opportunity to enhance personal productivity and free up time to boost creativity. Secondly, integrating AI across various business processes, just like we've done at G2 with our Monty AI buying assistant, can significantly amplify overall productivity. Our goal at G2? A 10% increase across the business.

Leaning on trusted vendors for AI capabilities

Elena suggested that marketing teams start their AI journey with software providers that are already in your stack because most are building AI capabilities into their existing platforms. This tactic is practical and easy to implement because it doesn't require an overhaul of your existing tech stack or additional investments and amplifies the impact of what you already have in place. Regardless of the vendor you’re using, you can take advantage of these built-in capabilities before branching out to new AI technologies. 

Use cases of AI in marketing

Beyond the three themes shared above, we also discussed practical use cases for AI in marketing. There are so many to consider that it can be difficult to know where to start or where the most value can be observed. Here are some suggestions:

• Improving the quality of buyer experience: AI can help enable faster response times with chatbots and automated email responses, as well as helping buyers find what they are looking for faster via chatbots. Elena mentioned that Google aims to provide personalized and predictive recommendations, such as syncing different products to deliver comprehensive data to users. This same principle applies to marketing. By harnessing AI's power, we can deliver a more personalized user journey, vastly improving both engagement and conversion rates.
• Improving the efficiency of your marketing processes: Marketers can reduce repetitive tasks and questions and speed up the creativity process by summarizing data, finding answers to questions, and creating content.  AI models – like Google Bard and ChatGPT – can analyze images and videos – capabilities most are not yet aware of or exploring. The potential for AI in marketing is immense; all it takes is a little digging below the surface.

Closing thoughts

Marketing leaders constantly face new AI challenges, from understanding its impact on customers to navigating the landscape of AI tools. But as daunting as these may seem, AI represents a gold mine of opportunities for those who dare to venture.

There's no denying that AI is changing the marketing landscape, driving efficiency and personalization to new heights. By embracing AI literacy, integrating AI into business processes, and leveraging pre-existing AI capabilities, marketers can guard the cutting-edge of progress.

As much as AI is about machines and codes, it's also about people – you and me. Advice shared during this discussion encouraged attendees to stay curious and keep learning.  In doing so, we'll all discover plenty of surprises along the way. Remember, you're not alone in this AI journey.

Dive into discussions, webinars, and reading materials, and stay updated with AI's evolving landscape – including the recording of our G2 Reach 2023 session.