This article originates from Siara’s talk at the Revenue Marketing Summit in San Francisco, 2023.
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AI (artificial intelligence) today isn’t just a tool – it’s a revolutionary force reshaping how we connect with and understand our customers.
I'm Siara Nazir, former Head of Growth Marketing at Autodesk, current Founder & CEO of Inovient.io, and Advisor at Silverside AI. Throughout my career, I've embraced the challenges and opportunities presented by AI, leveraging it to refine marketing practices and drive business growth.
In this article, I'll share insights and practical strategies for integrating AI into your marketing efforts, ensuring your business is well-positioned to harness the full potential of this transformative technology.
The unseen power of AI in marketing
As I delve into the topic of unlocking the power of AI for marketing, I can't help but draw an analogy to a familiar experience many of us might relate to.
Imagine being in Las Vegas, sitting in front of slot machines, pulling the lever, and winning every single time. While this wasn't exactly my luck in Vegas, where I lost more often than not, it's an apt metaphor for the potential AI holds in transforming our experiences and expectations.
AI has become a pervasive force, almost like an unspoken promise of greatness for every market and enterprise. Its impact extends far beyond the obvious, influencing even the minutest aspects of our daily lives.
For instance, consider the hotels in Japan that are operated by robots. These aren't just any robots – they're sophisticated machines that learn your preferences, from the type of pillows you like to your preferred room amenities. This interaction is just a part of a massive $75 trillion IoT market, where devices like your Aura Ring or Apple iWatch contribute data that AI synthesizes and analyzes.
We've been interacting with AI for longer than most of us realize. Simple AI applications like chatbots have been around for a while, but the true revolution in AI for marketing began with display campaigns and look-alike modeling. This technique involved seeking out impression inventory that was successfully converting, thus allowing campaigns to become more targeted and efficient over time.
I remember when companies started investing more in display advertising. Initially, campaigns were broad, but as they gathered more data on successful impressions, AI algorithms began to focus on acquiring more of that high-converting inventory.
This shift wasn't without its challenges. Pausing a campaign for testing meant that when you resumed, the AI had to relearn patterns, a precursor to the sophisticated AI-driven marketing strategies we see today.
The transformative impact of AI on the global economy and workforce
As we look towards the future, the impact of AI on the global economy is set to be monumental. By 2030, it's projected that the US economy will gain an additional $15 trillion, thanks to AI. This is not just an American phenomenon; nearly a quarter, around 24-25%, of China's GDP will be attributed to AI services, products, and technology.
The United States follows closely, with AI contributing to approximately 14-15% of its GDP. These figures underscore the massive influence AI is set to have on the world's economic landscape.
However, with great transformation comes great challenges, especially in the realm of employment and automation. We’re on the brink of a new industrial era, reminiscent of the seismic shift brought about by the advent of computers in the 1980s.
Predictions indicate that up to 30% of jobs could be automated, echoing the significant changes seen during the computer revolution.
This prospect might seem daunting, but I believe it also opens up tremendous opportunities for skill enhancement and career evolution. In marketing, for instance, the rise of AI enables us to offload much of the manual, tedious work to automated systems, freeing us to focus on strategic, high-value tasks. This shift isn't just about efficiency; it's about enabling the kind of thought leadership and innovative strategy that can revolutionize industries.
The corporate world is acutely aware of the importance of AI. In 2021, AI was a topic in 40% of investor calls, and one can only imagine that this percentage has increased since then. There's immense pressure on enterprises, whether they're established companies or startups, to understand and integrate AI into their operations.
Investors and boards are particularly keen on this, as they recognize the transformative potential of AI in every sector.
