Marketing, which involves the promotion of a company’s products or services, is an integral part of any business. There are several types of marketing techniques that are used today, and they include relationship marketing, viral marketing, green marketing, keyword marketing, guerilla marketing, and influencer marketing.
Marketing is indeed a tough thing to do, but it has become better (if not easier) with the help of AI or artificial intelligence. These platforms and tools make use of technologies that get ‘smarter’ as time progresses.
AI-based marketing programs are slowly gaining traction because of its many benefits to businessmen and their customers alike. For one, they can help you save a lot of time and hard work. Since they are automated, they can generate insights – with marginal (or no) error. And because they can be applied to multiple scenarios, this program can help you come up with even better marketing results.
Selecting the Best AI-Based Marketing Platform and Tools
There are many AI-based marketing platforms and tools out there. It could be quite hard to pick the best one that will suit your needs.
Consider these factors when choosing an AI-based marketing program:
1. Easy integration with other marketing tools
You might probably be using other marketing tools and systems. While an AI-based system can help you a great deal, there’s no need for you to let go of your current marketing tools. With that being said, you need to pick an AI system that can easily be integrated with your other marketing systems. Opt for a program that uses APIs whenever possible.
2. User-Friendly
Even if such a marketing program uses AI, it’s still going to be used by you and your employees. Because of that, you should go for an easy-to-use program. Remember, learning a difficult program would cost you time – and that means less revenue along the way. A user-friendly interface can also help enhance productivity since your workers don’t have to waste a lot of time trying to learn the program.
4. Adapts to All Environments
While many programs specialize in various marketing fields, you would want one that is versatile enough to be used in most niches. According to experts, the best AI marketing platform is one that could easily be adapted to a company’s established workflow. Remember, you are the client. The program should adjust to your needs – not the other way around.
5. Scalable
Like every other business owner, your vision should involve growing your company into a bigger enterprise. And as you try to do so, you need to pick an AI-based marketing tool that can expand with you. As such, you need to pick a vendor that personalizes each AI program – while monitoring its progress as well.
Remember, AI-based marketing is not a ‘one size fits all’ field. With that being said, you would want a program that scales up as your business expands.
6. Transparent
As a marketer, you would want to know the ins and outs of the platform. You will benefit from a product that makes use of various internal and external signals. With that being said, it’s best to go with a vendor who’s willing to show you the AI’s predictive models.
7. Built by Marketers – for Marketers
As with any other product, it’s ideal to get something that is well-versed with the field. The same goes for AI-based marketing. You would want a platform that came from experienced marketers – people who know the ins and outs of the field.
While AI-based marketing programs are usually about the math, marketer-developed tools usually do more. These platforms tend to be very intuitive, as they help determine the best data sources or signals to include in the process. They also utilize the worthiest predictions, which can help you reach more people – and generate more customers.
8. Cost
Don’t be surprised, but most AI platforms can be quite expensive. While it may burn a hole in your wallet, it’s actually a good investment. With the leads it can generate – and the data it can analyze – you can get the best marketing insights for your business.
Top AI-Based Marketing Platform and Tools
1. Salesforce
Salesforce is a program that enables you to work smartly with the help of artificial intelligence. It helps you discover insights, so you can see through the hidden opportunities in your otherwise ‘messy’ business data.
Salesforce also allows you to predict outcomes, so you can anticipate any unexpected data in your company. It also recommends the next steps you need to take, so you can give the best advice to your employees and clients.
What’s great about Salesforce is that it can automate workflows. It helps keep your business running smoothly with its AI chatbots. It also provides insights from Einstein, the system’s smart CRM assistant.
Salesforce offers different price points according to work sectors. For small businesses, the monthly costs range from $25 to $1,250. Sales and service cloud pricing, on the other hand, cost $25 to $300 a month.
Pros:
- Offers powerful CRM solutions.
- It comes with a Customizable program, so you can add or remove features as necessary.
Cons:
- As mentioned, it could set you back to as much as $1,250 a month.
- The interface is somehow difficult to use.
2. Drift
Drift is an AI-based marketing tool that allows you to connect with visitors instantly. With this platform, you can enhance close rates, establish more pipelines, and retain clients.
It claims to be the number 1 conversational marketing platform on the planet, as it has helped more than 50,000 businesses increase their revenues accordingly.
Drift makes this possible with its conversational AI, which can help boost your ROI. It also comes with advanced personalization, which enables you to customize messages according to your brand campaigns. As such, it can help provide a seamless customer experience – one that can foster loyalty and more profits in the future.
Drift offers a free plan, apart from its paid packages that range from $400 (Essential) to $1,500 (Premium) per month.
Pros:
- You can sign up for a free plan that comes with a live chat feature.
- The program comes with drift automation, which helps you to answer questions quickly and efficiently.
Cons:
- Expensive pricing.
- Some processes may need higher-level authority, and as such could get in the way of harmonious teamwork.
3. Blueshift
Blueshift is all about intelligent customer engagement. It is an easy-to-use platform that allows customer data activation and multi-channel automation.
Blueshift collects data through transactions, offline events, real-life transactions, product catalogs, and CRM. With this info at the hand, the AI utilizes predictive intelligence, advanced segmentation, and personalized recommendations.
Blueshift comes up with data that you can use in multi-channel campaigns, including that of SMS, e-mail, direct mail, mobile, and websites, to name a few.
Blueshift plans depend on 4 things: the selected edition, the number of active monthly users, the number of messages sent per month, and the preferred support tier. Prices start at $999 a month – to as much as $3,999 a month.
Pros:
- Comes with reliable and fast tech.
- Offers premium automation capabilities.
Cons:
- The reporting process needs a little improvement.
4. Marketo
Marketo considers itself as the best marketing automation software on the planet. With over a decade in business, it aims to provide solutions for every digital marketing concern.
With that being said, Marketo can help you with lead management, e-mail marketing, consumer marketing, customer base marketing, mobile marketing, revenue attribution, and account-based marketing.
Its point of pride is its engagement platform called Marketo Engage. As part of the Adobe Experience Cloud, it provides solutions for B2B marketers who want to engage throughout the purchasing process. Since it utilizes demand and account-based marketing techniques, it can help optimize content and measure progress through all channels.
Marketo costs $3,195 a month for 10 users. The set-up, on the other hand, will cost another $895.
Pros:
- Easy to use compared to other marketing suites.
- Offers separate features for email, analytics, and marketing automation.
Cons:
- Landing page and form builder features need further improvement.
5. Gong.io
Gong prides itself on being the number 1 platform for remote sales teams. It can help your company gain important insights about what’s happening with your market – as well as your employees.
Its selling point is revenue intelligence, which can help you focus on three things. One is market intelligence, which allows you to determine the ever-changing sentiments in your business. Another is deal intelligence, which tells you the best deals – as well as those that deem to be risky. Lastly, it works on people’s intelligence, so you know the reps who are doing good – as well as those who struggle with making sales.
Gong pricing, which you can only get by requesting a quote, will depend on the number of your team members.
Pros:
- Insight feature derives info not only from the team but from individual workers as well.
- Comes with a free demo trial.
Cons:
- Sub-par recording quality for calls.
- Slow call analysis time.
6. Arimo
Arimo is a behavioral AI platform that allows you to generate great business outcomes. Since it learns from your clients’ past behaviors, it can help predict their future actions.
The Arimo Behavioral AI comes with deep learning architecture, which allows the program to get the best info from massive data sets.
Arimo’s ultimate behavior prediction platform comes with native time-series data modeling, automatic pattern recognition, and optimized distributed computing. With these features, Arimo can change the way you automate processes – so you get to earn more profits in the long run.
Arimo provides pricing plans by request.
Pros:
- Best for start-ups and SMEs.
- Comes with product recommendations, sales forecasting, and customer segmentation.
Cons:
- No platform for Mac or iOS users.
7. Netbase
Netbase is a social media analytics platform that can help improve your business with the use of consumer and market intelligence. It can provide and analyze real-time data. As a result, you gain insights that can enhance your marketing strategies.
Netbase comes with an AI studio, which is the industry leader when it comes to next-gen artificial intelligence. It offers auto-discovery insights, which provide you with real-time marketing acumen. With this fully-automated platform, you can parse through ratings, reviews, and other internal data sources. Given its transparent and auditable results, there’s a minimal chance for error.
Netbase offers three packages: Starter, Business, and Enterprise. You can get a pricing quote for any of these plans through the Netbase official website.
Pros:
- Its crosstab analytics enables you to see how your company fares against others.
- It has a dashboard where you can make client reports that you can send automatically.
Cons:
- The program is not that user-friendly, as it will take you some time before you could use it well.
8. Albert.ai
Albert.ai is a marketing software that can help you plan, execute, test, and optimize marketing strategies. With that being said, this program claims itself to be your ‘ally’ when it comes to digital marketing.
Albert.ai takes pride in its marketing AI, as it is the only program in the world that is ‘autonomous.’ With its cross-channel strategy, it allows you to implement your program in a short time. You can see the results in a matter of weeks, not months.
Additionally, Albert.ai can help you solve the biggest advertising challenges through 24/7 optimization, moneyball media, scale personalization, and the practice “no shopper left behind.”
You can ask for a pricing quote via the Albert.ai official webpage.
Pros:
- Acts autonomously in real time.
- It features an AI guardrail, a measure that requires action from the user.
Cons:
- Devoid of SEO features.
- It only works with the Google marketing stack.
9. Exceed.ai
Exceed.ai is a conversational AI program that is geared towards marketing professionals. For one, it can help improve your deal pipeline by qualifying leads. As a result, it can provide new marketing opportunities to your employees.
Its AI assistant is known to work 24/7. It engages your leads by asking important questions. It also follows through with these leads to generate the best results.
As a bonus, Exceed.ai can help you schedule a meeting with the rest of your team as well.
Compared with other platforms, Exceed.ai comes with other features including an e-mail assistant and a website chatbot. With its AI-powered qualification, you can pose your questions via e-mail or chat. Given these qualities, you are sure to enjoy a higher ROI in the future.
You can get a quote from Exceed.ai services through its official website.
Pros:
- It enables you to create a huge number of sequences.
- Provides excellent onboarding support.
Cons:
- The platform is inflexible, as it only comes with limited customizable areas.
- Needs some improvement in the field of reporting.
10. Seamless.ai
Seamless.ai is all about providing you with the best sales leads. Simply put, it allows you to connect with the many opportunities that cellphones and e-mails provide.
With Seamless.ai, you can find e-mails and phone numbers through its Sales AI. Its Contact AI, on the other hand, enables you to create contact lists. The Account AI allows you to craft account lists as the Insights AI helps provide you with a website list. Likewise, you can compile multiple social lists with the help of its social AI.
Seamless.ai also boasts of CRM integrations, so you could import your data to thousands of apps (dialers, e-mail lists, CRM).
Seamless.ai offers 2 packages, namely Basic and Unlimited. The Basic plan, which costs $97 a month, is only for one user. The Unlimited plan, which costs $49 a month, requires a purchase of 20+ licenses.
Pros:
- It provides access to thousands of e-mails, which can be beneficial to any marketing entity.
- It can be integrated with the LinkedIn sales navigator program.
Cons:
- 40-50% of the provided e-mails usually bounce.
- The advance filter feature could benefit from more improvements.
11. MarketMuse
MarketMuse is an AI content intelligence and strategy platform that can help improve the way you research, plan, and make content.
It can help you outdo the competition in 3 ways. First, it can help you predict content success, so you get the best topics that will help your business succeed. It can also assist you in creating better content, so you know which subjects to tackle, including the best word count for your articles.
Lastly, it can help you craft content at a faster rate. With its natural language generation, you can meet all the metrics with little human intervention.
MarketMuse offers a free trial, as well as paid plans that cost $499 a month.
Pros:
- MarketMuse offers 3 months of free use.
- The program helps simplify the SEO process.
Cons:
- Slower analysis time.
- Markedly expensive price, especially for small businesses that rely on SEO.
Frequently Asked Questions
Data analysis proves to be one of the best applications of AI-based platforms. It can help reduce the brunt of marketing work, which is analyzing large numbers of data. As a result, it can help marketers take action on AI-generated insights.
Predictive analytics is another important element of AI-based marketing. Through machine learning, your system can learn from the customer’s buying habits, for example. As such, you could present the client, based on his/her purchase history, with the products he/she is more likely to buy.
AI can also help personalize the customer experience. It leverages data according to the person’s action. That’s because it interprets the client’s involvement with social media, websites, and online ads, to name a few.
An AI-based marketing platform can help your business perform the following:
a. Improve Decision Making
AI can help businesses make good decisions in a swift matter. For one, AI can perform content personalization. It enables marketers to present clients with products or services that they find interesting.
b. Hasten Slow Processes
Time is of the essence, especially in the field of marketing. With more productivity comes more revenue. AI is perfect for this, as it can hasten tasks – making it more efficient and effective in the process.
c. Uncover Hidden Data
There are several data sets that marketers can use to their advantage. AI can help you uncover such information that may be hidden from plain view. With AI, you can decipher this concealed data in a short time – so you can capitalize on its benefits right away.
AI marketing can help you achieve a lot of business goals.
For one, it allows you to generate multiple leads. Remember, if you don’t have time to create a personalized approach to marketing, then your business would be more likely to suffer. That’s where AI comes in handy. It can prioritize your goals through leverage predictive lead scoring.
AI can also perform programmatic advertising, which helps you automate the process of buying and selling ads. As such, AI can make the experience of buying ads more efficient.
AI platforms also come with management and organization capabilities, so you can personalize your approach with each customer. AI can also reduce certain barriers, thereby enhancing your productivity along the way.
The best way to start with AI marketing is to utilize one case at a time. While you can do almost everything with this program, it’s always best to start small. Capitalize on the fact that AI tools can perform very specific tasks, such as recommending content, predicting lead conversions, and optimizing e-mail time.
No, because AI brings results that are on par with – if not better – than traditional marketing strategies. The only difference they will notice is that the results will be generated more efficiently. After all, AI provides a more seamless experience that many consumers love.
Conclusion
AI-based marketing platforms and tools can help you gain marketing insights with little error. As such, it can help you save time and money – which you can use for other business strategies.
When it comes to choosing an AI-based platform, you need to consider user-friendliness, adaptability, integration features, scalability, transparency, and cost.
By considering these factors, you can enjoy the benefits of an AI-based marketing tool, which include improved decision making and enhanced business processes.
