In the past decade, the use of AI has become a prominent feature in business software and is now being used by marketers to widen the gap between businesses in today’s highly competitive landscape.

One of the biggest competitive advantages enterprises tend to have over SMEs is resources. Smaller businesses often lack the financial support and manpower needed to make a real dent in the market.

Thanks to the democratisation of software, artificial intelligence tools have a key role in levelling the playing field, helping small businesses reduce manual work, automate processes and improve efficiencies.

The results speak for themselves, with 52 per cent of marketers experiencing an increase in sales, and another 51 per cent noticing an increase in customer retention since introducing AI capabilities into the ecosystem, according to a Forbes report. 

Knowing how to best integrate AI into your digital marketing strategy can feel overwhelming, yet it’s a far more seamless process than many realise. Here, we share how SMEs can use AI to amplify marketing efforts to drive customer engagement and brand awareness.

Up the ante on online ads

When it comes to online ads, AI is the superpower all SMEs should have up their sleeves for three key reasons: to optimise ad spend, create compelling content and drive innovative campaigns. AI is being used by marketers to help determine how much budget should be invested in brand campaigns, with 70 per cent of marketers planning to make a significant increase on their AI spend in the next three years.

By constantly monitoring different channels and tracking how campaigns are performing, AI systems can help strategise the optimal cost, timing and platform for brand advertising. 

Also Read: How will AI help marketing strategies in 2020

AI also has the power to support targeted campaigns by analysing data about your core audience demographic, including their interests, preferences and keyword searches.

This data can then be leveraged to run digital campaigns and help to expose your business to other consumers who are similar to the target audience. 

Create compelling content without a copywriter

When it comes to driving traffic to your website, content is of critical importance. SMEs can engage customers from the very first interaction and maintain engagement through compelling content that appeals to the audience. 

AI is increasingly being used to create written pieces, including ad copy, blogs, articles and captions. Notably, Facebook and Instagram have AI-enabled tools that not only help marketers develop ads, but also suggest alternative variations to help diversify content.

Time scarcity is a challenge faced by many SMEs so if you’re a small marketing team or sole trader wearing many operational hats, turning to AI for copywriting will help put some time back in your diary and allow you to focus on other areas of business growth and development. 

Many businesses are now delegating copywriting needs to marketing platforms with AI capabilities to create optimised and targeted content.

This not only saves businesses significant time on developing copy but can help to inform what content will have a better response and engagement rate, generating greater results. 

Update your email marketing strategy

Email is dead, right? No way. Email is the bread and butter of SME marketing and is a great, cost-effective touchpoint to keep consumers actively engaged with your brand. But in a world filled with marketing emails, how can SMEs ensure comms like e-newsletters are securing the interest of customers? With the help of AI.

Thanks to AI, email marketing has become more powerful than ever through improved conversions, personalisation, automation and data analysis. AI can analyse a brand’s historic emails to identify the top-performing subject lines based on opens and click-through-rates, which can help marketers optimise in future. 

After all, the best email in the world won’t be noticed if nobody opens it, and with 40 per cent of consumers deciding whether or not to open an email based on the subject line, an AI-informed subject line can help to cut through the clutter.

Likewise, if you consider the top three reasons why people unsubscribe from emails are the volume; irrelevant content; and not recognising the brand, using AI can help SMEs stand out in an overcrowded market (and inbox).

Also Read: What you need to know about digital marketing for the new normal

By turning contextual real-time data from social and digital advertising channels into easy to understand insights and recommendations, AI can take the guesswork out of marketing to help businesses that don’t have large or experienced marketing teams.

Half of all small businesses fail within the first two years, and marketing, or a lack of effective marketing, is often one of the key reasons why.

Be tactical and work together with AI-powered technology to make sure your startup isn’t adding to the statistics.

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