Suddenly, ChatGPT entered the chat and it wasn’t too long after that Google’s Gemini made it’s entrance. Now, they’ve joined the long list of other AI tools that marketing agencies use to facilitate their data analysis as well as content creation and marketing processes.
Does that mean that AI marketing agencies are simply those marketing agencies that use AI tools to optimize the speed and quality of their services? What is an AI marketing agency and how does it differ from traditional marketing agencies?
Those questions and more will be thoroughly discussed in this article.
Stay with me.
What is an AI marketing agency?
To put it simply, an AI marketing agency leverages existing artificial intelligence solutions to streamline its operations and deliver more accurate and personalized results to its clients faster.
Think of it this way: you hire a marketing agency to outsource the job of marketing your products and services to a large audience. The marketing agency, in turn, uses AI technologies to make their job easier and more effective.
What does all of that entail?
Marketing agencies need a lot of data about your ideal customers’ needs and online preferences to create well-placed ads that resonate with your target audience.
Marketing agencies also need data on social media and economic trends that may affect marketing efforts.
These agencies access their data from various sources like social media channels, website visits, email marketing platforms, and more.
AI plays an indispensable role here because of its impressive ability to analyse entire datasets at lightspeed and spit out actionable insights to inform future digital marketing campaigns.
That level of automation can really help an AI marketing agency in terms of productivity and employee satisfaction. Rather than spending days manually analysing spreadsheets and doing other repetitive tasks that may feel like pure drudgery, marketing personnel at an AI marketing agency get to free themselves up for more important, satisfying work.
The enhanced data collection and data analysis advantages that AI affords a marketing agency also help a lot with personalisation.
Insights that AI marketing tools glean from customers browsing history, social media activity, purchase activity, content consumption patterns, and customer profiles can help to craft ad content that can make a target customer feel like it was made just for him.
Core services offered by AI marketing agencies
The following is a comprehensive list of key areas where an AI marketing agency uses cutting-edge AI tools to solve crucial needs for its client businesses and help them achieve specific goals.
They are:
- SEO
- Content creation
- SMA (Social media advertising)
- Email marketing
- Lead generation
- Link building
- Competitor research
- Content marketing
Let’s examine them in more detail:
SEO (search engine optimization)
AI marketing agencies have the upper hand in delivering SEO optimization services for their clients as they leverage AI SEO tools to take out much of the manual labor from the SEO optimization process.
When it comes to SEO, an AI marketing agency will deliver much faster results because its AI tools zip through incredible volumes of data points, analyzing them with uncanny precision and accuracy to identify patterns and trends rich with insights that can drive your SEO strategy forward.
In more practical terms, AI marketing agencies use cutting-edge AI tools to accelerate keyword research (SEMrush, Moz, etc.), content creation (Jasper, Writesonic, etc.), on-page optimization (MarketMuse), link building (Linkody, Majestic, etc.), and user experience (Hotjar, Crazy Egg, etc.).
Content creation
Content forms the backbone of any marketing strategy, and it has to be engaging and highly targeted among other criteria, to generate excitement in a brand’s offering and drive conversion.
Content creation is at the core of nearly all AI marketing agencies’ work. While none of them uses AI to generate entire blog posts, landing page copy, or other content, their content creation teams use AI to drastically shorten the time it takes to brainstorm ideas.
More than that, an AI-aware marketing agency takes advantage of Generative AI tools like Copy.ai and Writesonic amongst others to produce draft content that gives the human team something to refine and personalize into the final deal.
And thanks to the vast amounts of customer data that AI bots can process at once, AI marketing agencies are well-equipped to create hyper-personalized marketing campaigns that improve customer experiences and drive higher conversion rates.
Email marketing
An AI marketing agency is your best bet if you want your email campaigns to feature content that is tailored to individual preferences and based on precise data.
By leveraging a broad range of AI tools, technologies, and software to optimize their email marketing, these agencies do customer segmentation, streamline A/B testing, optimize send times, and personalize email content to reflect insights gathered from such data as past interactions, purchase preferences, browsing history, and more.
AI marketing agencies have moved past fixed protocols, static segmentation, and content rules. They are now using AI to improve all areas of email marketing and push the boundaries of what is possible.
For instance, with the help of AI, email marketing campaigns now integrate dynamic content that customizes emails based on real-time data such as customer behaviour, significant dates, relevant products, updated inventories, changing weather conditions, and more. All that makes the emails much more personalized.
Social media advertising
Like it or not, AI already determines to a large extent whether or not your ad will be seen, at least according to the Marketing AI Institute.
When it comes to ad placements, budget optimization, social listening, and other services, AI marketing agencies are outperforming their non-AI-wielding competition.
For instance, AI equips marketing agencies that harness its potential to distil the megatons of data that AI-powered ad platforms harvest on a daily basis into relevant information that informs their advertisement strategies.
In other words, AI helps them keep up with AI.
Because of this, AI marketing agencies can place programmatic and digital ads that take into account the algorithmic protocols of their specific ad platform to hit their target.
Lead generation
With AI marketing tools for lead generation like Omneky, Skrapp, Snov.io, and many others, AI marketing agencies are already ahead of the curve when it comes to meticulous lead generation informed by in-depth research, data analysis, and precise conversion strategies.
In a bid to help businesses locate high-quality leads and convert them into paying customers, the marketing agencies in question utilize AI lead generation tools that comb immense datasets for information about customer behaviours, habits, and processes to sharpen targeting precision.
So no more treating leads as faceless targets or spraying copy-and-paste outbound messages that are overly generic, and gone are the days when marketers and sales teams would just nitpick names and titles from random places like industry events and fundraisers without knowing what motivates these public figures.
Now, AI marketing agencies do better than that, using their predictive scoring prowess to identify high-potential targets and weed out unqualified leads.
Link building
AI marketing agencies leverage AI link-building tools like these professional ones on 5App, and others to generate high-quality backlinks in much less time than marketing agencies that still use traditional, time-intensive strategies.
For instance, AI automates the process of contacting website owners and bloggers to request high-quality links.
Manual outreach efforts are replaced with the use of advanced algorithms to identify the most valuable backlinks and streamline outreach campaigns.
And I can’t stop emphasizing how AI marketing agencies are better equipped to collect vast amounts of data around parameters like backlink profiles, relevance to specific URLs pointing to your content, etc, and analyse it swiftly to uncover potential backlink-building opportunities and predict the success rate of acquiring these links based on historical data.
Competitor research
There’s hardly another aspect of marketing where AI marketing agencies use AI than in competitor research.
It all boils down to the fact that artificial intelligence powers competitive analysis for decision-making and data-driven insights on a level that manual efforts can never come close to.
With the aid of a handful of AI tools, marketing agencies that embrace artificial intelligence in their competitive analysis efforts are able to collect reams of data from their competitor’s websites, socials, news articles, and more to gain valuable insights into their strategies, identify weaknesses, and develop more effective marketing campaigns.
Dynamic competitor monitoring is another area where AI marketing agencies help keep their client’s business one step ahead of the competition. Once again, AI-powered tools are at the forefront of real-time analysis of a competitor’s social media and online activity to stay informed about changes in their strategies such as new product launches, pricing adjustments, marketing campaigns, and customer engagement initiatives.
Content marketing
Content is king in any marketing process and when you entrust this phase of your marketing to an AI marketing agency, you will surely see significant positive impacts.
AI-savvy content marketing teams use artificial intelligence to streamline and eliminate the grunt work from many aspects of the content creation process.
For instance, Sim Aulakh, founder of PR firm EstablishedCred, says, and I quote, that his firm uses Generative AI to craft more personalized stories that… drive engagement and ultimately build stronger brands. Turning one type of content into another, e.g., text to video, is just another application of Generative AI.
Research is also an aspect of content marketing that AI marketing agencies automate and optimise using AI tools.
Analyzing volumes of data with these AI tools to identify trends, keywords, and relevant information equips content marketers with the information needed to outsmart competitors and ultimately win more customers for their client companies.
Benefits of partnering with an AI marketing agency
Personalization and customer segmentation
Thanks to their intricate understanding of how AI technologies are applied, AI marketing agencies can collect massive amounts of data on online user behaviour, purchase history, social media activity, etc.
Analyzing these enormous volumes of data yields insights that can be used to identify customers with similar traits and target them with customized email campaigns.
Automated content creation
With tools like Zapier, Canva Pro, and SEMrush, marketing agencies that embrace AI technologies can automate various aspects of content creation, such as keyword research, content idea generation, content creation, editing, and optimization.
Furthermore, AI marketing agencies use their AI tools to ensure strict adherence to SEO and formatting best practices.
Campaign optimization and management
From real-time data analysis to automated decision-making, AI marketing agencies use many techniques to optimize campaigns on the fly and deliver personalized ads that appeal to the right audience.
AI marketing agencies are also generally more efficient in their campaign efforts as they can leverage AI tools to reduce wasted ad spend and improve overall campaign ROI.
Improved customer engagement
AI-powered marketing agencies have abandoned the old practices of understanding customers through broad segments and generalisations.
These agencies have AI systems that learn from every customer interaction as they analyse vast amounts of data from customer behaviours and preferences and turn them into actionable insights.
Partnering with an AI marketing agency to manage your marketing needs also allows your business to predict customer needs and issues before they arise, paving the way for proactive engagement.
Cost-effectiveness
Much of AI’s utility for an AI marketing agency lies in enabling more precisely targeted marketing that ensures that promotional messages reach the right people at the right time.
This ensures that no money is wasted on reaching uninterested parties and that the money spent ultimately brings results in the form of successful conversions.
Data-driven decision making
AI marketing agencies successfully use AI to overcome the hurdles involved in gathering and making sense of massive volumes of data needed to make informed decisions.
AI tools significantly automate complex processes, uncover insights otherwise hidden in large datasets, identify patterns and make predictions, use Natural Language Processing to derive insights from unstructured text data, and do so much more to enhance the quality of decisions made.
The difference between AI marketing and a traditional marketing agency
This section will enlighten you on how implementing AI solutions will set the quality and magnitude of your services apart from those delivered by marketing agencies that do not use AI.
Take note of all the points that will be discussed below should you be thinking of running your own marketing agency with AI.
Use of advanced technologies
This includes the use of advanced analytical tools to analyse complex data sets as well as predictive capabilities that use these data to generate comprehensive insights into consumer behaviour.
Predictive capabilities also allow for using today’s data to anticipate future customer behaviour and market trends.
Scalability and adaptability
AI-infused marketing agencies can handle the demand of increasing traffic, massive user increases transactions, and the surge in data analysis, content generation, and campaign management loads.
This allows AI marketing agencies to churn out huge volumes of output without sacrificing quality.
All of this is achieved without the need for proportional increases in staff and without overburdening existing teams.
Real-time analytics and reporting
AI’s growing ability to process massive amounts of data in real-time allows it to analyse a diverse range of parameters of consumer behaviour, such as website visits and interactions with paid ads.
Real-time analytics provided by AI marketing tools also allow businesses to adjust their marketing strategies on the fly. A/B split testing of ads is one example. With AI split testing tools, the performance of multiple ad variations can be analysed over time.
How an AI marketing agency can help your industry
E-commerce
Case studies of e-commerce stores successfully applying AI in their business operations show the big role that AI marketing agencies can play in upgrading the experience your e-commerce store gives your customers.
Your e-commerce store can be empowered to offer more than just products. It can also be empowered to provide precise product recommendations and a highly targeted experience to increase customer satisfaction.
Healthcare
An AI marketing agency can greatly benefit your healthcare services or establishment. These agencies can help bring your healthcare service or corporation to the limelight by integrating AI-powered systems into your disease treatment and patient care protocols.
With assistance from an AI marketing agency, you can revolutionize the quality of your healthcare service with AI applications that turn up the speed and accuracy of medical diagnosis, reshape patient care management, and streamline the process of drug discovery.
Real estate
An AI marketing agency is equipped with the necessary tools to glean extensive data such as property listings, demographic insights, and more to uncover patterns, trends, and correlations.
AI helps real estate marketers forecast property values, identify market trends, tailor recommendations for buyers, sellers and investors, automate the process of listing descriptions, identify potential leads, track lease agreements, and streamline other aspects of property management.
Finance
AI in finance is doing wonders by analysing terabytes of financial data and news in real-time, providing insights that traders can use to optimise their trading strategies.
Another role AI marketing agencies play in helping your fintech business or bank grow is in providing customers personalized advice leveraging data on such factors as spending and saving habits.
Travel and Hospitality
It is no longer enough for hotel attendants and tour guides to know their guests’ names. An AI marketing agency can help you elevate the experience of your travel and hospitality services by equipping it to anticipate guest needs as well as learn and adapt to guest interactions.
AI can also assist greatly in curating personalized itineraries for your guests, integrating local experiences that align with their interests.
Challenges and considerations facing AI marketing agencies
Data privacy and security
Data privacy and security are two of the biggest concerns that should weigh on the minds of every AI marketing agency. If you are thinking of how to start an AI marketing agency, give deep thought to how your agency will avoid infringing on your customer’s data rights and secure whatever data it collects.
The challenge becomes more frightening when you consider that AI technologies aren’t built with a strong focus on privacy.
Also, with the way personal gadgets, from smartphones to home assistants, armed with all kinds of sensors and trackers, have become a ubiquitous part of our lives, the AI systems on them could collect all kinds of private data from your customers without their knowledge. From there comes the risk of collecting extensive data beyond what is necessary for strictly marketing purposes.
The challenge of data security stems from the fact that marketing databases are huge repositories of consumer data and, as such, irresistible treasure chests for hackers and other bad actors. Thus, to prevent data breaches and preserve your clients’ trust in you, you will need to invest in the most robust data protection systems available.
Integration with existing systems
As an AI marketing agency, one of your main concerns will be integrating AI solutions with the SaaS platforms you provide to your clients. While this pairing is a good way to run your marketing agency with AI since it provides unprecedented benefits, such as a streamlined, personalized user experience, you will also have to grapple with finding quality data to feed these AI systems.
You will also have to contend with the challenge of finding talent in the form of data scientists to implement AI-powered solutions without affecting existing SaaS platforms.
Ethical implications
AI marketing agencies should encourage transparency about AI usage. As you learn more about how to start an AI marketing agency, keep in mind that clients need to know how brands use the data they collect to deliver personalized experiences, which will help them make informed choices about their interactions with the agencies.
With transparency concerns come accountability worries. As you learn how to run an AI marketing agency using AI, such as by facilitating brand-customer relations through chatbots and automated responses, it can become harder for customers to distinguish between AI-generated replies and human ones. This uncertainty only breeds further discontent when a customer’s specific needs are only half-addressed or ignored altogether.
Wrapping up
AI marketing agencies use AI to seamlessly execute nearly all of the background tasks involved in marketing processes like content creation, audience segmentation, lead generation, and more.
And as market conditions, customer behaviors, and economic trends change, AI-assisted marketing agencies are better equipped to predict future developments in their niche industries and mount robust adaptation strategies.
All of that means that AI marketing agencies are at the forefront of redefining the marketing experience for brands and their customers.
Are you worried that your marketing agency is still stuck in the old, manual, and labor-intensive ways of doing marketing? Would you like to jump on the AI marketing bandwagon and partake of the long-lasting benefits of super-fast automation, audience personalisation and more?
Start the transition by learning about the AI tools for marketing agencies, arm yourself with practical information on how to start an AI marketing agency, and accelerate your long-term progress with battle-tested strategies on how to run a marketing agency using AI.
Happy upgrading!