Artificial intelligence may seem like a futuristic concept, but it’s been around for a long time. From automated teller machines or ATMs to Siri, most of us encounter AI on a daily basis.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Simply put, artificial intelligence is the concept of a machine performing a task that previously required the intervention of a human. Traditionally, the process involves a set of rules or actions that the machine follows without deviation.

Today, however, AI has become broader in scope to include approaches such as machine learning, which, as the name suggests, allows machines to “learn” from processing vast amounts of new data.

The result? Quick, accurate, and consistent output that is impossible to achieve when the same action is performed by humans.

How will AI influence marketing?

The widespread use of AI in customer service, campaign optimization, search engine optimization, and many other processes is proof of artificial intelligence’s influence on marketing.

This is hardly surprising since AI offers many benefits to marketers including cost savings.  Artificial intelligence tools that are designed to analyze millions of lines of data and make predictions / adjustments to a process will no longer need human contact to create efficiencies it will now be done automatically.

There’s also the added bonus of eliminating the “human error” factor from the equation, which enhances overall productivity and improves customer experience.

While it is safe to assume that artificial intelligence will only become even more pervasive in the coming years, 80 percent of marketing executives believe that AI will have revolutionized marketing by 2020. If this figure is accurate, marketers need a lot of catching up to do because only 10 percent are currently using AI.

If you’re one of the many entrepreneurs who think artificial intelligence is too intimidating, don’t. AI can help your business whether it’s a multinational corporation or a startup.

Here are practical ways you can use AI.

1.  Let AI build your website

An online presence is a must for all businesses. In the past, there were two major ways to go about building your website: do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you. These days, there’s another option: have AI build your website. The good news is this option is ideal for small businesses because it doesn’t require a lot of time or even a ton of cash.

Bookmark is an example of a website building platform that can create a website for you in just minutes. All you need to do is to supply key information about your business, click a button, and wait. AiDA or artificial intelligence design assistant chooses from millions of design combinations to build a website that is uniquely yours.

2.  Use AI to understand and optimize campaigns

One of the biggest challenges many marketers have faced is how to understand and optimize campaigns. Countless hours have been spent running various campaigns, examining the data, and basically experimenting to see what will work and what won’t.

What’s worse than knowing you’re wasting a lot of time is the feeling that you’re missing something. That there’s a right mix of customer, channel, and message that will produce the optimal result, but you just can’t come up with it.

It is simply impossible for humans to go through and make sense of tons of data, much less all the myriad implications that come with the results. AI makes short work of the same process, and can even go beyond the obvious of how well a campaign has performed to the reasons why the campaign was a success.

Artificial intelligence tools can be used to collect even more data and apply the appropriate filters and categories to cover all marketing data at scale. The outcome includes efficient pricing, targeted ads, and the elimination of unproductive ad networks.

An example of how you can track marketing results through AI is Attribution, Google’s new service. Through the use of other Google services like Analytics and AdWords, Attribution creates a detailed picture of the whole onboarding process from the customer’s first impression of the brand to the sale.

3.  Enhance customer service with AI

According to Gartner, 85 percent of customers will interact with businesses without human involvement by 2020. But, far from the cold and robotic image of a talking machine, AI, in the form of chatbots, can make customers happy and informed through personalized messaging and marketing.

Chatbots are no longer a new concept. In fact, many big brands have used chatbots in a variety of ways including the promotion of a TV show or offering customers recommendations to make online shopping even easier than it already is.

Do small businesses need chatbots? Yes. At the very least, chatbots can take care of simple customer interactions so you can focus on more important aspects of your business.

4.  Build a smarter social strategy with AI

Increased brand recognition is just one of the many invaluable benefits social media provides small businesses. For many startups, this can mean the difference between success and failure. While it is easy to get started with social media marketing, keeping at it can be tricky and time-consuming.

AI tools simplify the process of creating social media strategies, putting them in place, analyzing the results, and making suggestions about possible actions based on the results.

How do artificial intelligence systems do this? Through the use of Natural Language Processing or Sentiment analysis.

AI helps you better engage your audience by analyzing data from social media and giving you advice on the kind of subjects, visual content, emotions, and tone you need to use in your posts. What’s more, artificial intelligence software can even suggest the best time to publish a post. It also gathers new data by analyzing the post and the interactions it garners.

Whether we realize it or not, artificial intelligence will only take on more roles in our everyday lives, particularly in business. For business owners like you, now is the time to learn everything there is to know about how you can make AI work for you.

David Kosmayer is CEO and Founder of Bookmark, an AI-powered website builder disrupting the web design industry. David created his first company at 22 just coming out of college. Marketing Extensions Inc., an online affiliate and marketing agency, was born from the basement of his parent’s home. This company grew under his leadership into a 55-person team, topping $60M in revenue in less than a decade. David is highly focused, dedicated and passionate about building successful companies.