How Artificial Intelligence is Changing B2B Marketing

Artificial intelligence (AI) and marketing began their relationship in 1998 when Amazon introduced its collaborative filtering, which posted buying recommendations based on consumer-collected data. Twenty years later, AI-based recommendations are commonplace, even in the B2B space.

According to Harvard Business Review, marketing uses AI to perform tasks such as programmatic buying, improve predictive analysis, and supplement human activities such as customer service or technical support.

However, applying AI in business settings differs depending on the target audience. When selling to consumers, AI increases engagement and guides them to specific products based on browsing history, and AI can personalize the journey using external and internal sources. With AI-powered chatbots, the technology can up-sell or cross-sell products and answer delivery times or appointment scheduling queries.

B2B marketing is different because the sales process is different. Individuals who make buying decisions have industry-specific knowledge with experience in negotiations. They expect a level of professionalism, and buying decisions often depend on the relationship between the buyer and seller.

With predictions that the worldwide enterprise AI market would reach $53.06 billion by 2026, the revolutionary potential of AI and machine learning in B2B marketing is much too tempting to ignore.

AI has certainly surpassed the hype; algorithms are constantly learning and self-correcting, allowing them to alter work and provide a competitive edge.

Understanding AI’s potential and benefits might help you and your company benefit rather than be intimidated by the technology. Businesses should standardize their definitions of AI, assess their preparedness for AI solutions, and create quantifiable and transparent ROIs for AI efforts as part of their preparations.

The goal of any B2B marketing campaign is a recurring business that strengthens the seller’s bottom line. So, how can organizations leverage AI solutions to realize the benefits of artificial intelligence?

Improving Customer Experience

Lead generation and conversion may not seem part of the customer experience, but they can be the first step in creating a personalized customer journey. Every buyer that visits a website is not at the same point in their purchasing cycle.

With the use of Artificial Intelligence in business, marketers can predict whether the visitor is collecting research or has an immediate need. Based on the information, targeted responses can be delivered, with more resources focused on those buyers closest to making a purchase.

Increase Lead Generation

For buyers just beginning their journey, AI can provide insight into their needs and expectations. The technology can look at industry trends and company performance to predict the likelihood of an immediate sale. Based on the prediction, AI solutions can send personalized communications designed to maintain a connection for those just starting their buying cycle. Because corporate buying cycles can take months to complete, maintaining a relationship can help qualify a lead.

Revamp Lead Qualification

Businesses do not have unlimited resources, and qualifying leads can be time-consuming unless the technology is part of the process. With AI business intelligence, it’s possible to learn more about a business in less time and with more accuracy than ever before. Some advantages of AI include:

• Identifying business goals based on industry trends
• Determining industry challenges from market intelligence
• Predicting buying schedules
• Identifying individuals with purchasing power
• Targeting specific needs to be addressed

Armed with these insights, B2B marketers can develop marketing strategies to address an industry’s pain points.

Nurture AI Conversations

AI-powered chatbots have changed the meaning of personalized messaging. AI can answer questions or generate follow-up communications 24/7. Corporate buyers no longer have to wait for operating hours to learn about estimated delivery times or schedule an appointment.

Natural language processing (NLP) capabilities can make conversations more engaging because they can accurately mimic person-to-person communication. Perhaps, the most important advantage of AI in business is its real-time response capabilities.

Chatbots can provide customers with relevant information in seconds, making for a better customer experience while saving resources. AI can even personalize responses in real-time, delivering a contextually appropriate message. As technology advances, AI’s business intelligence will enable organizations to develop stronger relationships through technology.

Powerful Customer Relationships

AI can strengthen customer relationships through market segmentation and behavioral analysis. By tailoring experiences, AI can help personalize a relationship. In the B2B space, building customer relationships is what makes a sale, and corporate buyers are looking for reliable businesses they can trust.

Enhanced Market Segmentation

Market segmentation is no longer limited to broad sweeping statements about a group of clients. AI can take massive amounts of data and ingest the details to create one market segment. It can take that same information and develop insights that expand a market segment to include hundreds of companies. This flexibility is one of the benefits of artificial intelligence.

Detection of Behavioral Analysis

One advantage of AI is its ability to detect behavioral patterns that would go unnoticed in a human-based analysis. It simply takes more data than is humanly possible to analyze to deliver a reliable behavioral analysis. Through data-driven analysis, marketers can maintain connections that resonate with their customers.

Using the behavioral analysis with a company and industry profile, marketers can identify relevant content that can help form buying decisions. This information can be tailored to add to a personalized customer experience.

Personalized Customer-Valued Content

Content marketing requires systematic delivery of valued information. Posting content without understanding how it benefits the customer wastes both the company and the buyer’s time. Unfortunately, manually delivering content is resource-intensive. With advances in AI technology, it’s possible to develop contextual information that is delivered consistently.

Target Generated Content Creation

AI can use its algorithms to generate targeted content. Although the technology is still developing, AI can draft data-driven content. It can suggest captions and social media content or identify authoritative sources to build site credibility. Letting AI draft content that is refined through editing can reduce the time needed to produce valued content.

Content Delivery

AI can help with content atomization. AI can repurpose the information into smaller and more targeted content using long-form content such as an ebook. AI can turn text into infographics or extract critical points to highlight in a newsletter. With AI technology, businesses can maximize their existing content without adding to marketing’s workload.

Positive Return on Investment (ROI)

Complex algorithms may dominate AI, but the results should be simple to understand, and AI should identify patterns that can be turned into actionable insights that result in a positive investment return. If an Artificial intelligence implementation cannot deliver a clear return on investment, companies may want to look at the given data. After all, AI is only as wise as the data it uses.

Actionable Metrics

Key performance indicators should move beyond the number of page visits or clicks per session. What’s essential are conversion rates, lead qualification, and lifetime customer value. Tracking these metrics will provide the data needed to evaluate AI’s ROI.

Measuring the actionable insights that drive customers to the following best action is another way to determine AI’s ROI. Understanding where customers are in their buying journey, what they need to move forward, and what motivates them are clear indicators of the power of AI.

What to Check in an Artificial Intelligence Platform?

For all markets, a platform should be adaptable, open, scalable, simple to use, and secure. It should also feature a set of reusable and adjustable AI modules tailored to B2B situations.

Finding an AI partner who can deliver speed, quality, and accuracy is also crucial.

The following are the characteristics we feel a good AI platform should have:

• Harvesting data: Enriching data in real-time, verifying data security, and using comprehensive SLAs that focus on 100 percent accuracy are all advantages.
• The capacity to analyze large amounts of data in a variety of languages and places.
• Fresh, full, and secure data at all times.
• Deep learning approaches to fill in missing data points, as well as data scoring across first- and third-party intent, are among the AI algorithms that continue to supply further insight.
• Clients may link their own data utilizing a set of APIs that trigger continuous data flows from proprietary, licensed, and strategic partner databases.

Key Takeaways of AI in B2B business

AI is only as good as the data it is given. The technology can deliver more accurate insights that provide more targeted actions with better data. That means conducting market research that curates data for more comprehensive results for marketers.