By Erin Pennings

Long before ChatGPT, I worked with clients who used AI and machine learning to speed up data analysis at scale. Their enthusiasm about AI’s ability to improve everything from business operations to AI marketing funnels piqued my interest.

So when ChatGPT took over the news cycle, after my initial skepticism, I haven’t looked back.

While it’s always important to take AI with a grain of salt, it provides companies of all sizes opportunities to personalize marketing, deepen customer intimacy, and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of marketing programs.

More importantly, it lowers the barrier to entry for sophisticated marketing efforts, improving the way we can interact with and build on customer relationships. So let’s get into how you can incorporate AI into your marketing funnel.

Table of Contents

• AI and the Marketing Funnel
• Understanding The Buyer Journey
• How to Build a Marketing Funnel With AI
• Tips for Making the Most of AI in Your Marketing Funnel and MarTech Operations

AI and the Marketing Funnel

Before you and I have any conversation about how AI can improve the marketing funnel, let’s make sure we’re on the same page about what marketing funnels are and how they work.

Why?

I strongly feel that before you can automate something, you need a solid understanding of how it works so you know the expected outcomes.

Without that foundation, you can’t know if AI recommendations are any good, you can’t identify what’s working and what’s not, and it’s tough to find a solution that works.

So, at a high level, let’s agree that the entire purpose of a marketing funnel — or flywheel — is to map out each stage of the buyer journey and then improve the way customers move through it.

From there, we can look at the different ways that AI can improve aspects of the marketing funnel — including the buyer journey (and far beyond it).

Understanding The Buyer Journey

Here’s a quick recap of what the buyer journey typically looks like, the types of tasks that are associated with it, and the opportunities for AI marketing funnel optimization.

Awareness Stage

During this phase, prospective buyers are aware of a problem but may not yet know the solution and search for information to understand their pain points.

Marketing Tasks & Challenges

Marketers working through awareness stage tactics spend time:

• Identifying target audiences and key messages.
• Understanding buyer pain points.
• Creating and optimizing content that speaks to problems and solutions.

So, where are the challenges? Some of the struggles I see other marketers face — and have struggled with myself — include:

• Analyzing whether or not we’re reaching the right audience.
• Ensuring content speaks to different segments and pain points.
• Generating leads — the holy grail!

AI Marketing Funnel Opportunities

I’ve seen AI make a …read more

Source:: HubSpot Blog

Author: Aaron