Image: FSB Marketing/Adobe/Adobe Firefly (2024)

By Maida Qutub, Business Lecturer, FSB Digbeth 

In recent years, people have witnessed the swift development of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, which have changed industries and business basics. The marketing department, specifically the Digital Marketing Section, is the most affected field, as advanced technologies such as AI and robotics are revolutionising how companies approach customers, individualise experiences and manage logistical processes (Sharma et al., 2023). As a business lecturer, I understand that these technologically disruptive innovations must be fully comprehended to equip future business professionals with an awareness of the shifting landscape. In this article, I discuss the importance of AI and robots in marketing and their potential impact on companies, customers, and marketing tactics. 

Marketing AI and Robotics Ecosystem: State of the Art 

AI and robotics are still leading topics in science fiction; however, their utilisation in marketing brings results that are visible now. In machine learning, data analysis, and pattern recognition, AI is used extensively in everything from managing customer relations to advertising and generating content (see Grewal et al., 2020). Robotics, on the other hand, deals with using machines that can operate independently without the help of any human intervention. Whereas AI integration in marketing is defined mainly through data and data-driven machine learning algorithms regarding consumer behaviour; robotics applies to tangible interactions with customers, product and service delivery, and shopping (Singh et al., 2024). Collectively, many of these technologies are revolutionising the way marketers and their audiences communicate and how customer interaction is handled in commerce. 

Advertising and Content Marketing 

Predictive analysis allows for creating a unique campaign for each consumer, depending on their activity. For instance, Google Ads and Facebook Ads employ AI to monitor user behaviour and display ads corresponding to user preferences (Vlačić et al., 2021). The difference between mass advertising and targeted advertising adds value to the customer experience and makes ROI significantly better for the companies. Natural language processing (NLP) is used by AI for writing blogs, product descriptions, and social media content using a set of instructions (Prasanth et al., 2023). This leads to a significantly scalable approach to content maintenance but still requires supervision to prevent churn and encourage proper creativity. 

Customer Experience and Chatbots 

With the advancement of AI, companies have incorporated intelligent and automated chatbots on their business websites for direct interaction with clients. These chatbots are not only designed to answer typical questions but are also learning with each conversation and getting better with time. AI in customer service has the benefits of making companies available throughout and helping to cut costs (Abrokwah-Larbi and Awuku-Larbi, 2024). For instance, Alibaba, the world’s leading e-commerce company, employs AI in customer care through chatbots. These bots can easily manage complex customer interactions by identifying previous queries and integrating customer data. This level of AI integration ensures that customers feel their opinions and values are essential, even when dealing with an automated system. 

Analytical Techniques for Consumer Behaviour Predictions 

Another of the most valuable strengths of AI in marketing is the ability to forecast consumer behaviour. Predictive analytics entails using data to anticipate future behaviours of their customers, which would be very helpful in determining future demand for their products, packaging of marketing campaigns, and even inventory control. Online retailers like Netflix and Amazon are among the businesses that utilise the intelligence of predictive analytics to predict and recommend items of user interest (Singh et al., 2024). Thus, the sites improve users’ attentiveness and satisfaction, increasing sales and customer loyalty. 

Automation in Retail 

The application of robotics is helping retail settings improve use value and productivity for their shoppers and clients. Stores using soft robotics, such as Pepper from SoftBank Robotics, are beginning to place robots to help customers with questions, suggest products to purchase, and even lead the customers around the store. Such robots can communicate with customers in different languages and offer them an alternative, individualised, environment-oriented approach to shopping (Vlačić et al., 2021). It cuts down on human employees’ workload by responding to such questions and directing them to robots that can handle such tasks. 

Delivery Drones and Autonomous Vehicles 

In logistics, robotics has been embraced and is now revolutionising product delivery. Some companies using this technology include Amazon, UPS, and many others to transform their delivery services by making them deliver products to customers through drones. This will reduce the time spent providing the products (Prasanth et al., 2023). Self-driving cars are also being trialled for the potential to improve supply chain efficiency through the current evidence of error minimisation and labour saving.  

Looking Ahead: The Implications of AI and Robotics in Future Marketing 

AI and robotics in the marketing context are not just trends for the future but present changes that are unfolding and steadily shifting the paradigms of business models. To corporations, adopting these technologies provides an opportunity to enhance operational productivity, better understand the customers’ needs, and personalise the consumers’ experience. However, the future of the use of AI and robotics in the marketing of products shall depend on how companies and other business entities will approach challenges such as ethical dilemmas, sensitive data breaches and the digital divide. 

Therefore, as a business lecturer, I need to equip future marketers with the proper knowledge and understanding of prospects and issues related to AI and robotics. These issues will be crucial to adapting to the challenging and dynamic business environment and realising the full potential of the various technologies as enablers of success while considering the needs of future marketers.  

References  

Abrokwah-Larbi, K. and Awuku-Larbi, Y., 2024. The impact of artificial intelligence in marketing on the performance of business organisations: evidence from SMEs in an emerging economy. Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies, 16(4), pp.1090-1117. 

Alam, M.F., 2022. Applications of Natural Language Processing. Data Science Dojo. Available at: https://datasciencedojo.com/blog/natural-language-processing-applications/ (Accessed on: 01 October 2024). 

CIO, 2018. 5 ways industrial AI is revolutionizing manufacturing. Available at: https://www.cio.com/article/222332/5-ways-industrial-ai-is-revolutionizing-manufacturing.html (Accessed on: 01 October 2024). 

Codeless Platforms, 2020. A Guide to Business Process Automation in Retail. Available at: https://www.codelessplatforms.com/blog/business-process-automation-in-retail/ (Accessed on: 01 October 2024). 

Grewal, D., Hulland, J., Kopalle, P.K. and Karahanna, E., 2020. The future of technology and marketing: A multidisciplinary perspective. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48, pp.1-8. 

Prasanth, A., Densy, J.V., Surendran, P. and Bindhya, T., 2023. Role of artificial intelligence and business decision making. International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, 14(6). 

Sharma, K.K., Tomar, M. and Tadimarri, A., 2023. Unlocking sales potential: How AI revolutionizes marketing strategies. Journal of Knowledge Learning and Science Technology ISSN: 2959-6386 (online), 2(2), pp.231-250. 

Singh, P., Das, L., Jha, R., Kumar, A. and Rani, S., 2024. Revolutionizing Sales and Marketing: The Power of AI in Action. In Security and Risk Analysis for Intelligent Cloud Computing (pp. 297-315). CRC Press. 

Vlačić, B., Corbo, L., e Silva, S.C. and Dabić, M., 2021. The evolving role of artificial intelligence in marketing: A review and research agenda. Journal of business research, 128, pp.187-203.