“Friend in need, is a friend indeed”- Artificial Intelligence & Mobile Marketing duo
Author - Ashita Bagdi
Ever wondered how magically the advertisement of the product you had searched on the web or an online shopping platform starts appearing on all social media platforms and various other applications? Well, that's exactly what mobile marketing is all about.
As of August 2020, there are 696 million smartphone users in India, and this number is growing exponentially. Moreover, throughout the day, we interact nearly constantly with our mobile devices especially via the apps supported by them, let it be social media, reading information, viewing ads, posting information, commenting, liking, or sharing information.
Fig. 1: Number of smartphone users in India from 2013-2020 and a forecast till 2025
(Source: www.statista.com)
The enhancement in technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI), has caused a ripple effect on digital marketing, specifically on mobile marketing.
Mobile marketing is a multi-channel digital marketing strategy aimed at reaching the target audience directly on their smartphones, tablets via websites, email, SMS, social media, and other apps. Marketers do the same by creating omnichannel engagement. Who doesn't like personalized things? That is precisely the strategy of mobile marketing, i.e., providing customized and personalized ads for potential customers based on their preference, to earn and retain the customer's attention.
Fig. 2: Mobile Marketing Metrics
Mobile marketing is cost-effective, and advertisers can be sure that the ad has reached the target audience. It has four main components, mobile advertisement, mobile sales promotion, mobile usability, and mobile shopping. It can change the advertiser's entire brand value by influencing the demand for the product or service provided. It's astounding how, via one device, the advertiser can connect with many consumers at the same time.
What is the role of AI here?
As the name suggests, artificial intelligence (AI) refers to intelligence that is not natural. It is a simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions.
Artificial intelligence is capable of taking actions that have the best possible chance of reaching the goal by the ability to rationalize in the most tactful way. Various algorithms help in the structure of AI and in framing them.
AI translates big data into manageable information and knowledge and uses this information and provides effective marketing and sales strategies. It helps in analyzing and predicting customer behaviour.
After, implementation of AI, mobile marketing is the latest marketing-technology tool. Research suggests that there is a shift from digital marketing to intelligent marketing through the use of artificial intelligence by using keywords. Moreover, a hybrid approach i.e., combining AI with human decision-making for marketing strategy development has proven to be highly efficient and effective.
What if AI unfriends?
If AI machines fail to incorporate tacit knowledge in their algorithms, and if they fail to transfer what they have learned back to human beings efficiently, there would be greater confusion and inefficiencies, thus defeating the very purpose of an intelligent machine. Hence, having systematize interactions between AI and marketers is necessary. Marketers should be equipped with AI rather than completely depending on AI