6 top AI marketing tools for 2024

If you’re in the digital marketing industry, you’ll most likely hear the buzzword ‘AI’ daily. So far, in 2024, we’ve seen a surge and wide adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and trends. These are more than talking points; they’re reshaping how we reach, interact with, engage, and better understand our audiences. For this reason, it’s no surprise that AI will play an increasingly significant role in future marketing strategies.

There are plenty of reasons why AI is a hot topic for both seasoned marketers and those stepping into the field for the first time. Thanks to greater accessibility and affordability, companies – both large and small – are now using digital marketing tools that leverage AI across various areas. Think copywriting, personalisation, email marketing and data analysis. These companies are reaping the benefits, which include automating tasks, tailoring customer experiences, and creating content at scale.

To move in the same direction as competitors, you’ll first need a deep understanding of the various AI marketing tools and how they can help achieve your goals. So, let’s explore how to make the most of AI-driven marketing tools to improve analytics processes, build customer loyalty initiatives, grow B2B marketing connections and more.  

What are AI digital marketing tools?

The range of digital marketing tools is vast and constantly expanding. You’ll probably be familiar with marketing automation tools, which speed up repetitive tasks like email marketing and social media planning, or web analytics tools that offer insights into customer behaviours and trends. When communicating with customers, marketers often leverage customer-support tools, such as chatbots and virtual assistants, and use social media management tools that facilitate real-time interaction. Such digital marketing tools are convenient and efficient while positively impacting the customer experience.

When we think these tools can do it all, enter AI-powered tools. AI, a software or platform capable of processing and analysing large data sets, is becoming a driving force in the latest digital marketing tools. AI’s ability to identify trends and patterns, and even make predictions, means incorporating AI into existing marketing efforts can take your strategic and data-led decisions to the next level. 

One of AI’s strengths in marketing is analysing vast amounts of data, letting you uncover valuable audience insights and trends that can shape your targeting. Similarly, many AI tools excel at personalisation, increasing customer engagement and conversions. For instance, some can adapt messaging and visuals to individual customers, resulting in highly personalised experiences.

What are the benefits for businesses using AI marketing tools?

In advertising, there are thousands of ways to spend a budget. This makes it challenging for even the most experienced marketers to know which strategies and methods to apply for a successful campaign. What if AI-driven marketing tools could solve some of these strategic issues? Well, they can.

Several companies now use AI-powered automation platforms and tools to manage large amounts of data, save time and improve efficiency. Such capabilities give these companies new opportunities to understand their customers, track campaign performance and link results to their business KPIs, helping them grow. 

Think about the endless amount of data to track as customers navigate and interact with brands online. Processing and analysing such vast quantities of data and then making strategic decisions would be incredibly time-intensive for any human. This is where AI tools come into play – turning data into insights, insights into strategies, and strategies into actions. Recommendations and strategies are based on algorithms that digest historical customer data and experimental information and make predictions. However, a humans-in-the-loop approach is crucial. Our marketing expertise is necessary to assess, curate and enhance these AI-generated solutions.

Does my business need to adopt AI marketing tools?

In short, yes. If you want to keep up with competitors, embracing innovative ways of working and new digital tools is essential. But before adding to your marketing toolbox, do your research. Think about the following five questions:

1. How much budget does your team or company have to invest in a new product?
2. Does everyone have time to learn how to use the tool?
3. How many people in your team or company will need to use the tool?
4. What are your business goals?
5. Which tools have the capabilities and use cases that meet your business need(s)?

AI is disrupting the industry, but it doesn’t have to disrupt your ways of working. You can integrate many AI-driven marketing tools into existing marketing platforms or even use them alongside your current business tools. Combining such tools with human knowledge is where your business can unlock a real superpower. The next step is investing the profits generated through AI efficiencies into new technologies and upskilling your team to use the latest tools.

Thanks to the infinite data insights, improved automation and AI’s creative abilities, organisations can now operate faster, with greater accuracy and more innovatively. So, it’s no surprise that businesses are making it a part of their vision to be AI-emergent – evolving and becoming more intelligent, thanks to AI-powered software, tools and platforms.

Types of AI marketing tools

Entering the realm of AI marketing software can be daunting. This is because there are so many tools out there. ​​You may be looking for a website analytics or personalisation tool. Perhaps your business is interested in AI-driven customer data platforms or loyalty initiatives. Other tools are powerful when automating B2B connections or scheduling social media posts. Read on to find out how each tool type works, its strengths, and how Salesforce products leverage this technology to solve your marketing challenges.

Website analytics tools

If you’re working in digital marketing and creative strategy, you may have already used some web analytics tools to visualise your data. These tools tend to work by using machine learning to gather data, such as how many people visit your website month-over-month. When AI comes into play, these analytics tools and marketing software are supercharged. AI’s ability to ingest large amounts of data, such as customer buying habits and consumer needs, means you can constantly track your audience’s preferences and target your marketing efforts accordingly. 

AI in web analytics doesn’t stop there. Predictive analysis opens up a realm of possibilities for marketers, too. With unified performance data, AI-powered analytics tools can predict future trends and outcomes. Better still, prescriptive analytics capabilities let you gather actionable insights from this data to make data-driven decisions faster. Eager to grow your business with the help of AI? Explore our marketing intelligence tools that help you activate, see, understand and – most importantly – leverage all your data.

Customer data platforms

One challenge that AI can help overcome is bringing the data together. Another challenge is bringing your organisation together to focus on your customers. That’s where integrating AI-powered online marketing tools into your CRM platforms comes in. To start with, products like Data Cloud allow your team to access customer profile data in real-time, create targeted audiences and expand campaign reach by finding new customers. This increases productivity and helps drive engagement, as you can deliver more relevant content. 

Plus, you can make each journey touchpoint hyper-relevant and timely with AI-powered service recommendations. Ensuring multiple business areas have the customer as their focal point has never been easier, thanks to everything being on a single platform built on CRM. When everyone in your business can access constantly refreshed data, they can make more informed, customer-centric decisions. 

Personalisation tools

Beyond data, how can you further personalise the customer experience? First, there’s a whole suite of email and marketing personalisation tools that can drive customer engagement and individualise interactions with customers at every stage of their journey. With AI-powered marketing solutions, you can now view consolidated customer profiles using data from multiple touchpoints and sources – think socials, websites, CRM and more. 

Not sure where to start with writing for your various content channels? Allow AI to do the initial work by generating personalised website banners, emails, text messages and social media posts. This individualised approach creates stronger brand loyalty and advocacy when interacting with customers. AI can also help your business’ sales efforts: predictive analysis lets you proactively anticipate customer needs and preferences, allowing you to capture potential customers’ interest with relevant offerings. 

Even better, when it comes to reporting, you can get the most out of your AI-driven marketing tools by tracking the impact of your marketing personalisation efforts and measuring their effectiveness.

Customer loyalty initiatives

It’s no secret that loyalty and reward programmes are effective marketing strategies. But what digital tools are out there to support your CRM efforts? With AI-powered loyalty management software, you can run several programmes simultaneously – both B2B and B2C, for instance – while testing and gathering learnings over time. This centralised approach means you can manage several partnerships on one platform to boost customer participation and kickstart joint promotions. 

Looking to reduce customer churn? With AI predictive capabilities built directly into your CRM, you can analyse members at risk of disengagement and launch campaigns to re engage them. Next, use your customer data to identify brand advocates. Strengthen their loyalty by exploring how these AI-powered digital tools can enhance your referral programmes, improving participation, conversions and customer satisfaction. 

B2B connections and automation

Loyalty programmes are one way to drive customer retention, but how can your business scale customer engagement? Look to B2B marketing software. B2B automation platforms and AI functionalities streamline how marketing and sales teams operate. With the help of AI-powered features, you can level up lead generation by identifying and scoring leads, understanding how they engage with campaigns, and receiving real-time alerts when they complete forms or are at the point of conversion. 

Delivering a more connected customer journey also becomes more straightforward, thanks to the ability to trigger the likes of event registrations and text messages in automated journeys. Need visibility on revenue and pipeline for important accounts? Let dynamic dashboards and full-funnel, AI-driven insights guide your sales teams and help them identify ways to optimise their account-based efforts.

Social media management software

It’s easy to publish plenty of content, but you need a competitive advantage. Companies integrating AI-powered functionalities in their social media strategy are advancing as a result. By using AI in tandem with existing tactics, businesses are increasing productivity and – with human input – generating highly personalised, creative and relevant content.

Planning a social media schedule and developing new ideas for posts can be time-consuming. Social media management software can support with everything from providing an initial planner template to generating a social media content calendar and even individual posts, adapted to different audience segments. 

Many AI marketing tools feature copywriting capabilities and can generate copy that engages customers and sounds like a human wrote it. You may think this is only useful for social media posts. But what about integrating such tools into your email marketing workflows? When using such tools alongside email automation platforms, your business can benefit from rapid, high-volume creation of personalised emails and take advantage of efficient outreach with content that captures your audience’s attention. 

Another impactful social media tactic is leveraging AI video-creation tools. Embracing this new technology to scale your content production not only saves time – it saves money. Think about the cost of hiring actors or filming equipment. With AI video creation platforms, you can leave this behind and enjoy crafting high-quality videos to use on your socials within minutes.

How do I choose the right AI marketing tools for my business?

With plenty of innovative, AI-powered marketing solutions available, selecting the right ones for your business can be challenging. To determine the most efficient and effective AI marketing tools, consider the following:

• Functionality: What challenges do you face as a business, and how can you benefit from the AI tool? Does the tool have all the features required to meet your needs and objectives? Have a clear understanding of the tool’s strengths and weaknesses compared to other tools, and before fully adopting this new technology, test and validate its impact and performance.
• Compatibility: Will the tool integrate seamlessly with your current tech suite, systems and workflows? Gather employee feedback during testing to identify hurdles, such as lack of flexibility or ability to customise the tool.
• Scalability: Can you scale the tool as your business grows? Consider the type and volumes of data, increased user demands and user-friendliness.
• Reliability: Will the tool offer consistent performance and results?
• Cost-effectiveness: Aside from the cost of the product, consider other factors that contribute to the overall cost. How much money does your organisation have to spend on research, testing, training and tech maintenance? How much money could the tool save by automating tasks or improving customer satisfaction? Calculate ROI once you’ve factored in all associated costs, and remember to carry out a thorough cost-benefit analysis.

If you’re wondering how to optimise each stage and touchpoint in the customer journey with powerful marketing software, explore Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Build and foster long-lasting customer relationships by deploying cross-channel AI marketing campaigns, personalising the customer experience and using data-driven insights to supercharge your B2C and B2B marketing efforts. If you’re a small business, discover Salesforce SMB AI software – an all-in-one marketing, sales and customer service solution. 

How do I introduce AI tools for marketing to my business?

With the conversation around AI in marketing, you may be wondering how to begin integrating AI-powered tools into your business operations. Follow this step-by-step guide to kickstart using AI in your marketing:

1. Reflect upon your business objectives.

AI has plenty of valuable uses, but what does your business need to achieve its objectives? Does your business require more accurate, comprehensive and faster data analysis to make strategic decisions? Could your team benefit from AI content generation? Or, do you want to optimise email marketing campaigns with engaging copy and personalised outreach?

2. Calculate return on investment (ROI).

AI-driven insights and functionalities can improve campaign performance, increase productivity, and strengthen customer relationships. Yet to maximise ROl, you must first establish where leveraging AI will have the most impact. Research the costs of purchasing the products or software to help achieve your business objectives. Consider the time and cost behind training the relevant teams on how to use them, too. Then, calculate how much human resource and time could be saved by using these tools – plus potential cost savings – before deciding which platform or software to adopt.

3. Engage stakeholders and get buy-in.

Integrating AI technologies comes with privacy, legal and ethical concerns. That’s why bringing together business leaders, including C-suite executives, data scientists, and legal and technology teams, is vital. By involving everyone, your business’ AI policy-making will be a transparent and inclusive process, which builds trust in your organisation. For example, engaging data scientists and technology teams is essential in defining data governance, while your legal team is responsible for ensuring your policies adhere to privacy and intellectual property laws. You’ll then need to establish each team’s contribution and ensure cross-collaboration during the policy development process. Remember: the policies you develop for using AI tools must be clear and comprehensive to set your business up for success. 

4. Identify risks and develop mitigating strategies.

This is where senior management and leadership can support. Plus, your legal team can identify any legal risks and implications. Risks may involve resistance to change within your business, compliance issues or customer data issues. To mitigate these, you’ll need solid data-governance policies and risk-management strategies. For example, stay informed about the latest privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA and perform privacy impact assessments (PIAs) or data protection impact assessments (DPIAs) to identify, assess and mitigate risks.

5. Plan business-wide training and rollout.

While AI tools and technologies can spark curiosity and excitement, they can also instil anxiety and fear in your workplace. Introducing AI tools can create concerns about job losses or dissatisfaction with changing roles. First, establish clear communication to engage employees and bring them on board with integrating your choice of AI marketing tools. Be sensitive and transparent when communicating with teams about leveraging this technology. 

Remember to offer detailed training plans and emphasise the opportunity to upskill. Your training should involve a human-led approach and offer a chance to provide feedback to continuously improve the collaboration with AI tools. Work with your HR team, too – their expertise in people and talent management during this process is key. When rolling out your tools and policy, have regular check-ins scheduled to assess adherence to your policy and evaluate how effectively your employees use the tools. Remember to share successes, too – where has your team excelled in using AI technologies? This will help boost morale and empower employees to upskill further and share what they learn. Finally, ensure a forum for those in your business to voice any challenges or concerns – a supportive approach is vital at the start, throughout the rollout, and beyond.

Ready to find out how AI marketing software can expand your reach?

Whether you’re a two-person team or one of thousands of marketers in your organisation, there are several ways to integrate AI marketing software into your marketing strategy.

To operate more efficiently and effectively, explore AI marketing software that will ultimately drive your business closer to its objectives. Optimise campaigns and get predictive insights and performance data with the help of web analytics tools like Marketing Cloud Intelligence. Then, activate your data to create personalised campaigns at scale with the help of AI-powered marketing tools, such as Marketing Cloud Engagement. If scaling customer engagement is a business priority, research AI-driven B2B marketing automation software. Marketing Cloud Account Engagement is built directly into your CRM, and its account-based marketing dashboard is a helpful way to track pipeline progress before you use insights to target your marketing and sales efforts.

When you’ve explored various AI-powered software and tools that could level up your marketing activities and contribute to your business KPIs, remember to carry out a thorough cost-benefit analysis and comparison, engage all relevant stakeholders, and take the key steps of change management before introducing your chosen product or service and using it in your organisation.