AI in sales, marketing and decision making  

9.10.2019  

I’m surprised every time, when I’m learning about Artificial Intelligence (AI). There are many significant styles to use it. AI is modelling all parts of business from management all through content marketing. This essay is based on book called “AI in Marketing, Sales and Service: How Marketers Without a Data Science Degree Can Use AI, Big Data and Bots. Springer – Peter Gentsch”.  

At the bottom line, AI is based on data. AI can do anything what it knows and how its supposed to work with the known data. For example, if we want AI to learn spot a cat, we have to give lots of different data (for example cat images) and right algorithms that data is read by right way. More the AI knows, the more clever it is. Algorithms, which I mentioned are scripts for AI, how to work and what to look. These algorithms are the only key to process so called “big data”. Big data means datasets whose size is beyond the ability of typical data software tools, so its huge. This big data is generated from the Internet, social media, built-in sensors and the Internet of Things etc. “Through the Internet of Things (Industry 4.0), through mobile devices and social media has increased immensely -> this is new, also equally new data mining methods are increasing the value and level of quality.” (Gentsch 2018)  

AI skills can be sorted to Rule-Based, Knowledge-Based and Narrow AI (Gentsch 2018), where first one can be event-driven process chain. There is previously defined rules: “If happens A next is C, and if B happens, next step is D. For instance, in knowledge-based AI there is information source of same kind of situations as what AI is focusing, where right answer for AI comes from AI’s conclusion based on that information. And third one, Narrow AI is developed for a certain domain. For example, it can be “a deep learning algorithm that automatically predicts and profiles matching leads on the basis of data on the Internet” (Gentsch 2018).  

As we sooner noted AI is modelling all parts of business. Let’s take few examples from different stages. Artificial Intelligence can, for example, support the marketing team in media planning or in the generation of customer insights based on data. It is trustworthy, if there is enough data. In sales one of the biggest things what AI can offer is quality prospecting, like finding lookalikes about the key accounts of a company, who can be presumed that they are likewise interested in the seller company’s products. For e-commerce there is dynamic pricing to respond competitor prices and current stocks. Amazon is using this kind of tech.  

Nowadays smaller company have advantage to bigger ones in fast changes and quick decision cycles. In decision making time is long because people have to note many things before possibility to make decision. Imagine, if AI had all the information of company with right algorithms. It would be lightning fast to making decision. What is then advantage for smaller companies?  

All these styles to use AI are mind-blowing. But when I readed the book “AI in Marketing, Sales and Service – Peter Gensth (2018)” one AI application raised above others. It was Artificial Intelligence in content marketing. Content marketing is one of the biggest marketing things nowadays. I had no idea that you can use AI for that. And because sales and marketing are getting closer and closer each others, we can say the AI in content marketing is huge step for sales also. Algorithms can gain interesting and unfalsified insights based on public data of Internet in real time. Upcoming topics can be automatically recognized on the basis of big data. Also, when many different sources is used in small time, the content can be really solid and informational. There may be problem with creating enjoyable language to read. It is still difficult to differentiate these from texts written by a human. And that’s where Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Natural Language Generator (NLG) steps in. NLP describes the ability of computer to work with spoken or written text. For example Google Translator is working with NLP. Further application is NLG it makes the content in human language, that is sick! AI can also get information to contents from videos and podcasts, and this all information sourcing and content creating takes much less time than it would take from human.  

Content marketing itself is regarded as one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies. Even if the content isn’t on the top on internet sources still one thing remains certain: customers need information and want to be entertained. Nowadays customers search a lot of information about products and services. Many of us can’t even do any buying decisions without Googling first. That’s why companies have to make a lot of relevant content about their services and that’s why content marketing is so huge in sales also.  

With AI you can make more relevance content for each of us separately, when there may be also used that “hidden sources” of Internet. When it’s possibly for AI make content for each of us separately and fast, messengers may take over the content sources. When bots are good enough you can ask for example Siri, Google assistant to tell what ever you want, styled for you only. In future you my ask “Siri, which shoes should I buy?” Who is the best salesman then? When you can do this kind of things messaging with a bot, why would you ever try to find information not by yourself but from salesman? When world goes this way, the brand is in huge role then. Because the best brand is the one which is collected to customer to buy, and the one that people are asking from a bot. I believe this is really changing the course of every business. Have you noticed that Google is asking continually companies to make more and more quality content, which means clearer, reasoned and informational content? Can you see where they are heading?  

As we understood in last chapter, the chatbot may be the best salesman in future. Because people are more likely to seek information themselves, not from salesman who is “trying to make sale every way possible” and when information is easiest to get from chatbot, I don’t see a reason that people doesn’t use bots for making buying decisions. Imagine, when chatbots basically knows everything, it doesn’t make mistakes and it can mirror sale situations for lookalikes, how can it not make a sale?  

The world of business is really changing caused by Artificial Intelligence. There is point when people speak a lot about “robots taking place of the jobs”. And when AI may also be better and faster in decision making, leaderboard should also be on the alert. Still AI, bots and robotics are giving great place for creativity and all “human stuff” which we believe that it can’t never be replaced by robots. Let’s see. 
  

References:  

Gentsch, Peter. AI in Marketing, Sales and Service : How Marketers Without a Data Science Degree Can Use AI, Big Data and Bots, Palgrave Macmillan US, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/tampere/detail.action?docID=5566829.