2024 and Beyond: How B2B & B2C Marketers Can Leverage AI for Success
Tyler Paparella, Craig Schweitzer, Kate Breed, Linnea Castaneda
Prosek Partners’ Digital & Integrated Marketing team reviewed the latest impacts of AI on business and marketing at recent events hosted by our partners at Bloomberg and Google.
What is clear is that artificial intelligence (AI) will remain at the forefront in 2024, and the insights gathered from discussions with fellow industry leaders give us a glimpse into how AI will influence B2B & B2C marketing.
AI Tools as ‘First Draft’ Generators
At Bloomberg Media’s Business Guide to AI event, panelists from Bloomberg Intelligence, Lux Capital, Google Cloud, EY’s AI group and the Association of National Advertisers engaged in data-driven conversations on how AI is changing the way the world works, transforming consumer expectations, and affecting the roles of marketing decision makers. They counseled the need for marketing teams to have a selective and discerning approach when evaluating marketing-driven AI company partnerships.
While artificial intelligence is one of today’s hot and pressing topics, marketing teams need to evaluate their own use cases for onboarding new AI technologies.
Many financial services leaders are already investing in companies inventing new ways to best leverage the power of artificial intelligence – with even a mention of AI-generated scents from panelists.
There were specific technologies discussed that will benefit B2B marketers across financial services, providing news forms of assistance and amplification to be leveraged by professionals. AI tools like generative chats can revolutionize copywriting, while AI assistants can enhance communication efficiency.
Widening a marketer's creative powerhouse, new tools stand to aid in Google keyword research, crafting LinkedIn content, optimizing headlines for search engines and even assisting in the initial stages of video and graphic production.
We like to think of AI tools as a 'first draft' generators, which you can then fine-tune to align perfectly with your project goals and brand voice.
Using Google to Generate Leads with New Ad Solutions
At Google’s Generate Leads Through AI-Powered Marketing summit, experts from Google’s Demand Generation and AI Product teams spoke on the benefits of AI-powered search ads, setting campaign measurements effectively, AI-powered Performance Max Campaigns and AI creative solutions for display and videos ads.
“You’re not competing against AI… you’re competing against marketers using AI,” underscored the summit’s narrative. The main takeaway: there is a crucial difference between advertisers who learn how to effectively utilize new artificial intelligence tools and advertisers who don’t.
Google also unveiled their upcoming AI-driven search engine which is expected to have a significant impact on how marketers target potential hand-raisers. With third-party cookies allegedly phasing out in Q1 2024, Google emphasized the importance of first-party data to give marketers insight into customer acquisition. Creating first party tags and importing GA4 data is essential to best take advantage of Google’s AI tools. The more signals and data the AI targeting programs can receive, the more effective they will be for your campaigns.
AI will also be used to enhance Google’s new Performance Max campaigns, serving as a hub for all search, display and video content in one campaign. In the past, these campaigns were built out separately, but Google will now use AI to prioritize any ad or asset that is most likely to convert under your given budget.
The effectiveness of these campaigns, however, will be entirely contingent on a steady inflow of consistent audience data.
Google also demoed their Generative AI platform, a tool to help marketers and content creators generate and curate high-quality text and image assets.
Marketers can also now create their own visual content by repurposing existing creative assets or scanning the web/social media for owned content.
This is a great, templated feature for advertisers with limited creative options that allows for simplified, streamlined video production.
As the marketing landscape ushers in an era of unprecedented efficiency and effectiveness with cutting-edge AI-powered products, it is crucial for marketers to not only to stay ahead, but to eagerly embrace the transformative potential of AI.
And, while the speed of these technological advancements is rapid, Prosek is leveraging advancements on campaigns to ensure clients are as prepared as possible for this new age of advertising, keeping in mind three key techniques to maximize outcomes:
- Set up proper conversion tracking to ensure your data is effectively utilized so that Google’s AI tools are working for you, not against you
- Utilize a test-and-learn approach with advanced AI tools to aid in the creation of an early draft draft of copy and keyword development
- Test AI-driven campaigns against non-AI-driven campaigns to measure performance impacts directly
The B2B advertising and digital strategy industry is changing, and marketing strategies must follow suit. Prosek Partners remains at the forefront, ensuring our clients are ahead with innovative strategies maximized to drive results.
To learn more, contact Prosek Partners’ Digital and Integrated Marketing team at Pro-Digital@Prosek.com.