Artificial intelligence (AI) is all around us. You probably use it every day without even thinking about it.
That predictive text on your phone and computer? AI.
Siri and Alexa? AI.
That helpful customer service rep that helped with your last online purchase? Probably a chatbot.
AI, in one form another, has become integral to most businesses. Your CRM software relies on it, as do the apps you may use for social media scheduling, invoicing, or a host of other tasks.
Lately, AI is playing a bigger role in the world of advertising, and I don’t just mean scheduling or cross posting ads to multiple platforms. Some companies are letting AI handle the entire ad creation process – including the copywriting!
So, could AI be the solution for your marketing needs? Let’s look at the pros and cons:
Pros
- AI is a data wizardWe know so much about our customers these days. We have a mountain of demographic info, behavior patterns, buying preferences and more. How can a human sort through all that data and make sense of it?
You can’t – but AI can.
- AI can help you optimize your ad performanceEvery social media platform relies on AI to manage ads, and that works to your benefit. In many cases, AI can manage your ad performance, optimize your ad spend, and automatically choose the best practices to reach your target audience and your marketing goals.
It can boost your conversion rate
Lots of businesses are adding chatbots to their websites to help customers navigate the buying process. These bots can answer simple questions, compare products, and help customers complete their purchase. A seamless buying process leads to more conversions.
- AI can handle the ad creation processNot only can AI suggest the best type of ad to run based on what you’re promoting, some marketing tools give you the option of allowing AI to write your entire ad for you.
- AI saves you time and moneyThe more tasks you can automate, the more time you have to focus on the high-yield areas of your business. And the more tasks you can delegate to AI, the less you’ll have to depend on humans to get things done. Smaller team = big savings.
This sounds great, right? AI can do a lot for your business, but before you allow the machines to take over, we need to look at the cons…
Cons
- People don’t like talking to machinesHow many times have you yelled “REPRESENTATIVE!!” at an automated customer service bot? Machines can be incredibly helpful, but the human touch still matters – especially in an industry where relationships are so important.
As a home service provider, a big part of your business is building lasting relationships with your customers. A bot can’t do that. In fact, relying too heavily on AI for customer service could actually damage your business.
- Sometimes AI makes mistakesAI runs on algorithms, and they’re usually very accurate and get even more accurate as they learn. But that doesn’t make them foolproof. If your AI does misinterpret your data, will you even realize it?
Plus, AI can only do what it’s programmed to do. If a problem arises, it can’t make changes on the fly. AI can do so many things, but a discerning human eye is still important!
- AI can’t do things quite like a human (yet)So, remember how I said that bots are capable of writing your ad copy? Well, just because they can, doesn’t mean they should. AI writing is usually technically accurate, but it lacks the personality and panache of something written by a real person.
If writing isn’t your thing, you might be tempted to turn it over to a bot – but for now, you’d be better off working with a great (human!) copywriter.
- AI is too expensive and requires too much maintenance for many small businessesYou’re already incorporating lots of AI into your business, but it’s probably not practical to turn EVERYTHING over to the machines. The expense alone doesn’t make sense for most small to medium businesses. And keeping your AI functioning properly requires a level of technical skill that few home service providers possess, so you’re probably going to have to hold on to your humans a bit longer!
AI is making incredible strides, and it is poised to become one of the most important elements of your business in the coming years. But as far as advertising is concerned- it’s not all the way there yet.
Luckily, you’ve got Resonetrics on your side to create, manage, and implement every stage of the marketing process! Visit https://resonetrics.com/products/services to learn more.
