AI in Marketing: Strategy, Guide, and Best Practices

AI in marketing is revolutionizing the way businesses engage with their prospective customers. Learn more in this guide about how you can use AI in your marketing strategy.

November 1, 2023 —

The 6sense Team

Home / Platform / AI Marketing / AI in Marketing: Best Practices, Examples, & Resources

Chapters

Chapter 1

What is AI in Marketing?

Chapter 2

What is Revenue AI?

Chapter 3

Examples of AI in Marketing

Chapter 4

How to Develop an AI Marketing Strategy

Chapter 5

Best AI Marketing Apps & Software

Chapter 6

The Benefits vs. Downsides of Using AI for Marketing

Chapter 7

Essential List of AI Marketing Use Cases

Chapter 8

A Mini Guide to AI Marketing Best Practices

Chapter 1

What is AI in Marketing?

AI in marketing taps into machine learning to analyze vast reams of data, surface insights, streamline processes, and deliver personalized experiences at scale. It’s revolutionizing how businesses engage with their customers and make decisions.

Ultimately, use of AI in marketing promises to deliver:

Marketers can use AI-powered analytics tools to:

Gather and process data from various sources, including customer interactions, social media, and market trends
Understand consumer behavior, preferences, and purchase patterns with unparalleled accuracy
Tailor campaigns and offerings to target specific customer segments, resulting in improved customer engagement and higher conversion rates

AI in marketing also plays a crucial role in automating repetitive tasks and enhancing operational efficiency.

Two examples:

AI chatbots can handle customer inquiries, provide product recommendations, and offer personalized assistance 24/7.
AI email assistants can nurture accounts, reply to questions, and arrange meetings or demos with interested buyers.

This not only improves customer satisfaction, but also frees up human resources to focus on more strategic initiatives.

Chapter 2

What is Revenue AI?

6sense’s Revenue AI™ is an AI marketing platform that helps B2B marketers gain better insights into their accounts, customers, and prospects. At its core, it enables marketers and sales teams to:

Identify accounts that are ready to buy
Prioritize accounts
Target the right audience with the right message at the right time

How It Works (30-Second Explanation)

6sense maintains a massive, continually updated database of company and contact details. We also have a network of millions of B2B sites that capture anonymous info about visitors who are researching different pages. By combining these data sets, we can identify which accounts are researching which topics.

Revenue AI provides detailed insights into behaviors, interests, and buying intent. It also enables marketers to:

Automate hyper-personalized campaigns
Tie marketing activities to influenced pipeline
Focus effort and ad dollars on the best opportunities
Deliver “mind reader” insights to sales reps to improve customer conversations

Chapter 3

Examples of AI in Marketing

Lily AI

Lily AI, an AI-powered product attribution platform for retailers, uses revenue AI to find and understand potential retailer customers — then engage them at the right time, in the right place, with the right message.

Partnering with 6sense, Lily AI enriched their data to:

Eliminate accounts that don’t fit their ICP
Prioritize accounts based on intent data and activity
Personalize marketing campaigns based on signals and trends

As a result, Lily AI has seen go-to-market success. Accounts in later stages of the buying journey are nearly 10x more likely to lead to an opportunity within three months. Additionally, 18% of accounts in their CRM are a strong ICP fit, leading to 69% of won opportunities.

Marathon Health

The small go-to-market team at Marathon Health, a network healthcare solution, was struggling with volume and inconsistency. Inbound requests went unanswered, accounts got ignored, and lead qualification differed from one person to the next. Marketing created sales collateral, but there was no data to determine pipeline impact.

6sense provided the tools needed for Marathon Health to adopt an omnichannel approach, where marketers can access actionable account insights that foster engagement like:

Ads targeted to different markets and buying stages
Direct mail for all companies in the ICP
AI-driven email journeys customized for different personas

The lean team can work more seamlessly to find the accounts that are most likely to buy and deliver relevant content to them when they need it.

Since implementing 6sense, Marathon Health experienced net-new pipeline growth from nearly zero to $66 million, and 211% in-market buying growth. With these results, the company can better serve their customer base and change more lives nationwide.

Khoros

Khoros, a leading customer engagement platform, was already going above and beyond to provide relevant experiences on its website — but they wanted to do more.

A 6sense and Bound360 integration proved to be the ideal addition to the organization’s tech stack. Khronos was able to automatically generate personalized modules and pages by combining AI-driven intent data insights from 6sense, behavioral data from Bound360, and internal account data.

This personalized content experience on the site drove 68% of all registrations to a Khoros event. But that wasn’t all:

22% of all website visitors received personalization
Demo request conversion rate quadrupled for visitors who saw personalization
Pages per session nearly doubled for visitors ‌engaged with personalized content

Code42

Code42 is a data security and recovery company that helps its customers prevent data leaks and IP theft. Before working with 6sense, the company faced a few challenges:

No way to identify in-market accounts
Limited insights into display ad performance
Lack of personalization in marketing content presented to website visitors

These obstacles created friction with buyers. Code42 launched its account-based strategy with 6sense with the goal of aligning teams to provide a unified customer experience. 6sense’s AI identified the most valuable prospects based on their Dark Funnel behavior, and provided visibility into account buying stages, interests, and more.

This allowed Code42 to target 100% of its in-market prospects.

Leveraging 6sense data enabled the Code42 revenue team to get in front of customers earlier in their buying process and engage them with personalized content. This led to a 30% lift in opportunity volume and 70% growth in deal size. More than three-quarters (82%) of buying stage accounts progressed as well.

Automox

As a leader in cloud-native IT operations, Automox uses 6sense as a key tool in their account-based marketing strategy. But before implementing the solution, the marketing team relied heavily on inbound leads — resulting in a lack of insights into prospects.

Automox implemented an outbound strategy built around 6sense, where marketers use intent data and AI to identify and better understand their target audience. The marketing team can also nurture accounts along the pipeline with relevant and timely messaging, providing air cover for the sales team.

With this approach, Automox has enhanced sales and marketing alignment that has yielded significant results, like:

51% of closed-won deals produced by ABM strategy
17% increase in number of opportunities
88% increase in number of closed-won deals

Chapter 4

How to Develop an AI Marketing Strategy

Before getting ‌too deep into your AI marketing strategy, you must clearly define objectives. Determine the specific goals you want to achieve, such as lead generation, customer retention, or boosting sales. This will help you identify how AI can support these objectives.

To leverage AI effectively, you need accurate and comprehensive data to provide meaningful insights. Invest in data collection methods, lead qualification and B2B prospecting tools to gather relevant information about your target audience, market trends, and customer behavior. Analyze this data to identify patterns, trends, and customer preferences to personalize your marketing efforts.

One of AI’s strengths is the ability to analyze and spot patterns within vast data sets, and then turn those insights into action. AI empowers B2B marketers to deliver personalized experiences at scale, by segmenting your audience based on various criteria such as industry, company size, or purchasing behavior. This segmentation allows you to tailor your messaging, content, and offers to different customer segments. Additionally, leverage AI-powered recommendation engines to suggest relevant products or services to individual customers, increasing the likelihood of conversions.

Automation is another key advantage of AI in marketing. Implement AI-driven marketing automation tools to streamline repetitive tasks, like:

Email marketing
Lead nurturing
Social media management

It’s also important to reconsider your marketing metrics when implementing AI. Monitor key metrics, such as conversion rates, customer lifetime value, and ROI, to gauge the impact of your AI strategies.

Chapter 5

Best AI Marketing Apps & Software

Besides 6sense, here are some other best-in-class marketing and sales technology companies. In addition to their native capabilities, 6sense’s account insights enable advanced workflows within these tools.

Alyce

Alyce is a gifting platform that helps businesses engage with prospects, customers, and partners through personalized gifting experiences, fostering stronger relationships and driving conversions.

Bombora

Bombora provides intent data solutions that complement 6sense’s keyword intent capabilities. Using 6sense and Bombora together provides access to robust data and intent capabilities.

Clari

Clari is a revenue operations platform that leverages AI and automation to provide real-time insights into sales execution, forecasting, and pipeline management, empowering businesses to drive revenue growth.

Drift

Drift is a conversational marketing platform that enables businesses to engage with website visitors in real time through chatbots and personalized messaging, helping to generate leads and improve customer experiences.

Eloqua

Eloqua, part of Oracle Marketing Cloud, is a robust marketing automation platform that allows businesses to execute and manage sophisticated multi-channel campaigns, nurture leads, and analyze campaign performance. The Eloqua and 6sense integration serves as a solution to enrich existing account data, prioritize accounts for engagement, and personalize campaigns.

Folloze

Folloze is an account-based marketing (ABM) platform that helps businesses create personalized experiences for target accounts by delivering relevant content, collaborating with sales teams, and tracking engagement to drive pipeline growth.

G2 is a leading peer-to-peer review platform for software and services. It provides authentic user reviews, ratings, and insights to help businesses make informed decisions when selecting marketing and sales technology solutions. 6sense consolidates data and enables revenue teams to see what accounts are doing research on the G2 site.

HubSpot

HubSpot offers a comprehensive suite of marketing, sales, and customer service software. Their solutions include CRM, marketing automation, content management, and social media tools, enabling businesses to attract and engage customers. 6sense syncs with HubSpot’s Marketing Hub and provides dashboards with insights into account activity.

Integrate

Integrate is a demand orchestration platform that helps businesses streamline and automate lead generation efforts. It integrates marketing and sales systems, manages data quality, and automates workflows, improving lead flow and attribution.

Marketo

Marketo, part of Adobe Experience Cloud, is a leading marketing automation platform. It provides tools for email marketing, lead management, campaign optimization, and customer engagement, empowering businesses to deliver personalized experiences.

Microsoft Dynamics 365

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is an integrated suite of business applications that includes CRM, ERP, and productivity tools. It enables businesses to manage customer relationships, streamline operations, and gain valuable insights for informed decision-making.

Mutiny

Mutiny is a personalized website optimization platform that helps businesses create tailored experiences for target accounts. Using AI and experimentation, Mutiny allows marketers to deliver relevant content, messaging, and CTAs — improving engagement and conversions on their websites.

Outreach

Outreach is a sales engagement platform that helps sales teams effectively engage with prospects and customers through personalized, multi-channel communication. It provides tools for email automation, call tracking, and sales analytics, enabling businesses to drive revenue growth.

PeerSpot

PeerSpot is a customer advocacy and referral platform that helps businesses leverage the power of their satisfied customers to drive new customer acquisition.

Salesforce

Salesforce is a renowned customer relationship management (CRM) platform that offers a wide range of cloud-based solutions for sales, marketing, customer service, and more. It provides businesses with a centralized platform to manage customer data, automate processes, and drive customer engagement and loyalty. 6sense offers an enterprise-grade CRM integration with Salesforce for marketing, sales, and operations teams to work with the same set of data.

Salesforce Pardot

Salesforce Pardot is a marketing automation platform designed to generate high-quality leads, nurture them, and align marketing and sales efforts. It includes features such as email marketing, lead scoring, and ROI reporting, helping businesses streamline their marketing and sales processes.

Salesloft

Salesloft is a sales engagement platform that helps sales teams streamline their outreach, automate workflows, and improve engagement with prospects. It provides tools for email tracking, cadence management, and performance analytics, empowering sales professionals to drive revenue and build strong customer relationships.

Sendoso

Sendoso is a sending platform that enables businesses to create personalized and memorable experiences through physical and digital gifting, direct mail, and other sending methods. It integrates with various systems to automate sending and track recipient engagement, enhancing customer relationships and driving revenue.

Trendemon

Trendemon is a customer experience analytics platform that provides insights into customer engagement and conversion journeys. By tracking user behavior across multiple touchpoints, Trendemon helps businesses optimize their marketing strategies.

TrustRadius

TrustRadius is a B2B software review platform that provides authentic user reviews and ratings of various software solutions. It helps buyers make informed decisions when selecting technology tools for their organizations. 6sense is the only platform that integrates intent data from TrustRadius to segment audiences and personalize experiences.

Uberflip

Uberflip is a content experience platform that helps businesses create, manage, and optimize personalized content experiences across various channels. It enables marketers to deliver engaging content to target audiences, increasing content performance and driving customer engagement.

Chapter 6

The Benefits vs. Downsides of Using AI for Marketing

AI provides numerous advantages for B2B marketers — but as is typically the case with many technologies, it also creates some obstacles worth considering.

Benefits of AI in Marketing

Improved lead generation: AI enables B2B marketers to analyze vast amounts of data to identify potential leads with higher accuracy. By leveraging AI algorithms, marketers can target and engage with the right prospects, increasing the effectiveness of lead generation efforts.
Enhanced personalization: AI allows for hyper-personalization in B2B marketing. By leveraging AI-powered analytics, marketers can gain deep insights into customer preferences, behavior, and needs — which can be used to personalize experiences and foster stronger customer relationships.
Advanced data analytics: AI helps B2B marketers analyze complex data sets quickly and extract meaningful insights. By leveraging AI algorithms, businesses can uncover patterns, trends, and correlations that may not be easily identified manually. This enables data-driven decision-making, optimization of marketing strategies, and identification of new opportunities.
Marketing automation: AI-powered automation streamlines and optimizes various marketing processes. B2B marketers can automate repetitive tasks such as lead nurturing, email campaigns, social media posting, and B2B programmatic advertising. This improves operational efficiency, saves time, and allows marketers to focus on strategic activities that require human expertise.
Improved customer experience: AI can enhance the overall customer experience. Chatbots and virtual assistants can provide instant and personalized support to customers, improving satisfaction and engagement. AI-powered recommendation engines can also deliver relevant content, products, and services to customers.
Real-time insights: AI can provide real-time insights into campaign performance, customer behavior, and market trends. This agility allows marketers to optimize their strategies in real-time.
Cost and resource efficiency: AI can boost ROI by allocating resources more effectively. By automating tasks and leveraging AI analytics, businesses can reduce manual efforts, improve productivity, and make data-backed decisions.

Downsides of AI in Marketing

Data privacy concerns: Using AI for B2B marketing involves collecting and analyzing large amounts of data, which raises concerns about data privacy and security. Mishandling or unauthorized access to sensitive customer data can lead to reputational damage and legal implications.
Lack of human touch: AI-driven marketing strategies may lack the human touch that is essential in building personal connections. Over-reliance on automation and AI algorithms can result in a detached and impersonal customer experience, potentially leading to reduced trust and engagement.
Initial setup and implementation costs: Implementing AI technologies for B2B marketing requires significant upfront investment. Costs include acquiring AI tools, training algorithms, integrating systems, and hiring or training personnel with AI expertise. These initial setup and implementation costs can be a barrier for some organizations, particularly smaller businesses with limited budgets.
Risk of algorithmic bias: AI algorithms used in B2B marketing may unintentionally exhibit bias based on the data they are trained on. This bias can result in unfair or discriminatory targeting, potentially harming brand reputation and customer relationships. Regular monitoring and auditing of AI systems is necessary to mitigate this risk.
Dependency on accurate data: AI algorithms heavily rely on accurate and high-quality data to deliver meaningful insights and predictions. Inaccurate or incomplete data can lead to flawed recommendations, misguided targeting, and ineffective decision-making. Maintaining data quality and integrity is crucial to avoid negative consequences when using AI in marketing.
Over-reliance on technology: While AI can provide valuable insights and automate processes, over-reliance on technology can hinder creativity and human intuition in B2B marketing. It’s essential to strike a balance between leveraging AI capabilities and preserving the human touch to foster innovation, adaptability, and customer-centric strategies.
Potential job displacement: The adoption of AI in B2B marketing may lead to job displacement for some roles that can be automated. AI algorithms can handle many tasks in data analysis, content creation, and campaign optimization, reducing the need for certain job positions. It’s important for businesses to plan for reskilling and upskilling employees to adapt to the changing landscape and leverage AI as a complement to human expertise rather than a replacement.

Chapter 7

Essential List of AI Marketing Use Cases

Harness the capabilities of AI in marketing with these strategies:

Automated Lead Generation: Identify and qualify potential leads automatically.
Targeted Advertising: Precisely target advertising campaigns to reach specific customer segments using customer data and behavior.
Automated Segmentation: Categorize customers into different segments based on criteria such as industry, company size, or purchasing behavior.
Personalized Content Recommendations: Deliver personalized content recommendations based on customer data analysis.
Automated Chatbots: Automate customer interactions to provide instant support and assistance 24/7, freeing up resources for other strategic activities.
Predictive Analytics: Predict future industry trends and customer behaviors to make data-driven decisions and optimize marketing strategies.
Optimized Email Campaigns: Use customer behavior, content preferences, and engagement data to personalize email communications.
Automated Campaign Optimization: Continuously monitor and optimize marketing campaigns — adjusting targeting, messaging, and ad placements in real time.
Customer Journey Analysis: Evaluate customer interactions and touchpoints across various channels to optimize engagement, conversion, and customer lifetime value.
Personalized Landing Pages: Dynamically generate landing pages for website visitors based on their preferences.
Social Media Monitoring: Assess customer sentiment, mentions, and engagements across social platforms to understand audience perceptions and adjust strategies.

Chapter 8

A Mini Guide to AI Marketing Best Practices

Below are some additional tips to help you in your journey to AI-powered marketing.

Stay informed of evolving privacy regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). These regulations outline strict requirements for data handling, consent, and user rights. Ensure your AI marketing practices align with these regulations, such as obtaining proper consent for data collection and implementing robust data protection measures.

Protecting customer data is paramount in AI marketing platforms. Safeguard with strong data security measures, including encryption, access controls, and secure storage systems. Regularly assess and update your security protocols to address emerging threats and vulnerabilities. Conduct internal audits and penetration testing to identify and address potential weaknesses in your AI systems and data infrastructure.

Embrace the principles of data minimization and anonymization to mitigate privacy risks. Collect only the necessary data required for your AI marketing initiatives and avoid storing personally identifiable information (PII) unless essential. Anonymize or pseudonymize data whenever possible to reduce the risk of unauthorized identification or disclosure. This approach ensures compliance with privacy regulations and minimizes potential harm to individuals.

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AI in Marketing: Strategy, Guide, and Best Practices

Chapters

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Table of Contents

What is AI in Marketing?

What is Revenue AI?

How It Works (30-Second Explanation)

Examples of AI in Marketing

How to Develop an AI Marketing Strategy

Best AI Marketing Apps & Software

The Benefits vs. Downsides of Using AI for Marketing

Downsides of AI in Marketing

Essential List of AI Marketing Use Cases

A Mini Guide to AI Marketing Best Practices

The 6sense Team

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