Editorial
The Gist
- AI impact. AI in marketing revolutionizes hyper-personalization, automating content at scale.
- Channel explosion. Omnichannel marketing is more complex due to rising digital channels like TikTok.
- Customer focus. Brands need flexible, real-time tech to meet diverse, global customer needs.
The technology behind brand experiences has come a long way in the past 15 years. Let's take a look at the history and how AI in marketing is impacting what is possible.
In the early 2010s, enterprise marketing technology was inflexible — with years-long commitments and software that was difficult to update. Content-management systems built for the web required significant training just to pull it off. Old data centers gave rise to virtualization and, eventually, cloud computing. The old systems didn’t really disappear, but they needed to be integrated into the cloud, leading to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies as we know them today.
All these changes impacted the customer experiences brand marketers were able to offer in order to stand out from the competition: content in commerce, omnichannel and real-time updates. Where will the pendulum move next? What capabilities can we expect brands to simultaneously move toward in the next 10 years?
Those are all questions I’ll answer to help us anticipate the tech we need for the future.
The Expansion of Omnichannel Drives the Need for Enterprise Flexibility
Twenty-five years ago, all brands had to think about were print, television, radio and billboards, maybe even a little nascent internet advertising.
In the last decade, the number of channels has skyrocketed. It’s become what we today understand as full-blown “omnichannel” including dynamic websites, streaming services, social media, chatbots, mobile, digital kiosks and more. This ecosystem is expanding fast; look how quickly TikTok became a primary brand marketing channel.
Now we’re adding the complexities of global business — multiple languages and teams around the world, different time zones and customer needs. On top of that, information moves much faster today than it did 20 years ago. Not only do brands have to be in all the relevant spots, but they have to respond to trends while building relationships.
Enterprises are realizing that old systems no longer serve them; they need more flexible technology. In the future, we'll continue to see more real-time, dynamic experiences so brands can be in the preferred channels for customers at the right time.
Related Article: What’s Coming Next Decade for AI in Marketing?
AI in Marketing: Hyper-Personalization Is the Next Frontier
With so many brands thinking up creative marketing campaigns and ads, the market for consumer attention is flooded. Which begs the question: How does a brand stand out?
To answer it, marketers have turned to hyper-personalization. Hyper-personalization takes the broad but cohesive experiences of omnichannel marketing and focuses on satisfying the individual specifically, not just grouping a person with people generally like them.
Customers are willing to pay significantly more for highly personalized experiences. The problem until now has been that humans would need to create all of the content.
AI in marketing is groundbreaking here because properly-trained AI models could auto-generate hyper-personalized content at scale. We’ll get to a point soon where an ad or another piece of content runs and optimizes its audience segmentation with AI at the helm, rather than a person.
AI in Marketing Will Likely Be the Lynchpin of Hyper-Personalization, but Only if It Consistently Enhances CX
Technology shifts happen every few years, and AI in marketing could be one of the biggest yet. Most hyper-personalized content will soon be created with AI marketing tools. Human writers simply cannot produce that volume of content at scale, cost-effectively. Image generation is moving that way, too, and we’re already seeing AI tools appear in other areas as well.
For example, Substack now offers AI-generated avatars for writers to brand their newsletters. Why? Substack’s primary customer wants to write but may not be proficient in all the ancillary details of publishing. Rather than pushing writers to third parties to create an avatar, the AI-generated art lets writers get to writing sooner, and since they choose the image prompt, the avatars can be unique.
AI in marketing is changing the way humans experience and interact with brands and the world. A possibility we see ahead is personal agents that know their users’ preferences and customize digital experiences on their behalf.
Webinar
Sep
25
CMS Briefing: A Live Look at What’s Next in AI-Driven Platforms
Learn how leading organizations are using AI‑driven tools to publish faster, personalize smarter and stay secure.
Register
Webinar
On demand
Ready or Not: How Data-First Organizations Are Unlocking Agentforce Potential
Learn how to cut through the noise, activate Agentforce and build a Salesforce AI strategy that actually delivers.
Watch Now
Webinar
On demand
AI in Customer Service: Faster Resolutions, Happier Customers
Don’t let rising demand burn out your team. See how to build a smarter, more resilient support org.
Watch Now
Webinar
On demand
From Hype to High-Impact CX Strategies That Actually Scale
Turn buzzworthy AI and outsourcing trends into measurable CX wins with fresh 2025 data.
Watch Now
Webinar
On demand
Insights to Action Rethinking the Contact Center for Real Business Impact
Join our exclusive webinar to hear CX executives share their innovative strategies for transforming service delivery.
Watch Now
Webinar
On demand
Accelerating Healthcare Ops with AI
Sign up to see how your peers are putting AI to work — and making it stick.
Watch Now
Ride the waves of AI change early. AI in marketing needs to add real value by consistently enhancing the customer experience. That means that you will need to test your model rigorously. Regularly solicit feedback from customers and iterate.
Related Article: Generative AI in Marketing and Sales: 8 High-Impact B2B Use Cases
Final Words on AI in Marketing
Ultimately, the future will be what you make of the present. Have an open mind to learn and adapt, and look at how new technologies like AI in marketing are solving existing problems. Focus on providing customers with value to make their lives easier, and to entertain and educate them. This will help spur loyalty — and a loyal customer is one of the best marketing tools you will ever find.
Learn how you can join our contributor community.
