Wednesday, August 21, 2024
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9 Methods To Work Smarter, Higher, Quicker, and Stronger


The very first thing I do each weekday morning is inform my Amazon Alexa to show off my alarm. In different phrases, the very first interplay of my day is with synthetic intelligence (AI) — type of surreal now that I write it.

marketers agreeing on how to best leverage AI in B2B marketing

Download Now: 100 ChatGPT Prompts for Marketers [Free Guide]

This is only one instance of how AI can influence our on a regular basis lives, and the identical might be stated about AI in B2B advertising and marketing.

In accordance with HubSpot’s State of AI, 62% of enterprise leaders say their firm has already invested in AI and automation instruments for his or her workers to leverage. And who can blame them?

In nearly each use case, AI is understood to extend effectivity, pace up optimization, decrease prices, and enhance ROI. Wish to see for your self? Listed below are 9 of the most effective methods to make use of AI in B2B advertising and marketing to stage up your day-to-day.

The State of AI in B2B Advertising

Graphic depicting quote from Janet Bannister, founder and managing partner of Staircase Ventures

Earlier than we dive in, let’s get a fast lay of the AI land.

In accordance with our analysis, entrepreneurs are utilizing AI to get concepts and inspiration (22%), conduct analysis (48%), and discover ways to do issues (32%) — myself included.

On common, meaning we’re getting 12.5 hours again per week or about 25-26 further working days in a yr. That’s enormous.

And searching on the numbers, it really works too.

75% of entrepreneurs surveyed say AI and automation assist them spend much less time on guide duties, which suggests extra time on the inventive components of their jobs they get pleasure from most. And one other 68% say AI has really helped develop their careers.

Regardless of these positives, nevertheless, there are nonetheless many hesitations.

Synthetic intelligence (particularly generative AI) is plagued with issues about plagiarism, bias, and knowledge safety. Then, after all, there are perceived results on job safety.

Almost half of the entrepreneurs we surveyed stated they felt their jobs — and the whole job market — have been susceptible to being changed, however 62% additionally agreed that folks ought to use AI and automation of their roles, however they shouldn’t turn into overly reliant on it.

In truth, we don’t know what the longer term holds for AI, particularly with the potential for presidency regulation looming. However from what I’ve seen of present instruments, they can’t change us — however solely assist us work smarter.

One of the simplest ways to be ready for regardless of the end result is to know as a lot as you possibly can concerning the present state of AI in B2B advertising and marketing. In case you’re studying this text, I see you’re doing the work. We’ve obtained this.

The right way to Use AI in B2B Advertising

Graphic depicting nine ways you can use AI in B2B Marketing.

1. Generate content material and belongings.

Let’s go forward and get the plain out of the best way — content material era.

Due to plenty of totally different instruments, anybody can create a wide range of content material (like pictures within the Microsoft Designer instance under) utilizing simply written prompts.

Screenshot of Microsoft Designer tool showing examples of the images it can produce using AI

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It’s no marvel 83% of entrepreneurs say that AI helps them create considerably extra content material than they might with out. These robots are quick.

One of the widespread purposes of generative AI in B2B advertising and marketing is aiding within the writing course of. However the key phrase right here is aiding. As a content material skilled and author for over a decade, I am unable to stress this sufficient.

AI-generated content material is by-product by the very means it’s made. Sure, it could be quick and simple, but it surely lacks the standard, authentic thought, and experience wanted to face out from the competitors. So, don’t merely take it as is and hit “put up” or “publish.”

My good buddy and founding father of digital consultancy Harness & Hone, Nick Bennett, explains:

“If AI can create it, shoppers don‘t want it from you, me, or anybody else. The job is not simply to create content material and smear it throughout the web. The job is to create content material that *solely* you possibly can create. In case you don’t need to get replaced by [AI], create issues that it may’t.”

Fortunately, most entrepreneurs acknowledge this.

86% of entrepreneurs report taking time to edit content material produced by AI.

And after they do use it, they’re writing items with quick shelf-life like social media posts (46%), emails (47%), and descriptions (41%).

About one-third (34%) lean on generative AI to get concepts or inspiration.

Bar chart showing the four most common use cases for AI-powered written content in marketing

How will you get began with AI content material era? HubSpot has a number of AI instruments you should use, equivalent to our Free AI Content material Author, AI Weblog Author, and AI E-mail Author (in Beta).

However there are dozens from others as properly. Take a look at these articles for detailed lists and insights:

You may also dig particularly into ChatGPT with our free information, “The right way to Use ChatGPT at Work.”

2. Scale your conversational advertising and marketing.

In an age of push notifications and fixed connection, consumers have come to count on fast solutions from manufacturers. Sadly, fielding questions and conversing in real-time isn’t at all times scalable — particularly with a small staff.

Chatbots in your web site or social media may also help. Conversational advertising and marketing and chatbots are a number of the oldest makes use of of AI in B2B advertising and marketing, however that doesn’t imply they’re outdated. In truth, 74% of shoppers desire to speak to a chatbot when searching for fast solutions.

For instance, you possibly can arrange a chatbot to begin a dialog with customers after they go to specific pages in your web site (e.g., people who sign excessive intent, like a pricing or demo web page).

The train gear and tech firm Peloton makes use of this technique on its web site:

Screenshot showing the chatbot window on the Peloton website.

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A chatbot like this will ship related content material and calls to motion and even merely ask if the person has any questions.

Drift, Fb Messenger, and even Slack are nice choices to arrange a chatbot. But when your web site is hosted on HubSpot, you should use HubSpot Conversations.

Screenshot of chatflow builder in HubSpot

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3. Repurpose your content material.

Repurposing your content material for various audiences or mediums is among the smartest methods to get essentially the most out of the work you’ve already accomplished. However it may be extraordinarily time-consuming.

Though repurposing content material is probably going not new to you, AI makes it a lot simpler to do at scale than ever earlier than.

How else can you utilize AI to repurpose content material?

  • Flip weblog posts into movies or video scripts.
  • Flip podcasts or movies into weblog articles.
  • Remodel long-form content material into short-form instructional social media posts.
  • Add visuals to a long-form piece to share on social.
  • Construct touchdown pages from electronic mail sequences or podcasts.
  • Get a head begin on localizing or modifying content material for brand new areas or audiences.
  • Flip product content material into advertising and marketing promotional supplies.
  • Take uncooked knowledge and create knowledge visualizations and reviews.

Right here have been the outcomes after I requested ChatGPT to jot down 5 tweets based mostly on one in every of my latest articles:

Dark mode screenshot of ChatGPT writing sample tweets based on a blog article link.

The alternatives are huge and rising. There are additionally an growing variety of AI instruments being explicitly constructed with content material repurposing in thoughts, equivalent to HubSpot’s Content material Remix.

With Content material Remix, Skilled and Enterprise-level customers of Content material Hub can repurpose current content material into new codecs. This may be supplies you’ve hosted on HubSpot (i.e. pictures, social posts, textual content messages, advertisements, and weblog posts) or new content material you add to the instrument.

Screenshot showing how HubSpot’s Content Remix tool can repurpose content into a variety of different mediums.

You possibly can remix content material from the content material remix instrument, the overview web page in your posts or pages, and the content material editor.

4. Handle and analyze your advertising and marketing/buyer knowledge.

One other means B2B entrepreneurs can capitalize on AI is of their knowledge administration.

“I have been utilizing AI to arrange unstructured knowledge,” shares Marketer-in-Residence at MarketerHire Jason Howie.

“For instance, I’ll take free-form query fields equivalent to ‘How did you hear about us?’ and ask ChatGPT to group the responses into classes to make reporting simpler. It’s extraordinarily useful.”

“One other nice use is normalizing firm names from acronyms to full names and even discovering web site domains once we did not have them earlier than. These duties save a ton of time and make our knowledge way more correct and actionable.”

However AI’s energy doesn’t cease at knowledge administration. It will possibly additionally analyze and interpret knowledge quicker than humanly attainable to:

  • Present and discover insights
  • Phase your prospects
  • Determine buyer tendencies and preferences
  • Create datasets for coaching functions
  • Create dashboards and reviews (and even routinely electronic mail you the report)
  • Monitor enterprise efficiency

Take a look at HubSpot’s ChatSpot in motion with co-founder and Chief Know-how Officer Dharmesh Shah:

Some may even use predictive analytics to:

  • Predict market outcomes
  • Forecast demand
  • Make strategic recommendations

For instance, the media planning instrument ReBid’s AI assistant can use gross sales and efficiency knowledge to share advert placement recommendations. It will possibly inform you which system, advert, and platform to concentrate on together with your advert funds.

Screenshot showing what the ReBid AI assistant looks like.

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To study extra about utilizing AI for knowledge evaluation, try our free information.

5. Make your advertising and marketing extra interactive.

Thus far, we’ve simply talked about how you should use AI to be extra productive and efficient, however why not make it part of what you place out into the world as properly?

When you have the data and growth sources, interactive content material powered by AI might be a particularly worthwhile B2B advertising and marketing instrument.

Take search engine optimization analytics firm Ahrefs. They constructed an AI-powered product description generator that anybody can use with out sharing private data.

Screenshot of Ahref’s product description generator tool.

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Okay, perhaps one thing like that’s a bit formidable. However you possibly can seize the identical concept with a customized quiz or self-selection instrument in your web site constructed with TypeForm or Wyng.

A self-selection instrument is principally any sort of interactive characteristic (e.g., a button, kind, and so on.) that customizes the person’s expertise on an internet site. For instance, it could information the person to the data that solutions a query they’ve or the product that matches their wants.

A number of the commonest are pricing or value calculators, a builder/generator, or a “finder” that helps you determine the correct product or answer for you.

One in all my favourite self-selection instruments I’ve ever encountered is the make-up model Il Makiage’s Energy Match quiz.

Screenshot of the website banner promoting the Il Makiage POWERMATCH quiz

This quiz (and the topic of many viral make-up movies on YouTube) leads you thru a collection of multiple-choice questions. Then, it tells you what shade of their basis will completely match your pores and skin.

Screenshot showing the question interface of the Il Makiage POWERMATCH Quiz.

They’re so assured within the outcomes that they even allow you to attempt the product for 14 days earlier than you pay for it.

For one thing that may be as troublesome as selecting the right shade of basis — I can’t even do that in individual generally — this quiz is a compelling and enjoyable means to make use of AI to market your product.

(And in case you have been questioning, they certainly matched my shade.)

6. Automate mundane advertising and marketing duties.

One other means AI may also help you be extra environment friendly together with your B2B advertising and marketing is thru advertising and marketing automation.

Advertising automation makes use of know-how to automate monotonous advertising and marketing work, like sending emails or doing knowledge entry.

For instance, you should use ManyChat to ship a direct message when individuals remark a particular phrase or phrase on an Instagram put up. Or for those who’re a HubSpot person, attempt workflows so as to add a advertising and marketing contact to a specific listing after they fill out a kind.

Screenshot showing what it is like setting up an Instagram automation in ManyChat.

This article on the 23 greatest advertising and marketing automation instruments is a superb place to begin.

7. Enhance your search engine optimization.

I do know Google looks like an unconquerable beast (most likely as a result of it’s), but it surely’s not going anyplace anytime quickly. So, we nonetheless must care about optimizing for it and different engines like google.

That stated, AI may assist right here. In truth, 84% of bloggers and search engine optimization specialists reported that AI and automation influenced their search engine optimization technique in 2023.

My teammate and HubSpot employees author Erica Santiago just lately shared a number of methods how together with:

  • Monitoring search knowledge to uncover tendencies.
  • Discovering key phrases based mostly in your chosen matters.
  • Figuring out alternatives to optimize content material.
  • Producing structured knowledge and schema markup.
  • Discovering link-building alternatives.
  • Detecting and fixing technical points, equivalent to damaged hyperlinks.

Dive deeper into these use instances and discover a listing of useful instruments in her article, 17 Finest AI search engine optimization Instruments & The right way to Use AI in 2024 [New Data].

8. Personalize your buyer expertise.

In accordance with the 2024 ACA Survey by buyer expertise skilled Shep Hyken, 81% of consumers desire firms that provide a personalised expertise.

In a brick-and-mortar enterprise, this meant remembering a buyer’s identify or sending them a observe on their birthdays. Particulars like these might be arduous to recollect. So can creating experiences like these in a digital age, particularly as your organization grows.

However as soon as once more, synthetic intelligence may also help.

Use AI to deal with individuals by identify or create content material focusing on a purchaser persona’s distinctive pursuits, earlier exercise, location, and different traits.

The purpose is to take what you realize about who you’re attempting to succeed in and discover methods to include that into your advertising and marketing.

In case you’re a HubSpot person, attempt utilizing the platform’s personalization tokens so as to add data from the CRM to your web site pages, touchdown pages, and advertising and marketing emails.

Screenshot showing what the personalization token popup window can look like in HubSpot.

9. Conduct analysis.

In case you’re in advertising and marketing, you’re no stranger to analysis.

Whether or not it’s trying to find data in your persona’s shopping for habits, your competitor’s newest product launch, or key phrases in your subsequent weblog article, analysis is probably going part of your weekly routine.

AI may also help dramatically pace up the method.

With a search engine like Google or Bing, it’s a must to manually sort your question into the instrument, click on by means of the outcomes, cross your fingers, and hope they’ve what you’re searching for.

With an AI chatbot like ChatGPT, nevertheless, you possibly can ask particular queries as for those who have been speaking to a different individual. There is no such thing as a must spend hours studying by means of dozens of search outcomes to distill data; the bot does that for you.

Right here’s a useful analysis tip from our AI advertising and marketing tendencies report:

“When utilizing AI instruments, immediate writing is an artwork and a science. Attempt a number of variations in your immediate earlier than turning to a brand new answer — the extra particular, the higher the outcome.

One very talked-about immediate for analysis and studying is, ‘Clarify ____ to me like I’m 5 years outdated.’ It makes for a superb place to begin for any new initiative.”

Take a look at what it stated after I requested it to clarify “brat summer time.”

Dark mode screenshot showing ChatGPT’s answer to “explain brat summer to me like I’m five years old”

Examples of AI in B2B Advertising

Now that you realize how one can capitalize on AI in B2B Advertising, let’s check out some examples.

Ahrefs Amazon Key phrase Software

I do know we talked about Ahrefs earlier. However it’s arduous to not be impressed by what the search engine optimization firm is doing with AI in its advertising and marketing, so I needed to embody them once more.

On this instance, Ahrefs targets companies straight by giving them a free instrument to lookup the most effective key phrases to make use of of their Amazon product listings.

Screenshot showing sample results from the Ahrefs Amazon product keyword finder.

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All it’s a must to do is enter a broad description of your product into the instrument and it exhibits you the most well-liked key phrases (aka what individuals are looking out most) associated to it.

This instrument showcases the ability of Ahrefs know-how and affords immense worth to potential prospects with out even requiring an electronic mail handle.

Ventura Meals Web site Chatbot

Ventura Meals is a meals producer that produces product traces like Hidden Valley Salad Dressing and Good Stability Butter. On its web site, it has a digital assistant named Brie prepared and ready to reply your questions as quickly as you arrive.

Screenshot showing the chatbot on Ventura Foods website.

I requested the bot a couple of questions like “What does Ventura Meals do?” and it responded inside seconds with direct solutions and a hyperlink to the corporate’s “about us” web page to study extra.

Screenshot showing a sample chat with the chatbot, Brie, on the Ventura Foods website.

It made it extraordinarily simple to get solutions with out navigating by means of the whole web site, however was a bit fast to ship me the “contact us” kind and customer support telephone quantity when it wasn’t certain what I used to be asking.

HubSpot Advertising Plan Generator

Making a advertising and marketing plan takes a variety of effort and time. Recognizing this widespread ache level, HubSpot constructed an AI-powered Advertising Plan Generator.

Screenshot of an example of the marketing plan that can be created with HubSpot’s AI marketing plan generator.

This practice AI simplifies yearly planning by analyzing and organizing the person’s solutions to a number of questions into an easy-to-understand one-page advertising and marketing plan. It contains their firm’s advertising and marketing priorities and suggests different related initiatives based mostly on the targets they enter.

Instruments like this one are partaking methods to make use of AI to supply worth to your audience and generate potential leads.

(AI)ming larger together with your B2B advertising and marketing

I do know the potential of synthetic intelligence might be scary. Hundreds of thousands of individuals are feeling it too, however right here’s a reminder that has comforted me: AI is absolutely nothing new.

We’ve had spell and grammar checks on phrase processors for years, however editors nonetheless exist. Customers can simply purchase tax software program, however they nonetheless rent accountants. Each editors and accountants use these instruments themselves.

The AI accessible to B2B entrepreneurs received’t take your home, however it can assist you to take again time to stage up the place it issues most.

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