What Are the Best AI Marketing Tools?

Artificial intelligence (AI) helps marketers automate activities and campaigns at scale in a way we've never seen before. 

According to our recent survey with DMI members, the primary benefits of integrating AI into marketing efforts are automation of routine tasks (68%), improved customer experience (46%), improved targeting and segmentation (45%), enhanced personalisation (44%) and predictive analysis (39%). 

So there are many applications for AI in marketing, but there are also lots of AI tools and they're coming at us fast! 

This can make it overwhelming for marketers to know where to start with AI and see that there are many tools out there (not just ChatGPT) that can help gain customer insights, drive personalization, and boost efficiency. 

To help you pick the right AI tool for your goal, we've compiled a list of the best ones available for a number of digital marketing activities:

• AI tools for audience research
• AI tools for customer journey mapping
• AI tools for Idea generation and content research
• AI tools for keyword research
• AI tools for trend analysis and forecasting
• AI tools for competitor monitoring
• AI tools for influencer research
• AI tools for sales automation
• AI tools for social media management and advertising
• AI tools for writing and content generation

But first, let’s look at what an AI tool is and how to use them for digital marketing.

What is an AI marketing tool?

An AI marketing tool is a platform or application that uses AI technology to enhance marketing activities and make data-driven decisions. 

These tools leverage AI algorithms, natural language processing, machine learning, and data analytics to automate processes, analyze data, and provide insights to optimize marketing strategies and campaigns. 

Examples of AI marketing tools include chatbots, predictive analytics platforms, recommendation engines, and content generation systems.

What are the Benefits of Using AI Marketing Tools?

The use of AI tools is becoming more widespread across industries. Grand View Research projects that AI will have an annual growth rate of 37% between 2023 and 2030 - no small feat in just seven years.  

There’s a reason for this prediction - AI has huge benefits for marketers and marketing departments which are: 

• Drives efficiency
• Boosts productivity
• Saves time
• Improves personalization
• Enhances customer care
• Reduces cost
• Enables scalability
• Enhances audience targeting
• Gives real-time insights
• Generates and optimizes content

Ultimately, AI tools empower businesses to make better decisions, work smarter and deliver more value to their business and stakeholders.

“There's still a huge need for human writers, for human creativity, for human thought and strategy and to come to these tools with our own objectives and our own ideas.” Kerry Harrison, AI Educator and copywriter

What is the Best AI Marketing Tool?

With so many AI tools out there, it’s no surprise that marketers are wondering which one is the best. While lots of AI tools are still in the early stages or evolving based on what they learn through interactions and prompts, there is one that stands out right now!

Just to make sure, we asked our LinkedIn community of marketers to tell us what they were using and found most effective. By an overwhelming majority of 86%, people responded that ChatGPT was the frontrunner.  

While ChatGPT is on top for now, bear in mind that other AI tools will emerge and evolve. Plus it’s all about what you need to use the tool for. If it’s SEO or customer journey mapping, then look below to see what tools might suit better. 

AI Tools for Digital Marketing

There are a number of great AI tools that can help enhance your digital marketing activities. The tool that’s ‘best’ for you depends on the company, industry, budget and goals. 

Here are some great all-in-one AI tools for digital marketing which will be followed by ones for specific functions. 

• Sprout Social can handle a range of marketing functions—from social media and customer care to digital marketing and competitive intelligence (including sentiment analysis. 
• Zapier uses AI to enhance and streamline a range of functions such as sales and customer success operations, content and video and PR and social media. 
• HubSpot uses AI to conduct company research, build websites, draft prospecting emails, enhance data analysis and generate social media copy. 

AI Tools for Audience Research

As a marketer, it’s crucial to understand the interests, needs and pain points of your audience. Without that, you’ll create content that doesn’t talk to the people you want to attract and engage. 

Here are some useful AI tools for audience research:

Answer Socrates provides insights into the types of questions that people are searching about.

SparkToro is a powerful audience research tool that gathers data about potential customers.

Google Trends helps you discover content that is currently resonating with audiences.

AI Tools for Customer Journey Mapping

Do you know what your customers are doing when they are on your website? Do you know where your prospects and customers come from? 

If not, you need to understand the journey of your customer so you know the channel and campaign where they first encountered your brand to the touchpoint where they converted. Here are some AI tools to help you:

Kissmetrics analyzes customer data to gain insights on customer behavior and brand interactions.

Mixpanel enables you to better understand your customers by analyzing their behavior and interactions.

Amplitude analyzes the customer journey to unearth friction on the path to conversions and identify what works well in the campaign.

Semrush Persona enables you to build buyer personas using AI-powered persona templates.

AI Tools for Idea Generation & Content Research

One of the hardest things as a marketer is to come up with fresh and exciting content ideas. 

Even when you know your buyer personas and have data to give you insight from previous campaigns, sometimes you just get stuck. 

Here are some great AI tools for generating ideas and researching content.   

• ChatGPT can help you do initial content research, based on highly detailed prompts.
• Reddit enables you to do content research via its subreddits, which can then be fed into AI tools.
• Consensus is an AI-powered search engine particularly suited for searching research papers.
• Gemini (previously Bard) is a powerful text-based AI tool backed by Google's search engine.
• Milled is an AI tool that helps you research content in email newsletters.
• Clearscope analyzes high-ranking pages to give you ideas on how to create optimized content based on your keyword research.
• MarketMuse can help with content planning, optimization, and performance monitoring, as well as competitor analysis.
• Perplexity AI is an AI-powered search engine particularly useful for generating ideas, based on cited sources.

AI Tools for Keyword Research

Keywords enable the perfect marriage between SEO and content. They help you tap into what people are searching for online and help search engines like Google rank your content. 

Knowing and using the right keywords can give a company the edge. Here are some tools that can help: 

• ChatGPT can help you identify keywords based on topic or audience research.
• UberSuggest is an AI-powered tool for keyword research and integration.
• Clearscope uses AI to suggest the best keywords to integrate into your content.
• KWFinder leverages AI algorithms to provide accurate keyword metrics, including search volume, keyword difficulty, and trend data along with localized keyword research.
• Keyword Tool generates long-tail keyword suggestions from Google's autocomplete feature and provides keyword metrics such as search volume, CPC and competition level.
• Keyword Keg creates keyword suggestions from search engines and databases such as Amazon, and YouTube along with advanced filtering and competitor analysis.
• SpyFu Keyword Research tool analyzes competitor keywords, identifies top-performing keywords, and uncovers insights for optimizing PPC and SEO.

AI Tools for Trend Analysis and Forecasting

Trend analysis and forecasting in marketing is the examination of data (past and present) and market conditions to identify patterns, trends, and potential outcomes. 

The aim is to help marketers anticipate market trends, predict future outcomes, and make informed strategic decisions that drive business growth and help stay ahead of competitors. 

Here are some AI tools to help you with trend analysis and forecasting: 

• Talkwalker uses AI-powered tools to help alert you to upcoming trends.
• TrendKite is an AI tool for forecasting and analyzing likely trends.
• Zoho Social helps you visualize key data and develop insights to predict trends.
• Seismic uses AI algorithms to predict trends so you can then adjust your marketing strategies to optimize ROI..
• Bloomreach offers a suite of AI tools enable trend analysis and forecasting.

AI Tools for Competitor Monitoring

Competition can help drive innovation and spark creativity, but it can also be a challenge if you’re losing customers to another brand. 

That’s why it’s important to do a competitive analysis so you know where you stand in comparison to other companies in the sector, but also understand your strengths and weaknesses. 

Here are some AI tools that can help you monitor competitors:

• Rival IQ is an AI tool that helps brands conduct competitor monitoring.
• Brandwatch uses AI to monitor the online presence of competitor brands and offer real-time insights.
• Sprout Social is an AI tool that helps you understand how rival brands are performing on social media..

AI Tools for Influencer Research

Working with influencers can greatly increase the reach of your content. However, you need to ensure that the influencer aligns with your brand values and business goals.

Here are some AI tools you can use for influencer research:

• Upfluence uses AI algorithms to identify potential influencer partnerships based on social metrics and fit with brand identity.
• Influencity uses AI to develop an Audience Quality Score to help you identify the best-suits influencers for your campaign.
• AspireIQ uses AI algorithms to connect you with the most appropriate influencers, based on their previous campaign performance.

AI Tools for Sales Automation

Sales automation software is a convenient and cost-effective way for markers to generate highly personalized email campaigns that build loyalty and communications with ease (and at scale).

In addition to email campaigns, sales automation software is also effective for scheduling prospect appointments, prioritizing leads, and gathering valuable data. 

Let’s take a look at some of the best tools for AI marketing sales right now.

• Outreach helps marketers transform sales data into actionable insights and automate workflows while testing engagement activities and key messaging across channels.
• Gong helps shorten sales cycles while boosting team communication and productivity. It can also guide sales reps through their day with automated activity recommendations and strategic suggestions. 
• Drift helps marketers and sales reps work in harmony to reach out to customers with the right messaging at the times on the best channels. 

AI Tools for Social Media & Advertising

Social media is one of the most popular channels that marketers use. But with so many networks available and so many content and ad formats to choose from, it can be tricky to deliver a good ROI - especially for organic content.

Luckily there are some AI tools at your disposal that can help make social media management and advertising less time consuming and more effective.  

• Cortex is a social media management and advertising tool, that uses AI to  see marketing data sourced from a variety of channels so you can learn what is driving engagement and sparking interest with your target audience
• Smartly.io helps businesses create, manage, and optimize social media ad campaigns at scale and provides features such as dynamic ad creative, automated bidding, audience segmentation, and performance insights. 
• AdParlor specializes in managing and optimizing social media ad campaigns across Facebook, Instagram, X and Snapchat through advanced targeting, creative optimization tools, and real-time reporting.

For social listening and monitoring brand sentiment, consider using the following tools:

• Brandwatch uses AI to conduct social listening and analyze social media sentiment.
• MonkeyLearn can make predictions about customer emotions and sentiment.
• Sprout Social uses AI to help you unearth actionable customer insights and trends that can drive your social campaigns.
• Social Mention helps monitor your social performance and analyze how customers are reacting to it.

AI Tools for Writing & Content Generation

As you no doubt know, content is one of the most vital components of any successful digital marketing strategy. Without rock-solid content, you’ll never establish a strong brand voice or establish authority in your niche. 

AI writing tools exist to help create valuable content with minimal human intervention. Let’s take a look at some of them by category.

Content generation

• Jasper AI is a smart writing assistant that produces content in a natural voice based on your brand’s tone. It also has a clever SEO optimization function and  can create imagery to support or complement your copy. 
• Copy.ai can generate compelling advertising and marketing copy, and adapt to different brand voices and messaging strategies.
• ChatGPT can help automate content creation across various platforms, including articles, blog posts, and social media. It is also invaluable for content ideation, research, and optimization. 
• Articoolo is an AI content generator that creates articles and blog posts based on topics or keywords.
• Claude is a powerful AI tool adept at generating creative writing.

If you need help with structuring your content, you might consider using Yoast, TextOptimizer, or Frase.or email content, try out Automizy or Mailchimp.

Note: Always consider these AI tools as content assistants. You should carefully check any content generated by AI to ensure it aligns with your content objectives and brand tone. 

Other content types

Of course, you're likely to generate more than just text content. Let's now consider some other content types that AI can help you to create.

For image content, you could consider the following:

• Stable Diffusion’s text-to-image model can be used for content creation, advertising, and branding to better engage with people. 
• Midjourney can generate high-quality images based on user inputs.

You can choose from a number of tools for video content:

• Synthesia creates AI-generated video content, including virtual presenters and text-to-video features
• Pika Labs is particularly useful for generating short video assets.
• Lumen5 can create videos based on a script or on text imported from a website article.
• TikTok Creative Assistant is an AI-powered tool to help you generate videos to upload to TikTok. 
• Opus Clip can create Reels, TikToks, or Shorts clips from YouTube videos.

And what about audio content? Here are some useful AI-powered solutions:

• Otter.ai can automate the process of transcribing audio content, making it accessible and searchable.
• Descript enables you to edit audio or video as if it were a text document.
• Riverside includes AI-powered features to help you edit podcasts for social posts. 

AI Tools for Image, Video & Audio Content

Of course, you're likely to generate more than just text content. Let's now consider some other content types that AI can help you to create.

For image content, you could consider the following:

• Stable Diffusion’s text-to-image model can be used for content creation, advertising, and branding to better engage with people. 
• Midjourney can generate high-quality images based on user inputs.

You can choose from a number of tools for video content:

• Synthesia creates AI-generated video content, including virtual presenters and text-to-video features
• Pika Labs is particularly useful for generating short video assets.
• Lumen5 can create videos based on a script or on text imported from a website article.
• TikTok Creative Assistant is an AI-powered tool to help you generate videos to upload to TikTok. 
• Opus Clip can create Reels, TikToks, or Shorts clips from YouTube videos.

And what about audio content? Here are some useful AI-powered solutions:

• Otter.ai can automate the process of transcribing audio content, making it accessible and searchable.
• Descript enables you to edit audio or video as if it were a text document.
• Riverside includes AI-powered features to help you edit podcasts for social posts. 

AI Tools for Content Optimization

Having created your content, you'll want to optimize it to maximize its impact. You can choose from several AI-driven tools to enhance your content for SEO and ensure it ranks highly on SERPs:

• SurferSEO can optimize web content for better search engine rankings, analyzing top-ranking pages and making suggestions.
• RankSense uses AI tools to examine historical data and current trends to see how SEO algorithms are most likely to evolve.
• CognitiveSEO uses its AI-powered ‘Content Optimization Tool’ to help  optimize your content for greater organic reach.
• RankRanger generates optimized content that’s likely to rank highly in SERPs. 
• GrowthBar helps identify search engine ranking patterns, perform competitive analysis, and suggest keyword optimization strategies.

Specifically for local SEO, you could use tools such as BrightLocal, Whitespark, or Advice Local. 

You might also want to carry out A/B testing on your content:

• HubSpot offers AI-powered analytics to determine which email versions perform best in terms of different metrics.
• Google Optimize enables you to run effective A/B tests.
• Optimizely enables you to run A/B tests and dynamically adjust your campaigns as necessary, based on real-time performance.
• Crazy Egg can automate the testing process, gather real-time data, analyze the results, and optimize the campaigns in real time.

For email content, the following tools are available:

• NeverBounce helps keep your emails out of the spam folder and enables you to maintain a cleaner, more compliant email list.
• ZeroBounce helps reduce the chances of your email being relegated to the spam folder or bouncing back to you unread. 
• Seventh Sense is an email delivery optimization system designed specifically for HubSpot and Marketo. It uses AI to optimize and personalize email delivery times for each individual to drive engagement.

For translation and localization of content, Google Translate uses AI to translate and localize marketing content. Be aware of the limitations of machine-only translation, however!

For ad optimization , ForePlay can use AI-powered insights to optimize your ad content and campaigns.

And finally, if you want to optimize your content based on search intent, BrightEdge helps you to figure out  the intent behind search queries. You can then optimize your content in a  targeted way.

AI Tools for Content scheduling

Now that you have honed your content, you'll want to ensure that you post it at the optimum time to maximize its impact. Both Hootsuite and Buffer use AI-driven tools to suggest the best times for you to post your content.  

AI Tools for Content Performance

Of course, the hard work doesn't end when you post your content. You then need to monitor its performance. How can AI tools help you with this?

Google Analytics 4 provides real-time content analytics, enabling effective decision-making and informing strategy decisions.

ChatGPT can generate insights based on the data you feed it, and present insights in a clear, user-friendly format.

FanPage Karma helps you to analyze the performance of your social media content.

AI Tools for Budget Management

Managing your marketing  budget is a key task for any digital marketer. Tracking your spend ensures that you know where funds are going and what budget you have left on a weekly or monthly basis. 

Then you can optimize your marketing budget to get the most out of it.  For ad bidding, you could consider the following tools:

• Google Ads Smart Bidding enables you to manage your budget allocation through smart bidding. 
• AdRoll uses its AI-drive BidIQ to optimize your price-bidding strategy. 
• WordStream’s Smart Ads analyzes your bidding strategy and adjusts it accordingly in real time. 

When if comes to dynamic pricing, the following tools are available:

• Feedvisor enables you to manage your budget allocation through dynamic pricing.
• RepricerExpress uses AI to optimize your dynamic pricing strategies.
• Prisync enables you to monitor competitor pricing and adjust your pricing dynamically as needed. 

And for PPC optimization, you could use these AI-powered tools:

• Google Ads uses sophisticated AI algorithms to maximize PPC ad performance through automated bidding, targeting, and ad placement decisions.
• Optmyzr uses AI-driven data analysis to help you to audit, optimize, and grow your PPC strategy. 
• WordStream can analyze your campaign performance and use AI to suggest how it could be optimized.

AI Tools for Customer Engagement

Digital marketers can use AI tools to help them communicate with customers more efficiently. For example, you could use chatbots to streamline communications with customers. Here are some great examples:

• ManyChat is a popular AI-driven social media chatbot.
• Zendesk uses AI to help automate and streamline customer support. 
• Drift is a social media chatbot that can engage with customers by analyzing trends in billions of conversations.
• Botsify enables brands to build their own customized chatbots.

You can also use AI tools to help retain customers:

• Retention Science uses AI algorithms to help build and improve customer retention.
• Braze uses AI algorithms to personalize the customer experience and increase retention. 
• ChurnZero helps  reduce customer churn by using AI to create engaging customer experiences.

AI Tools for Workflow Enhancement

AI tools can also help digital marketers to enhance their workflows, leading to greater efficiencies and reduced costs. 

Among the tools available are the following:

• Pardot uses AI tools to improve workflow efficiencies in digital marketing campaigns.
• Marketo enables you to optimize your workflows using AI-driven insights.
• Sprinklr uses AI tools to optimize decision-making and improve productivity. 
• Brevo uses AI to automate email workflows to maximize engagement and conversion rates.
• Drip helps you to improve workflow efficiency by using AI to automate repetitive tasks and streamline processes.

You may also want to use simulatio scenario planning to look at ways of improving your workflows. AI can help here too:

• Wolfram Alpha uses AI to enable scenario planning using simulations.
• Simul8 enables you to test various stimulations using AI-generated scenarios.
• AnyLogic uses AI to develop simulations so you can see how different scenarios are likely to play out. 

How do you use AI digital marketing tools?

“The playing field is poised to become a lot more competitive, and businesses that don't deploy AI and data to help them innovate in everything they do will be at a disadvantage.” —Paul Daugherty, Accenture

There are many inspiring uses of AI in digital marketing. As autonomous technologies become increasingly accessible (and powerful), an increasing number of renowned brands are joining the party. 

Big-hitting publications like Bloomberg, the Washington Post, and Forbes, for example, are currently using AI tools to create content—which you can find out all about by listening to our recent ‘Art of Copywriting’ podcast. 

To help you get the most from your AI marketing efforts, here are a few quick dos and don’ts for your reading pleasure.

Do

• Work with a small selection of AI marketing tools that align with your  goals and business needs.
• Start small and scale gradually. It’s more important to understand how to use one or two AI tools well than to have a scant understanding of ten. 
• Experiment and test AI tools by using different strategies, messaging variations, and targeting approaches.
• Train staff and team members on how to use  AI-powered tools to enhance their work and creative efforts.
• Use your best judgment to automate tasks you feel need streamlining and cherry-pick the best elements of the  tools.
• Monitor the performance of your AI tools. Are they making tasks easier? Do they enhance your marketing activities and if so, how? 
• Keep the human touch by staying true to your brand’s voice and values. Embrace creativity and empathy alongside AI tools

Don’t

• Integrate a bunch of different tools and bounce between them. It will cause confusion and create chaos rather than achieve harmony and boost productivity.
• Forget to include your team in the decision process when it comes to choosing the right AI tools.
• Ignore your ethical obligations when using AI tools. Be transparent about using them if it seems necessary. 
• Disregard any regulations or compliance issues. Ensure you are committed to data privacy and compliant with GDPR, CCPA and any other regulations. 
• Rely solely on AI marketing tools to carry out your  tasks and processes. These tools are most effective when combined with human leadership and nothing beats the human editorial eye!

Use AI to elevate your digital marketing activities

Artificial intelligence is a game changer for marketers as it helps personalize, optimize and automate many key marketing activities. Our new short interactive AI course (with practical walkthroughs) will help you understand the fundamentals of AI and use key AI tools for research, content development, data-driven decision-making, and creative design. Reserve your spot today!

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