Running your business can become very busy. When running your marketing, customer support, emails, leads & campaigns – it can become overwhelming if you have a small marketing team.

These activities can also be part of a wider digital marketing strategy.

Not all tasks can be required.

Providing customer support to someone who has filled out your contact form on your website is something that may be required. However if you are receiving a high volume of questions (30+) per day – this becomes very difficult.

Many businesses use AI Marketing Automation.

What is AI Marketing Automation?

In short,

AI Marketing Automation helps you automate your marketing by using AI tools. This can help provide insights into customer behaviour, customer data & automate your tasks.

For example when using email marketing. If someone signs up to your website you can create workflows to send them an email.

Using AI you can personalise your marketing as you know all about their interests.

Things you can do with AI marketing automation:

Welcome emails

Website queries

Customer Segmentation

What campaign they are interested in

Personalised recommendations

However you will need to plan.

Where can AI Marketing Automation help?

There are a few simple benefits.

Time Saving

How often do you send similar emails? Update customer details? Or see if they have responded?

Email marketing is also an important part of digital marketing, as it helps businesses stay connected with their customers.

Whilst this is important it can take up a lot of time.

By using Marketing automation you can create workflows. Create rules for how you want your tasks to run & automate some.

You can spend time on your campaigns, content & engaging with your customers.

Personalisation

Have you ever received an email for something you have already purchased? This can happen a lot & can leave you feeling like you are not paying attention.

Using an AI Marketing Automation tool can provide insights into customer behaviour. This can help you see what different customers are interested in. This helps you personalise your emails, offers & recommendations.

We are just trying to send the right messages to your customers.

Easy follow ups

It can be exciting to receive new queries but what can you do?

Some customers may take longer to make a decision or require more information. If you don’t follow up with them you could lose an opportunity.

Using automated workflows you can:

Remind them they had a query

Alert sales to new leads

Segment your contacts

Automate follow up emails.

Whilst it won’t guarantee they will become a customer – it will help you follow up.

Insights into your Campaigns

Have people engaged with your marketing emails/ads?

How many people opened your email? How many clicked through? Did they ask any questions?

Using AI tools can provide you with insights into your data. This can help you see trends.

This can help marketers improve certain areas.

Traditional Marketing Automation vs AI Marketing Automation

These two terms can be used interchangeably but there is a difference.

Traditional Automation	AI Marketing Automation
Based mainly on predefined rules	Analyses data and identify patterns
Sends emails based on specific triggers	Helps with personalisation
Automates workflows created by marketers	Helps improve & adapt your marketing
Automates repetitive tasks	Automates repetitive tasks and supports data analysis

Traditional automation does not mean it is old fashioned. Sometimes you will need to use basic rule based workflows.

Which AI Marketing Automation Tools Can Businesses Try?

There are several platforms available, and choosing one really depends on what a business wants to manage.

Tool	Common Use
HubSpot	Customer & Lead Management, Marketing Campaigns
Mailchimp	Email Marketing, Audience
ActiveCampaign	Email Marketing, Customer Follow Up
Salesforce Marketing Cloud	Customer Journey, Marketing Communication

Before paying for any platform, Ensure they have the right features, are affordable & fit into your workflow.

If you are a small business & just managing your email campaigns you may not need all these features.

Should I use AI Marketing Automation?

Don’t get too excited.

Look at what tasks your team are regularly doing. Are you spending a lot of time sending welcome emails, managing queries & following up with sales?

Pick one task to test.

Does it fit with your business? Is it easy to set up? Are customer details being managed properly?Are the automated messages correct and personalised?Are you saving time?

Ensure you are regularly looking at the results & only use automation if it is helping.

Final Thoughts

Marketing can be a busy task so you don’t want to add any additional manual tasks.

Using AI marketing automation can help you manage your everyday tasks in a new way. It can help with following up customers via email, providing insights into customer behaviour & saving you time on some marketing tasks.

It isn’t a magic tool though. You will need to have a clear marketing strategy, good communication & people who understand what your customers want.

Try to use automation where possible but keep an eye on what is going on & don’t forget to add that personal touch to make customers want to do business with you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can small businesses use AI Marketing Automation?

Yes! Small businesses can use basic email workflows, customer follow up & lead management. You don’t necessarily have to pay for an expensive tool.

Will AI Marketing Automation replace marketers?

No! Whilst it can help with repetitive tasks you will still need to have human interaction with your customers to understand them, plan your campaigns, create content & make important decisions.

Is it worth it?

Yes! If you are spending too much time on repetitive marketing tasks it can help. Just ensure you are using tools that are helping.