Why AI Driven Content Is Driving Sales in The Age of Pandemic

Last Updated: December 16, 2021

Marketing is evolving yet again. In the age of pandemic and social distancing, when a handshake deal is simply not an option. We have to lean into social selling even more. Digital marketing has become mainstream and unscalable. Overwhelming amounts of content confuse buyers and sellers alike. The trust for brand communication is low. Face-to-face sales are practically impossible, and artificial intelligence (AI) is taking over analytical decision-making, says, 

Paul Odnoletkov, Marketing Director Grapevine6.

Overwhelming Content 

For the past 30 years, content marketingOpens a new window has been the foundational marketing strategy: all you needed to succeed was to say the right words to the right person at the right time. We used content for everything from demand generation to nurturing the funnel until “the handshake.” With the recent adoption of account-based marketing we started generating even more content. Fundamentally similar content began to get refined and personalized to fit the needs and the language of specific organizations, targeted by account-focused sales and marketing teams. But it wasn’t until the recent rise of AI that the level of content personalization became scalable. And that changed the game.

Learn More: Four Tips for Overcoming Digital Transformation Content ChallengesOpens a new window

Change in Buyer Behaviour 

Let’s face it: consumers no longer trust what brands say about themselves. We trust what our own peers say about these brands and vendors, and what the brand’s employees say about the culture within that brand. In part, we can thank Yelp, Amazon and Google reviews for that.

With COVID19 affecting the global economy, good old times of doing business face-to-face at a tradeshow or a boardroom are gone. A handshake is no longer an option.

We begin to make our buying decisions almost exclusively based on our perceived personal relations with the other party and the endorsement from our peers.

If you don’t realize that, consider the summary of the research by the University of British ColumbiaOpens a new window , which stipulates that is a direct correlation between the number of incidental similarities between the buyer and the seller, and the likelihood of a successful commercial transaction. It’s not a big surprise. In a world where we have so many options, we want to know that the supplier’s values align with ours, before we commit to such a transaction. So the big question is what can we do to start building those relationships with our consumers?

Marketing AI Applications 

When we think of AI in the business context, we traditionally think about its most common variant: machine learning. As an efficient means of quickly processing large amounts of data, machine learning is a type of an algorithm designed to “learn” over time, gradually becoming better and better at processing data. For example, modeling and what-if scenario designs improve the more such machine learning algorithms are fed the data. The more data – the better, often captured by connected devices and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Role of AI In Driving Sales Through Content

The most forward-looking organizations have already figured out the sales enablementOpens a new window channel with the highest ROI: social selling! It means sales building and nurturing relationships with their networks by sharing personal content that is valuable for their existing and future customers. And this is exactly where AI can help – because sales reps don’t write content or curate content.

Analyzing high volumes of daily content and tracking content engagement, AI can help marketers and sales people prioritize their conversations based on a variety of factors, such as past interests, trends, and so on. It can further inform them how to focus on the most relevant content for each buyer conversation, at every stage of the buyer’s journey. Essentially this allows sales to share the most relevant content on their social networks and cut back on the useless, often frustrating information. This in turn allows us to feel confident and helpful, facilitating meaningful connections around topics of interest to real humans. 

Learn More: How to Capture Brand Content Like the ProsOpens a new window

As of now, marketing continues to lead the charge to create engaging experiences throughout the customer life cycle for many organizations. But if you look at the transformation of the buyer’s journey in context of the entire buyer journey, it becomes apparent that the next step for the organization is the digital transformation of sales. Companies that spearhead digital transformation in their respective industries (like SAP and Guardian Life), have been successfully using AI-powered content marketing strategies to nurture relationships and drive revenue across the entire customer journey. No handshake required.

Paul Odnoletkov
Paul Odnoletkov

Marketing Director, Grapevine6

Paul Odnoletkov is Marketing Director at Grapevine6, a mobile-first enterprise content engagement platform for digital selling. With over 20 years of experience in Europe, USA and Canada executing go-to-market strategies and building marketing teams that take high-growth technology companies to their next level, Paul is an advocate for innovative business approaches such as Account-Based Marketing, Hyper-personalization and Social Selling. He has earned his B.Comm degree from the State Institute Of Technology in St. Petersburg, Russia.  
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