To what extent can AI positively support brand building or perception?

Artificial intelligence has become indispensable in science; ultimately, it is able to analyze large amounts of data much faster than the human brain. By now, the systems have even progressed so far that they deduce appropriate conclusions and can act accordingly. Thus, the discipline has made breakthroughs in discovering correlations in research in various fields, marketing being one of them. When looking at chatbots, for instance, AI has found by now its place, with its capability of processing a large part of customer inquiries automatically due to comprehensive, underlying database(s) and intensive training.

Not to mention that customers increasingly perceive a brand via content today, and that AI can generate appropriate text easily, too. According to Nielsen’s market researchers, already in 2014, consumers were five times more content dependent than they were five years earlier when making a purchasing decision. Their study of the role of content in the consumer’s decision-making process shows that among all stages of the buying process, expert recommendations score highest because of their neutrality and credibility.

“The impact of expert content on consumer decision making demonstrates the important role that objective and credible information from trusted sources plays in the purchase process,” the Nielsen report concluded. This means that content developers in any business field need to rethink their activities. They are required to create authentic content with high utility value in a variety of forms, since the demands on content creation have risen massively with the increasing digitization.

The customer journey begins long before the prospect even contacts a product or service provider, since information is available on websites, in brochures, etc. According to Forrester’s market researchers, 70-90% of the buyer’s journey is completed before contacting a salesperson. In other words, content is one of the first touchpoints and replaces, to a large...Clearly, content experience and customer experience are closely linked; hence, it is pivotal that content is brand-compliant, goal-oriented and scalable.