AI CAN MAKE YOUR MARKETING SMARTER

We can't ignore that AI is here now. So lets look at how it can help your marketing team be even more informed and effective.

Let’s be honest,  marketing teams are under pressure. Budgets are tighter, audiences are savvier, and performance has to be provable. Enter AI.

Used well (and not just as a buzzword), AI doesn’t replace your team, it supercharges them. It takes the guesswork out, speeds the grunt work up, and gives you insights you didn’t know you were missing.

Here are six powerful ways AI can make your marketing sharper, more targeted and more effective, with the right tools to match:

1. Smarter targeting, not just more targeting

AI allows you to move beyond crude demographics. Tools like Salesforce Einstein, HubSpot AI and Adobe Sensei help you segment based on real-world behaviour, intent and timing so you’re talking to the right people, in the right way, at exactly the right moment.

Herdify takes this one step further,  using behavioural science to identify influential audience clusters based on how people interact in real life. It’s not just about who’s in your database, but who drives word of mouth within their networks. Smarter targeting, rooted in how people actually behave.

2. Predict who’s most likely to convert,  before you spend

AI can now model likelihood to respond, churn or convert with remarkable accuracy. Platforms like Emarsys, Pega, and DataRobot help you focus your budget where it’s most likely to deliver returns,  saving time and reducing waste. Detaro brings added intelligence here, combining predictive analytics with journey mapping to show not just who will convert, but how and when. It helps you identify the most valuable actions and touchpoints so you can refine journeys in real time, not just report after the fact.

3. Serve the next best action, not just the next email

AI doesn’t just help you reach people, it helps you respond to them. With tools like Blueshift, Optimove, and Persado, you can trigger content, offers or interventions based on real-time behaviour. It’s a smarter way to move people through your funnel without sounding robotic or irrelevant.

4. Test and optimise creative while you sleep

Why wait weeks for a post-campaign debrief? AI-led tools like Phrasee, Mutiny, and Google Optimize can run A/B and multivariate tests while your campaign is live, continuously learning what headlines, layouts and messages perform best. The result is campaigns which adapt as they run, not just after.

5. Find the audiences you haven’t reached yet

AI can uncover lookalike audiences and expansion opportunities that manual targeting misses. Tools like Meta Ads, 6sense, and Clearbit help you scale up, finding new people who share the traits, behaviours and motivations of your highest-value customers or supporters.

6. Know what’s working, right now

Dashboards are useful. But AI-powered insights are transformative. With platforms like Datorama, Tableau with Einstein, or even Supermetrics + ChatGPT, you get real-time reporting that not only shows performance, but helps you understand why something is working, or where you need to pivot fast.

AI isn’t about doing everything faster. It’s about doing the right things better.

At Big Strategy Box, we help brands and charities unlock the potential of AI, not with hype, but with practical tools and thinking that make a measurable difference.

Ready to explore how AI can sharpen your marketing strategy? Let’s talk.