Creating a winning marketing strategy is time-consuming, and the pressure of needing successful results can be overwhelming. Then you factor in creating content, managing a marketing team, reviewing metrics, and engaging with your customers, and your workload quickly spills over.
With all the responsibilities of a marketer, balance is crucial; and in an age where artificial intelligence is thriving, balance is more feasible than ever.
In this guide, we dissect the AI landscape, share the best AI marketing tools, and explain why incorporating AI tools is especially worthwhile for hotel marketing.
What are AI marketing tools?
AI marketing tools are dynamic tech tools used to improve every aspect of a marketing strategy. AI tools can simplify complex business tasks, like analyzing historical and predictive data, and automate repetitive tasks, like employee scheduling. AI tools also support the guest experience and create positive customer interactions.
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What is the AI landscape?
The current AI landscape is seeing an increase in users across industries, with Statista reporting that 73 percent of marketers use generative AI tools for work as of 2023.
Marketers embracing AI are first-hand witnesses to the technological impact on customer experience and retention—business processes are more manageable, and staying desirable in highly competitive markets is simplified.
However, for those who haven’t implemented AI tools in their marketing strategies, the risk of falling behind competitors grows increasingly imminent as the AI landscape advances. Not utilizing AI tools for marketing means missing out on crucial insights and strategies that your competitors are likely leveraging, which limits growth potential.
What is the AI advantage?
The AI advantage impacts every step of the customer journey. AI's predictive analytics, for instance, anticipates and analyzes customer behavior, allowing businesses to stay ahead of customer needs and market trends.
According to McKinsey, AI-powered personalization is becoming an expectation, with 71 percent of consumers counting on companies to deliver personalized interactions. When businesses meet a consumer’s need for personalization, the result is a substantial increase in customer loyalty and interaction. This is only part of the AI advantage. On a large-scale level, AI tools are transforming the entirety of the marketing funnel and increasing a company’s return on investment.
24 AI marketing tools
Free AI marketing tools
Embracing AI in marketing doesn't have to mean significant investment. While the ROI of using AI is significant, the initial financials don’t have to be. Several high-quality free AI tools for marketing support refinement and engagement efforts, including:
- Google Analytics: It uses AI to provide insights into user behavior and website performance, helping you make informed decisions.
- HubSpot CRM: Features AI tools to manage contacts, sales, and marketing activities.
- Mailchimp: Provides AI-driven marketing automation and email campaign insights.
AI tools for content creation
Written content, like articles and blog posts, is integral to successful marketing plans. However, drafting and editing a solid piece of content takes time, which is why AI tools for content creation are so useful. The AI tools below ensure time-conscious, on-brand content when paired with a human touch.
- Cvent’s AI Writing Assistant: Improves content creation efficiency and crafts high-quality descriptions and messages.
- GPT-3: Generates creative ideas and outlines that can be expanded into written content.
- QuillBot: Offers AI-powered paraphrasing, summarizing, and plagiarism detection tools.
- Wordsmith: Provides content updates and customization of data-driven narratives.
AI email marketing tools
We know consumers appreciate personalization, and companies who personalize their marketing efforts produce a 40 percent increase in revenue compared to their competitors.
We also know that using AI email marketing tools makes personalization efforts easier. With AI tools, marketers can evaluate metrics like open rates, spam complaints, and subscriber retention to polish the quality and performance of emails. Improve your email marketing campaigns with the following AI tools.
- Phrasee: Optimizes email subject lines and content with AI tailored to your brand’s voice and audience’s preferences.
- Seventh Sense: Optimizes send times and frequency for email marketing to improve open rates.
- Warmer.ai: Personalizes cold emails through data analysis, increasing the likelihood of a response.
AI customer service tools
Business is only possible with consumers, so your customer service processes should be as personalized as your email marketing campaigns.
With these AI customer service tools, you can guarantee timely, personalized solutions to enhance the customer experience and build brand loyalty.
- Drift: Provides an AI-driven conversational marketing platform that enhances customer service and generates leads.
- Zendesk Answer Bot: Automatically resolve customer inquiries by accessing your website's help articles.
- Ada Support: Delivers a multilingual AI-powered platform for automated customer experience.
AI tools for social media
Almost 60 percent of the worldwide population uses social media, so it’s safe to bet that most of your target consumers and competitors have at least one social account. Your marketing strategy should account for online users, and using AI tools for social media marketing can streamline the posting process and support customer interactions.
- Buffer: Manages and responds to social mentions and conversations so your brand maintains active and engaging communication with your audience.
- ContentStudio: Provides trending content suggestions and instantly creates social media captions.
AI SEO tools
Visibility and search engine optimization (SEO) are everything in digital marketing. Using AI tools to analyze keywords, backlinks, site structure, and other critical SEO factors helps your site rank higher in search engine results without sacrificing time that could be spent elsewhere.
The best AI SEO tools for effectively driving more organic traffic to your website and reaching potential customers include:
- MarketMuse: Uses AI to simplify content auditing and recommend content to refine and missing content ideas.
- BrightEdge: Performs site crawls and delivers AI-powered data insights for SEO.
- Surfer SEO: Performs search engine results page (SERP) analysis to refine and create content with the best keywords.
AI tools for data analysis
Marketing strategies are stagnant without data, but every marketer knows that gathering reliable data, thoroughly analyzing it, and adapting your marketing plans is complex. This is why AI tools for data analysis are invaluable for developing a promising marketing strategy. Experiment with optimizing your data processes using these AI tools for data analysis.
- PaveAI: Uses Google Analytics and marketing data to provide customer behavior insights and recommendations for improving campaign performance.
- RapidMiner: Gathers data for predictive analytics and implementation.
- MonkeyLearn: Features text analysis and interpretation to gather qualitative data.
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AI tools for affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing can be highly profitable, but finding, managing, and tracking affiliates and results requires a significant time investment. Thankfully, using AI simplifies the process without negatively impacting partnerships. Below are popular AI tools for affiliate marketing.
- Post Affiliate Pro: Simplifies affiliate management with AI-powered tracking and campaign optimization.
- LeadDyno: Utilizes AI to streamline affiliate recruitment and management.
- Affise: Offers AI-based analytics and automation for managing affiliates and optimizing performance.
How hotels can use AI tools for marketing
How is AI used in the hospitality industry?
AI in hotels is the result of technology trends integrating with the hospitality industry. AI is used in the hospitality industry to prioritize an enjoyable guest experience and refine hotel operations. Hotels can use AI in the following ways.
- Chatbots for customer service. Use hotel chatbots to respond instantly to guest inquiries, streamline the booking and reservation process, and offer 24/7 assistance without human intervention.
- Predictive maintenance. Utilize AI to predict and address potential maintenance issues before they disrupt guests. Schedule regular maintenance activities based on predictive analytics to ensure a seamless guest experience.
- Surge pricing. Modify hotel room prices according to real-time factors like consumer interest, time of year, and community or corporate events. Existing data and market research help determine booking prices that are competitive and profitable.
- Facial recognition for check-in. Many industry-leading hotels use AI for guest convenience, including Hilton Hotels & Resorts, which uses facial recognition AI for safe and easy check-in.
- Intelligent room controls. Give guests access to AI-powered control systems to set light and temperature preferences before arrival. Use guest data to adjust room settings automatically to their preferred conditions during their next stay.
- Operational efficiency. Automate hotel tasks such as inventory management and housekeeping schedules.
- Data-driven insights. Gather and analyze large volumes of data to understand guest behavior and market trends. Use data to update marketing campaigns, personalize the guest experience, and improve hotel offerings.
Will AI replace hotel management?
AI will not replace hotel management. A McKinsey article reinforces that the hospitality industry has been and will always be about personal interactions and exceptional service. AI can amplify the human capabilities needed for hotel management, but it cannot replace them.
The goal is for AI and humans to work in tandem, with technology handling the analytical and procedural aspects and humans providing the creativity, empathy, and personal touch that guests value.
What is the future of AI in hotels?
The future for hotels with AI is promising. The McKinsey article explains that, while AI is still in the early developmental stages, it’s proving to be the most historically significant technology disruption.
As such, AI will have a substantial economic and transformative impact across industries, with experts predicting that generative AI will produce a value of up to $4 trillion. This is beneficial for the future of hospitality and travel, the biggest industries globally.
Make business gains with AI tools for marketing
A well-thought-out strategy will take you far, and when paired with an AI Writing Assistant and other AI marketing tools, you will see successful results even faster. Best of luck on your marketing journey!
