The market for artificial intelligence (AI) in marketing neared $16 billion in 2021. It’s expected to top $47 billion by 2025. Experiential marketing involves creating experiences that show off your product or brand. AI is the perfect tool to help you accomplish that.

Currently, around 80% of marketing experts use some type of AI in their online marketing. Have you embraced this form of technology yet? You should. Learn more about all that AI has to offer in the field of experiential marketing.

What Are AI’s Best Uses in Experiential Marketing?

Did you know that 48% of consumers say they’re happy to interact with AI if it creates a better customer experience? Seven out of ten consumers believe AI has the potential to improve customer experience.

What is the leading use of AI in marketing? A survey of marketers found that half of them reported ad targeting as their most common use of AI. Chatbots are second. Take a closer look at the different ways to use AI in your marketing campaign.

1. Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, and Virtual Reality 

AI’s use in augmented, mixed, and virtual realities is one of the leading reasons to consider it. Pairing AI with these elements can bring life to a brand or product in a virtual realm. But, you need to understand how these technologies differ.

Augmented Reality (AR): Digital elements are superimposed in a real-world environment. Have you played or heard of Pokemon GO? Users get map directions to find and capture virtual Pokemon in a real-world setting, and that’s AR.

Mixed Reality (MR): Take AR principles but allow the user to interact with both the virtual and real-world elements. When ABBA returned to the stage for the first time in decades, they were holograms of themselves. Lifelike holograms that perform in a lifelike manner while on stage is an example of MR.

Virtual Reality (VR): Virtual reality is an immersive digital environment where the real world is blocked out. The user has to wear a VR headset that immerses them in the sounds and 360 images of the virtual environment. Wendy’s used VR to create the Wendyverse in Meta’s Horizon World. Users could go behind the counter, interact with others, play games, and find hidden objects.

2. Automation

Many of your routine business functions can be automated with the help of AI. Do you want a newsletter and coupon codes to go out at a specific time of day each week? AI can do that for you. 

You can use AI to automate your phone system, having the AI program determine the caller’s goal or reason to call and transferring that call to the correct department. It eliminates the hassle that customers experience when having to work through an automated attendant where pressing 1 or 2 is an annoyance.

Have AI create your social media posts for you and post them automatically for you. If you want to view and approve them before they post, you can create a schedule and reminder for this.

Enhanced Customer Service

Chatbots are one of the most common ways AI is used now, but you need to make sure your system is good. There’s nothing more annoying than telling a chatbot why you need customer service and then having to repeat the entire story when a live person comes on the chat.

A chatbot helps address some of the most common reasons for customer queries. For example, a customer reaches out with a question about shipping fees. Have a chatbot programmed to provide those answers. It frees up your live customer support team for harder-to-resolve issues and queries.

Personalized Targeted Experiences

Have you added something to your cart and had the online retailer ask if you have also considered this other product? For example, you are purchasing a new tablet and the store offers recommendations for covers and cases that fit that tablet. That’s a personalized advertisement.

Personalized and targeted experiences are established with the help of AI. AI can track a customer’s frequent purchases or items that the customer viewed and added to the cart or didn’t add to the cart. If you have people adding items to the cart but not completing a purchase, AI can capture the email address, send a coupon, and try to complete the sale that way.

You could use AI to send a follow-up questionnaire to find out why people are not completing the sale. Are they finding the shipping costs too high or better prices with a competitor? All of this information is helpful when it comes to improving your conversion rates.

Factors to Consider When Using AI in Experiential Marketing

While AI is helpful in your experiential marketing campaigns, it can also pose problems. You do need to use AI carefully to avoid these factors.

1. Creating Discriminatory or Unfair Bias

AI systems can be imperfect. You need to be very careful that the AI software isn’t creating unfair bias or discriminating against certain ages, races, genders, or religious groups. Facebook’s AI was caught in this years ago when it was found that job ads for positions like preschool teachers were being shown to more women than men.

Suppose your targeted ads offering free samples of dishwashing liquid are hitting more women than men. You could be called out for unfair bias. Run tests of ads repeatedly and make sure there’s no unintentional bias occurring. Talk to your AI software vendor to learn more about how the software is designed to prevent bias or discrimination.

2. Ignoring Privacy Rules and Regulations

Some states have strict rules and regulations regarding privacy. You cannot collect data on everyone without asking for their permission. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act regulates the use of cookies. You need to make sure you’re in compliance. It’s also important to know overseas laws as Europe has strict cookie laws that you need to comply with.

3. Making Sure Your Company’s AI Use Is Transparent

If you’re using AI for your experiential marketing campaigns, make the use of AI transparent. Be clear about how you’re using the AI technology, what it’s collecting if anything, and what the goal of the AI is. It’s important to ensure consumers are informed and aware of your AI usage and goals.

The use of AI can be tricky if you’re new to the technology. Used well, AI marketing turns experiences into lasting memories and plenty of shared photos and stories. Used incorrectly, AI can land your company or brand in a lot of trouble. Before you dive in, consider the benefits of working with an expert in AI technology in experiential marketing.

Factory 360’s marketing experts excel in all areas of marketing starting with experiential marketing and expanding into AR, MR, VR, and virtual events. Give us a call and share your goals, budget, and ideas. Our experts help you brainstorm the best options and create an amazing experience that shows off your brand and products in ways that get people talking.