How can AI help improve marketing planning?

Written by Thiago Muniz.

Marketing planning is not only a tool that guides the company’s direction, but also helps suppliers and partners understand strategic direction. It should clearly state where we are looking internally and what the next action steps are.

Positioning, differentiation and added value are the main outcomes of good planning. Artificial intelligence (AI) is already quietly transforming the marketing world, but how useful can it be in improving marketing planning?

Data analysis and audits are areas where artificial intelligence can provide significant gains. For example, companies working with digital marketing can speed up website ranking audits and competitive analysis in search engines and social networks with the use of artificial intelligence. Tools like SEMRush and Ahrefs already offer this kind of support, allowing detailed comparisons between social media profiles or websites using public platform data applied to chat conversations. Asking an AI to take on the role of SEO expert is an example of how these tools can be used in a practical way.

Companies like Amazon and Mercado Livre are already using AI to monitor competitor data in real time, analyzing keyword performance and engagement on social media. The trend of integrating artificial intelligence into the dashboards of digital marketing tools is becoming increasingly common and provides support not only to big technologies but also to companies from different sectors.

But every audit and strategic analysis still requires a clear understanding of where we are as an organization. Despite the advancement of artificial intelligence, this vision remains predominantly human. One of the biggest challenges of the future will be to ensure that professionals retain their intuition and do not blame AI for poorly calculated decisions. Automation bias, which is currently seen in sectors such as health, aviation and finance, where artificial intelligence is widely used, may also begin to be seen more frequently in marketing. Yet creativity and the definition of specific goals need to be driven by people, because without this it is impossible to define a differentiated strategy and add value to the customer.

While having real-time data available and able to be interpreted is valuable, there are risks to frequently changing direction based on instant data. One example of this is Peloton, which has grown rapidly due to high demand for at-home fitness products during the pandemic. However, after the pandemic, the company constantly changed its strategies according to consumer behavior, causing problems such as overstock and mass layoffs. The lack of a clear strategic vision led to a loss of consistency in the company’s value proposition and a decline in performance.

On the other hand, companies like Coca-Cola are using AI more strategically through tools like Brandwatch to track consumer behavior trends in different countries. Coca-Cola uses AI to analyze emotions and interactions, but always has a long-term vision to ensure the company adapts to trends without losing its position in the market.

When we talk about tactical planning, it becomes necessary to execute automated and personalized campaigns, optimizing and adjusting actions in real time, where artificial intelligence really shines. This allows marketers to focus more on human relations and strategic adjustments while automations handle operational tasks.

Specific methodologies also play a fundamental role in extracting maximum value from technology. The Brazilian methodology PEMD (Digital Marketing Strategic Planning) is an excellent example of how to maintain the balance between the human and the technological in the strategic planning process.