• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, November 17, 2023

Almost all B2C brands are using AI, particularly for marketing analysis and channel integration, but they face daunting ethical and privacy issues, judging by Audience of One Report: The Marketer and the Machine, a study by Movable Ink. 

Of the companies polled, 97% have embraced AI. The major uses are:

• Consumer behavior analysis — 59%
• Personalization — 56%
• Campaign optimization — 55%
• Data insights — 36%
• SEO — 34%
• Idea generation — 28%
• Short-form content creation — 26%

The respondents are also deploying AI across these marketing channels: 

• Advertising — 52%
• Social media — 50%
• Content marketing — 48%
• Email — 37%

But marketers must deal with  big challenges to AI integration:

• Managing and leveraging customer data — 40%
• Executing consistent omnichannel personalization — 37%
• Safeguarding data privacy — 38%
• Data privacy and security — 35%
• Worries about brand reputation — 29%
• Lack of skills to deploy — 23%

Moreover, brands worry about ethnical concerns, including privacy and bias:

• Privacy invasion — 47%
• IP issues — 44% 
• The absence of human oversight — 42%
• Stereotypical recommendations — 39%
• Discriminatory targeting — 38% 
• Biased content — 36%

The solutions? Marketers are:

• Monitoring AI for biases — 53%
• Ensuring AI content reflects brand values — 52%
• Mandating human reviews for AI-generated content — 51%

But the benefits are worth it, among them:

• Improves customer buying journey — 99%
• Enhances the delivery of more personalized customer experiences — 98%
• Efficiently generates short-form copy  —96%
• Automates manual tasks, enabling marketing teams to concentrate on strategy — 95%

In particular, AI alleviates the following pain points:

• Monitoring multiple campaigns at once — 50%
• Data analysis and ROI assessment — 47%
• Content creation — 46%

However, the uses differ with the marketing vertical: 

Retail & ecommerce

• Content personalization — 55%
• Sentiment analysis — 44%
• Send-time. Personalization — 43%
• Content ideation and brainstorming — 43%

Media & Entertainment

• Content ideation and brainstorming — 63%
• Send-time personalization — 50%
• Content personalization and segmentation and targeting — 41%

Financial Services

• Content personalization — 55%
• Sentiment analysis — 44%
• Send-time personalization — 43%
• Content ideation and brainstorming — 43%

Technology

• Content ideation and brainstorming — 51%
• Segmentation and targeting — 43%
• Content personalization — 41%

Movable Ink surveyed 500 B2C marketers at the director level or above at firms with 500 or more employees and $500 million in annual revenue in the U.S. and UK from September 6-18, 2023.