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What’s the Difference Between AI & Automation in Marketing?

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What’s the Difference Between AI & Automation in Marketing?

​AI is everywhere at the moment, and you’d be hard-pressed to find many areas of life that aren’t expected to embrace emerging technologies like this in the coming years. However, there appears to be some confusion over these tools, particularly when it comes to the differences between AI and automation within marketing. But how do the two differ, and how will their growing use impact the roles of marcomms professionals in the future? 

Part of the misunderstanding is because the two terms are often used interchangeably by those who don’t fully understand the concepts. In reality, AI and automation represent wholly distinct concepts that offer unique applications and uses. So, how they do differ?

Automation in marketing

Marketing automation refers to the use of technology to perform, often repetitive, tasks with minimal human intervention. In its simplest form, automation handles mundane activities, such as scheduling emails, posting to multiple social channels, or generating reports. Streamlining these routine tasks can save time, reduce human errors and deliver consistency.

The majority of marketing professionals reading this will have used automations in one aspect or another, whether that’s setting up email workflows that send messages to specific segments of your audience at certain times, or using platforms like Hootsuite to schedule social media posts.