AI Marketing: How It Is Transforming Digital Strategies for 2026
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools have been cropping up everywhere in digital marketing for months and months now, but sometimes it can still be difficult to wrap your head around just how much impact AI has had overall. We wanted to take a broader look at where AI is transforming all different sectors of digital marketing.
What We Mean When We Say “AI Marketing”
Let’s start at the beginning and get on the same page about what we mean when we’re referring to AI marketing in this blog. Essentially, we’re talking about any strategy or technique that leverages AI technology and machine learning to make it easier and faster to perform digital tasks. This encompasses both predictive AI and generative AI.
- Predictive AI — “A blend of historical data and statistical analysis with machine learning algorithms to find data patterns and forecast future outcomes” (IBM)
- Generative AI — “Responds to a user’s prompt or request with generated original content, such as audio, images, software code, text or video” (IBM)
This article is going to primarily focus on predictive AI tools. While many marketers do utilize generative AI for things like content generation, there have been growing legal concerns over its use, as many of these models were trained on copyrighted content that was used without the permission or compensation of the copyright holders. OpenAI, Anthropic, and others are facing multiple, multi-billion-dollar lawsuits.
It should also be noted that, for companies invested in sustainability and “going green,” generative AI needs to be weighed against the environmental costs to both energy and water consumption, as reported by MIT Technology Review, the University of Chicago, PennState, and Nature magazine.
How AI Is Changing SEO and Content Marketing
Search engine optimization and content marketing often go hand-in-hand, with SEO informing content which then impacts SEO and so on. And AI tools are becoming instrumental to the process. They are making it easier to gather information, synthesize data, provide analysis, and stay ahead of the game.
The advent of AI in search and content marketing is visible in several different ways:
- Search algorithm smartification by utilizing machine learning and language processing so they can better analyze and understand the intent behind a search query in order to provide better results
- High-value content prioritization versus just straight keyword integration and matching, raising the need for marketers to understand and dive deep on long-tail phrases and questions
- Advanced data analytics as AI tools can process huge collections of data in order to mine better, more concrete insights into users’ interests, preferences, and habits to keep you ahead of the trends
- Higher level campaign planning, which is made possible by all that data, insights, and analysis the AI tools can manage faster, freeing up marketers to spend more time doing big-picture thinking versus number pushing
How AI Is Changing Social Media Marketing
Social media platforms have come a long way over the past few decades and have had their own transformational impact on digital marketing. Up-and-coming generations are not just looking to social media to keep up with family and friends; they use it for news, entertainment, product research, and more. Understanding how AI is fueling social media behind the scenes can make a huge impact on your campaign strategies.
- AI-driven audience segmentation based on platform algorithms that analyze user behavior in order to better target ads and recommend content, which in turn boosts user engagement and retention
- Brand sentiment analysis tools allow businesses to process comments, reviews, mentions, etc., to get a clearer picture of how your brand is perceived and how to adapt to it
- Campaign optimization using predictive analytics that help you assess engagement metrics, identify the best audiences and posting times, and forecast consumer trends and patterns
- Influencer identification based not just on a follower count, but also their audience engagement, the quality of their content, and whether their platform will be a good fit for your business
How AI Is Changing Lead Generation
If you’ve ever had to do lead scoring by hand, you are aware of how time-consuming and complicated it can be to go through prospects step by step, manually tallying points. The implementation of dynamic AI and machine learning tools has made that a thing of the past, and it’s just the beginning of how it’s transforming lead generation. It can mean more leads, better quality leads, and increased conversion rates.
AI tools can produce:
- Improved lead identification by pulling from multiple sources, including your website, your social media platforms, and your customer databases
- Better data-backed personalization because these tools are looking at all the data available about a user’s digital behavior, which then feeds into improved audience segmentation
- Consumer behavior prediction, in which AI can assess past actions and information in order to predict which consumers are most likely to convert and provide value to your brand and business
- Cross-team cohesion because, with AI tools able to collect and analyze data from consumers throughout the sales funnel, it can bridge some of the traditional gaps between marketing and sales
How AI Is Changing CRM and Sales Forecasting
Connecting with prospective and current customers and predicting what your future sales should look like — these are make-or-break areas for most businesses and brands. And — spoiler alert — AI tools are making these activities faster, easier, and more accurate, leading to better outcomes in both the short and long term.
- Improved customer retention and value because these tools and algorithms can help you tailor your outreach and communications, allowing you to create more personalized recommendations and build stronger relationships
- Better accuracy for strategies and forecasting because all the applicable data generated by consumers can be analyzed as a whole, leading to improved insights into how customers might behave and act
- Routine task automation, which saves your team members a lot of time that might be spent pushing numbers and entering data, which in turn means they have more capacity for ideating bigger goals and plans
- Real-time adaptive analysis that can automatically update data from multiple sources so you’re working from the latest information rather than wasting time manually updating datasets
AI Is the Technology, People Are the Drivers
The onset of machine learning and AI-powered tools is truly transforming how digital marketing works in 2026 and beyond. They can save time, streamline workflows, and increase insights and productivity, but these tools are just that: tools. They’re only as good as the people using them. If you’re looking for a partner in navigating the AI digital marketing space, feel free to reach out to us at EdwardsSchoen, and we’d love to discuss where we can level up your marketing in 2026.
