Don't look now, but 2024 half over.

And it's been quite a year, hasn't it? We've seen everything from the AI revolution with ChatGPT to the USPS grappling with inflation. But here's the million-dollar question:

Seems everyone is talking about AI these days.

But the big question is, what are the best ways to use it in our everyday business?

First things first, let's address the elephant in the room: AI is no longer a futuristic concept; it's a reality that's already making waves in our industry. In fact, a recent Hubspot survey revealed that a whopping 64% of marketing professionals are already using AI tools in some capacity. Impressive, right?

As a direct marketing pro, you know that the playing field is always changing. So let's take a sneak peek at some key trends that are going to transform how we do business in the next 3-5 years.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a powerful tool in the realm of direct marketing, offering a wealth of opportunities to enhance personalization, optimize campaigns, and drive better response rates. By harnessing AI's capabilities, marketers can unlock a level of customer engagement that was previously unattainable. Sounds amazing right?

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, has been in use since the late 1990s. Although always a fascinating topic, it never amounted to much more than discussion. Today, we are in the midst of the AI boom. So why now? The short answer is the exponential growth of cheap, fast, scalable and interconnected computing and storage in the cloud. The horsepower and data to efficiently run AI algorithms is now with reach of everyone.

AI has been embedded across almost every product category in marketing technology. Most big data platforms, such as IBM Watson, are simple general-purpose technologies being harnessed in the service of marketing. It’s much more interesting to look at products like Equals 3 which leverages Watson behind the scenes to deliver marketing research, customer segmentation and media planning services. Products like these can help marketers create multichannel campaigns specifically tailored to their target audience by using data collection. Knowing what exactly artificial intelligence can offer is important. Here is a list of ten tools that AI can offer digital marketers to help automate and improve their marketing strategies.

As technology evolves at a rapid pace, the nature of marketing evolves with it. One of the most crucial innovations in the marketing landscape is artificial intelligence (AI).

But what exactly is AI? Put simply, AI is a system that can learn, reason and solve problems. And marketers see the potential. Here’s a brief look at how this technology can change the way marketers reach their audience.

As an expert in the direct marketing field, Jacobs & Clevenger CEO, Ron Jacobs, is always looking for the latest developments in the industry. Recently, Ron joined Mike Gastin on The Currency podcast to “demystify AI for direct marketing”. In this episode, Ron breaks down AI’s role in direct marketing and the possibilities AI will present in the near future. Listen as he also explains how businesses can use AI to predict and implement more efficient marketing strategies across all channels.

Everyone is a marketer in some way. It can be as small as what you choose to post on your social media channels or as large as a company’s multi-channel acquisition campaign. Regardless of how obvious it is, marketing infiltrates every part of our lives. J&See: Views on Marketing, an original podcast from J&C, explores how marketing influences the world around us.

In the first episode, Meg Goodman talks to Ron Jacobs. He is the CEO and founder of J&C as well as co-author of the best-selling book, Successful Direct Marketing Methods. Together, Meg and Ron explore how marketing has changed over the years — and where it’s headed in the future. Read on for a few excerpts from his insightful interview. And of course, make sure to subscribe to J&See: Views on Marketing to hear a compelling interview like this once a month.