For the past few years, artificial intelligence has largely been used for marketing analytics. However, as we push toward a more democratized AI future, AI will become a valuable tool in the arsenal of all marketers. In this instance, democratization means that employees at all levels of an organization will feel empowered to make final decisions guided by artificial intelligence and then act on those decisions. In short, the democratization will be a flattening of judgment-based decision making. For marketers, this will mean more critical analysis to support everyday business decisions.

Education: Be able to speak the basics about machine learning, deep learning, and AI. A few suggested resources are Machine Learning Basics - an Illustrated Guide for Non-Technical Readers and Introduction to Deep Learning. Foster collaboration: Invest in technology (like a data science, machine learning, or AI platform) that can be used not only by data experts, but data beginners, for everything from managing data projects to connecting to data themselves. Check out the white paper Why Enterprises Need Data Science, Machine Learning, and AI Platforms to learn more about what they can provide. Dive in: Start driving change by choosing at least two or three simple data projects that would help provide more marketing insight or efficiency, and partner with data experts to get started.

One of the biggest and most important trends in business today is the steady growth of artificial intelligence (AI). While people often think of AI in terms of the ways it can eliminate menial tasks such as paperwork and scheduling, the fact is that it will soon be touching every part of the business world, if it is not already. AI is doing more than just providing companies with virtual personal assistants -- it is changing marketing as we know it. Digital marketers today are helped by an incredible wave of information that is available from accessible, advanced data analytics tools, providing more insight into consumers as well as how to market directly to them. As the chief digital officer at Advantix Digital, I have had the chance to be exposed to AI -- from the introduction of machine learning to AdWords and optimizing for voice search.

One of the biggest and most important trends in business today is the steady growth of artificial intelligence (AI). While people often think of AI in terms of the ways it can eliminate menial tasks such as paperwork and scheduling, the fact is that it will soon be touching every part of the business world, if it is not already. AI is doing more than just providing companies with virtual personal assistants -- it is changing marketing as we know it. Digital marketers today are helped by an incredible wave of information that is available from accessible, advanced data analytics tools, providing more insight into consumers as well as how to market directly to them. As the chief digital officer at Advantix Digital, I have had the chance to be exposed to AI -- from the introduction of machine learning to AdWords and optimizing for voice search. While marketers have always used data as much as they could, the fact is that many ad campaigns still involve a lot of educated guesswork from marketers.

Such technological breakthroughs are likely to spur other AI-powered innovations in the marketing industry in 2018, reinventing marketing landscape as we know it. One of the toughest challenges small businesses and solopreneurs face are tax and accounting. However, the Pegg Chabot developed by accounting software giant Sage, is designed to make tax and accounting a little less daunting by answering their queries and sending reminders. From simplifying cash flow to managing expenses, Pegg Chatbot can work like a smart accountant that lives on your smartphone. According to Gartner, by 2020, 30% of the businesses will be using AI to augment at least one of their vital sales processes.

If you have a Google Analytics account, test it out free here. By 2018, Gartner predicts that 20 percent of all business content will be authored by machines. I wanted to find out more about Quill, so I reached out to Narrative Science, the company that makes the solution. Narrative Science helps enterprises use natural language generation to analyze and tell stories from their data. "We hear all the time that content is king--but what's really helping many of our customers is that AI can help automate a lot of high-quality content at scale," Katy De Leon, Narrative Science's VP of marketing, told me via a Skype interview.

There's an awkward moment at the outset of every new technology when marketers and agencies begin spasmodically craving it. This craving is often blind to whether the investment would solve a business challenge or if that money would be better spent by letting junior staffers roast marshmallows on a giant burning pyre of cocaine. To date, much of the conversation around chat bots has been focused on replacing rote customer service for existing clients and "driving loyalty," as spurious as that phrase has been shown to be by the good folks at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute. So we're going to look at something different: four ways that chat bots could increase marketing effectiveness outside of giving existing customers a better experience. In short, how could chat bots be used to actually grow a brand and reach new customers?

If you have a Google Analytics account, test it out free here. By 2018, Gartner predicts that 20 percent of all business content will be authored by machines. I wanted to find out more about Quill, so I reached out to Narrative Science, the company that makes the solution. Narrative Science helps enterprises use natural language generation to analyze and tell stories from their data. "We hear all the time that content is king--but what's really helping many of our customers is that AI can help automate a lot of high-quality content at scale," Katy De Leon, Narrative Science's VP of marketing, told me via a Skype interview.