Finding a logical starting point for bringing artificial intelligence integration into your marketing strategy is intimidating, no matter what your budget looks like. However, for the SMB and startup entrepreneur without the wiggle room to experiment, getting started often feels incredibly risky or out of reach. But we're reaching a point where it's becoming a necessity for any brand looking to stay competitive. Instead of being intimidated by big brands and their respective AI capabilities, small businesses should look to them for inspiration and utilize the lessons already learned by these companies, who can burden the risk of trying different AI strategies. Here are three areas of big-brand AI implementations that we know work and are ripe for SMBs to try: search marketing, targeted displays and social media ads.

Why do 97% of marketing influencers believe the future of digital marketing will involve human marketers working with machine learning-powered automation? Thought leaders in PPC, social and mobile marketing explain in this in-depth survey. Are disciplines such as search engine marketing, social and mobile marketing all trending towards a fully automated world where artificial intelligence (AI) robots take over our jobs? In a survey of top influencers in online marketing with expertise in paid search, social and mobile, 97% of respondents suggested that the future of marketing will actually be smart marketers working hand-in-hand with machine learning-based automation solutions. To help us understand the growing role of machine learning in marketing, we spoke with some of the top influencers in the space, including Michael Brenner (@brennermichael) of Marketing Insider Group, Serena Ehrlich (@serena) of BusinessWire, Adelyn Zhou (@adelynzhou) of TOPBOTS and Chris Messina (@chrismessina), creator of the hashtag - among others. Selected responses to the survey are below. Interested in learning more about how new technology and academic disciplines such as machine learning and data science are changing digital forever?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a field of technology that is surrounded by both hype and misconceptions. It is predicted that $60 billion will be spent by brands on AI technology by 2025, so this hype is having a direct impact on where companies allocate their budgets. A significant difficulty in defining the size of the AI market is in defining exactly where its boundaries lie. Although we tend to imagine eerily human robots that mimic our mannerisms, AI is actually a very broad field that encompasses a range of disciplines – some more relevant to search marketing than others. More often than not, it is embedded in software that can process vast amounts of data to make or inform more intelligent decisions.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a field of technology that is surrounded by both hype and misconceptions. It is predicted that $60 billion will be spent by brands on AI technology by 2025, so this hype is having a direct impact on where companies allocate their budgets. A significant difficulty in defining the size of the AI market is in defining exactly where its boundaries lie. Although we tend to imagine eerily human robots that mimic our mannerisms, AI is actually a very broad field that encompasses a range of disciplines – some more relevant to search marketing than others. More often than not, it is embedded in software that can process vast amounts of data to make or inform more intelligent decisions.

As a digital marketer, it is critical to stay on top of all the latest trends and tactics. And when it comes to selecting conferences to attend, you need to choose carefully because not all of them are equally useful. Be sure to look closely at the agenda for each to determine what kinds of skills and education they offer. SEMrush has assembled the full calendar of 2018 digital marketing conferences. Outbrain has taken it one step further and narrowed it down to the 13 must-attend SEO, PPC and digital marketing conferences in 2018.

Technology is forging new views on search marketing. Finding a clear path means having a fluid approach in place, knowing where to start, and by doing at least one thing really well. To succeed in competitive search in 2017, it helps to understand how artificial intelligence and technology are forging a new approach to search. Having limited funds and limited time means that a clear focus is of the essence to search success! This article is meant to help get the mindset you need for successful search campaigns in 2017. There is no "one thing" that offers a magic bullet to success. But one thing is clear – the need to focus on new business generation coming from organic search, sales leads, and/or e-commerce revenue gained from paid search marketing. Old paths to get there must update and see how artificial intelligence and algorithms are vastly changing the world of search.

In an age of artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT) may seem like yesterday's news, but, of all the technologies currently developing, it has the greatest potential for near-term changes that affect local search. While it remains murky how AI will benefit agencies, IoT is reaching a critical point in adoption and maturing to a stage where it provides actionable data. Or, as Brian Buntz with the Internet of Things Institute stated, "The IoT is about to shift into ludicrous mode." The growth of the IoT is spurred by decreasing costs of hardware, such as sensors, together with the ease and availability of wireless connectivity. IoT devices already outnumber smartphones by about four times, and growth is expected to accelerate further with Cisco estimates topping 50 billion devices by 2020. The amount of data generated by these devices is enormous.

Advertising has changed a lot over the years. There was a time when machine learning, automation, and software-based marketing tech stacks weren't a "thing." There are hundreds of channels across physical and print media and online at present, including social, mobile, and video. Even TV has diversified into hundreds of cable channels on your remote control. And yet, digital ad revenue has gone on to surpass that of TV.

Why do 97% of marketing influencers believe the future of digital marketing will involve human marketers working with machine learning-powered automation? In a survey of top influencers in online marketing with expertise in paid search, social and mobile, 97% of respondents suggested that the future of marketing will actually be smart marketers working hand-in-hand with machine learning-based automation solutions. Of all the marketing technologies using machine learning and AI today, programmatic ad buying and improvement of ad spend allocation through machine learning impress me the most." "Of today's marketing technologies using machine learning and AI, natural language processing (NLP), chatbots and voice-driven search impress me the most."

Why do 97% of marketing influencers believe the future of digital marketing will involve human marketers working with machine learning-powered automation? Thought leaders in PPC, social and mobile marketing explain in this in-depth survey. Are disciplines such as search engine marketing, social and mobile marketing all trending towards a fully automated world where artificial intelligence (AI) robots take over our jobs? In a survey of top influencers in online marketing with expertise in paid search, social and mobile, 97% of respondents suggested that the future of marketing will actually be smart marketers working hand-in-hand with machine learning-based automation solutions. To help us understand the growing role of machine learning in marketing, we spoke with some of the top influencers in the space, including Michael Brenner (@brennermichael) of Marketing Insider Group, Serena Ehrlich (@serena) of BusinessWire, Adelyn Zhou (@adelynzhou) of TOPBOTS and Chris Messina (@chrismessina), creator of the hashtag - among others. Selected responses to the survey are below. Interested in learning more about how new technology and academic disciplines such as machine learning and data science are changing digital forever?