The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Digital Marketing

Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly influencing how organisations plan, deliver and evaluate digital marketing. By analysing large volumes of data, identifying patterns and supporting content generation, AI can help marketers understand audiences, personalise communication, automate routine tasks and evaluate performance. This paper examines AI in digital marketing through a narrative review of selected academic literature, including Bashang and Puttanna (2023) and research on AI-enabled marketing and generative AI. It reviews applications such as customer segmentation, recommendation systems, paid advertising, search and social media optimisation, content creation, conversational agents, predictive analytics and customer relationship management. The paper considers potential benefits, including efficiency, relevance and data-informed decisions, alongside challenges involving privacy, bias, transparency, factual accuracy, cost and brand authenticity. The review suggests that AI is most useful as an augmentation tool rather than a complete replacement for human judgement. Its value depends on reliable data, clear objectives, human review and responsible governance. As a literature-based study, this paper does not claim to have collected primary data or established causal effects; its conclusions are a synthesis of selected sources.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, digital marketing, generative AI, personalisation, marketing automation, customer engagement