The home improvement industry requires a lot of in-person communication and service, but that doesn’t mean automation is impossible to integrate. With marketing automation reducing advertising budgets by more than 10 percent and increasing revenue by almost 15 percent, this is an edge home improvement companies shouldn’t ignore in 2019.  

Here are three ways to leverage artificial intelligence and automation in your home improvement marketing strategies: 

Marketing Automation 

Personal interaction and authenticity are critical to success in building awareness and trust of your company. But you can still automate processes to reduce human time spent on some marketing tasks.  

One area where automation is especially helpful is in email marketing. Leverage software tools to send automated emails when someone enters your sales funnel by opting in to a newsletter, completing a contact form, or downloading a lead generator such as an e-book on window covering options. Email automation can be especially helpful in marketing to those interested in renovating or decorating their homes. 

Chatbot Support 

Chatbots are artificial intelligence tools that communicate with existing or potential customers on your behalf. You can go simple or get complex; to promote a new show called Genius, National Geographic added chatbot capability to its Facebook page. Users could converse with AI that approximated the voice and writing style of various geniuses, including Albert Einstein. 

Home improvement companies don’t need to get so clever with their chatbots, but you can easily use AI to engage visits on your site and offer them additional information, such as a link to product pages or a chance to make contact online. Our website uses a chatbot to let visitors ask questions and learn more about the benefits we provide.

Programmatic Advertising 

Programmatic ad placement lets you rely on AI to place as many ads as possible while targeting appropriate audiences and staying within ad budgets. While the process itself is more complex, the idea is foundationally the same as advanced bidding on eBay. 

When you want to purchase something via an eBay auction, you don’t have to stick around in real time to bid. Once you set your maximum bid, the computer bids for you in increments to outbid others up to that max. Because the computer can do the math and make bids in microscopic moments, it’s much faster than a human. That means you can often outbid someone in the last fractions of a second before the auction closes. 

There are additional considerations in programmatic advertising, but the concept is the same: The computer is faster and more efficient, saving you time in home improvement marketing efforts. In fact, that’s the big takeaway on why any AI-assisted marketing might be a good idea. 

(Note: Ready to supercharge the leads you get from the internet and convert them into real-life clientele? In his free webinar, marketing expert Welton Hong delivers practical techniques you can employ today. Click here to register!)