Originally published in Fast Company

Business success depends on one variable: growth. Yet growth can feel elusive, particularly when competition within a category is fierce and new entrants are a constant threat. Enter AI (when doesn’t AI enter the conversation nowadays?). 

Many marketing leaders have visions of creating the perfect AI-powered demand generation engine that delivers a steady stream of qualified leads. And with 83% of marketers claiming content marketing is the most effective channel for demand generation, AI stands out in helping marketers identify which content resonates, leads to prioritize, or campaigns to optimize. 

The reality is more nuanced. Finding a balance between AI-generated content, brand voice and business goals is key. Consider these factors:  

PERSONALIZATION MATTERS

Millions of businesses are competing for buyer attention at any given moment across every industry. 

E-commerce retailers have perfected the art of using data to create uncannily accurate product recommendations. This personalization can be brought to life with a relevant offer like:

• “Customer favorites”: If a product sells better than all your other products, promote it to your customers, including reviews, ratings, and testimonials from customers who purchased it.
• “You might also consider”: Include images and links to other products that complement the one in the customer’s cart. 
• “People also bought”: Social proof can be a powerful influencer.

When developing your personalization strategy, AI doesn’t replace the human element—it enhances it. AI scales personalization in ways that would be impossible manually, helping you meet customers where they are in their buying journey with exactly the right message. You can focus on a particular segment and personalize content with dynamic recommendations based on a customer’s digital footprint. 

MAXIMIZE DATA-BASED PERSONALIZATION 

AI-powered demand generation relies on not just any data, but clean, relevant, and actionable data that provides insights into an individual’s customer behavior, preferences, and needs. 

AI excels at analyzing vast amounts of customer data, identifying patterns and predicting needs before customers articulate them. This predictive capability allows marketers to anticipate what content will resonate with specific segments and deliver it proactively. 

For example, AI can analyze a prospect’s engagement with your website, identifying which pages they visit, how long they stay, and what content they download. It can then trigger relevant content addressing their specific interests, creating a personalized, almost intuitive experience.

Integrate marketing automations into your processes to create personalized, data-driven emails at scale. By using pre-built customer journeys, you can convert more customers at key moments—and at scale.

USE AI TO ANALYZE LEAD SCORING AND NURTURE PROCESSES 

Traditional lead scoring models often rely on arbitrary point systems that may not accurately reflect a lead’s actual buying intent. AI transforms this process by continuously analyzing behavior patterns that correlate with successful conversions. 

Machine learning algorithms identify which actions or combinations of actions most reliably predict purchase intent so marketers can prioritize leads more effectively. This dynamic approach to lead scoring ensures sales teams focus on prospects most likely to convert. 

Beyond scoring, AI also revolutionizes the nurture process. Rather than pushing leads through a predetermined, linear nurture flow, AI-powered systems create dynamic journeys that adapt based on individual engagement and behavior.

So, customers who discover your brand through a social media ad can be served different content than those who organically find it through a Google search. AI can produce content that speaks to the customer’s journey rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach. 

These intelligent nurture paths can determine the optimal cadence, channel, and content for each lead by increasing engagement rates and shortening sales cycles. 

TRANSFORM BRAND DEVELOPMENT 

Even with all this automation, brand voice and positioning remain critical to demand generation. And yes, there are different AI tools for that.  

StoryBrand.ai, for example, helps businesses position their customers as the hero and their brand as the guide, creating messaging frameworks that tap into the power of storytelling (full disclosure: StoryBrand.ai is a Thryv partner). Such tools provide language that emotionally connects with audiences while maintaining consistency across touchpoints. 

By using AI-powered brand development tools, you can ensure that even as personalization increases, your core brand messaging remains cohesive. 

REVIVE CAMPAIGN AD DEVELOPMENT 

Creating compelling ad content at scale has traditionally been a resource-intense process. AI changes this by generating and testing multiple variations of ad copy, images, and calls to action. 

AI tools can produce dozens of ad variations based on core messaging, so marketers can test different approaches without creative bottlenecks. These systems learn from performance data, continuously refining creative elements to improve conversion rates. 

For example, Klarna, a global online shopping company, used AI to generate and test 1,000+ ad image variations over three months—an impossible feat with traditional creative processes. This reduced the amount of time spent checking images for brand consistency, image quality, and legal compliance—seven days compared to six weeks—saving $6 million in image production costs.  

While AI excels at optimization, human creativity remains essential for developing breakthrough concepts and emotional connections. For a successful approach, combine AI’s analytical capabilities with human creative direction.

USHER IN REAL-TIME CAMPAIGN OPTIMIZATION 

Perhaps the most powerful AI application in demand generation is real-time campaign optimization. Traditional campaigns can require weeks of data collection before meaningful adjustments can be made. AI-powered systems identify performance trends much earlier and make automated adjustments to improve results. 

These systems reallocate budgets across channels, adjust bidding strategies, modify targeting parameters, and even adapt creative elements—all in real time and based on performance data. This agility can allow you to maximize ROI by doubling down on what’s working and quickly moving away from what isn’t. 

A WINNING COMBINATION 

Successful demand generation has always been about connecting with potential customers in meaningful ways. AI doesn’t change this fundamental truth—it provides the tools to do it at scale with greater precision and effectiveness. 

Taking your brand’s authenticity and human understanding and blending it with the analytical power of AI creates a demand generation engine that doesn’t just produce more leads—it produces better leads that convert at higher rates. Ultimately, that’s the true measure of demand generation success and the foundation of business growth.