Marketing practices in the AI era are driving revolutionary changes for brands because customers now engage with businesses through highly disruptive digital channels. Organizations now direct their marketing efforts toward automated systems that create personalized customer experiences. The company improves campaign performance through intelligent decision-making systems, which generate revenue for the business.
Modern marketing systems need advanced technology that analyzes customer behavior to help businesses deliver customized experiences while reducing customer acquisition costs. The current marketing system, which relies on campaigns, will evolve into an AI marketing platform that combines data, contextual information, and personalized content to improve customer interactions through automation.
In this episode of the Analytics Insight Podcast, Priya Dialani interviews Rajesh Jain, Founder of Netcore Cloud, on topics such as the rise of agentic marketing automation, the rise in ad waste in the current scenario, AI and customer engagement, and the transformation needed for CMOs and SaaS organizations in the age of AI.
According to Rajesh Jain, agentic marketing automation involves using AI agents to undertake marketing activities independently and learn continuously from customer behavior. In the past, automation involved executing pre-planned campaigns, while agentic marketing involved analyzing data, personalizing communication, generating content, and optimizing customer journeys.
Rajesh mentioned some AI agents used in marketing, such as the insights, segmentation, and content agents. In his opinion, brands can advance from executing static campaigns to adaptive marketing systems that deliver the appropriate message to the right customer at the right time, using the right medium.
According to Rajesh Jain, ad waste is the unnecessary spending companies incur to reacquire their existing consumers. He explained that almost 90% of the money brands spend on digital marketing goes toward acquiring new users via platforms like Google and Meta. In contrast, only a fraction is invested in retaining current consumers.
He pointed out that inactive customers receive multiple ads from brands, leading to unnecessary expenditure without establishing any lasting relationship with consumers. According to Rajesh Jain, around $500 billion is lost worldwide in this manner annually.
According to Rajesh Jain, AI would transform CMOs into business leaders oriented toward profit rather than campaign managers. Using artificial intelligence agents in operations would free marketers’ hands to focus on planning and growth-oriented decisions. He believed that CMOs need to move towards becoming ‘Chief AI Officers’ and ‘Chief Profitability Officers’ to leverage AI to enhance customer loyalty and minimize inefficiencies in customer acquisition. Moreover, he observed that marketers often do not become CEOs because they usually prioritize growth over profit.
Rajesh Jain explained that AI-driven marketing solutions require more contextual understanding than basic automated functions. AI uses contextual graphs, together with memory layers and decision paths, to investigate customer behavior and preferences, as well as their previous interactions. The system learns from customer feedback and uses reinforcement learning to create customized experiences.
Jain introduced ‘customer digital twins’ as AI-based virtual customer models that predict customer preferences and simulate their future behavior. The solutions will enable businesses to deliver personalized customer experiences during actual customer interactions, according to his statement.
AI can drive SaaS providers to move away from the subscription model to an outcomes-based model, according to Rajesh Jain. This means that instead of just charging for software licenses or usage, SaaS firms will be able to monetize business results such as increases in revenue or profits. He likened it to how hedge funds earn fees when they exceed certain benchmarks.
He added that SaaS firms need to explore additional revenue streams, such as advertising on marketing platforms. AI is disrupting the valuation of SaaS companies and compelling software organizations to restructure their operations to become outcome-driven, efficient, and intelligent.
Listen to the full discussion on the Analytics Insight Podcast.