A Review on Generative AI in Digital Marketing: Transforming Customer Engagement and Firm Performance

HRMARS - The rapid proliferation of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is fundamentally restructuring the marketing landscape, enabling hyper-personalized content creation and advanced analytical capabilities at unprecedented scale. This article synthesizes scholarly discourse published from 2022 onwards to assess GenAI's transformative applications across digital marketing, customer engagement, and firm performance. Drawing on a traditional literature review methodology, this paper examines the full spectrum of GenAI marketing applications, from content automation and personalized advertising to AI-powered SEO, email marketing, conversational AI, and intelligent recommendation systems. Five central research questions guide this inquiry, addressing the efficacy of personalization, operational efficiency, ethical governance, strategic scaling, and workforce transformation. Findings reveal that while GenAI dramatically amplifies marketing agility and consumer relevance, successful adoption hinges upon navigating systemic barriers, including algorithmic bias, data governance challenges, vendor dependency risks, and the imperative for sustained human oversight. The paper concludes by proposing a research agenda that bridges fragmented technological deployment with long-term competitive advantage and brand integrity.