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Even if we can’t see it, AI is changing our world. It helps us get to places, get products, and even diagnose diseases faster. However, in this article, I want to explore the role AI can play in marketing. It may not be grand enough to help cure cancer, but marketing needs to consider AI’s role in that world.
This is a timely article, especially since ChatGPT went viral. For those not following the news, ChatGPT is a project by OpenAI. OpenAI is a company that is driving the visibility of AI in the business world. It works like any kind of chatbot where you can ask all kinds of questions and get answers in seconds.
The “good” factor is being able to ask very specific questions and get back answers that could have been human-written. For example, I asked ChatGPT to tell me the 3 most important factors in marketing.
Here’s what I got back.
The problem with AI is sorting out the hype. Perler tricks like my haiku question are cool, especially on his Linkedin. However, we need to get to the essence of the value that AI can provide while clarifying what it cannot provide. Here are some guidelines for thinking about AI in 2023 and beyond.
Digging deeper: Why AI matters in marketing
Where AI shines now
AI is still in its early stages. Despite what we’ve seen and heard in conferences and Linkedin posts, AI still has a long way to go. It can do some things very well, but it still struggles with others.
If you read or follow certain people, you’d think it would only take a few months to live in an episode of Black Mirror where AI rules everything.
Keep in mind that some AI use cases (such as self-driving cars) are 50+ years from being “10 years away”. Certain feats can be achieved, no doubt, but they take longer than expected.
In the meantime, here are some areas where AI can legitimately help marketing teams:
1. Cleaning data
Marketers have a love-hate relationship with Google Sheets. We often come across dirty data that needs to be cleaned before we can use it.
I recently helped a team clean up an Excel file containing hundreds of contact requests structured in the worst possible way. This is where AI and even ChatGPT can help.
Added Google Sheets extension to sort data and apply transformations. You can even see the beginnings of these kinds of shortcuts built right into Google Sheets by suggesting formulas you can use.
2. Video transcription
In today’s world, video captions are very important. Watch TikTok videos. Luckily, transcription is made easy with AI and is surprisingly accurate.
It can be done in real time, even after the video is recorded. Adding subtitles gives you all sorts of benefits and you don’t need people to provide good captions.
3. Asset creation
The Getty Images era may be over. AI can create all kinds of images and assets. I saw a project to create a human avatar for use in marketing. Assets look real and there are no complicated usage licenses.
While there is still demand for photos of real places and events, other works of art will gradually be replaced by AI-generated imagery.
4. Rising insights
Tools like Google Analytics are using AI to reveal insights from data. Some insights are nonsensical, while others are worth investigating. We expect to see more of this type of data analysis as a way to organize the growing amount of data that marketing teams collect.
Marketers aren’t short of data, they’re short of insights. AI may finally be the breakthrough that allows us to dig through the never-ending pile of data points.
Digging deeper: ChatGPT supports digital experience analytics
Where AI struggles
We are not yet replaced by AI. A poet may struggle to find a job, but AI cannot match certain human skills. A discussion of whether this is always true is the topic of another article.
AI should be seen as a marketing aid. Some tasks still require a real human, but thanks to AI, below he can free up time to work on three areas.
5. Creativity
AI can reveal insights, but creativity remains the domain of humans. Only humans can decide what campaigns to run, how to appeal to people’s desires and how to bring them together.
Kayak recently ran an ad brainstormed by AI (Kayak Deniers). They looked at popular languages and topics on social media and created ads about them.
They’re smart, but when everyone starts doing it, they become less impressive. Hence the value of human creativity.
6. Uniqueness
AI text may be true, but it lacks the unique human voice. We all know authors who can tell by reading a few sentences of their writing. Infuse all your content with the concept of voice.
AI kills boring content that is simply stating facts. That’s probably for the best. If you want facts about B2B marketing, visit Wikipedia. If they want to solve their problems, they need humans to help them.
7. Strategy
Humans still have to come up with strategies. These decisions are made not just by looking at the data, but by considering many factors. Marketing teams sometimes have to make choices that don’t match the data because experience (aka intuition) tells them so.
We see this in the chess world as well. World-class players like Magnus Carlsen rely heavily on AI to prepare for matches and run through different positions. However, during the game, Carlsen has been known to make the opposite move recommended by the computer. He knows his opponents are looking at the same data, creating opportunities to make unexpected decisions.
Expect more companies to rely on AI and be surprised when your competitors seemingly make the “wrong” move. Strategy just evolves considering what kinds of algorithms other companies might be using and how you can beat them.
Digging deeper: 17 AI-powered lighting tools and how to get the most out of them
AI stays here
The rise of AI will continue. You’d be surprised how impactful this innovation is today, but most of it happens behind the scenes. AI frees us from mundane tasks and allows us to focus on what really matters.
You need to embrace AI and use it to drive revenue and growth within your team. In an era of shrinking budgets and rising expectations, marketing needs to put more resources into creativity with fewer people. AI can help bridge that gap by becoming one of the most effective unpaid assistants.
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The opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.
About the author
Ruben Ugarte is a global expert in decision-making, strategy, and data and author of Data Mirage and Bulletproof Decisions. He helps executives from the most innovative midsize and large companies find hidden treasures and use them to dramatically improve performance, increase profitability and make their teams world-class. He has done this in his three languages on five continents. His ideas have helped hundreds of thousands of people make better decisions.
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