EdTech Agency Content Talk: Leading the AI Learning Curve

As change sweeps through our world ushering in the AI digital age, it can be both exhilarating and terrifying.

Technology is advancing so fast as we humans scramble to keep pace with how artificial intelligence is forever changing how we move through our days, conduct our lives and work.

Forbes says AI's influence on content marketing has been “nothing short of revolutionary.”

Leaps in technology have been transforming content creation, the very heart of content marketing.?

I'm filled with anticipation of what's possible as humans harness the power of these advanced tools to become more productive and efficient while shortening our learning curve by years as we embrace our newest marketing partner.?

And I'm cautiously optimistic as we explore the good, the bad, and the ugly of AI integration into edtech content marketing.??

I’ve added a new feature to my Copy Magic Toolkit newsletter.

Welcome to the first edition of EdTech Agency Content Talk: Leading AI Learning Curve.

Every month or so, I’ll interview marketing and advertising agencies serving the edtech K–12 and higher education market. If you want to be featured, please DM me.

Below is my conversation with Education Marketing Strategist Emily Garner Sumner, CEO of Spyre Marketing, who shares AI advice and insights for the K–20 education market.

Your AI Content Marketing Thought Partner

Q. How Has Your Content Marketing and the Creative Process Changed with AI Tools?

Emily Garner Sumner: Pre-AI, everything came from what our team already knew from our collective 100+ years of experience in the K–20 education market, or our primary and secondary research. We didn't have advanced AI tools for ideation, outlining, and synthesizing vast amounts of data until the public release of ChatGPT in late 2022. We did it all ourselves.

When I first started Spyre Marketing in 2009, most of our team worked together in the same office building. People would pop into each other’s offices to toss ideas around and there were opportunities for conversation and brainstorming to happen naturally.?

Now, we have team members working in multiple locations. In a virtual environment, getting together to brainstorm ideas or just chat about a project has to be intentional. You have to schedule a meeting with someone or pick up the phone.

So, a lot of creative work happens in isolation. With the advent of AI tools, we now have a virtual thought partner to help spark ideas. AI can help get your creative juices flowing and help you generate ideas you can build on in the same way a conversation with a colleague can.

Challenges and Learning Curve Using AI

Q. Was There a Learning Curve Using AI as a Marketing Partner?

EGS: Yes, you need to learn how to communicate with artificial intelligence by refining prompts, adjusting wording, and questioning what information is returned. AI tools are a lot like having a new staff member who just graduated from college. You need to train them and help them learn.??

It’s really important to continue prompting beyond one AI response. When you give specific directions and feedback to the tool, iterating on your original prompt and the response returned, AI will provide more helpful and on-point responses.?

Q. When Is It Best for Edtech Companies to Use AI Versus Seeking an Agency Partner?

EGS: The answer to that will vary based on an edtech marketer’s area of expertise, level of experience, and bandwidth.?

For example, if you're in charge of your company's email marketing program, AI is a great tool for brainstorming subject lines to test. It can also help write emails, and even write different versions of the same email so you can test the impact of various headlines, CTAs, and messaging approaches.?

But, while AI can definitely save you time by crafting emails, you still must take the time to write detailed prompts and review and edit what AI produces. And, backing up from the actual writing of an email, you must have the time and knowledge to create your email marketing strategy and calendar for each of your company’s target audiences.?

When you work with an agency, you not only get access to decades of expertise but also more bandwidth. Sticking with our email marketing example, if you are responsible for all aspects of your company’s marketing—everything from social media and email to event marketing and content creation—there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to manage and execute every single marketing channel.?

AI can help you do more. But it doesn’t always help you do more better. Gen AI needs a lot of hand holding and oversight which takes time. An agency partner, particularly one specializing in K–20 marketing, can develop targeted strategies and create marketing content and campaigns with very little input or management from you. An agency is a senior-level partner; AI is a junior-level contributor.??

Role of AI in Content Creation and Strategy

Q. Should I Use AI to Generate an Overall Content Marketing Strategy?

EGS: AI is great for certain things like generating ideas for blogs. However, it’s not a great tool for creating an overall strategy aligned with your company’s goals. The humans in a marketing agency understand the big picture, the nuances of your market, and how to put together a multi-channel marketing strategy that maximizes the impact of your budget. .?

When executing a marketing plan, agencies ensure that all the moving parts of a marketing campaign are aligned and seamlessly work together to generate the best results.?

Q. What Tasks Don’t You Use AI for in Your Content Marketing Process?

EGS: Currently, we are really only using AI for the initial stages of a project—brainstorming and research. We sometimes use AI to help with outlining longform content pieces like an eBook or whitepaper.? We don't use AI to write blogs, emails, or even social media posts. Specifically in education, content needs to have a depth of knowledge, accuracy, and authenticity that AI isn’t capable of yet.?

AI-Generated Versus AI-Boosted Content Creation

Q. What Is the Problem with AI-Generated Content?

EGS: There have been plenty of stories about AI getting information wrong. So that’s definitely something you have to be careful about. You have to verify the sources and interpretation of all AI-generated content to make sure it is accurate. Specifically in education, we have found that AI often generates content from a deficit approach rather than a strengths-based one.?

When it comes to writing about students and educators, we always want to be focusing on strengths. It can be very nuanced. For example, rather than “ADHD kids often talk a lot and are disruptive,” we would write, “Kids with ADHD have a lot of energy and can have difficulty focusing for long periods of time in class.”? Although marketers can rewrite what AI generates, it's often not the best use of their time. We find it to be faster and more effective to write content ourselves rather than spending time crafting the perfect prompts and doing extensive edits to a blog or article AI writes.???

Q. Does AI-Generated Content Capture the Voice and Tone??

EGS: We're entering this era because of AI where content is becoming less valuable because so much of it is unedited AI-generated content. AI is reconfiguring the same thought over and over. That's what AI does. It analyzes what's already out there and reconfigures it based on your prompt and need. It’s called “slop” and it’s what we at Spyre avoid. We don’t use AI to write our content. But we do use it to kickstart our creative process.?

Here’s an analogy the Spyre team uses:?

AI-generated content is like a windbag politician. You’re at a rally, listening to a politician. It all sounds so great. You get excited. It energizes you. But when you sit down and read what that person has said, behind the fluff and the energy, there's not much meat there. No tangible facts or specific action items.

That's often what we’ve found with AI-generated longform content, like blogs, articles, and eBooks. It lacks depth, a unique voice, and perspective that represents a brand well. Educators are looking for real information, real solutions, something new to them that sparks their own thinking and exploration.?

Unsurprisingly, Sumner said from their testing:?

We spend more time rewriting and verifying erroneous facts which AI gives back than doing it ourselves. We’ve created longform content for 25 years for hundreds of education businesses. While AI can generate some good stuff, it's too often missing so many components that rewriting it is not worth the time.

Q. Do You Have Any Final Words You’d Like to Share???

EGS: AI is changing how marketers work but it hasn’t changed the value of human intelligence and experience. In fact, those things are more important than ever. Humans still bring the strategy, insights, and creativity to what AI can produce. AI can be a valuable part of the team. However, it’s not the team captain, and it can’t just magically manage your marketing program.?

As Spider-Man said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” It’s the responsibility of marketers to use AI for what it’s good at but continue to rely on human intelligence to create high-quality content that’s of real value to educators.

Are you exhilarated…and terrified about riding the AI learning curve?

When first exploring it, I quickly realized competing with AI was a losing battle. It was intimidating how fast it could spit out responses, like comprehensive five-page outlines in seconds instead of hours.

But I also see how AI can become a valuable content marketing thought partner with the right guardrails, expectations, and human intelligence to lead the way.

Want to continue the conversation with Emily Garner Sumner about leveraging AI as a thought partner?

Visit Spyre Marketing!

I’m curious about you…

What struck or surprised you the most? Let’s create a community of learners and explorers. What topics interest you? I’d love to have your feedback.

If this sparks curiosity and inspires you, please share it with your team and other K-20 education content marketers. Like, comment, and connect.

Let’s elevate your Copy Magic! Need help cutting through the noise and winning over hearts with your next campaign? Wonder how to build lasting relationships and grow an email community?? DM?me.

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About me: Hi, I’m Lynda Dell! I’m a digital storyteller and content strategist? who creates thought leadership content that builds engagement, trust, and online authority.

As an AWAI-trained copywriter with nine years of digital content marketing experience, I turn knowledge and experience from interviews and research into clear, compelling stories that connect, care, change hearts, minds, and lives, and empower.