How Will AI Change Content Marketing?

It's undeniable that AI impacts many areas of our lives. From heavy machinery and the gaming industry to medicine and SEO, AI is shaping modern society's mindset.

Content marketing is no different. But what potential does AI hold? Will it play an active role, or could it even replace humans?

To explore this, I’ve examined some statistics and data to assess how AI might influence content marketing this year and beyond.

How AI can be used in content marketing

According to Statista, global market revenues from AI use in marketing are projected to hit $36 billion by 2024. This is a remarkable figure, and it's expected to continue growing, potentially tripling in the coming years.

But how are content marketers allocating their budgets?

Creating visuals

My team has previously highlighted popular AI-powered image creation tools like Canva, Craiyon, and Runway ML. Some of these tools, such as Canva and Runway ML, along with others like DALL-E, also assist marketers in creating videos.

As a result, AI-driven tools make visual content creation:

• more cost-effective,
• faster,
• more accurate,
• and easier.

Specialized tools and services provide significant flexibility, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and independent creators who can't afford large budgets for visual marketing.

According to Statista, 21% of creators in the U.S. have utilized AI-powered tools for visual content creation.

Major companies like Virgin Voyages, Nike, and others are also actively leveraging AI to produce videos.

In fact, AI-generated videos, including advertisements, are becoming so high-quality that it’s increasingly difficult to tell whether they were made by AI or humans.

For example, Nike conducted a year-long study using AI to produce a video tribute to tennis legend Serena Williams.

While creating high-quality visual content like this can be challenging, AI is more than capable of supporting a wide range of creative projects.

How AI will change visual content creation

With 81% of creative professionals already utilizing generative AI tools like DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion, this figure is set to grow.

I believe AI-powered services will empower content marketers by enhancing their ability to create visuals. While these tools won’t replace human creators, they will significantly streamline the creative process and optimize time, leading to a smoother workflow.

Content writing

One of the most significant applications of AI in content marketing is within content writing and related processes.

You might be surprised at how deeply AI is now integrated into content creation. Here are some key statistics shared by Statista:

• 21% of marketers used AI for content editing,
• 42% utilized Copy.ai for drafting and creating outlines,
• 30% of B2B marketers leveraged AI for content creation,
• 50% of professionals reported using generative AI for drafting content,
• 48.5% of content marketers applied generative AI for brainstorming ideas.

Additionally, 53% of CMOs in the US and Canada are eager to prioritize AI in their strategies.

HubSpot highlights the rapid rise of AI integration in content creation. Their latest study reveals that:

• 63% of marketers predict that by 2024, most content will be at least partially generated using generative AI.

As someone working in the content marketing field, I can certainly attest to this trend.

When breaking down content creation into various stages, AI support is distributed as follows:

• 45% for idea generation,
• 31% for creating outlines,
• 18% for content drafting,
• 6% for content writing.

But there’s more. I was intrigued to discover the following data:

• 84% of marketers using AI are creating content more efficiently,
• 82% of professionals are producing “significantly more content” thanks to AI,
• 77% of marketers are crafting more personalized content.

If marketers are already viewing generative AI as an effective strategy, what might the landscape look like in a year or two?

Currently, AI content writing tools like ChatGPT, Jasper, Rytr, and others are helping to produce content more quickly and with higher quality. Does this suggest that AI might eventually replace human writers?

How AI will change content writing

I don’t believe AI will replace human content writers anytime soon.

Additionally, recent Google updates have consistently highlighted the importance of content quality. Content must address user queries and reflect the author’s opinions and experiences - something AI struggles to fully replicate.

What AI excels at in content writing is optimizing time, enhancing data research, generating ideas, and providing advanced proofreading.

Content personalization

It's no surprise that customers increasingly seek personalized solutions. Since the goal of content marketing is to "attract and retain a clearly defined audience - and ultimately drive profitable customer action," the importance of personalization is undeniable.

Indeed, 62% of shoppers expect companies to fulfill their requests, and the key to meeting these expectations is through personalized experiences.

Currently, only 35% of marketers believe consumers are receiving highly personalized experiences. However, data from the same HubSpot study shows that:

• 96% of marketers agree that personalization enhances the likelihood of turning buyers into repeat customers,
• 94% of marketers believe that personalization boosts sales.

This is where AI technology can be particularly useful. So far, 77% of marketers report that generative AI helps them create more personalized content.

Influencer Marketing Hub suggests 15 directions in which AI increases and improves content personalization:

1. Forecast reporting for industry-wide connections

2. Competitor tactics discovery

3. Outreach content creation and distribution

4. Customer segmentation

5. Search engine optimization (SEO)

6. Automated delivery in the right platforms

7. Tailored campaigns

8. Well-designed chatbots

9. Optimized site search

10. Smart always-on self-service option

11. Multilingual support

12. Customized recommendations

13. Human error reduction for faster issue resolution

14. Expanded insight-gathering for better service

15. Customer team coaching and supervisor assistance

But even given the obvious advantages, AI offers, as low as 9% of global marketing professionals employ it to leverage personalized experiences.

How AI will change content personalization

I am confident that more and more professionals will recognize the clear advantages of using AI for personalization. In today’s world, generic content struggles to capture user attention due to the sheer volume of it.

Given ongoing concerns about cookie usage, tracking customer activity, and understanding preferences, AI offers a valuable solution.

HubSpot reports that 40% of companies are actively seeking to hire AI specialists to support their marketing teams. This trend is likely to continue.

Given this, I anticipate that companies and brands will increasingly deliver more personalized and targeted content. This shift will boost engagement and enhance the overall quality of the user experience.

Conclusion

As you can see, AI is deeply integrated into various marketing activities. It enhances content marketing by making it more precise, creative, and accurate through AI-powered tools.

Although many professionals are concerned about potential job losses, that’s unlikely to happen anytime soon. Instead, the key is to learn how to leverage AI (or generative AI) to elevate content marketing campaigns.

Observing how major brands harness the power of AI, I expect smaller companies to also benefit from artificial intelligence. There are numerous ways to use it to enhance content marketing performance.

Have you utilized AI to refine your content marketing? How did it work for you? Share your experiences in the comments, and let’s discuss!