Why You Shouldn't Be Afraid of AI: How to Use AI in Marketing for Business Growth

Artificial Intelligence (AI) was initially painted as the bad guy, a threat–at least for content writers and the people in marketing who worried that “robots” would replace their creativity and jobs. But as AI evolved, so did the conversation.?

While there’s fear for writers and marketers, there’s no denying that industries progress over time and that learning to adapt is a non-negotiable to survive.

So now, many content creators and marketers have decided to turn the tables to their advantage and see AI in marketing as a powerful ally. Because the truth is, businesses still need human intervention to bring warmth and emotional depth to their marketing efforts–and this is something that AI lacks.?

But the question still stands: how do you use AI in marketing in such a way that authenticity, human emotions, and brand integrity and credibility are not compromised??

The Role of AI in Marketing

More than just the initial idea of AI replacing the roles of content creators and marketers, it was created to make the lives of its users easier.?

It addresses a common pain point for all, which is the pressure to produce high-quality work quickly, whether it’s for a business, school, or a passion project. For marketers, it is the overwhelming demand for high-quality content, quick turnaround times, and, most especially, the constant need for creativity.?

With AI in marketing, digital marketers are given the ability to automate tasks like customer support, generate creative ideas on a whim, analyse extensive data quickly, predict customer behaviour, and make informed decisions.?

On Automation

One AI breakthrough that transformed traditional marketing approaches is the creation of Chatbots.?

Available 24/7, customer service chatbots free up employees from answering inquiries through automated responses. Unlike human customer service agents, customers will not wait hours in line–thanks to large language models and advanced analytics, chatbots can quickly process messages and respond to queries in a reduced time.?

On Personalisation and Data Analysis

AI has also improved how marketers get to know their audience and personalise strategies. A classic example is Netflix.?

When watching on Netflix, how often do you see personalised recommendations according to your recent activity on the platform??

The Netflix algorithm is so powerful that about 80% of the platform’s subscribers follow and trust the algorithm’s recommendations.?

Netflix uses AI to identify and customise content that they will present to you. Specifically, the streaming giant is powered by an algorithm that analyses user data to suggest and recommend shows they can watch next. Some considerations include viewing habits or preferences. Other factors also thrown in the mix are show genre, language, and maturity rating.?

Our take:

The thought of AI aiding marketers extends to the benefit of brands and their customers. AI is supporting marketers and customers by enhancing the overall shopping experience and providing efficient service–one that feels personalised and intuitive at every touchpoint.

AI-Driven Content Creation

We can speak for all writers, content creators, and marketers when we say there came a time when we found ourselves staring blankly at an empty Word document with a blinking cursor, waiting for creativity to hit us.?

Creative block is completely normal, and AI exists to rescue us from these frustrating moments.?

However, rescuing does not automatically mean AI will do 100% of the work. AI in content creation is all about giving us the nudge or the creative push we need to get started.?

Popular AI marketing tools for content creation, like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or Jasper, among others, help generate content ideas, perform content research, or even optimise SEO.?

For example, we asked ChatGPT to create a simple and short introduction for this blog:

“AI is reshaping the way businesses approach content marketing. By harnessing AI’s potential, companies can create more targeted, engaging content that drives growth. In this blog, we’ll break down how to use AI to fuel your marketing strategy and boost business performance.”

It’s not actually that bad, but it can still be elevated to sound more human. So, how can a writer,? marketer or brand use an AI-created paragraph to their advantage??

It is up to users to refine, edit, fact-check, and inject authenticity into their content to make it a cut above the rest. Instead of using the AI-generated passage word-per-word, look at its angles, points, or even structure–use it as an inspiration in coming up with something of your own.?

Automating Content Distribution with AI

AI’s role goes beyond just helping users break through creative blocks. It can also be an efficient tool for content distribution.?

Here are popular AI in marketing tools or platforms that aid with conveniently distributing content to your audience:?

• Hootsuite: A social media management tool that uses AI to analyse performance, schedule posts, and manage multiple social media accounts in one place.?

• Mailchimp: A marketing, automation, and email platform incorporating AI and machine learning to help marketers and small businesses. They employ AI to segment customers and understand customer preferences and behaviours. Through this, brands can optimise and implement personalised campaigns better.?

• Trapica: An AI-powered marketing platform that optimises social media ad campaigns on TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, etc. It determines which ad campaigns are converting and which are not and adjusts targeting and bidding according to the analysis. It also automatically terminates campaigns that are not working.?

Enhancing Content Marketing Strategy with AI

A content marketing strategy involves creating, optimising, and distributing relevant content to attract, engage, and retain an audience.?

Topic relevance is crucial in content marketing for businesses, and through artificial intelligence, marketers can identify trending topics and tap into audience interests.?

Here’s how: With AI, marketers and brands can rapidly identify the right content to deliver to customers and the most effective channels to use at the optimal time, all thanks to the data gathered and processed by its algorithms.

Remember to set clear goals first if you’re considering whether to add AI to your existing content marketing strategies. Ask yourself: do I want to improve content quality, SEO, or engagement??

Once you’ve identified what you want to achieve, you can now choose the most appropriate AI tools to use. Consider its compatibility as well with your current systems or workflows.?

Measuring the Impact: AI and Business Growth

AI-powered tools can help measure content performance. They offer an efficient and accurate way to analyse the performance of your content–because instead of manually scouring through the data and interpreting it, AI systems can process vast amounts of data and provide actionable insights altogether.?

With this, marketers can access data-driven insights to help them create more relevant campaigns and make informed marketing decisions.?

Furthermore, Netflix isn’t the only brand that takes advantage of AI in marketing for its business growth.?

Spotify also leverages AI to recommend and deliver playlists and content to listeners. With “The Discover Weekly” feature, every user can access a personalised playlist based on browsing and listening history. The secret to Spotify’s personalisation is machine learning, a complicated code-based system that produces a single song recommendation.?

For e-commerce, Amazon’s implementation of AI in marketing is all about accommodating customer needs with accuracy. Its AI-driven predictive analytics engine uses deep and machine learning algorithms to assess huge datasets, such as searching activities and purchasing histories, to identify patterns for each customer.?

With this, Amazon can recommend products precisely on its platform. In fact, 35% of its overall sales are attributed to this AI strategy.?

Challenges and Considerations When Using AI in Marketing

Predictive and generative AI in industries (or any other form of AI) have their fair share of pitfalls and challenges.?

Some concerns and considerations for AI in marketing can be:?

• Data privacy: AI relies on customer data, which, for brands and their audiences, can raise some concerns about security and privacy. As an ethical marketer or brand, you should comply with privacy regulations and be transparent about your data practices to your customers.?

• Quality Control: AI-driven content can sometimes lack the emotional depth, nuance, and creativity that comes from the human touch. Marketers need to strike a balance by refining it and elevating the quality of your content to better reflect your brand.?

• Authenticity: While AI holds and analyses vast datasets, it must not replace the entire research process. To promote ethical marketing and maintain brand credibility and integrity, it is still important to put in the effort to fact-check what the AI generates and validate the accuracy of its insights.

Remember: AI is not the boss, it’s the assistant

It’s all about marketers’ and brands’ perspectives about how they’ll employ AI. AI in content marketing and creation must be about enhancing creativity rather than acting as a replacement.?

Brands and marketers can look at AI as something that effectively streamlines their tasks, and so, they must recognise their role of being the only bearers–the bosses of creative, human touch. Because, at the end of the day, only the human mind brings context, empathy, and a true connection with the audience.?

With AI as the task streamliner and humans as the creativity driver, imagine how powerful this duo can be.?

Brands can definitely benefit from AI-powered content marketing services delivered by a trusted digital marketing agency that can keep you updated with AI advancements, incorporate human emotions into your content, and generally drive better results for your marketing strategies.??