Every time I watch the Terminator movies I have to wonder if Skynet turned evil because it was inherently evil or if the humans around it just failed to give it the love and support it needed.
While it may be too early to tell what effect AI will have on our survival as a species, we are already starting to see the impact it is having on digital marketing.
Recently, Tom Young, founder of Intuitive Websites, was invited to speak on the future of AI tools in marketing on a webinar provided by one of our partners Vistage Worldwide, Inc. In the rest of this article, we will provide a synthesis of his thoughts and those of the other speakers as well. You can see the full webinar here and download the slide deck here.
What is ChatGPT and how does the AI work?
AI tools are significantly reshaping the way businesses create, distribute, and analyze their marketing efforts. With AI, businesses can leverage the power of automation, machine learning, and natural language processing to streamline marketing processes and deliver better customer experiences.
One of the most significant benefits of AI in digital marketing is its ability to generate content quickly and easily. AI tools such as ChatGPT can help marketers create high-quality, relevant content faster than ever before, without the need for extensive research or login barriers. These tools also allow sales teams to support their customers with the knowledge and insights they need, leading to increased business growth.
To leverage AI effectively, marketers must adopt a new mindset and get inside the head of their customers. They must understand what motivates their target audience to take action and create content that speaks directly to those motivations and desires. ChatGPT can help by providing answers to the questions customers are asking and suggesting keywords that can improve search engine optimization (SEO).
This process of course requires someone at the helm to enter the correct questions to ask into ChatGPT, so the human factor is still very necessary. The research a company does to learn about its ideal customer, their pain points, their needs, and how to provide a solution for those pain points is still something AI can only help with. It needs a human being to ask the right questions.
The Impact of ChatGPT on Content Marketing
Another way AI is changing digital marketing is by reinventing content marketing, specifically content creation. With AI tools, marketers can quickly create different versions of the content for different platforms, such as social media posts or blog articles.
Let’s say you shoot a webinar video just like the one we’re talking about now. AI tools can automate the process of taking that webinar, creating two blogs and four social media posts from the transcript. Now your one piece of content is six!
However, it’s crucial to note that AI-generated content should be used as a first draft and edited for accuracy, customization, and uniqueness. While AI can create content extremely fast, it can’t sound like you or speak specifically to a particular audience. Not yet, at least.
Can AI Tools Be Used for SEO?
The short answer is “yes!” If you ask ChatGPT to write a blog about a topic and tell it to use a list of provided keywords, then it will do exactly that. Now you have a great first draft of a keyword-rich blog about your topic that you can edit, embellish, add to, and improve upon!
Also, updating your website with SEO-rich content regularly helps your site’s searchability score, increasing the likelihood your page will show up on the first page of search results. Creating fresh content quickly keeps your page on the radar of search giants so you can be found.
Last, as we have begun using ChatGPT to kickstart some of our content creation methods, we have noticed that some specific companies or products have begun to show up in the pre-generated copy. While we are not sure how this will play out in the future, we know that if there is a way to sell the likelihood your company or product would be mentioned in the copy, they will find a way to sell it!
If someone asks the chat about your brand, what do you want it to say? Do you have content out there like blogs or eBooks that it can sift through to determine an answer for the search?
What are the Dangers or Red Flags of AI to Watch Out For?
While AI has the potential to revolutionize digital marketing, there are also issues to watch out for. Inaccuracies, copyright and plagiarism concerns, and the changing landscape of search engines and browsers are some examples. Therefore, it’s essential to double-check facts, use AI-generated content as a first draft, and customize it to your specific audience.
I asked ChatGPT where it got the information to answer my questions and this was its response:
“As a language model, I was trained on a large corpus of text data, which includes books, articles, websites, and other documents from the internet. This training data was collected from a variety of sources, including news websites, scientific journals, books, and online forums. Additionally, I have access to a vast amount of information on the internet, which I can use to answer questions and provide information to users like you. However, I must note that I am not always able to verify the accuracy of the information I provide, so it’s important to use your own judgment and do your own research when making decisions based on the information I provide.”
It even misspelled “judgment” which I had to correct. Ironic. So, you have to keep your eye on it.
Great Marketing Questions to Ask an AI Chat
To familiarize yourself with ChatGPT, start with some of these basic marketing questions about your field and see how it works.
What are the benefits of ________?
What are the risks of _________?
Can you write an interactive tool for __________?
How does a company get success in __________?
What is the ROI of _________?
What are people searching for and what are the keywords?
AI is a powerful tool that can have a significant impact on digital marketing and essentially, the bottom line of your business. By using AI, businesses can improve their marketing efforts, provide better customer experiences, and stay ahead of their competitors. That’s a pretty sweet ROI, but it’s not a magic bullet.
Skilled copywriters and editors as well as social media and email marketers are needed to make sure that the content you put out sounds like you, represents you, and connects with your audience in the right way. Otherwise, you may start to sound like a futuristic robot with ill intentions.
We also felt it might be necessary to provide full disclosure here: this blog was written by inserting the notes from the Vistage Worldwide, Inc. webinar into ChatGPT and then edited by one of our content writers. The notes used are below.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the future.
Content Creation Using AI – Seth’s Notes
Vistage: ChatGPT Webinar
This tool is causing the biggest shift in content delivery and marketing since the advent of mobile.
The Birth of a Marketing Revolution
Get the first drafts done fast
Fast research, no logins/barriers
Support sales teams with knowledge and insights
Huge growth for biz operations coming
Leverage website technologies and coding. Create middle-funnel tactics to move people through your funnel faster with apps, calculators, etc.
Why do people use it?
Avoid pain and solve a problem
Gain what they desire
Save time and money
Content Marketing Reinvented
Don’t use it for copy/paste, it’s a first draft
Use it for social media posts and create different versions of the content for different platforms quickly.
This is a mindset shift for you. Get outside your head and get in the head of your customer.
Use ChatGPT to ask the questions your customers are asking and get answers that you can provide.
Getting found and content marketing
Build your SEO so you can show up in ChatGPT suggested copy, as we have started to see names of companies show up in the generated copy.
Real-Life Implications
Know your keywords
Get ahead of your competitors
Issues to watch
Inaccuracies. Check facts. only goes up through 2021
Copyright and plagiarism. Don’t copy/paste. Allows for spam and red flags.
Changing every week. Google and Bing are currently the biggest. but will eventually partner up
Browsers are the AI gatekeepers
AI can’t customize to a specific audience. You’ll need to edit. You’ve got a high-powered hot rod, but you still need a driver.
Actions items
Use it and try it out with your teams
Find your benefits and risks
Use as first drafts for emails, marketing, blogs, etc.
Used to be found.
Don’t be afraid of competitors, do it better than them.
The ROI of these tools will pay for themselves easily.
