What AI Means for Your Content Marketing Strategy

Not All AI Is Created Equal 

While ChatGPT may still be a relatively new phenomenon, many people have already been using AI for years. Marketers are no exception, as many regularly use certain AI programs for content strategy, whether they realize it or not. 

As SEO strategy tools like Surfer and Clear Scope prove, not all AI content marketing optimization tools are designed to churn out fully formed blog posts. Then there are programs like Grammarly and Hemingway, which are designed to help keep content marketing best practices on point. 

These programs are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to examples of everyday AI solutions. But while AI may be useful when it comes to content marketing optimization, don’t count on it cutting out the need for human writers anytime soon. 

The Human Element 

While AI programs like ChatGPT are now capable of producing blog content, HubSpot’s 2023 AI Trends for Marketers Report revealed that only 5% of marketers rely on them to write full pieces. Why? For several reasons. 

The first boils down to the same reasons that self-check-out machines have yet to fully replace human cashiers. Studies find that while plenty of people can appreciate the convenience of AI, consumers generally prefer interacting with other humans. 

Imagine, for instance, the last time you called a business with a question, only to get a telephone robot on the line. Rest assured that you’re not alone if the first hint of an automated answering service immediately compels you to begin screaming “human!” into your receiver at the top of your lungs. 

In fact, music industry expert Liz Kamlet recently created a TikTok video that went viral after promising to reveal the secret to bypassing such phone bots altogether. Now imagine if every single Google search you typed in generated nothing but the musings of mindless AI algorithms. 

Relying exclusively on machines for your content creation strategy will result in content that reads like it was created by....well, machines. While it may be cheap or even free, AI also stands a pretty paltry chance of capturing your brand’s unique voice and charm. 

Sure, AI may be able to mimic the content creation strategy of an actual human. But it can’t infuse it with the same personality any more than a gift shop poster of a Da Vinci painting can replace the real thing.

Not to mention that accuracy isn’t always AI’s strong point, which can jeopardize customer trust that took years to build. The bottom line is that if you want to develop high-quality content that converts, you’ll still need to seek out a human content partner if you don't have in-house expertise. 

How Can AI Help Your Content Marketing Strategy? 

Don’t get us wrong, AI isn’t without its uses. When used the right way, it can go a long way toward making a blog marketing or content creation strategy more productive. 

The HubSpot study we mentioned above discovered that marketers spend an average of up to five hours a day on menial tasks that have nothing to do with creating killer copy. Think keyword research, CMS blog formatting, or data insight analysis. 

This is where AI can really shine. Here are some examples of ways AI can make any marketer's job a lot easier: 

• Canva’s AI image generator can conceptualize text into an image 
• Vimeo’s AI Video Creator can turn text into a video 
• Google Sheets can turn data into visualizations 
• HubSpot can generate anything from blog ideas to free buyer personas

Yep, even ChatGPT can be helpful when it comes to turning a blank page into something you can work with. HubSpot found that 33% of marketers use AI to generate ideas, while 25% use it to summarize texts into key points. 

How Artificial Intelligence Can Optimize Ad Strategy 

As we’ve established, AI can help cut out repetitive tasks and serve as a guide for content marketing best practices like proper grammar and SEO strategy. But it can also help connect marketers to target audiences at every stage of the marketing funnel. 

Gone are the Mad Men days when marketers had to rely on mass advertisements like billboards or magazine ads to get the word out about a client’s business. Not only were such tactics a lot more expensive, but their effects were nearly impossible to measure accurately. 

With the advent of paid social media advertising and Google Ads, it’s now possible to target (or even retarget) a very specific audience. AI tools like smart bidding can even automatically adjust your bids to give your ads the highest possible chance of achieving your desired results. 

Many CMS sales hubs are also great examples of AI in action. The simple ability to personalize every email in a campaign or create segmented lists can be a total game changer. 

So, while AI may be no substitute for a human marketing expert, it could make for a handy marketing assistant. As with many things in life, finding the proper balance between relying exclusively on AI and not using it at all tends to be a solid approach. 

Want to Talk Strategy? 

If you’re ready to take your content marketing strategy to the next level, then contact Market Veep for a free consultation with 100% human experts today. We’ll be happy to help you create an all-inclusive strategy designed to connect people to other people, no matter what tools you decide to use along the way.