Maximize marketing impact with AI in 2024, the top 3 usage

It almost seems like everything is AI these days. AI can be a great help. That said, it’s so easy to get lost and get buried in fun and the rabbit hole. 

There are so many potential rewards and advantages.

At the same time, it can be overwhelming, and there are serious pitfalls and downsides to using AI and ChatGPT.

Where to start and where to focus?

Top 3 AI usage by marketing

What matters for marketing and content, how do your industry peers use AI, and what are the requirements to nail it? Here’s the top three of how marketers use AI for their daily jobs (source: Warc.com)

1. Copywriting with ChatGPT

ChatGPT for copywriting. By now, all marketers (should) have experimented with it.

Advantages of AI copywriting

• Fast. Superfast. One prompt and go; you have your output. The speed is incredible; the quality is something different. More about how to maintain high-quality content later.
• Scale. It’s very easy to create copy at scale in multiple variations to test.

Pitfalls to avoid

• Usually, ChatGPT copy lacks personality and a point of view, has very long sentences, and is hard to read, especially on mobile.
• As generative AI works on probability and predictability, there are no new insights. It’s an echo of what’s already there, given to you in a natural language output.

Keep in mind the quality of the AI-generated content is determined by the quality of your prompt. The more you know about it, the better you understand the topic. Plus, if you're adding some of your dirty mind and personality, it results in much more engaging content.

And, you need to know how to prompt. It’s never a one-prompt hit-and-go. It takes time and practice to learn prompt engineering and get high-quality distinctive output.

2. AI for summarization

Efficiency in summarizing long content. AI is super for creating a summary of a long read, a blog, an email, or a PDF. It saves you so much time and is super easy. Just use the right prompt with a clear task, give context with a persona, define the format., the tone, and maybe even give an example for the style or structure.

The risk of missing details. In the worst case, you miss out on those devils in the details, where the real gems and insights are hidden in plain sight. Those details reveal if a passionate expert writes the piece of content and if the reader took the time actually to read or used AI to summarize and scan headlines.

That said, nowadays, there is a big chance that the piece of content was vice versa, equally created with AI.

WTF are we doing? Using AI to create content and using AI to summarize that same content…

Back to basics, here’s my rant as a content strategist: 

• A well-written, carefully crafted piece of content, no matter the channel or format, should always begin with the summary, making a point and stating the key takeaways. High-quality content has a simple and clear structure, starts with the conclusion, is easy to read and scannable on headers and headlines, and needs no AI to summarize.
• And my second rant, be careful what you read and what you use as a source. That AI can summarize it doesn’t mean you’ll capture the essence and become an expert. Hard work pays off. And it’s still you who has to do the work, not AI.

3. Research and analysis with AI

This is where my AI magic — using ChatGPT for research. Ideation. Asking for a top ten list, creating an overview, or asking for the pros and cons of a topic.

Gaining diverse insights

• Giving me a non-biased, different point of view
• Giving insights or suggestions that didn’t pop up in my mind
• Summarize the complex and different sources into one overview

Challenges in trustworthiness and novelty

• Trustworthiness. Always sanity-check the output
• Generative AI is based on predictability and probability. It’s an echo of what’s already there. No real new insights

How to master and optimize AI usage in marketing

There are a few things to take into account when using ChatGPT and AI. In a nutshell, what do you need to do so AI can do the rest?

• Learn to prompt. Shit in is shit out. Prompt engineering sounds complicated and for the advanced nerds only. In reality, it’s just learning how to write a great prompt, so you’ll get the right output in a few prompts. There is no such thing as a one-prompt hit; the magic is in the conversation and the two-sided chat between you and ChatGPT. Improve your prompts with the 4 free AI courses. 
• Use Custom Instructions in ChatGPT-4 to personalize your interactions and 10x your output. It saves you a few prompts, as ChatGPT already knows your context and preferences. Improve your ChatGPT interaction in 2 steps with Custom Instructions. 
• Your creativity, in-depth knowledge, and strong point of view create the difference between good and great. AI is about delivering higher-quality content, well-researched and well-written by passionate, creative people who understand the topic. Keep in mind that creativity is not only in the art of writing; it’s also in your thinking and daring to be different. Think Salvador Dali, Lady Gaga, Steve Jobs, Simon Sinek, Elon Musk and many more. In AI content, your creativity makes the difference.  

Conclusion: embrace AI in marketing, a balancing act

The three use cases for AI by marketing are:

1. Copywriting. It’s your knowledge and creativity that determine the quality of the output.
2. Summarize. Yet a well-written and structured piece of content doesn’t need AI to summarize. That should already be baked into it.
3. Competitor and industry analysis. There’s so much added value and magic. You’re an idiot if you don’t use this.

That all said, don’t forget it’s you and your prompts that define the quality of the output. You need to learn how to prompt, and it’s your creativity and knowledge that creates the distinctiveness and engagement factor of your content. 

Let's not forget to enjoy the ride and have some fun along the way!