Machine learning and deep learning algorithms have existed since the 1950s, eventually giving rise to the first generative AI chatbot just a decade later — ELIZA. But it wasn’t until 2022 when Gen AI really broke into mainstream conversation following the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, perhaps the most popular example of the technology to date.
Since then, there’s been something of a scramble to understand the technology; what it is, how it works; and why we should or shouldn’t use it in our personal and professional lives. Amidst that haste, some seemed excited about the future of the tech and the possibilities made available by using it — really excited. But others seemed some degree of scared or worried, which is understandable given the heaping helping of unknown that’s packaged with artificial intelligence and its potential consequences on humanity in general.
Now, two years later, generative AI chatbots are being brought to life by all kinds of powerful organizations in a race to build the best. It’s very Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
But what does this Gen AI renaissance mean for our work? What are its implications? How do modern businesses feel about it? And, are they using it? Those are some of the questions we want to explore here.
Gen AI in Marketing: From “No way!” to “OK”
It seems like time has flown by since the introduction of ChatGPT, but it’s still been enough to move the needle in favor of the technology behind that tool. Well, for marketers, anyway.
Today, a majority of marketers (55%) use Gen AI technology for content creation. We don’t think we could have said the same thing two years ago. More than that, 90% of marketers are planning to use the technology in some capacity within the next 12 months. Acceptance is happening quickly.
Still, 35% of small- to medium-sized corporations (0-99 employees) have placed a company-wide ban on generative AI; so, some mixed signals are happening. But why the stricture? According to a recent survey, the top four reasons for prohibiting the use of generative AI at work include:
- Legal/security issues (privacy, copyright, etc.): 73%
- Concerns about brand consistency: 61%
- Ethical concerns (bias, transparency, etc.): 60%
- Quality concerns/accuracy: 59%
These are all valid apprehensions, but we believe there are ways to implement and use generative AI while squashing these concerns and others. So let’s talk about it.
How To Implement Generative AI Into Your Business Thoughtfully and Responsibly
Implementing generative AI into business workflows requires a thoughtful, responsible approach that prioritizes ethics, security and transparency. With those initial ingredients, the opportunities to augment your traditional processes are near limitless.
Keep Ethics Top of Mind
Before doing anything with AI, address ethics first. Develop frameworks and policies that address common ethical concerns, such as bias and transparency. How should your employees use generative AI? How will you communicate your company’s use of the tech with clients or customers? Build policies around AI before you even begin to use it; and once it’s in play, monitor its usage continuously for adherence to your new policies.
Identify Specific Use Cases
Once you’ve decided that you’re going to give AI a go, it can be easy to fly off the handle. Every day the technology seems to grow more capable, which means it can help you achieve a lot of things. But an ‘everything, everywhere, all-at-once’ approach is too chaotic.
Instead, sit down and identify specific use cases where you believe AI could enhance your current processes — not replace them:
- Idea generation: Generative AI can assist marketers in brainstorming content ideas by analyzing current trends and past successful campaigns, leading to new ideas for blog topics, social media posts or video content.
- Visual content assistance: AI tools can help create visual content like banner ads or social media graphics, which marketers can fine-tune to meet branding standards.
- Chatbots for customer support: Generative AI isn’t just for marketers! It can help your customer support team, too. Chatbots can handle initial customer inquiries, gather basic information and direct users to the appropriate resources or teams to help save time.
Start with one use case, get used to how that process changes once you’ve introduced AI and take the time to fine-tune it. Once you feel good about it, try another use case. Rinse and repeat.
Maintain Privacy and Security
Generative AI models often require large datasets to work as intended, which may include personal or sensitive information. As such, it’s of critical importance to comply with data privacy regulations (like GDPR or CCPA) and implement security measures to prevent unauthorized access to both data and AI-generated outputs.
Keep Your Human Employees Involved
No matter how good the technology gets, we’re huge proponents of human oversight and intervention. Leaving AI to do as it pleases without ever reviewing what it spits out is just a bad business practice; so, keep humans involved:
- AI can generate ideas or draft copy, but human marketers should make the final decisions on what gets published, refining AI outputs to fit narratives and themes and ensure quality and accuracy.
- Humans play a critical role in overseeing AI tools to prevent biases. Marketers regularly audit AI algorithms to ensure that they are not producing biased content.
- AI can suggest content or campaign variations, but humans should test, experiment and analyze results to determine which version performs best.
Those are just a few examples of how humans should remain involved in core marketing initiatives, but the sentiment throughout all uses of generative AI remains the same: Humans drive innovation.
By experimenting with new AI tools, refining processes and adapting strategies based on real-world outcomes, marketing teams can continuously evolve how they’re using AI in their processes.
Why You Ought To Start Thinking About Gen AI If You Haven’t Already
Before we jump into some strategies for introducing and managing the integration of Gen AI into your workflows and operations, we think it’s important to understand the why.
Do we think Gen AI is a replacement for your tenacious in-house talent? No. We’re creative marketers, and we like to flex our creative muscles. Bowing out of our jobs just doesn’t make sense.
On the other hand, do we believe AI has a role to play in the future of marketing? Yes, absolutely. And this is why:
It Can Put Time Back on Your Side and Money Back in Your Pocket
Short articles and blog posts are far and away the most popular form of content today, with 94% of B2B marketers employing them as part of their content marketing strategy. That figure is up from where it was last year, so usage is growing. That’s great news for businesses and bottom lines, but for those tasked with handling the uptick in work, it’s taxing and time-consuming.
Clients — and Google — want the best of the best when it comes to content. But sometimes, time isn’t always on our side as marketers. Generative AI, at its most basic, can streamline workflows — briefing, outlining, researching, etc. — to expedite content production and give writers more time to create compelling copy.
At its best, it can actually write that content for you or, at least, a really solid skeleton to give writers a sturdy jumping-off point. In these ways, savings come indirectly through saved time and higher-quality content afforded by time saved for content prep.
Either way, human oversight is always advised and encouraged to produce the best results possible.
It Can Help You Scale Your (and Your Clients’) Business
There are a couple of ways generative AI can help you grow. Once you’ve got some workflows in place that slice delivery times by any fraction, you can use the time saved to focus more human efforts and resources on business growth and development. While the algorithms are ticking away to help get projects over the finish line faster than you might otherwise, there’s ideally plenty of time left over to drive strategic growth.
The second part of that is using AI to catapult growth through further automation and optimization. Here are a few examples:
- Personalized messaging based on data: AI can generate highly personalized marketing messages based on customer data, preferences and past behaviors.
- Dynamic ads: Gen AI can help you create multiple versions of ad copy, headlines and visual content that are tailored to different audience segments or platforms.
- SEO: GenAI can generate content optimized for search engines by automatically including relevant keywords and creating metadata that boosts a website’s visibility.
It Shows You’re Committed to Staying Contemporary and Competitive
Businesses that fail to evolve often fall behind or fizzle out completely. That’s just how it works. And while many may not understand the sheer potential of AI and how it will continue to transform our personal and professional lives in big ways, the transformation will still happen.
If you ask us, those who choose to start exploring and taking advantage of generative AI now are simply setting themselves up for future success instead of scrambling to catch up when it has already taken off.
Helping Put Your Worries Away
Change is never easy — especially when it’s as seismic as the one that’s currently underway. But we’re here to help quell some of your AI fears by shining brilliant lights on the ways marketers and other professionals can begin using Gen AI to their advantage.
Based on the data discussed earlier, people are beginning to open up, and we love that. All that means is that Gen AI will continue to get better — and we’re excited to see where we stand in one, two, or 10 years’ time.
