Madelyn Gardner

There are a lot of great aspects of AI that help marketers create content that’s both creative and compelling. However, like any good thing, there are also some downsides. 

We wanted to know what marketers struggle with most when using AI tools to boost the content creation process. According to our survey of 127 professionals, there are four specific roadblocks they run into most often:

  1. Getting the prompt right.
  2. Creating high-quality content the audience needs and deserves.
  3. Driving KPIs through AI-generated content. 
  4. AI tool overload.

Because AI is now part of our marketing world, we must learn to overcome these challenges to have the best experience — and content — possible. Let’s break down each of these challenges and go over solutions that can help. 

Challenge 1: Getting the Prompt Right

AI follows directions pretty literally, which means getting the right output starts with how you ask it to do something. Whether you’re hoping for it to follow specific brand guidelines or write a particular type of content format — like a white paper, blog or eBook — the prompt matters. 

In fact, 72% of survey respondents said this is the biggest challenge when trying to create good content with AI — followed by personalization (54%) and producing specific formats of content (24%). As one respondent put it: “Getting AI to remember all parts of the instructions is a challenge. I’ve had to build different bots that handle different parts of the process.”

And because AI isn’t human, it doesn’t always pick up on the subtleties and intricacies of language like a human would. To capture that mood, a respondent mentioned: “Creating content for a niche market that’s very specific and nuanced is challenging.”

Another individual added: “A main issue is getting it to understand nuanced details.” 

Solutions

So, how can marketers set themselves and the AI up for success? Here are some ways you can improve prompting:

Practice, Practice, Practice

You know the saying ‘practice makes perfect?’ Well, it applies to AI, too. The more you experiment with AI-generated content, the better you’ll understand how to refine prompts for optimal results. Start with a basic prompt, analyze the results and tweak your instructions to see how small changes improve the response. 

Additionally, iterating on prompts helps AI better align with your brand’s tone and style. For instance, if the first attempt lacks personality, try adding descriptors like “engaging,” “witty” or “authoritative” to steer AI in the right direction.

Learn Prompting Best Practices

Using AI is like any other skill: You must follow best practices to improve your efforts. Here are a few tips to follow:

  • Be clear and concise: Overly complex or vague prompts can lead to inaccurate results. Instead of “Write a blog about cybersecurity,” try “Write a 1,000-word blog post about emerging cybersecurity threats for small businesses, using a professional yet accessible tone.”
  • Provide context: AI performs best when it has the full picture. If you need AI to write in your brand’s voice, feed it past content examples or clearly describe your preferred style.
  • Use step-by-step instructions: If a single prompt isn’t delivering the depth you need, break it into smaller requests. For example, first, ask AI to create an outline before requesting a full draft.

Use Specific Content Marketing Tools

While general AI models like ChatGPT are powerful, they don’t always provide the most original content. For best results, use tools specifically created for content marketers or otherwise designed for content creation purposes. 

Challenge 2: Creating High-Quality Content the Audience Needs and Deserves

High-quality content is essential to building solid relationships with your target audience. They want insightful articles, hard-hitting white papers and consistent content so it feels like a familiar friend. 

While AI is efficient, it doesn’t always spit out the types of copy your audience deserves. Here are some of the top concerns respondents had regarding AI content quality:

  • Generic or bland content: 71%.
  • Thin or irrelevant content that doesn’t meet audience needs: 42%.
  • Outdated references and information: 26%.

Many people struggle to get the specific tone and voice of their brand when using AI-generated copy: “It’s difficult to make sure it’s authentic and still has our brand voice.”

Another person added: “I’ve been trying to get it to stop saying the same words over and over, like “In this blog…,” “landscape,” “not only; but” and “in the realm of marketing.”” 

While it’s always critical to double-check any content before publishing it, some respondents shared that AI often needs correction: “It likes to make stuff up even when you’ve instructed it not to.” 

Solutions

Here are some ways to tie together human effort and AI for the best possible copy:

Get the Prompt Right

Humans know brand guidelines and legal requirements better than AI does — but you can teach it. By folding these details into your prompt, it will take the necessary requirements into account when creating content. Also, don’t be afraid to get specific: Tell it to include data points or provide definitions of nuanced terms. 

Re-Prompting for Better Outcomes

AI-generated content might not be right the first time. Re-prompting allows you to refine and iterate until you get the desired results. If the first draft feels generic, ask AI to rewrite sections with a stronger voice or add more industry-specific insights.

Using a Purpose-Built Content Marketing AI Solution

General AI tools are useful, but content marketing-specific AI platforms offer enhanced customization to help you ace your copy creation. These tools often provide pre-set templates, tone adjustments and advanced features that help marketers craft brand-consistent messaging.

Proofreading and Copyediting

The robots can’t do everything — and even algorithms can make mistakes. Make sure you, as the content expert, look through the copy to ensure it’s accurate and says exactly what you want it to. 

Challenge 3: Driving KPIs Through AI-Generated Content

Sure, you can simply write AI copy without focusing on metrics, but it won’t deliver top-notch results and drive organic traffic like you’re hoping. In that vein, two other concerns respondents shared are that AI-generated content doesn’t perform as well as human-generated content (24%) and it doesn’t take SEO or E-E-A-T into account (19%). 

The difference in content quality between AI and human-written content causes many marketers to pause before pursuing AI-generated content: “AI-written copy is obvious but people will produce it and ask us to publish the poor quality outputs.”

Solutions

Want to see more fruitful content from using AI? Try out some of these hacks:

Weave in AI Slowly

Rather than going from zero to 100 with AI, slowly introduce it as you figure out what works best for your brand. By blending AI-generated content with human oversight, you can maintain authenticity while leveraging AI’s efficiency. A hybrid approach — where AI assists in ideation and structuring while humans refine tone, voice and depth — tends to produce the best results.

Track Your Results

Play around with different variations of AI-generated content, keeping track of what prompts you used and what SEO considerations you gave. This will help you dissect what worked and what didn’t, making it easier to refine your approach for the future. 

Feed AI SEO and E-E-A-T Information

AI generally doesn’t inherently understand SEO and E-E-A-T unless you guide it:

  • Provide detailed instructions: Ask AI to include expert opinions, real-world examples and authoritative sources.
  • Manually add credibility: Insert citations, case studies and data-backed insights AI might miss.
  • Optimize for search engines: Incorporate strategic keywords naturally and structure content with clear headings, bullet points and internal links.
  • Choose content marketing-specific AI tools: Purpose-built tools like contentmarketing.ai are designed to create content that’s infused with E-E-A-T elements and performs well in organic search.

Challenge 4: AI Tool Overload

With new AI tools constantly emerging, keeping up can feel overwhelming — especially as company leaders press teams to adopt AI for productivity and efficiency.

For marketers, the challenge isn’t just learning new tools but also determining which ones are worth investing time in. The rapid evolution of AI means that today’s cutting-edge tools could be outdated tomorrow. Without due diligence in tool selection, this pressure to adopt AI can lead to ineffective results. As one respondent put it: “Many C-suites will push AI and small businesses will use it, but it will ultimately be a net negative for everyone when it’s filled with generic slop.” 

Another respondent expressed frustration with the learning curve: “Every tool has its own unique UI, individual prompting styles and functionality. And they’re changing so rapidly; it feels like you need to be constantly learning 10+ AI programs to stay on top of their own capabilities.”

Solutions

How to fix these issues for less stressful AI implementation and learning? Use these best practices:

Go Slow and Be Intentional

Start small by assessing how a new tool or process could fit into your existing operations without completely reinventing the wheel. Rather than implementing AI for the sake of it, think about how AI could improve your content creation process. Identify a specific task you’d like AI to assist with, research options that fit that specific purpose, identify KPIs you’ll use to measure success, and then start thinking about how you could automate other tasks. 

Research Tools Related to Your Goals

AI isn’t one-size-fits-all — at least, it doesn’t have to be. Learn what’s out there instead of diving into the one you just happened to hear about. This research lets you better understand your options and gives you more ideas of how else you can apply AI to your daily routine. It also gives you tiered choices based on the price you want to pay and what you want to accomplish with it. 

Make Your Decision Based on Your Brand’s Needs

Your brand has unique needs, meaning you want an AI solution that will help you specifically and strategically. To find the right AI tool, remember the specific tasks you’ll improve via AI. Use this framework to assess the tools you’re choosing between. Then, identify the KPIs most important to your brand and make sure you can measure them with the tool. Review the options with your team and leadership, including the pricing and capabilities — this isn’t a one-person job. Lastly, implement the tool strategically, ensuring everyone is trained and ready to use it to its full potential. 

Periodically Assess Performance

AI tools shouldn’t be set-and-forget solutions. Regularly review their effectiveness by:

  • Measuring against your KPIs to determine what the tool is doing well and where it falls short.
  • Comparing expectations versus actual results.
  • Identifying new features or alternative tools that might better serve your needs as AI evolves.

Solving the AI Copy Puzzle

Sometimes, it’s hard to see what pieces you’re missing without first looking at the full picture. What do you want your content to sound like and achieve? What do you want readers to get out of your copy? 

By focusing on quality over quantity, using AI-generated content best practices and always, always fact-checking and proofreading your content, you’ll overcome common roadblocks and stay one step ahead of your competitors.

Keep Exploring Our AI in Marketing Insights

Check out the rest of our survey outcomes series:

Note: This article was originally published on brafton.com.