New technology can be intimidating for everyone, and with the rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) across the board in today’s economy, marketing is experiencing the same uncertainties that other industries face.
So, how to use AI in B2B marketing effectively? The answer is: practice.
According to Hubspot’s annual State of Artificial Intelligence report, almost two-thirds of marketing professionals have committed budget space to implementing AI tools for B2B marketing. Typically, this means investing in software and shortcuts for employees to use during their day-to-day tasks. Results show increased efficiency and productivity as a result, leading to positive ROI.
The remaining third of marketers surveyed shared uncertainty about the results AI tools can provide, along with potential biases (toward specific groups) that could impede success. While the answer is changing week by week, let’s review AI as it stands today and how B2Bs can use it safely and effectively:
Many execs and department heads are still asking how to use AI in digital marketing, and the answer isn’t as straightforward as we’d like. One answer for optimizing your workflow could be using your talents for creative and expert-level task completion, while relying on AI more for editing and refining tasks. AI can also be useful to help with grammar and syntax mistakes and to improve tone consistency throughout a piece of content.
*Graphic Credit: Christopher Penn, TrustInsights.ai
When using AI for marketing, certain prompting methods can help you brainstorm topic ideas or gather preliminary information for research. AI can also help craft smaller content, such as a subject line for an email or a meta description for a completed blog post.
The graphic above represents the potential benefits of generative AI in marketing. It also recognizes the areas where AI won’t be as helpful, i.e. new-idea generation and creative perspective. Think of AI as your co-pilot, but not the driver. If you get in and start the car, you can input an address and AI can help you get there like a GPS unit. However, AI isn’t ready to get behind the wheel for creative endeavors.
Even hesitant marketers admit that AI tool use is only going to grow. It’s not outlandish to say virtually all marketers will be using AI in one manner or another by 2025.
We broke our recommendations for AI use into four categories:
Each social media platform has its own audience and best practices. Keeping this in mind, it only makes sense to adjust content to fit each platform – but this can be time-consuming. Enlisting AI tools to create Facebook- and LinkedIn-specific posts promoting an article you want to share can provide audience-specific content in mere seconds.
Those who regularly create social content know that breathing excitement into the complex topics you’re promoting can be … challenging, even if they’re super-relevant to your audience. AI can also help break down larger works into digestible chunks that can be shared with your target audience.
When it comes to automated, AI-based social media marketing, you may already be using it if you own a scheduling tool like HubSpot or Hootsuite. These platforms have even integrated an AI writing assistant into their posting tools. From there, it’s a matter of setting up the post with a time and date to auto-publish to your social media channels.
Communicating with lead, customer, and colleague bases can be a challenge, especially if all three are growing at once. Optimizing your messaging is possible by:
Since LLMs apply a specific algorithm to answer questions, the creative and uniquely human element of AI content is lacking. This is why, while AI provides value in a supportive role, it’s far from an adequate replacement for human content creators.
Not seeing a solution to your AI situation? Our AI resource library includes:
When ChatGPT and Bard (now Gemini) first became big news in 2023, many marketers weren’t sure if their careers were over. Some companies did jump to relying on AI for content marketing to boost production speed and reduce their employee salary costs. However, AI can only do so much without the oversight and creative intervention of a human.
That said, when it comes to AI for content marketing, there are several ways your digital doppelgȁnger can be helpful:
Marketing strategy and content mapping rely heavily on brainstorming and identifying keyword and industry trends you can leverage. These processes typically go better when there are multiple “minds” available to consider and volley an idea back and forth.
With the advent of ChatGPT and more specific AI solutions for marketing, getting a quick perspective on your brainstorming does not require scheduling time with co-workers. Instead, you can capitalize on the use of AI tools for:
With a better understanding of how to use AI in marketing, you can implement new processes to increase your efficiency with daily tasks. You can outsource the monotony of certain work and free up time to focus on the more creative aspects of the job. Your campaigns and content will be better for it – but don’t forget the human touch.
No content campaign will work if you don’t have a well-defined buyer persona that provides the AI invaluable context. If you’re unsure you have that foundation set, check out our resource on creating a buyer persona: