AI Content Marketing Revolution: Boost Productivity with Expert Secrets

AI has become a catalyst for big changes in marketing. It’s developing into a standard part of workflows for marketers at the top of their game, and is still rising in importance – in fact, it’s causing a marketing revolution. Some research says productivity and creativity can be enhanced by as much as 66%.

It’s a trend that’s seen across the board by marketing experts, like Andy Crestodina, Chief Marketing Officer and Co-Founder of Orbit Media Studios and Natalie Lambert, Founder and Managing Partner of GenEdge Consulting, and other experts, who shared their insights for 2024 and beyond at PlayPlay’s recent Content Summit. If you’re in marketing, you’ll need to embrace AI if you don’t want to fall behind. We’re going to tell you how.

“Marketers are not going to be replaced by AI, but by marketers using AI” – Natalie Lambert, Founder and Managing Partner of GenEdge Consulting.

Empowering marketing with generative AI

Creating content that speaks to the needs of your audience has long been the secret to building trust in your brand. AI for marketing hasn’t changed that, but it’s allowing marketers to shift up a gear.

With the power to process data fast, AI is bringing benefits including:

• greater consumer understanding, where user data can be gathered and analyzed more efficiently
• increased personalization, so content can be tailored to individuals - at scale
• no more brain block, because AI can generate ideas to get you started
• trend prediction, with data analysis so strong, AI can help you predict what users will care about in the future, so you can create a content plan early.

This makes the integration of AI a strategic imperative for marketers leading their industry – and according to research, almost three-quarters of marketers already use AI on a weekly basis. Recognizing that in adopting cutting-edge technology and by making AI a standard part of their team’s workflows, they’re unlocking unparalleled efficiency.

What does this mean for you? Instead of slaving away for hours over time-consuming tasks, AI can get your content 80-90% complete in just a few seconds. After which, it’s up to your skilled eye and experience, the human marketer, to make the final tweaks that really make your brand’s content shine. The latest research reveals that 48% of marketers already use AI to create content, so if you’re not already doing it, it’s time to get started.

In fact, Natalie Lambert explains that with AI, marketers say they complete more tasks, and do them faster than colleagues not using AI. And 40% reported getting higher quality results with AI than without. With routine tasks handled by AI, marketing professionals once again have the time and bandwidth to ideate, innovate, and unleash their creative potential – to “bring the secret sauce to make it perfect,” says Natalie Lambert.

Now, every campaign can be launched faster and deliver better results. But there’s no need to worry – AI isn’t about to steal your job.

AI-powered content marketing for enhanced performance

With sophisticated algorithms, generative AI can help marketers produce dynamic, personalized content – at scale. Being responsive to trends keeps your brand relevant, so your business can stay ahead of the competition.

AI can help marketers quickly analyze user behavior and respond to audience needs, delivering tailor-made content to your target customer. And when the targeting is just right, you foster stronger connections between your brand and your audience – and you drive sales.

Generative AI empowers marketers to streamline content creation processes. From writing engaging copy to designing visually stunning graphics and videos, AI tools can automate and accelerate all kinds of aspects of content creation.

What does this look like? Imagine producing content that’s bang on-trend and ready to share on social in just a few minutes. From scriptwriting to editing, generative AI can be used to optimize almost every aspect of the production process. And some tools, like PlayPlay’s AI video assistant, can even create an entire video using just a single sentence prompt.

This all means your brand can be fast enough to lead the conversation, not just jump on the bandwagon. When your content’s fresh and new, it can enhance your marketing performance exponentially.

Tips for AI integration in content strategies

Since AI exploded onto the marketing scene, the tools available have become so varied it can be baffling. If you’re wondering where to dip your toe in, here’s a few ideas for integrating AI into your content strategy:

1. Data-driven content planning

AI excels at analyzing vast datasets to identify trends and preferences. Leverage AI tools to inform your content planning, so each piece is strategically aligned with your audience’s needs and aspirations - try tools like Clay: it uses multiple data sources to give you enriched insights on individuals or businesses.

2. Content creation

Create an incredible variety of content types with the help of AI. One of the most well-known generative AI tools is ChatGPT, a language-based platform that can help with written material from blog posts and emails to e-books and social posts. Look out for other content creation tools to enhance your productivity - Clay comes in handy here, too, with next-level personalized email campaigns - and check out how PlayPlay can help you create videos in seconds.

3. Automated Social Media Campaigns

AI-powered tools can automate scheduling and posting across various social platforms, saving time and making your posts consistent and strategic – maximizing reach and impact.

4. Dynamic Content Personalization

Analyze user behavior and preferences in real-time, enabling dynamic content personalization to tailor content to individual users for enhanced user engagement and brand loyalty. Look out for Letterdrop to give your audience exactly what they want to see

5. Social listening

Track how your content’s landing – and public opinion of your brand. By automating how you monitor sentiment trends, you cut out costly, time-consuming and sometimes inaccurate data gathering techniques like focus groups and surveys. There are lots to choose from, so take a look at Sprinklr and GenY Labs for tools specially built for marketers.

6. Predictive Analytics for Content Strategy Optimization

AI-driven predictive analytics tools like FounderPal and Keytrends can forecast content performance based on historical data and market trends. These insights help optimize your content strategies to yield the best returns.

7. Gap analysis

AI is far better at spotting what’s missing in content or a strategy than a person is. “Humans value what they see, and it makes us bad decision-makers. Every unmet need will hurt your conversion rate,” says Orbit Media Studios’, Andy Crestodina. Check out tools like GapScout to see what’s missing in the market, so you can capitalize on it.

Elevating brand experience with AI-infused content and emerging tech

With more of our life experiences being delivered digitally, audiences are craving personal connections. AI will become fundamental to the content brands develop.

The only way to get customers to choose your brand, rather than your competitors, is through giving them the best brand experience. “AI is one of the most exciting changes we’ve seen. It won’t fundamentally change what content works, but it will enhance it,” says Margarita Loktionova from Semrush, “human content will become even more important and will differentiate you from the competition. We don't know how the AI algorithms will change, but quality content is the only thing that’s left.”

1. Enhanced Customer Engagement

Through sentiment analysis and predictive modeling, generative AI can help you enhance customer engagement. “Attention span is really short: it’s a challenge for marketers to capture attention and increase engagement,” says Samantha Lerner Korbin of Obsess.

When you anticipate customer needs, preferences, and trends, to create content that’s more relevant, and data-driven, says Margarita Loktionova, it makes your campaigns timely and well-targeted. Take inspiration from the entertainment sector: Netflix uses AI to suggest movies and shows based on viewing history, enhancing user engagement and satisfaction.

2. Chatbots for interactive content

Intelligent chatbots, powered by AI, provide an instant, interactive and personalized content experience. Whether guiding users through product information and recommendations or helping solve queries, chatbots like those used by beauty brand Sephora, can enhance engagement, boosting user experience and conversion rates.

Using chatbots can result in a 14% increase in issues resolved every hour. And while that might not be marketing in the traditional sense, if your users are gaining an experience with your brand, it’s worth making it a positive one – it all contributes to overall brand perception and trust.

3. Emerging technologies

Keep your eye on up-and-coming tech that delivers more. With emerging tech, like that provided by our friends at Obsess, the immersive feel of the real-world can be brought to the online world. Gaming-fluent users expect their online experiences to be interactive and gamified: “It’s really exploratory – they’re spending extra time getting to know the brand and the story,” explains Samantha Lerner Korbin.

Immersive environments mean that destination stores such as Crate and Barrel can now be open to anyone across the world, not just those within traveling distance. With an expanded audience able to indulge in a life-like shopping experience, your brand can become accessible while remaining ‘special’.

AI-based technologies can create and enhance brand experiences, and – if done with an eye on KPIs – these will help you engage with customers, increase conversions, and ramp up innovation.

Future of AI in marketing: Trends and applications

Now that you know WHAT you can do with AI, next you need a clear idea of how to incorporate strategies and workflows into plans. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

Step 1: Define clear objectives

Clearly define your marketing objectives. Whether it's improving content creation, personalization, optimizing ad targeting, or enhancing customer engagement, specific goals will make your AI implementation strategy more effective.

Step 2: Identify use cases

Identify specific areas within your marketing workflows where AI can bring the most value to your plans. For example, this might include content creation, audience segmentation, predictive analytics, or chatbot implementation. “Depending on your individual skills, pick the right tasks for AI – from creation, collaboration – being like a work buddy – or cultivation: giving you the skills you always wanted,” explains Natalie Lambert.

Step 3: Assess data readiness

Since AI relies on data, the quality, quantity, and accessibility of your data must be high. Clean, organized, and diverse datasets are essential, otherwise insights will be skewed, negatively affecting the results you get from your marketing.

Step 4: Explore AI tools and platforms

Research and choose AI tools that align with your goals using sites like findmyaitool. Whether you’re looking to harness data, generate content, or engage closely with your audience, choose from standalone platforms or those that integrate with existing marketing software.

Step 5: Run pilot projects

Test effectiveness before you invest heavily. Implement AI in pilot projects, like A/B testing AI-generated content, experiment with chatbots on a specific platform, or use AI for targeted ad campaigns. Always feed AI tools information so they can understand your brand, your goals and your target customer to get the best results.

Support your teams along the journey too - fostering a culture of experimentation will help them push the boundaries and get incredible results. Don’t forget to assess the impact and gather insights - it’s only when you test, test, test that you can scale up with confidence.

Step 6: Collaborate with AI experts

If you don't have in-house AI expertise, collaborate with data scientists or AI specialists to help you leverage the full potential of AI tools and gain valuable insights into your marketing data. Agencies can provide the benefit of their experience without needing the investment of training AI for marketing to in-house teams.

Step 7: Integrate AI into content creation

For content marketing, explore AI-powered tools for content creation, curation, and optimization. Whether it's generating blog post ideas, creating AI generated video scripts, or automating social media posts, AI can enhance your efficiency, so you can spend time on creativity. And when you’re ready to generate videos, give PlayPlay a go.

Step 8: Analyze performance and ROI

Regularly monitor the performance of your AI-integrated strategies. Use analytics tools to assess key performance indicators (KPIs) and gather insights so you can refine your strategies based on real-time data. Don’t forget to analyze the expense and effort, too:

Assess whether AI makes a difference to your efforts, recommends Natalie Lambert, so you can see where it makes a positive difference. She sets out a framework of four key pillars to check AI’s performance:

• Cost: Is it more or less expensive to do this task with AI than with your previous method?
• Time: Does it take a longer or shorter time to complete this task than without AI?
• Performance: Are you getting better or worse results than when you weren’t using AI?
• Creativity: Is your creativity higher or lower than when humans carry out this task without AI?
  

Step 9: Scale up gradually

Once you've tested your AI strategies, scale up to bigger audiences to reap greater rewards. Expand AI integration across your marketing channels and use the insights gained to inform broader marketing strategies.

Step 10: Stay informed and evolve

AI technology evolves rapidly. Stay informed about new developments, updates, and emerging trends in AI for marketing, and continuously evolve your AI strategies to stay ahead.

“Have a culture of experimentation, bring people together to share what they’ve tried and show success and failure to expand the knowledge within the organization,” Natalie Lambert advises.

The ability to generate content that resonates with diverse audiences, predict market trends, and automate repetitive tasks is just the beginning. Marketers who embrace and master AI, including generative AI, will be at the forefront of innovation, shaping the future landscape of the industry and driving results for their business.

Overcoming challenges in adopting AI

1. Data quality and availability

AI relies on high-quality, diverse data. Many marketing teams struggle with data silos, inconsistency, or lack of sufficient data, which can hold back your marketing insights and endeavors.

To avoid this issue, conduct a thorough audit of existing data, invest in data cleaning and establish protocols for data governance. Consider data enrichment services to enhance the quality and diversity of your datasets.

2. Integration with existing systems

Look out for technical compatibility issues when integrating AI into existing marketing systems.

Prioritize AI tools that offer seamless integration with your current marketing stack and seek solutions that allow for phased integration to minimize disruptions. Collaborate closely with IT teams and communicate openly with the wider business to explain the benefits and uses of AI.

3. Lack of in-house expertise

Expertise in data science and machine learning might be lacking in some marketing teams.

Consider hiring AI specialist agencies or partnering with other external experts to hire in the experience you need. Invest in training for existing team members to build and grow your internal AI capabilities, and share helpful resources to keep everyone up-to-date.

4. Cost of Implementation

AI technologies can be costly to implement, especially for smaller marketing teams with limited budgets.

Start with smaller, focused AI projects to demonstrate ROI before scaling up. Explore cost-effective AI solutions and cloud-based services that offer flexible pricing models, and consider using external agencies to get great expertise at a lower cost than hiring in permanent talent.

5. Ethical considerations and privacy concerns

AI implementation can raise ethical concerns, especially regarding data privacy and the potential misuse of AI-generated insights.

Develop and communicate clear ethical guidelines for AI use. Ensure compliance with data protection regulations, and implement transparent practices in data collection and use. Remember to prioritize customer consent and privacy.

6. Resistance to change

Employees may resist adopting AI due to fear of job displacement, skepticism, or unfamiliarity with new technologies.

Clearly communicate the benefits of AI, emphasizing its role in complementing human skills rather than replacing them. Invest in training to build confidence and keep everyone on-side.

7. Measuring ROI and performance

It can be difficult to accurately measure the performance of AI initiatives to determine the return on investment (ROI).

Establish clear KPIs before you begin to implement AI in your marketing strategies. Regularly monitor and analyze performance metrics to assess the impact AI has on your marketing goals, and adjust your approach based on the insights you gain.

8. Overcoming bias in AI algorithms

AI algorithms can sometimes perpetuate biases present in the training data, which can lead to unfair or discriminatory outcomes.

Avoid bias by ensuring diverse representation in the data used to train AI algorithms. Implement bias detection and mitigation strategies, and regularly audit AI models for fairness and inclusivity.

9. AI “hallucinations”

This is where AI produces content that’s not in-line with your brand, your message, or your consumers’ needs. Understandably, it can have a negative impact on brand experience and audience trust.

Train your AI with data and feedback so it can learn and improve the results it generates for you. Have appropriate checks and filters to make sure the AI produces results that align with your strategy and target customer.

10. Keeping up with technological advancements

AI technologies are evolving rapidly, and it can be a struggle to keep up with the latest developments.

Stay informed through reading industry publications, attending conferences and fostering a culture of continuous learning in your organization. Establish partnerships with vendors committed to ongoing support and updates.

By addressing these challenges proactively, your organization can unlock the full potential of AI to boost your brand’s marketing activities.

Unlock 2024 success with AI-powered content marketing

Bringing AI into content marketing is a strategic necessity for 2024. By embracing AI for video creation, data-driven planning, and personalized content delivery, you can elevate your marketing strategies, driving performance and productivity to new heights.

For further insights into the advantages that AI can bring to marketing – and how you can embrace them – check out the replays of PlayPlay’s recent Content Summit: our experts are full of tips and tricks to help you get the best results. And try out PlayPlay’s AI Video Assistant for an exciting, easy way to start your AI-powered video creation journey – we can’t wait to see what you create!