The Pros and Cons of AI in Marketing

You might be surprised at exactly how many people can sense when AI has been used to generate content…

A new study from Bynder revealed that over 50% of consumers can detect the use of AI. Despite the sometimes obvious nature of AI-generated content, we still see a lot of people wanting to use it to streamline their content creation.

While it may be tempting to leverage AI to easily create social posts, blogs, e-blasts, and so on — you may want to think again.

There’s a number of reasons why AI-generated content could backfire. It may be the easy route, but there’s a significant sacrifice of quality given the lack of human touch.

Here’s a few of the drawbacks of AI that could harm your brand in the long run:

1.Undermines Authenticity

AI-generated content often lacks the genuine voice and unique perspective that human-created content provides. This can make your brand seem less authentic, which is crucial for building a loyal audience.

2. Gives an Impression of Laziness

Using AI to create content can give the idea that your brand is taking shortcuts. Audiences appreciate the effort and thoughtfulness that goes into creating original content, so when they sense that AI is afoot, it will leave a bad taste in their mouth.

3. Feels Impersonal

AI lacks the ability to bring the personal touch and emotional nuance that human writers bring. This can make your content feel generic and cold, which is ill-received by most audiences. People need to connect with your content on a personal level, and AI typically stands in the way of that.

4. Lacks Creativity and Originality

Since AI content is based on existing data, it can result in repetitive or unoriginal material. Human creativity is essential for generating fresh, innovative ideas that capture and retain audience interest.

5. Weakens Trust Among Your Audience

Many people feel like brands are being untruthful when they utilize AI-generated content without being upfront about it. Because people really value transparency and honesty, relying on AI can make your content seem disingenuous.

6. Can Come Across Corny

AI tends to add an excess amount of fluff to its content, using overly-exaggerated word choices and too much extravagance. This type of content can easily come off as being corny, when often a more professional tone of voice is better suited for many brands’ voices. 

7. Lacks Emotional Depth and Connection

Given that AI is, well, essentially a robot, it obviously lacks emotional intelligence. This makes it difficult for AI to produce content that resonates on an emotional level with your audience. Of course, real people are better at creating emotionally engaging stories that connect with readers.

8. Lowers Engagement

Audiences are more likely to engage with content that feels personal and relatable. AI-generated content might not inspire the same level of engagement, leading to lower interaction rates and overall performance.

9. May Present Misinformation

AI has a tendency to make its case, no matter what. Sometimes, that means exaggerating the truth or just flat out presenting misinformation. If you’re not careful to fact check your AI-generated content, you could wind up having some untruthful content being presented with your name on it. 

10. Can Cause More Work 

AI is appealing because it promises to minimize your workload, but with all of the aforementioned potential issues, getting quality AIR content is no walk in the park. In the time you spend proof-reading and editing AI output, you might be better off writing your own content. 

While AI can be a useful tool for certain tasks, relying too heavily on it for your marketing content can lead to a number of negative perceptions. To maintain a strong and positive relationship with your audience, try to avoid the use of AI, or at least balance it with your authentic, human touch.

So, given the above, you may be wondering if AI has a place at all in your marketing strategy. The fact of the matter is that AI isn’t going anywhere, and it will improve over time. Just because it’s not perfect yet does not mean it shouldn’t be used at all.

Here’s how and why AI should be used:

1.Idea Generation

AI can provide a great jumping off point. Leveraging AI to come up with ideas is one way to utilize the benefits of AI without running into the consequences outlined above. 

2. Staying On Top of Trends

By familiarizing yourself with the complexities of AI now, you can be better prepared for when AI does eventually improve to a point of higher usability. Plus, AI is a hot topic in just about every industry, so it’s beneficial to have a basic understanding of how it works (and how it doesn’t).

3. Integrate AI into Your Customer Support

AI has improved the quality of chatbots, so integrating AI into your customer care as a temporary stand-in until a real human can step in is a great way to give the impression of immediate assistance to potentially upset customers. 

4. Utilize Software-Based AI Integrations

Many platforms, like MailChimp for example, have integrated AI in some way, shape, or form. AI integrations can help you optimize newsletter or social post send-times, pinpoint areas for improvement in your content, and understand your data analytics.

While AI may seem like a tempting fix-all, it's just not there yet. As the digital landscape becomes increasingly saturated with Al-generated messaging and imagery, authentically human-crafted content will likely become a high luxury commodity.  

There are some things that AI simply can’t replace (…yet). Weaving in personal experiences and authentic storytelling tactics is uniquely human. AI also falls short at evoking emotion and feeling ‘real’. So, for now, don’t lean too heavily on AI to drive your content strategy. Instead, us it as a supplement to bolster your primarily human-centric efforts.