From Curiosity to Creation: Integrating AI Tools in Our Marketing Process

“…95% of what marketers use agencies, strategists, and creative professionals for today will easily, nearly instantly, and at almost no cost be handled by the AI…” – Sam Altman.

I spent most of 2023 in denial. It felt like the age of AI happened overnight. Straight from science fiction big-screen morality plays (AI never works out, takes over the world, etc.) to commercial products faster than any other technology adaption I’ve experienced. I mean, I’m Gen X. We’ve lived through PostScript, telnet, dialup, desktop publishing, computer animation, and Keurig. We are used to fast technology adoption and transformation. But how would we use it in marketing?

When interviewed for “Our AI Journey” by Adam Brotman and Andy Sack, Sam Altman hypothesized that nearly everything we make our living doing will be done by AI. Others in our discipline seem to agree. Adobe announced at the end of 2023 that AI would be integrated into its Creative Cloud suite of applications. It promptly released updates that brought generative AI to the forefront of all its applications.

I, of course, remained skeptical. The Desktop Publishing Revolution did not end graphic designers’ careers globally but gave them new and exciting tools to do the work they loved with (sometimes) greater efficiency. I say sometimes because typesetting by hand was easily transformed and made more efficient by digital type. Other than the countless hours spent troubleshooting the endless PostScript errors generated when a printer driver wasn’t up-to-date or having to manage the digital fonts on a Mac to be able to use it well. I’m looking at you, Adobe Type Manager! But at least you didn’t get your hands dirty.

We weren’t replaced; we adopted a new set of tools.

“We are entering a new world driven by algorithms and the data those algorithms use.” – Chris Poulin.

In April of this year, I needed to explain how marketing agencies forecast sales. We’re in a business where we’re always selling: deals are won, deals are lost, some clients are with us for the long term, and others experience change that leaves us in the past. How do you explain this complicated process to someone outside of our field? It felt overwhelming. And then, I considered ChatGPT. I understood that good prompts generate better results, so I carefully composed a tight but detailed query: “How are advertising agencies forecasting sales?” The results were eye-opening. A general overview that made sense was generated. I fine-tuned my query. Even better results were generated. I got super specific. And I was surprised. In a good way.

When it came time to write my last blog, I went to ChatGPT first. You can read the results of the AI-supported blog here. I needed to create some forms for Web Development and Maintenance services and Email Authentication in May. ChatGPT to the rescue! When I had to count data from a client survey we conducted manually, I turned to AI to help with the sorting. “Sort the following into lists of similar or like items,” I prompted. What resulted was a primarily alphabetical list of data I had entered. Most likely, it was a failure of the prompt, but it was the first time I had experienced failure with AI. I was envisioning tables or groups of information being returned. Instead, I got a reorganized list.

Today, I prompted ChatGPT with, “I need a blog headline that will bring traffic. The blog’s topic is how our marketing agency is tip-toeing into using AI tools such as ChatGPT in our marketing efforts. We use it primarily for research assistance and writing prompts.” One of the results is the headline of this article. That’s more like it!

“For better or worse, the best way to overcome these concerns is to start testing and dabbling with the technology safely.” – Sam Leung.

In an article from early in the year, Sam Leung, writing for the Canadian Marketing Association, suggested we calm down and do some investigating. He suggests thinking about AI as a tool, not a strategy, echoing my thinking and history itself. Tools enhance and influence our work, but they don’t replace the work itself or those doing the work, despite any suggestions otherwise. History doesn’t support the theory. Sorry, Sam.

So, how are other folks using AI in their work? I asked a couple of colleagues this question, and here’s what they had to say.

Pamela Patton, a longtime friend and owner/writer of Paragraph Writing, said, “Whenever I tell people I’m a writer, I’m asked for my take on AI. At first, I thought it would replace me. But my tone, voice, skill, knowledge, and out-of-the-box creativity are irreplaceable. AI is just another weapon in my arsenal. It’s a research assistant. My AI of choice is Perplexity. It cites the sources, eliminating the possibility of AI hallucinations.”

Kathy Schoon-Tanis, Content Lead at 2 Fish Company, holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education from Michigan State University, so she has plenty of thoughts on the matter. Kathy said, “Sometimes, the number of letters that follow a person’s name and title tells you what you need to know. As a former teacher with a Ph.D., using AI in any form feels like cheating. It feels like plagiarism, even though it’s unclear whom I would be plagiarizing. Can you plagiarize an algorithm? But as I learn new writing and communication methods, AI (thank you, Grammarly!) has been a useful tool for me. I’ve had to learn to write more efficiently and grab a reader’s attention quickly. Typically, this means that I’ll use AI through Google (“fish puns for Labor Day”; “How to ask good questions to get a testimonial?”), For example, I can get an initial idea or headline and then rewrite or reorganize it to meet the needs of our agency, clients, and partners. AI hasn’t replaced me yet. But it has made me more efficient at my job.”

Adam Rossi, Senior Creative Lead at 2 Fish Company, said, “I’ll often start keyword research by generating lists of relevant search terms based off of a starter set of keywords, which can then be used as a solid starting point for SEMRush [One of the SEO tools we use — Scott] research and search ad writing. AI is also great for taking a first pass at writing things like search ads, social content, and any other blurbs that have a specific character count restriction because it easily boils down an idea to a framework that fits the restriction, which can then be sculpted for accuracy. AI is particularly useful for the outlining or brainstorming stage of any project, where I’ll dump my notes in and ask for a structured summary.”

“What all of us have to do is to make sure we are using AI in a way that is for the benefit of humanity, not to the detriment of humanity.” – Tim Cook.

Far be it for me to arrive at any reasonable conclusion. Instead, I looked to ChatGPT to summarize this blog as a way to wrap things up. The results are enlightening:

“The author shares a personal journey from skepticism to realizing the practical utility of AI in various marketing tasks such as forecasting sales, creating content, and sorting data. Despite initial doubts, experiences with AI tools like ChatGPT have proven beneficial in tasks ranging from generating blog headlines to sorting survey data. The piece also explores the broader implications of AI in creative fields, arguing that while AI introduces new tools and efficiencies, it doesn’t replace the fundamental creativity and strategy provided by human professionals.”

I couldn’t say it any better myself.

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