An AI Chat
A Non-Comprehensive, Inconclusive Discussion on AI in Marketing
I’m going to try really, really hard to not use clichés when I dive into a discussion on AI. Because I know this conversation is rife with platitudes.
Groundbreaking, unprecedented, disruptive, the biggest thing since the internet, it’s changing the workforce landscape… blah blah blah.
You’ve heard it all before.
For every industry – AI is now part of the conversation. I think we can safely start there.
I want to lay out the way we’re thinking about AI here at Nowaday, give you an idea of how it’s affecting marketing in general, and then leave you with a few questions that I recommend asking yourself when it comes to how you use AI in your role or business.
Our AI Approach
We use AI. Plain and simple.
Nowaday Studio is a digital-first studio with a team across Canada and the US.
The question was never IF we were going to use it, but how.
My approach around “the new” has always been to learn, try, and reassess.
This doesn’t mean that we don’t consider the pros and cons of incorporating AI into our workflow. In fact, we’re in the process of aligning our entire team and creating internal policies around how and when we use AI tools.
But we’re also trying to use caution and institute the “reassess” aspect of our policies as AI continues to change.
When Chat GPT was launched in 2022, we gave it a minute.
It’s only been in the past 12 months that it’s become an integrated part of how we prep proposals, adjust copy, and brainstorm ideas.
The Reality of AI in Marketing
For myself personally, watching the rise of AI in digital content creation has been interesting to say the least.
Chat GPT is writing a lot of captions, posts, and content. Sometimes good, and other times, not so good. And I’m not even going to get into MidJourney or any other image generating tool.
It makes sense.
For the past 20 years in marketing, content has reigned supreme over other marketing tools and tactics. And a lot of the time quantity over quality has been the driving force.
At the same time… None of us have the capacity to creatively, and authentically create the amount of content required to grow these days.
But I digress.
The reality is – beyond the quantity vs. quality conversation – there’s an element of fear surrounding AI.
I feel it in a number of ways:
Is it hampering my own creativity if I use Chat GPT?
If we don’t adopt and learn every AI tool out there, will we fall behind as a team?
What are the ethical/ecological implications of energy use when submitting queries all the time?
Do we actually need to keep being faster and more efficient? Is that an end goal that’s worth what we lose from AI use?
I don’t know the answers to these questions and I frankly don’t believe anyone who says that they have a black and white, neatly packaged answer to these thoughts.
AI is not a simple concept and AI tools (although packaged to seem simplistic) aren’t straight forward in the ethical sense either.
So what next?
First of all, I anticipate that “human” written/designed content will make a comeback in a big way after we’ve all read/seen enough AI generated, bland, and uninspired copy.
But in terms of right now? And where we go from here?
It feels open-ended and unclear.
The thing I do know? Ignoring AI isn’t the answer.
And while I don’t have any answers, I do have a few questions that myself and my team are asking ourselves regularly to try as best as possible to use AI in an ethical, creatively authentic way.
If you’re looking for some sort of framework to determine how and when you’ll use AI in your business and, more specially, your marketing efforts, here’s the list:
Why am I using AI for this particular task? Is it repetitive? Boring? Challenging? Complex?
Our rule of thumb (for now) is that boring/repetitive tasks are generally a good candidate for AI. Challenging and complex tasks – we take another look. AI can be a helpful starting point but we try to move beyond Chat GPT when we look for solutions and work through creative problem solving. Creating a list of ways you use AI is a great way to keep yourself accountable.
Do I have enough time to review this and edit the AI response?
If we are using an AI tool for a task (especially copywriting) have we built in the time in our workflow to review? Copy and pasting is not advised. Chat GPT doesn’t always get it right and editing is essential. First drafts are drafts for a reason – whether they’re developed by a human or an AI tool.
Am I providing enough background information and researching/learning prompt best practices?
As AI tools get more advanced, prompting becomes more and more important (and nuanced). If we’re going to use the tools, we have to do our due diligence in learning how to use them well and making sure our prompts are connected to strategy, brand, nuance, etc.
Besides taking a careful, balanced approach, I think it’s also ok to acknowledge that this tool is overwhelming and our feelings around it will shift.
Like most things in business (and life) too much of a good thing isn’t great.
And not enough of something that’s genuinely helpful also isn’t great.
If we can accept that using AI tools in our marketing still requires human effort and problem solving behind them, that’s really all we can do as this landscape continues to shift at breakneck speed.
As always, you know where to find us if you have your own thoughts and feelings around AI use in marketing. Let’s keep the conversation open.
