The late November 2022 launch of ChatGPT was a watershed moment for AI. While powerful generative AI had been around for a few years before that point, never before was it so accessible. With the launch of its API, ChatGPT and other models would emerge as key building blocks for an entire ecosystem of tools.
ChatGPT logo on a smartphone screen. OpenAI logo is visible in the background. Image credit: Mojahid Mottakin via Unsplash, free license
Marketing was particularly affected. Long-standing jobs involving content creation were disrupted by AI, and observers feared marketers would feel that their jobs had been threatened by it. In the case of text-to-image generators like Dall-E 2, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, all of which were also released in 2022, many critics decried the ethical implications of the data used to inform leading AI models and the biases of their output.
However, adoption and sentiment data tells another story. Today, some 71% of marketers are integrating AI and automation tools into their workflows, and more than half of marketers surveyed by Influencer Marketing Hub feel AI will enhance their own marketing efforts.
Let’s take a look at a few trends that speak to how marketers are looking at generative AI, a year after it went mainstream.
Marketers already see AI as pivotal to their success
Mailchimp’s research shows that 88% of marketers believe their companies must use AI and automation to satisfy customers and remain competitive. Around half believe a lack of AI adoption is holding them back from achieving their goals.
Marketers are increasingly sold on AI for two key reasons. First, the breadth of AI tools available makes adoption a no-brainer. From writing assistants to SEO research tools, AI reduces the amount of time marketers spend executing tasks.
Fast-changing consumer attitudes also lead to greater AI adoption, the second reason marketers believe it’s key to their success. With social media’s organic reach decreasing by the day and audiences demanding customized outreach, AI-driven platforms can crunch data and create successful campaigns nearly autonomously.
As marketing grows more challenging, we can expect AI to become more of a mainstay in marketing departments, whether as an assistant or within marketing tools.
Creator marketing runs on generative AI
AI-generated content is a hit with brands. Approximately 56% of content creators surveyed by Lightricks note that the brands they work with have overtly requested AI-generated content.
Additionally, 71% of creators report that their followers responded positively to AI-generated content, and 86% say that AI enhances their creative output.
At first glance, these numbers may seem surprising. With consumers desiring more human connection, market observers initially believed AI content would be a damp squib. However, AI content has proved far more resilient. For starters, AI content is faster to develop and release. As a result, brands are reserving specific campaigns for human influencers and relying on AI to develop short-term ones.
AI content also lends itself well to customization and special effects. Recent campaigns by The Government of Dubai leveraged the city’s iconic Burj Khalifa building and AI to create social media buzz. One campaign used AI to project an umbrella atop the tower, while another mimicked a drone show in the lead-up to the country’s National Day celebrations.
Content generated by AI is also consistent. Marketers can train their models on their brand scheme and style, ensuring every generation stays true to the company’s themes. As a result, AI is speeding up content creation without sacrificing consistency.
AI improves marketing data analysis and campaign personalization
WebFX reported that data analysis is a popular AI use case with marketers, with 52% admitting to using it. Another 78% noted they were comfortable using AI for campaign personalization. These numbers make intuitive sense. Marketing generates more data than before, and expecting a human being to crunch all that data and draw conclusions from it quickly is unrealistic.
Even an AI bot like ChatGPT’s free version speeds up data analysis to unimaginable levels. Marketers can input tables of data and ask the bot to summarize them quickly, generating a plan of action in as little as a few seconds.
AI’s presence in marketing campaign software is powering analytics, giving marketers insights into their audiences. The result is hyper-personalization that generates more engagement with campaigns.
Marketers can now gather even more data and use AI to correlate them. For instance, instead of relying merely on age or location data, marketers can take interests, social media activity, platform choice, and browsing behavior into account when segmenting their audiences.
As businesses collect more unstructured data, AI’s relevance for analysis will increase. Its ability to parse and make sense of data will prove a boon for marketers, and we can expect more personalization than ever before.
AI-produced video seems to be the next frontier
While AI’s uses for image and text generation are well-known, video creation lags. The Content Marketing Institute notes that at 18%, relatively few marketers use AI for video creation right now, but this is likely due to technological limitations and not because of a lack of willingness. Indeed, one-third of those who don’t yet create AI-powered video plan to do so in 2024.
Marketers are hungry to use AI for video, since the use cases are tremendous. For instance, marketers can upload a likeness of themselves, train their AI avatar, and superimpose video transcripts over it to quickly generate videos.
Instead of spending hours in front of a camera, marketers can generate videos as fast as they can produce a script. AI has long been present in editing and splicing videos for repurposing, showing the willingness marketers have long had for it.
As technology improves, marketers will no doubt begin leveraging AI for video creation, powering a new trend in the sector.
Marketing’s future – and present – is powered by AI
How will AI evolve and affect marketing? While no one knows exactly, current trends show that marketers are finding several AI use cases and finding tremendous success with it.
AI is only set to grow, and the future is exciting for marketers.