6 Ways to Use Generative AI for Your Marketing

Generative AI is revolutionizing digital marketing by changing the way we create, analyze and optimize marketing strategies. This technology uses artificial intelligence for tasks like content creation, data analysis, and customer engagement.

Understanding and leveraging its capabilities allows marketers to reach new levels of effectiveness and creativity. This article explores six types of AI use cases in marketing, each offering a unique contribution.

The components of genAI

Let’s first look at the components that make up generative artificial intelligence. These can be easily remembered thanks to the acronym “FOG”, which stands for FIndiana, oorganize and ggenerate.

Find

Artificial intelligence needs data to function effectively. This data may come from external sources or be uploaded by users. Systems like ChatGPT use publicly available data, enhanced by user-contributed data. Custom GPT models are now available, where the database consists only of user-supplied data.

Each system has its advantages and disadvantages.

• A generative AI system makes a wider variety of data accessible, but its accuracy must be verified.
• Custom GPT models offer controlled data but are limited to what is provided.

Organize

Next, the system must organize the data. It should be structured for easy access as needed, such as organizing articles into folders – alphabetically, chronologically or by subject. Your AI system should do the same, ensuring quick and efficient access to create outputs.

Generate

This is particularly interesting for marketers. “Generate” not only refers to the creation of new content but encompasses various functionalities. There are six classifications for use cases: generate, extract, summarize, rewrite, classify, and question and answer.

The next step is to maximize the potential of the system used. Creating an effective prompt is crucial. Whether generating or rewriting content, specificity is key. One approach is RACE, which stands for:

• Role: Defines which system you need.
• Action: Specifies what the system should do.
• Context: Involves providing additional information.
• Execution: Repeats the action with specific results.

Below are examples of effective prompts:

• You are a content marketer. Create an overview of six ways to use generative AI in marketing, covering generation, extraction, classification, summarization, rewriting, and Q&A. The plan should be informal but informative, formatted for editing in a Word document.
• You are a data analyst. Analyze provided Google Analytics channel data to identify audience origins and most effective channels. Extract actionable insights for the marketer’s budgeting. Include a graph of the data.

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6 classifications of genAI use cases

1. Generation: create content

Most marketers use generative AI to create brand new content. Generative AI is expert at this task, but the quality and uniqueness depends on user guidance.

Initially, there was concern that AI-generated content would rank lower in search engines. However, Google has clarified that using AI for content creation is not against its guidelines:

Will AI content rank well in search?

The use of AI does not bring any particular benefit to the content. It’s just content. If it’s useful, useful, original and satisfying aspects of EEAT, this could work well in search. If it doesn’t, maybe it’s not.

Google Search Center

As many as 64.7% of CMOs said they would use generative AI to create blogs, and 62.2% would use it for other website content, according to the Fall 2023 CMO Survey.

When using generative AI for new content, enter the process with strong ideas, specific examples, and a unique perspective. The system writes the content, but you guarantee its quality and value to the end user.

Dig Deeper: Working with Text Generators: A Marketing Guide to AI

Mining, a lesser used use case, allows generative AI to perform preliminary analysis of data. Generative AI can help extract insights using techniques like sentiment analysis, trend identification, and regression analysis.

For example, our recent survey required organizing and analyzing responses to text strings. In less than 30 minutes, our AI system provided basic analysis of topics, themes, and next steps. The basic process involved uploading the data to the system, prompting it to analyze the data, and then going through the questions.

You can also use generative AI to extract data. Consider the different market research reports (like the CMO Survey) that we use and cite. With the help of generative AI, you can more easily extract graphs and other data for use in your research and reports.

3. Summary: Summarize information for clarity

Generative AI can quickly summarize large volumes of data, such as academic articles and market research. This feature is useful for creating concise summaries highlighting key trends and findings.

It can also summarize your analyzes and presentations into summaries for easy sharing. Gone are the days of sitting in front of lengthy reports and wondering, “What is this about?”

4. Rewrite: refine messages for impact

Generative AI excels at rewriting content. It can modify content for different audiences and platforms, ensuring relevant communication. If you’re having trouble articulating your message, generative AI can help you rewrite it in a professional tone.

Generative AI is also useful for creating variations of content, such as ad copy. Upload a post and generative AI can identify areas to expand, reduce or update, then revise accordingly.

You can quickly create hundreds of variations of your copy with just a few keystrokes. As with any other generative AI use case, rewriting requires human supervision. These systems can misinterpret meaning and tone, making your rewrite less effective than the original draft.

Dig Deeper: AI in Marketing: How to Balance Automation and Human Contact

5. Classification: Organize data for better understanding

When properly configured, generative AI can effectively categorize market and customer data, making it easier to develop personalized marketing campaigns. For example, it can categorize customers based on their purchasing behavior, enabling targeted email campaigns for higher engagement and conversion rates.

Personalizing content based on your audience’s journey improves receptivity, and AI can help categorize content for this purpose. You’ve probably already created your sales content. Now you can use generative AI to ensure it reaches the right audience at the right time.

6. Answering Questions: Improving Customer Engagement and Support

Question answering is not a new innovation in generative AI. However, you can now create deeper systems that your customers can interact with and keep information up to date more easily.

AI-powered generative question-answering systems improve customer service by providing instant and accurate responses to inquiries. Much like automating intake forms at a doctor’s office, you can use the Q&A system to speed up the data collection process. This means you spend more time in your conversation with a customer. This capability improves customer satisfaction and frees up human resources for more complex tasks.

Use genAI in your marketing efforts

Generative AI is a great complement to marketing, but shouldn’t be the only focus. As technology and expectations evolve, the need for human oversight remains. Integrating generative AI into marketing ensures that your business requirements cover intent and measurable results.

Integrating generative AI into marketing offers many benefits, from creative content generation to nuanced customer insights. Ethical considerations and a commitment to continuous learning and adaptation are essential as we adopt these technologies. The potential for AI to revolutionize marketing is immense, and its informed application can lead to significant advancements in the field.