The essential
- The impact of generative AI on content creation. Marketers like Gigamon’s Crystal Flores are leveraging AI to produce content that balances quality and quantity, despite concerns about potential penalties from Google for AI-generated content.
- Personalized communications using AI. Erin Mahan of the American Red Cross and other marketers are exploring generative AI to create more personalized and engaging communications with donors.
- Challenges in adopting AI for financial services. Elisandra Singh of AIG Retirement Services discusses the hurdles of integrating AI into financial marketing, highlighting the need for compliance and security.
LAS VEGAS — Adobe spent a good portion of its time on stage here this week at Adobe Summit to the Venetian praising his marketing innovations in generative AI in its digital customer experience software stack.
And why not? The numbers are eye-watering.
McKinsey estimates that marketers could gain, along with other departments, 75% of up to $4.4 trillion in annual global productivity.
I’ll have what these marketers have, right? Well, there are aspirations. And then reality.
A quick tour of the Adobe Summit, beyond the fancy demos, cutting-edge cuisine and glowing casino lights in this wasteland, reveals a different story: It’s still early days for some marketing practitioners when it it’s about practical applications of generative AI in marketing. Many marketers, while taking a look, pass right by the AI generative blackjack table – for now.
We caught up with a few marketing leaders here this week to share their generative AI in marketing stories:
SEO and content marketing: balancing innovation and quality
Crystal Flores, Senior Digital Marketing Manager, Gigamoncompletely agrees with the benefit of using AI-generated content to increase quantity and quality. However, she has concerns about using AI to generate blog content, worries about Google’s response and being criticized for relying on AI content.
Sure, its marketing teams get reassurance and new ideas about SEO best practices from generative AI, but that doesn’t always mean content will rank well. (See? Sometimes even AI can’t understand Google’s algorithms).
And although generative AI has the capacity to produce a large volume of content, Flores emphasized the need to diversify content strategies.
“I’m nervous about using it for this reason because I think Google will realize it’s an AI-generated blog and report it to us later,” she said. she declared. “So even though I’m producing (content) – because I have limited resources on my team in terms of creating content – (generative AI) allows me to put it out there, but I also realize that I I can’t put all my eggs in one basket. I have to diversify what I offer.
Flores also discussed a balance between producing a large amount of content and ensuring it meets quality standards that actually meet customer needs. When content actually meets customer needs and is perceived as being written by a real human, it tends to rank higher, she said.
With content generation currently the primary use of generative AI, Flores said his marketing teams are also exploring generative AI to analyze customer journey and customer data to improve marketing strategies. This includes examining AI tools to improve customer experience and engagement.
Flores also pays particular attention to the ethical and legal implications of exploration generative AI implementations in marketingsuch as ensuring legal compliance when using AI-generated assets.
Related article: Sam Altman: AI will replace 95% of creative marketing work
The quest for personalized customer communications
Erin Mahan, Marketing Operations Manager for the American Red Cross, highlighted the importance of personalizing communication with blood donors through multimedia content such as videos and infographics. Its marketing teams are starting to think about where generative AI can contribute to these efforts.
Its organization is relatively new to Adobe products. They primarily use Adobe Campaign for omnichannel marketing, including direct mail and text messaging through partners.
Despite their interest in expanding their use of AI and Adobe products, budget constraints limit their ability to adopt new technologies. The organization is exploring ways to effectively use its resources to improve its marketing efforts, starting with managing shared assets and improving collaboration between different teams. Adobe Workfront is seen as a potential solution.
Communication channels are chosen based on the preferences of each demographic, recognizing, for example, that younger audiences may prefer text messages or app notifications.
Although the use of AI is attractive, the organization is hesitant to jump into it without fully understanding the implications and benefits. It’s attractive, she said that AI can help with content creation and analyses, suggesting potential areas for future exploration.
“In terms of AI, the interest is there,” Mahan told CMSWire, “the budget isn’t necessarily. So right now we’re just trying to explore what the priority is for us as a “non-profit organization. What can we do with a little? What can we make bigger? Right now we’re just looking to see if there’s an additional Adobe product we can leverage to get started. I think the one of the most important things for us is to look at how to better manage shared assets, starting there, and then getting our different partners out of silos.
Related article: Generative AI in marketing: streamlining creative operations
The intersection of AI and customer experience in financial services
Elisandra Singh, Director of Digital Strategy at AIG Retirement Servicesshared real challenges of implement AI in your marketing operations for its organization.
His company currently doesn’t use AI much but is in the research phase. They aim to understand how AI can interconnect with the Adobe products they use, such as Adobe Experience Manager, Adobe Analytics, and Adobe Target, among others. The main objective is to explore the possibilities offered by AI to improve their marketing and customer experience.
A significant barrier to implementing AI is legal and compliance considerations, particularly regarding security and confidentiality of customer data. As a financial company, it faces increased scrutiny and must ensure that any adoption of AI does not compromise the privacy or security of customer data.
“We want to be able to see all the possibilities,” Singh said, adding, “and we want to see how AI is going to be interconnected with (Adobe). How can we figure that out? There’s a lot of things we want to do, but we can’t do them yet because we are compliant with the law and first of all we need to understand how the AI world works. We can’t do what you want and publish it, especially as a financial company. This poses a lot of security risks.
Essentially, financial services marketers like Singh are taking a cautious but optimistic approach to AI, focusing on improving customer engagement and personalization while navigating the complex regulatory landscape of the financial sector. Singh’s vision for the future includes creating an intuitive and predictive online experience that anticipates user needs, powered by insights from AI and analytics.
The ultimate goal ? Anticipate customer needs through robust customer data and experience analytics.
“We have to think about the end customer,” Singh said. “We have to say that if someone is looking for this, I want to be able to give it to them before they even start looking through it. Who are they? What are they doing? I want to be able to know.
