The use of AI-generated content in marketing is skyrocketing for a reason. Imagine you’re sitting down with your team to brainstorm new content ideas for your business, but instead of spending countless hours crafting each piece from scratch, you can rely on a tool that can generate ideas, create drafts, suggest improvements, and even fine-tune your content for specific audiences, all at a fraction of the time.
That’s the promise of AI in content marketing. Generative AI, or Gen AI, is changing the content marketing game for good, especially for smaller entities with limited resources looking to start, scale, streamline, or amplify their content marketing efforts at reasonable costs. The possibilities seem endless, but is it as simple as handing over the reins to technology? We have the answer.
But before getting right to the answer, it’s worth asking a few more questions: What does AI truly offer content marketing, and what are the hidden challenges? And, most importantly, how can businesses make AI work to their advantage without sacrificing quality or originality? Let’s unpack.
Drawbacks of AI-Generated Content You Should Be Aware Of
A Gartner study shows that by 2025, 30% of outbound marketing messages from large organizations will be synthetically generated, up from less than 2% in 2022. AI enables you to produce more content with fewer resources in less time (What could ever be better?). But this efficiency usually comes at a price. Businesses relying on AI for content creation instead of using it strategically, often face issues like accuracy, consistency, and the struggle to create a unique brand voice.
The primary drawback is AI’s reliance on pre-existing data. Generative AI works by drawing information from a vast array of sources that are unknown to us. That means it might overlook recent trends or provide outdated or even incorrect information in a completely compelling form, leading to factual inaccuracies or AI hallucinations that can heavily impact your brand’s credibility.
Originality is the next big concern. The results of generative AI can sometimes feel formulaic or lack the distinctive tone and voice that make content outstanding or memorable. Solely relying on AI will remove the human touch from the content, resulting in an inevitable disconnect with the target audience. While AI is excellent at scaling content production, it’s limited in providing insights that transform content from merely informative to truly engaging.
Finally, generative AI is a double-edged sword when it comes to creativity. While it can streamline your creative workflow, you may miss out on those truly out-of-the-box ideas that originate from human intuition and experience if you don’t know the correct approach to AI tools.
In the next section, we’ll explore how to get the most out of AI content creation by blending it with research, data, and strategic thinking.
AI-Enhanced Content Strategy: How to Do Better Content Marketing
Increased productivity, reduced manual work, streamlined content workflows, enhanced idea generation processes, easier content repurposing, greater content scalability, better cost-effectiveness, and improved consistency in content quality are among the top benefits of using AI in B2B content marketing. However, to unlock its full potential, you need more than just marketing automation. You need an “AI-enhanced content strategy” to create content that’s both efficient, unique, and impactful.
Look at a few content strategies that we found effective when combined with GenAI:
A. Invest in Research
AI is powerful—we get it. But it performs best when fueled by research. Integrating AI tools and research enables your organization to create content that’s not only fast but also engaging, relevant, and meaningful to your target audience.
If you’re asking, “Research into what?”, the following would be our top suggestions based on our first-hand experience as a full-service marketing consulting firm and an early adopter of AI tools for B2B marketing:
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- Track Trends Actively: Staying on top of industry shifts allows you to craft timely, relevant content that addresses current buyer needs. While AI can help with data interpretation, it usually lacks up-to-date data to detect emerging trends early enough.
- Uncover Content Gaps: AI-generated content can only be as good as the idea behind it. By researching untapped topics in your industry, you can guide AI tools to create content that stands out rather than repeating what’s already been said.
- Customer Interviews: Talking directly with customers through targeted telemarketing campaigns can uncover valuable insights that steer content direction. Integrating these findings or opinions into content ensures your final piece resonates with readers on a deeper level.
- Competitor Analysis: By identifying competitors’ weaknesses, you can leverage AI to address unique industry gaps and effectively distinguish your brand voice. Feeding this information into a GenAI tool will enhance the outcome.
- Engage Industry Influencers: Influencers bring fresh perspectives that AI alone can’t offer. Collaborations with influencers and partners in the same space can amplify your content reach and lend credibility to AI-enhanced content.
- Track Trends Actively: Staying on top of industry shifts allows you to craft timely, relevant content that addresses current buyer needs. While AI can help with data interpretation, it usually lacks up-to-date data to detect emerging trends early enough.
B. Use Data to Amplify The Impact of Your AI-Generated Content
Relying on accurate, up-to-date information from credible sources is essential for any marketing content. AI tools cannot do that yet, since they are limited to the data they have been trained on. Lacking access to real-time, credible sources, they may even “hallucinate” or invent data.
That’s why reinforcing your content with credible data from trusted sources like industry reports, government publications, and reputable studies can make all the difference. This data grounds the content piece in factual accuracy and relevance, ensuring it meets the credibility standards that B2B audiences expect. Strategic use of credible data also enhances engagement by aligning content with current industry developments.
C. Give Your Content a Soul With Real-World Stories
B2B organizations can incorporate real-world success stories to give their content greater credibility. Injecting authentic examples – whether a successful client project, a significant milestone, or innovative solutions applied in real scenarios – brings a unique, human touch that no AI can generate.
Weave these genuine stories into your AI-enhanced content strategy as proof of expertise or a track record of your capabilities. This not only enhances trust but also connects with audiences on a more personal level, showcasing outcomes that are both relatable and sincere. Enhancing AI-generated content with real experiences transcends generic narratives into practical, proven, and tailored material that meets client needs and interests.
Achieving Engagement with AI-Generated Content
AI has transformed content marketing, offering speed and scalability like never before. However, to achieve meaningful engagement, you need an approach that combines AI’s strengths with human insights and data-enhanced planning.
By investing in customer research, leveraging competitor analysis input, and filling content gaps, organizations can produce unique, relevant and engaging content. Additionally, grounding the AI-enhanced content in robust data ensures that it aligns with evolving trends and audience expectations. The results will build connections, engage audiences, and drive growth.
This is a unique opportunity to balance Artificial Intelligence with human expertise to stand out. Are you ready to embrace the next level of AI-generated content? Let us guide you, feed your AI tools with meaningful data, and help you achieve AI’s true potential, turning content into a driver of continuous growth and a better ROI for your organization.
