Leveraging AI in Digital Marketing

The bots have arrived. The big question for marketers is whether we are with or against them. Artificial intelligence is changing the game in new ways daily, and it’s only natural to be skeptical. But just as you can’t keep the tide from rolling in, you can’t stop the AI in digital marketing revolution.

So, what are the savviest marketing strategists and content writers doing in the face of the dominance of these rapidly evolving technologies that have the potential to make their jobs easier or take their jobs away? They are adapting, learning, and leveraging the tools in their arsenal to make AI work for them.

Digital marketing has entered a new frontier powered by AI. In fact, according to Statista, in just four years, AI marketing will be valued at over $107 billion. The opportunity is enormous, but so is the risk. Not all marketers and not all brands will survive the AI revolution. Will yours?

I believe it can. At TBH Creative, we are at the forefront of this brave new world and committed to using AI ethically, boldly, and responsibly to deliver results for our clients. To understand how, read on for our take on the current state of AI in digital marketing, where it’s heading, and what questions you should be asking.

The role of AI in digital marketing

AI is everywhere these days. You may have noticed it when Googling information, searching for a post on Facebook, or reaching out to a company’s customer service team. It’s evolving and being adopted so rapidly that it can be hard to keep up with the latest data. However, most studies—like this one—reveal AI is already in the hands of at least half of marketing professionals, and a majority believe they will need to use AI to stay competitive.

So, what are some of the most common ways marketers leverage AI?

AI and content marketing

Many brands are discovering that—to rank well and stay competitive—they need to ramp up their content production, sometimes to levels their marketing team or agency partner (or budget) can’t reasonably accommodate.

Many are turning to generative AI solutions to pad their editorial calendars. We’ll touch more on why you should exercise a little skepticism before firing this “silver bullet,” but first, here are some of the ways AI is being used for written content creation and management:

Sparking ideas for blog topics and titles
Converting one content format into another (e.g., repurposing blog articles for social media posts)
Editing and summarizing long and short-form written content
Creating fresh product descriptions
Planning, managing, and scheduling content
Adding personalization
Creating variations of email subject lines or ad copy for A/B testing

Over 50% of marketers actively use AI for content creation, and the number is steadily growing.

AI and SEO

AI is shaking up all forms of digital marketing, but it’s completely overhauling search engine optimization.

You’ve likely already noticed that position zero on Google is now devoted to an AI-generated response to search queries. This change, known as “AI Overviews and More,” went mainstream in May 2024, meaning that brands will now be vying to have their web content featured in that spot. It may also mean that zero-click searches will increase, and organic traffic could decline.

However, brands may find that the visitors who land on their site are more qualified and further along in the buyer’s journey. How else is AI being used in SEO?

Creating title tags and meta descriptions using SEO best practices
Generating lists of long-tail keywords based on search intent
Analyzing keyword datasets
Automating repetitive SEO tasks to create efficiency
Monitoring backlinks and identifying opportunities to grow your profile

AI and social media

Social media presence is no longer optional for brands that want to engage with and grow their customer base. AI isn’t quite to the point of fully automating all social media management, but it is being used in a variety of ways to streamline the process, including:

Generating lists of appropriate and trending hashtags for your posts
Repurposing posts to work on various social platforms (e.g., shortening a Facebook post for reuse on X)
Compiling insights and follower sentiment from social listening
Rewriting and reposting high-performing posts
Developing social posts from long-form blogs or other web content
Creating image or video-based posts
Optimizing peak times and automating scheduling

AI and data analytics

Data is one of the most powerful tools marketers can use, and when correctly paired with AI, it can have a significant impact. Being data-driven is more than a buzzword, though. It’s a proven avenue to long-term, sustainable growth.

AI and analytics have the longest relationship of any type of digital marketing work. In fact, you may already be using AI-supported tools to monitor your analytics as we speak.

AI in analytics uses machine learning to look for patterns and trends in the data you’re already accessing, pulling out insights that help you make informed decisions. Here are some of the ways you might be using AI in your analytics:

Forecasting demand for products or services
Determining consumer sentiment and predicting behavior
Utilizing data for prescriptive analytics to take swift and decisive action
Monitoring and managing brand reputation

Currently, healthcare is among the industries leading the way in AI and analytics, using these tools to automate tasks and make operations efficient and error-free.

5 reasons to use AI in digital marketing

AI is more than a flash in the pan. It’s here to stay. While it will evolve, we need to be ready to adapt accordingly if we don’t want to get left behind.

There are certainly pitfalls awaiting those who use AI recklessly. That said, if your use is thoughtful and responsible, you may reap benefits, such as:

Greater efficiency
Increased productivity
More robust content
More convenient access to customer insights
Improved data analysis

Greater efficiency

Thanks to automation, AI can be a huge time-saver. One of the most significant upsides of these tools is their ability to eliminate repetitive administrative tasks. Moving mundane responsibilities to AI tools frees up time and gives your employees more room to focus on what’s important and what requires a human touch.

When fully implemented, AI for digital marketing can dramatically increase your efficiency and scale up your output, whether content creation, product testing, or customer service.

Increased productivity

AI empowers small marketing teams to create more. You may think your small marketing team can’t run with the big dogs, but AI can put you in the race.

By using AI tools that help you work more efficiently and manage a content load that surpasses what a team your size could traditionally create, you can even the playing field and get your brand seen.

More convenient access to customer insights

AI for digital marketing solutions deliver unparalleled customer insights. Creating buyer personas can feel a bit tedious at times, and you may even find that it’s really just a lot of guesswork.

With AI, you can dig deeper than ever into your personas and find out what your ideal buyer is really looking for, how they feel about your brand, and what actions they can be expected to take—so you can always stay a step (or two) ahead.

Improved data analysis

AI can make marketers and brands data-driven. As mentioned, AI and analytics go hand-in-hand. And because of the speed and accuracy of AI analytics tools, you can often see real-time insights that go far deeper than traditional analysis ever could.

This helps you pivot quickly and make data-driven decisions quickly and effectively. It also helps you anticipate customer demand and intent to supply what they need.

Concerns about AI in digital marketing

All of this sounds great, right? But, as with anything that seems too good to be true, it kind of is. AI is powerful, but as we all know, with great power comes great responsibility. AI is still new and developing. It can easily be misused and abused. Here are some of the biggest questions you might be asking:

Is it ethical for marketers to use AI?

It depends on how it’s being used. Currently, just 39% of the population believes that AI is safe, and that number is declining. With something as powerful as AI, we’re all right to exercise caution. AI has access to untold amounts of information, which includes personal data and unethical or harmful content.

AI behind the scenes: Big brands, like Google and Meta, use AI “trainers” to teach AI how to improve. The focus is primarily on factual accuracy and safety so that users can be assured that the information AI generates is truthful and harmless. However, as with anything, there is room for human error, so it’s critical to fact-check everything and use your best judgment.

Does AI improve or damage marketing?

Again, it really depends on usage and intent. AI is a tool, and the outcome depends on your actions. You’ll likely be disappointed if you leave critical operations entirely to AI and don’t put it through a quality control process. But if you take the time to learn how to work with the tools rather than against them, you may well find that it improves the quality and efficacy of your digital marketing efforts.

Does AI-generated content sound robotic?

It can, but that is being improved constantly. Savvy consumers can often tell when a bot generates an image or text, but each day, this becomes harder as the technologies improve. That’s because most generative AI is developed using reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF).

RLHF makes AI chatbots sound more conversational and helps the responses from a platform like ChatGPT seem more realistic. AI can deliver more accurate and detailed text than a human might. Still, AI also tends to “hallucinate”—making up and presenting false information as facts if it cannot find the correct data.

AI tools can also be very convincing, so you may have a hard time telling when an AI isn’t being truthful, especially if it sounds like a friendly human when it’s delivering incorrect information. It takes work to ensure your AI content doesn’t sound robotic, but it can be done with the right AI writing tools.

Is AI replacing people and taking marketing jobs?

Now, we’ve arrived at the real crux of the situation. All these new AI-powered tools are shiny and exhilarating, but—in using them—are we really just working ourselves out of a job? Release that breath you’ve been holding because the answer is probably not. Or, at least, not yet.

AI wouldn’t exist without humans and won’t work (at least not well) without us. Our mission and goals as marketers will stay the same, but how we achieve them will change. Instead of brainstorming, writing, editing, and publishing content, we may rely on AI to generate ideas, clean up a draft, and prepare it to be posted. Or, instead of rewriting a Facebook post to fit five other social platforms, we leave that to AI and use the time saved to focus on increasing our post frequency.

Marketing jobs are safe, so long as we are ready to adapt and stay ahead of the technology.

3 ways to use AI in digital marketing

Maybe you’re already dipping your toe in the AI pool. Or perhaps you’ve been holding back, wary of the big promises and propaganda. You’re wise to be cautious, but being too resistant only means you’ll be left behind.

Instead, go in with your eyes open, and be sure to follow some of these best practices for using AI in your digital marketing:

Think of AI as a support, not a crutch
Test AI for digital marketing tools thoroughly
Always add a human component

Think of AI as a support tool, not a crutch

Can AI write all of your blog posts and marketing content? Sure. But just because it can doesn’t mean it should. AI is a tool, not a magic trick. And even if you have the best hammer out there, you still have to be the one to swing it.

Relying too heavily on AI can ultimately impact the quality of your content. If an error created by an AI solution gets through, it can damage your brand reputation and impact consumer trust. Find the tools that work for you, master them, and learn how to maximize the impact.

Test AI for digital marketing tools thoroughly

The market is already saturated with new AI tools, which will only increase over time. It’s overwhelming to train on and adopt new platforms all the time, so make sure you’re thoroughly vetting each new tool before adding something to your tech stack.

Most reputable platforms will offer free trials or demos before you have to pay for anything, and some tools even have free tiers that could suit your needs. Here are a few of our favorites at TBH Creative:

Grammarly
HubSpot AI
Surfer SEO
Social Sprout

Grammarly

For proofreading and editing, you can’t beat Grammarly. The free plan is enough to get you started, but when you upgrade, you’ll be able to use additional tools like plagiarism detection and more.

HubSpot AI

Millions of marketers already trust HubSpot, and now they’ve added a robust library of AI tools to their offerings. Use the platform’s proprietary AI to draft marketing emails, create social post captions, generate and test fresh CTAs, and see real-time data.

Surfer SEO

Streamline your SEO workflow with Surfer SEO. With powerful automation features, Surfer SEO can take care of previously manual tasks so you can stay focused on more important responsibilities.

Sprout Social

Sprout Social can help you stay on top of your social platform management by creating an optimal posting schedule utilizing AI. You’ll also have access to its powerful AI analytics, which can be a game-changer in staying engaged and growing your followers.

If these aren’t a good fit, check out some of these other AI tools for marketing that our team uses and recommends.

Always add a human component

Want to know the secret to thriving throughout the robot revolution? Stay in touch with your humanity. AI can sound like a human, but it will never actually be human. Part of the current AI training ensures that AI does not claim to have human characteristics, emotions, relationships, or sentience. This is to keep AI usage ethical and responsible and to limit abuse.

So, even if you plan to use AI to create content or improve your digital marketing, include several human contact points throughout your processes. Nothing AI-generated should ever hit the internet or the social platform without being carefully reviewed by an actual human.

Remember, AI is the hammer, but you’re the builder.

See how TBH Creative is gearing up for the robot (AI) revolution

At TBH Creative, my team and I are always looking into new technologies and embracing the latest advances in AI to get our clients the desired results. But we always do this with our signature human touch and careful attention to client goals and budgets.

Let’s talk if you’d like to learn how we can help you adopt the right AI tools to ramp up your business and revolutionize your results.

Tips for using AI in digital marketing, from campaign strategy planning to content writing