In recent years, there has been a growing trend of businesses using artificial intelligence (AI) to create content. This is because AI-powered writing tools can help businesses produce high-quality content more efficiently.
In addition, AI can also be used to customize content for specific target audiences, so in theory when the marketing team track the performance of marketing campaigns in real-time they should see a better result.
As a result, AI is changing the way business operates and managers need to be aware of these changes in order to stay ahead of the competition.
What are some ways that AI is changing content marketing?
Successful businesses have an understanding of who their customers are and what they want. Marketing teams will make use of customer avatars to help them create content that appeals to their ideal customers.
A customer avatar is a made-up person that you use to represent the interests, values and opinions of your customers. By understanding who the customer is and what they want you can create better content for them.
They can be very helpful when considering the customer journey and overall customer experience when dealing with your company.
Let me give you an example: let’s say you’re a change management consultant. Your ideal customer avatar might be Justin.
Justin Wilson is a 34-year old manager within a growing business. He has struggled with managing people, processes, and technology in a complex organization. Justin wants to learn how to be more effective in his role and how to better manage change as the business continues to grow and evolve.
Typically, a marketing team would flesh this out in a lot more detail, deciding who Justin is, where he lives, how much he earns etc. However, thanks to AI there are now tools that can assist this process.
Mark Draper, a business consultant at iindigo, uses one such tool when dealing with clients.
“I use a platform called CrawlQ and the AI really helps speed up the research and writing process. By answering a few simple questions, the AI can help build a rich avatar containing suggested information, which you can edit and amend to suit your specific needs.”
AI can be used in content marketing to create a customer avatar and also write content that appeals to that persona.
However, building an avatar is only part of the process AI is changing, it can also assist in writing the content for your audience. And it’s this second element that can really inspire change within business. As Mark explains:
“Content is an absolute must for any business. It not only helps visitors to your website understand your areas of expertise, it also helps establish topical authority with search engines.”
Topical authority means that website visitors and search engines, such as Google, see your website as knowledgeable within a specific field. It demonstrates this business can provide valuable insights and advice to others, especially those who are looking to learn more about the topic.
As most topics are expansive, this requires hundreds of articles to be published, which takes time, which means money. Now imagine if you gave your marketing team a tool that reduces article writing time from 3 to 4 hours to just 1. That’d be a change worth implementing!
“Once the AI tool has information about the topic and the ideal client, you can ask it to draft up an article about your topic. After a few minutes you’ll have a draft article that gives writers a head start in the content creation process. Note, this isn’t about replacing writers or churning out low quality content; this is about working with AI to speed up the overall research and writing process.”
High quality content has become even more important due to another change in this space: a Google update. Adopting a new tool is an internally driven change; a Google update is a great example of an external change we have no control over.
As explained in this recent article, Google is keen to deliver people-focused results, rather than results written ‘for the algorithm’. The impact of this change is not yet clear (the update is rolling out at the time this article was written), but it is a great example of why having risk analysis and change management procedures in place are vital to businesses of all sizes.
Want to see what this looks like in action? Check out this demonstration of CrawlQ:
What are the steps to implement AI into content marketing?
Introducing AI into a business might sound very futuristic, but you would approach this the same way as any other change:
- Research: Understand the benefits of AI and how it can be used in content marketing.
- Create a plan: This involves developing a detailed timeline and mapping out how the change will be implemented. Consider the impact of incorporating AI into your content strategy, including identifying which areas of your content are best suited for automation and which tasks should still be performed by humans.
- Assess the risks: It is important to evaluate potential consequences of the change, and ensure that everyone understands and agrees to them. Training will certainly be required, and you may get pushback from the marketing team who don’t want to do things a different way.
- Get buy-in: Once key stakeholders are on board, it is essential to ensure their participation and support during the transition period.
- Evaluate: Keeping track of progress throughout the transition is crucial in ensuring that changes are successful. Use analytics to measure the effectiveness of your AI-assisted content marketing efforts, e.g. how long does it take to create content compared to previous method?
With the introduction of a new technology platform it’s important not to make snap decisions based on the first 4 weeks. People take time to adapt; it is likely they will take several weeks to become comfortable with a new software platform, as Mark explains:
“It’s important not to expect results overnight. Staff need time to explore and experiment; it’s like hiring a new junior marketing assistant: you need time to get to know them and get the most out of them.
It’s also important to remember that content marketing isn’t something that happens overnight; depending on your existing content marketing strategy, it could take 12 to 24 months to start seeing results.”
Although we’ve focused on article writing, AI can help you craft sales messages as well, all written with your target audience in mind. We asked Mark to see what sort of social media advert AI would suggest for a change management consultant:
Pitch: We help you implement changes in your business in an easy manner.
Advert: Are you looking for a business consultant who can help you make changes in an easy and effective manner? Look no further than our team! We have years of experience helping businesses make the changes they need to succeed. Contact us today to learn more!
As the introduction of AI has the potential to cause concern to existing employees it’s important to help them understand the benefits on offer, and be clear it’s not meant to replace them.
Above we have an example advert, but you can also use it to generate letters and other marketing copy, acting as another source of ideas and suggestions for the team to play around with.
How Can AI in Content Marketing Drive Employee Engagement and Buy-In?
AI for employee engagement in content marketing can analyze employee behaviors and preferences, creating personalized content to boost engagement. By understanding what resonates with employees, AI can drive buy-in for company initiatives and foster a more positive, collaborative work culture.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that AI writing tools are changing content marketing in business. With the ability to create more personalized and targeted content, businesses can reach their desired audience with their message.
Tools such as CrawlQ, who offer a 7-day free trial should you wish to give it a try, can help streamline the content creation process while keeping the target audience in mind, creating more engaging and targeted campaigns.
However, it is important to remember that these tools are still in their infancy and there will likely be regular changes and updates, along with the occasional bumps, along the way.
Right now this is still an area in its infancy, you could gain a competitive advantage by being an earlier adopter and integrating it into your existing marketing efforts.
