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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nArtificial intelligence is everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So who needs humans anymore? Especially humans who spend their days thinking of creative ideas and crafting copy to back-up and communicate those ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With AI, you can do your company\u2019s marketing yourself\u2026 at a fraction of the cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Need a blog? Some messaging in a particular area of interest? Ask AI. It\u2019ll crank out anything you need in no time. Then, just get one of the many AI-powered image generators to crank out some imagery, put it all up on the web and on social media, and you\u2019re good to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why pay for a marketer when you can get the milk for free, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a legitimate question. And one that, as a marketer, I\u2019ve been asking myself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why should clients pay for our services with so many artificial intelligence resources at their disposal?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s an existential question for marketers and one that needs to be asked and answered whenever a disruptive technology emerges as a potential threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The truth is clients could do their own marketing with artificial intelligence and other AI image creation software. But I wouldn\u2019t advise it. And not because I\u2019m looking out for number one. But because it doesn\u2019t make good business sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are some reasons why:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most people think of creativity in terms of big ideas, funny ads, artwork, music, which covers a lot of it to be sure. But creativity also lives in things as mundane as word choice, sentence structure, and the hooks used to grab readers\u2019 attentions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Creativity is a way of looking at the world, of seeing correlations between things that others may not, and of relating disparate concepts in ways that provide new meaning between them and new understanding of their interconnectivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luckily for us creative marketers, creativity still seems to be a largely human trait. And while artificial intelligence can offer a modicum of pedestrian level creativity (actually rehashed creativity that has been aggregated from previously published work), it won\u2019t provide you with the level of creativity that you need to distinguish your offerings in ways that separate your company from those of your competitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nuance differentiates. Differentiation is the name of the game in marketing. Without nuance, your business will be perceived as an also-ran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nuance is the key to your messaging, blog posts, website, social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nuance is also something you\u2019re not likely to get from AI. Particularly, if you don\u2019t prompt for it. And even then, recognizing, articulating, and communicating nuance is not something AI will excel at. It is something that takes years of training and, more importantly, is something that can also define your competitive edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So the question is do you really want to risk your competitive edge to save a few dollars?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the way, recognizing, articulating, and communicating nuance is also what distinguishes good marketers from the average ones. It, of course, all ties back into that creativity thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marketing is equal parts research, creativity, communication, and visual aesthetic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most people don\u2019t think visuals matter. And subsequently, they grab whatever\u2019s handy without regard for the quality of the image, the readability of the table, or the clarity of the slide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People will get it, they think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But people don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To the contrary, they get stuck trying to figure out what they\u2019re supposed to be seeing and how it relates to what is being said. Suddenly, what was supposed to speed comprehension is slowing it down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Too much friction, and people give up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Good visuals, on the other hand, grease the proverbial wheel. They empower prospects to see the big picture faster. They facilitate faster understanding of the information you\u2019re trying to convey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They help prospects \u201cget there\u201d faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They also send a subliminal message of professionalism to your prospects. Strong visuals make whatever you\u2019re marketing sexier, more enticing, and alluring to your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While there are some stunning visuals coming from AI these days, they tend to be character studies of fictitious people and are not exactly geared toward business. They also can take days to create.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The visuals you use in marketing should be as nuanced as your messaging. They can tell your story as much as your copy can, but only if you have someone overseeing your visuals with a trained eye, a strong design background, and the ability distinguish good from bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019d be surprised by how many can\u2019t distinguish strong visuals from weak ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prioritization and partitioning of resources is critical to a company\u2019s marketing strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aritificial intelligence can definitely generate a marketing strategy for you. But the question is whether you\u2019ll have the insights to effectively execute it. Some marketers will argue that you can do anything with testing: Not sure if something will work? Test it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I happen to believe that it\u2019s not a good idea to experiment on your prospects, because every time you fail, you\u2019re likely to lose a few of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Experience matters in marketing. And successful strategies are dependent of lots of factors that AI isn\u2019t likely to consider, let alone understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the end of the day, you should look to your marketing arm as the source within your company that actually knows what good looks like, sounds like, reads like, and feels like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marketing that connects your prospects with your offering in ways to which they can emotionally relate is what turns bystanders into buyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Creating that demands a sensibility you won\u2019t find in artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At least, not yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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