New AI tools, such as OpenAI/ChatGPT, seem exciting, but like anything else in business, AI for small business marketing requires close evaluation. How you communicate as a business impacts your brand image—especially with local customers who expect a personal touch. You don’t want to leave your content and communication to a bot.
Before you rush to learn how to use AI for business, here’s everything you should consider for your content processes.
AI for Companies: Good or Bad?
People like to do business and communicate with other people. Studies related to other avenues of communication prove this is true. For example, one recent study found that more than 85% of people surveyed prefer speaking to a human customer service agent over a computerized assistant. With all that said, there are several other things about AI apps for business and AI tools we do want to caution you on…
Shortcomings in AI Accuracy
AI doesn’t always access the most up-to-date information and can reference outdated concepts, events, studies, etc. Your staff may not know what you’re using is obsolete unless you extensively edit and fact-check the content.
AI-generated content must be edited and fact-checked by human eyes to ensure accuracy, optimization, etc. This may reduce efficiency and adds additional tasks and processes to your plate—even though you’re using AI to save time and money. So, essentially, you will add these three processes to your to-do list.
- Generating the content
- Proofreading/checking it
- Revising/customizing it
Using AI for marketing? Be wary of getting the wrong content. AI may misinterpret what you’re asking of it—and, in fact, asking AI tools and apps, such as ChatGPT, the right questions and giving it the right prompts and details is, in and of itself, a skill you need to master.
Plagiarism, Plus AI and Copyright Concerns
AI works by culling existing content on the internet and repurposing it for the terms requested. AI pulls from multiple sources to create the content users search for, but you wouldn’t know that because it never provides citations.
So, you can’t trust all the information you receive as it may be from an unaccredited source. These algorithms also devalue your content. The legal risk is that an author or artist can sue for blatant plagiarism of their original work if it’s too closely related. The online risk is that you can be penalized by search engines for creating duplicate content.
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Watch Out for Simple Sentences and Overuse of Simple Words
AI-generated content is based on predictive language by determining which word should be next. So, it commonly uses words such as “the,” “it,” or “is” and other versions of the verb ‘to be’ (which equates to passive vs. active writing) instead of more specific terms. Sentences are typically shorter and choppier than human interactive writing. AI will also fill space with predictive words rather than adding to the quality of the content.
Consider this real-world example: As human beings, when we’re writing for our clients, if we have a question at a certain point ourselves, then we know that the same question needs to be answered in the same spot for your customer. AI doesn’t display human intuition; it essentially dumbs down your article.
No Analysis, Creativity, Personalization, or Consistency
An AI-generated article is typically ‘Just the Facts, Ma’am’ and doesn’t employ sales psychology, basic marketing techniques, etc. AI tools can collect data but cannot analyze the data. Thus, articles may be full of facts without any insight or in-depth information.
In other words, AI content doesn’t tell your readers what the information it’s providing means to them. Nor does it adjust content for changes in your industry, the economy, customers’ buying habits, etc. Most importantly, AI tools will not incorporate your unique brand messaging and style preferences or generate new ideas.
AI-generated content produces a different level of quality each time. While hiring a marketing agency like Precise Creative, you get the same writer and the same high-quality content every time.
If You Don’t Know How to Use AI in Marketing, Your Results May Suffer
AI content also doesn’t employ certain intuitive and strategic writing formulas that we use to prompt your customers to take action and contact you for products and services. AI is not going to accurately incorporate customized branding elements from marketing strategies, StoryBrand strategies, etc.,that your business is already using and has paid for.
Potential Devaluation by Google
Google is now introducing the concept of E-E-A-T, which stands for the following:
- Experience
- Expertise
- Authoritativeness
- Trustworthiness
Amidst the rise of AI writing tools, search engines will evaluate content through the lens of understanding and “trust” at the concept’s center. AI-only content may not fit these criteria. As with anything in life, you get what you pay for. Free, cheap, and easy is not always better. AI-produced content provides nothing more than a basic, OK framework at best. At worst, it can get you into trouble either legally or by hurting your online rankings. We advise you to proceed with caution if you decide to entertain AI tools in your content processes. The bottom line? Using AI for businesses doesn’t come without its fair share of risks.
You Can Turn to Precise Creative for Guidance on Using AI Tools for Your Marketing
Of course, for the best efficiency and results, we highly recommend that you continue with professional, creative, human-written content to connect with your customers and clients.
Ultimately, we want you to be a good, educated consumer of business services—and to know and understand that your customers want to be communicated to via human means. Now and always, we are here to answer your questions and be your guide during changing times.
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