For over two decades, Farotech has been a pioneer in integrating technology into marketing. But in the past eight months, starting from October 2022, our industry witnessed a significant leap forward by introducing AI in marketing and large-language models, which hit like a sledgehammer. In fact, AI in marketing is used by 28% of top companies, and companies that implement AI marketing tools see a 451% increase in qualified leads. (Microsoft)
During this period, forward-thinking companies have realized the importance of adopting these emerging AI technologies, lest they lag behind their competitors. While AI technology has drawbacks, we have experienced an efficiency increase of approximately 30%. This new found efficiency has allowed us to explore other aspects of the marketing playbook, such as deeper content research, multimedia development, and content promotion.
In this article, I’ll walk you through two crucial ways in how AI is transforming marketing strategies for businesses:
- AI content creation
- AI personalization
We hope that you consider integrating these strategies into your current marketing strategy. We will also provide you with important questions to ask your agency about their approach to assist you in this process.
The Impact of AI on Content Generation in Marketing
Content marketing is arguably the most effective method to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry. It’s an excellent way to showcase the distinctive value of your products and services. Moreover, one of the most advantageous actions you can take in your industry is to create content that gets indexed by search engines.
In simple terms, when you create “link-worthy content” that earns backlinks from high-authority websites, specifically targeting keywords closely associated with your products and services, you gain higher rankings for a broader range of relevant keywords. As a result, your website attracts more qualified traffic. Ultimately, this increased traffic can convert into valuable sales leads, opportunities, and revenue.
Practical Application
Here is a quick list of areas that can be improved with AI:
- Buyer Personas:
- A buyer persona is a fictional representation of an ideal customer created based on research and data to help businesses understand and target their specific audience.
- How to use AI for buyer persona development:
- Pro Tip 1: For valuable insights on buyer persona development, I encourage you to refer to the article I authored on AI Generative Content, where I share effective strategies using a ChatGPT plugin to generate an initial draft effortlessly, drawing from my extensive 20 years of marketing expertise.
- Pro Tip 2: An excellent resource to explore is a video by our esteemed strategic partner, Andy Crestodina, from Orbit Media. In this video, Andy takes you through a detailed step-by-step buyer persona development process, offering valuable insights and leveraging his vast experience in the field.
- SEO
- SEO is the art & science of having your company’s website content rank for critical keywords on the first page of search engines.
- How to use AI:
- Blog Writing: AI writing tools can revolutionize the process of blog writing; offering assistance in various aspects, from creating outlines and initial drafts, to grammar checking and incorporating statistics into your writing. Platforms like Frase.io, Jasper, and Copy.ai have integrated SEO tools for enhanced optimization. However, if you’re working on a tight budget, I recommend utilizing the free Chrome extension AIPRM, which seamlessly connects with ChatGPT.Remember, consistently producing quality blog content positions you as a thought leader, attracting valuable backlinks that boost your domain authority and enable you to outrank your competitors in critical keyword searches with greater efficiency and impact.
- Spoke Writing: Spoke Content, like blog writing, involves creating in-depth articles within your website, typically around 700 to 800 words, that offer valuable information. These pages often connect with longer, comprehensive content called Hubs, forming a content cluster strategy. Following Google’s best practices, content clusters aim to rank for an entire topic rather than a single keyword, leading to enhanced visibility and relevance in search results.The steps mentioned earlier for blog writing, such as utilizing AI writing tools, optimizing for SEO, and producing high-quality content, can also be applied to spokes and hubs, helping you establish authority, improve rankings, and gain better visibility overall.
- Email backlink outreach: Backlinks play a crucial role in SEO rankings, and the most effective way to acquire them is by creating “link-worthy” content; however, the reality is that only a small fraction of articles acquire links.Often, individuals with the authority to link to your page may not even know its existence. In a well-known article from Moz by Steve Rayson, he revealed that over 50% of the 750,000 articles he reviewed in 2015 had zero links—a statistic that has likely worsened in recent years, particularly with the proliferation of AI-generated content.So, what can you do to address this challenge? The answer lies in SEO link outreach. You must compile a list of websites, editors, and authors who are thought leaders and would benefit from your content. Then, you must develop an outreach strategy to offer value, establish relationships, and ultimately earn backlinks.
My friend Brian Dean, the founder of Backlinko, is a trusted expert in this field. His SEO strategies are widely regarded as the best, and I highly recommend exploring his resources to learn more about effective SEO link outreach.
We recommend utilizing AI writing tools to save time and generate highly customized emails that deliver substantial value to potential backlinkers. By doing so, you can effectively build trust with individuals or companies who have the potential to provide backlinks to your website content.
- Guest Blog Requests: Guest blogs are articles that you write and contribute to reputable external websites, aiming to provide valuable content to a fresh audience and, in return, reaping SEO benefits such as backlinks, enhanced brand visibility, and extended online reach, leveraging my extensive 20 years of marketing expertise.We highly recommend leveraging AI writing tools to optimize your time and generate tailored emails targeting organizations with high domain authority websites, which present guest posting opportunities. Your objective is to create valuable content that offers genuine value, establishing a mutually beneficial exchange where you provide valuable insights in return for a valuable backlink to your website.
- Social Media
- Social media is a vast topic, and each platform offers a unique opportunity to reach the right audience with the right message at the right time. Additionally, while there are various approaches to reach your potential audience, the most important is the need for consistent communication of thought leadership information to your audience. This can be achieved through various formats, such as:
- Industry statistics
- Quotes from other thought leaders
- Branded quotes from your team
- Industry news and other relevant information.
- Social media is a vast topic, and each platform offers a unique opportunity to reach the right audience with the right message at the right time. Additionally, while there are various approaches to reach your potential audience, the most important is the need for consistent communication of thought leadership information to your audience. This can be achieved through various formats, such as:
All of these elements contribute to establishing you as a thought leader.
Furthermore, we understand that there is a hierarchy in effective communication through social media. For instance:
- Pictures tend to be more impactful than plain text
- Videos have a greater impact than pictures, and so on
- However, the challenge of creating social media content in a multimedia format is that it can be time-consuming. This is where AI comes in. I recently watched a video that discussed the power of AI and batching. Using batch techniques, the video demonstrated how to create 50 social media posts in just 5 minutes. These strategies can significantly assist marketers in accomplishing more within a shorter time frame. I encourage you to try it out for yourself.
- Lead Nurturing
- According to Hubspot, companies that actively nurture leads experience 50% more sales at a 33% lower cost compared to leads that are not nurtured. It is strange that many companies do not engage in lead nurturing and even those that do often struggle to do it effectively.This lack of implementation can be attributed to two main factors: time and knowledge. It requires time to understand the right message to convey to each target audience at different stages of the buyer’s journey. Additionally, having the knowledge and expertise to craft these messages properly is crucial. However, these challenges can be addressed with the advent of AI in marketing. AI provides the opportunity to leverage its capabilities in generating drip marketing emails that are essential for nurturing leads down the sales funnel.
Slippage Emails
“Slippage Emails” are a series of lead nurturing emails designed to reconnect with potential sales targets who have shown disengagements, such as not responding to emails or calls.
Slippage campaigns aim to interrupt this pattern and reintroduce them to your products, services, and value proposition. Drip marketing emails are typically created based on the initial pain point identified during the first appointment.
For example, if the prospect perceives your prices as too expensive, you can use drip marketing to educate them about the value of your products and services and the power of AI in driving marketing ROI. Another slippage email could highlight the importance of understanding the lifetime value of clients and explaining your company’s amortization policy, allowing them to pay off the expenses over time.
AI can generate these emails, and A/B testing can be utilized to compare different formats and variations written by the AI.
By utilizing AI for generating and optimizing drip marketing emails, you can save time and ensure that the messages resonate effectively with your target audience. It offers the ability to create personalized and compelling content at scale.
- Email Marketing
According to Statista, AI can potentially increase email open rates and revenue by 41%. These statistics demonstrate the significant impact that AI can have on email marketing effectiveness. It is widely acknowledged, yet often overlooked, that email remains the top tool utilized by companies to generate, nurture, and convert leads into clients.
AI offers several advantages in writing emails more effectively. Firstly, it enables speed and efficiency in generating email content. With AI assistance, companies can produce emails more efficiently, saving time. Additionally, AI provides the opportunity to utilize the extra time gained for conducting A/B testing. This allows for testing different variations of subject lines, content, or call-to-action buttons, optimizing email performance, and improving engagement rates.
At a macro level, there are several metrics that companies should measure to evaluate the effectiveness of their email campaigns:
- Number of individuals emailed: It is important to track the reach of your email campaign and determine how many individuals received your emails.
- Engagement based on subject lines: Monitor whether recipients engaged with the email or not, particularly assessing the impact of the subject line in enticing them to open the email.
- Click-through rates: Measure the percentage of recipients who clicked on links within the email to visit your website or access further information.
- Conversion rates: Determine how many recipients who visited your website or engaged with the email ultimately converted into customers or took the desired action.
By analyzing these metrics, you can gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of your email campaigns. This information can guide you in optimizing future emails to make them more compelling and impactful.
Overall, AI technology empowers companies to enhance their email marketing efforts by generating more effective content, conducting A/B testing, and leveraging data-driven insights to improve campaign performance.
Leveraging AI for Personalized Marketing Campaigns
One of the major challenges companies and agencies face when creating content for their clients is time and budget constraints. Marketing aims to deliver the right message to the right potential clients at the right time. This means you must develop highly personalized content for each buyer persona you aim to engage with.
While this may sound ideal, the reality is that if you have three distinct buyer personas, theoretically, you would need to write each piece of content three times, catering to each persona individually.
Who’s got time for that? Moreover, who’s got budget for that?
However, with the efficiency that AI offers, we now have the opportunity to reach a broader audience by tailoring content to different buyer personas.
According to Ecommerce Results, statistics indicate that AI can enhance conversion rates by up to 35%. The essence of this statistic lies in the ability to communicate more effectively and precisely with your target audience.
Predictive Analytics and AI: A Winning Combination for Marketing
Artificial intelligence saves time and provides access to knowledge that may be lacking within an organization. While this is advantageous regarding efficiency, it raises an important question: if my company can leverage these tools, so can my competition.
Therefore, the winner in the marketing arena will be the company that delivers the most value. We believe that the time saved through artificial intelligence should not be seen as pure profit but rather as an opportunity to invest that time (and money) into creating stronger arguments, conducting more internal research, seeking peer-to-peer input on content, promoting content effectively, and analyzing and re-optimization strategies.
Paul Roetzer, the founder of the AI Marketing Institute, famously stated that “AI will not replace marketers, but rather marketers who do not utilize AI will be replaced by those who do.” It is crucial to understand that AI is a tool, and its effectiveness ultimately relies on the wisdom and expertise of the individuals who utilize it. While AI can assist in various marketing tasks, the human touch and strategic thinking truly drive success.
It is important to dispel the misconception that AI will completely automate everything for us. Instead, AI should be viewed as a powerful tool that can greatly enhance marketing efforts when combined with human intelligence and insight.
If you or your organization requires assistance in developing marketing materials powered by AI, please feel free to reach out to us. We would be delighted to analyze your current processes and determine if a partnership would be beneficial.
Please let me know if there is anything else I can assist you with.
