AI Vs Human Marketing: What You Really Need to Know!

AI Vs Human Marketing: What You Really Need to Know!

ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Co-Pilot, Perplexity…who knew that we’d end up letting AI (Artificial Intelligence) tools that sound like late 90s CD ROM games, attempt to run our businesses, if not our entire lives.

Don’t get us wrong, this is not an AI-bashing blog.

Let’s face it, AI has many merits. Some of them have been game changers for many people. That being said, there are also some BIG pitfalls and that’s the issue we want to address because they can do more harm than good, especially from a marketing point of view.

How Does ChatGPT Work? (Other AI Tools Are Available.)

Okay, we’re going to need you to focus for a second here: ChatGPT is what's known as an LLM (Large Language Model).

VERY simply put, LLMs have been pre-provided with information, and they then use this information to provide a contextual answer to a question. They essentially predict which words are most likely to be the most accurate answer, given the subject matter.

How is AI Used in Marketing?

Many businesses have discovered that AI tools have what seem like great benefits to their businesses. Without spending a penny, it feels like you have a business consultant, coworker and therapist in one (don’t run off to use it just yet, it’s good but not quite as good as it sounds!).

We understand, in theory this sounds great.

These tools have been pre-programmed with so much information that they can quickly create more information from very short prompts.

This means that they can (can being the operative word) be great for things like content creation, blogging and drafting email copy but there are issues with this, which we'll address.

So, What’s the Problem?

Well actually, there are a few.

1. The BIGGEST problem: Not all AI data is accurate.
   AI has 'hallucinations' where essentially it creates false information and states it as fact (convincing fact at that!). That is a HUGE problem because many people do not realise that it can be incorrect, especially given how sure it sounds.
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2. This leads us on to THE NEXT BIGGEST ISSUE: You are letting AI be your marketing consultant, even when you use human marketers.
   Look, we know that you are probably rushed off your feet. Running a business, takes a heck of lot of time, energy and commitment (we see you!). This means that when a tool comes along which essentially seems to know more than you about certain things, providing free and what seems like logical, helpful information, it feels invaluable!  
   
   However, AI is not perfect and doesn’t always understand the full scope of a situation, or simple things like target audience or even keyword search volume.
   
   We know that things like SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) social media marketing and creating good website content can be confusing, time-consuming and hard BUT if you are using marketers (hi 👋) it’s worth trusting them to a) use their years of human experience and their subjective knowledge of your business to do their job and b) ask them if you don’t understand aspects of your marketing campaign because they will explain why it’s being carried out in the way it is. Unfortunately, AI often won’t know the subjective ins and outs of your business and won’t have the tools we have to make decisions on SEO.
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3. You Are Not Humanising Your Content
   We completely understand that you’re trying to save time AND money by using Answer Engines to create copy for your website, social media, emails and print materials BUT as much as it creates copy, it isn’t necessarily good copy. In fact it can actually be AWFUL and BLATANTLY OBVIOUS that it has been created by AI and in fact for many people is quite grating.
   
   Please trust us: you can’t just go through your content removing em dashes and Oxford commas, that is not enough. There are so many other ‘tells’ that something has been created by AI, so if you’re not actually going through what it has created and asking yourself if it sounds like you, then you need to think more deeply about how you use it.
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4. Google Doesn’t Like It!
   No, we’re not saying this just to keep ourselves work! If you are at all concerned about trying to get your website to rank on Google and it doesn’t sound like it’s written by a human, this can make Google downrank it.
   
   If you read point 3 and thought “Hmmm, I’m not sure I’ve ever even really read my AI created content.” then Google definitely won’t like it.
   
   I know what you’re thinking: I’ll just tell ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini etc. to make the content sound like it’s had the human touch. Sure, if only it was as simple as that. These tools do not have humane empathy or emotions, which means that they can’t connect with your clients in the way a human can.
   
   On top of that, there’s far more that goes into getting things to rank on Google then simply writing good content (though it’s a great place to start!).
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5. AI Images Are Not Great!
   This is one we can probably all agree on! Social media images created by AI are at least somewhat questionable (please just post a photo of you or your team if you can’t pay someone to create actual graphics!).
   
   If you really want to trigger a marketing professional, get us on to the subject of AI posters. Not only do they all look EXACTLY THE SAME, they also just look really bad. Most of us would rather see a simple Canva-designed poster any day. Alternatively feel free to open Microsoft Word and go crazy with some Word Art. We promise not to judge (too much!).

Should I Use AI to Do My Marketing?

Well, it really depends on what you want to use it for. If you take care of social media inhouse and need ideas, then AI is GREAT! If you want to create the bare bones of a blog but you’re willing to make it sound human, that can also be beneficial.

If you are expecting AI to be able to get you to number one on Google or to give you an expert critique of your website or marketing plan, then you’re not really going to get an objectively good result, even if it sounds convincing.

What Does AI Mean for the Future of Marketing?

That’s a great question.

Well, you can continue to use AI to create subpar content and give you marketing advice which may not actually be relevant (as good as it might sound), or you could listen to the people who have experience getting hundreds of businesses to page one of Google or thousands of views on social media.

We know which one we’d choose. Get in touch with Fountain Digital today for guidance on how we can help you successfully market your business.

P.S. The Answer You Never Knew That You Wanted to Know: What Does ChatGPT Stand for?

The GPT stands ‘Generative Pre-trained Transformer’. You’re welcome.

P.P.S.

No AI was used to write this blog!

P.P.P.S.

If you ever copy something directly from ChatGPT which was in bold, please, please, PLEASE remove the asterisks from around the words. Thank you.