How to use AI in Marketing
A guide to efficient and responsible AI use
Andy Clayton
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now part of day-to-day work for many marketing teams. It can help with research, reporting, first drafts and the early stages of creative work.
For the right task, it can save time or help a team get unstuck. But speed alone doesn’t make marketing better. The important thing is to know where AI can help and where people need to use their expertise, experience and judgement.
We provide a guide on how to use AI in marketing, ensuring you do it as efficiently and responsibly as possible.
A starting point, not the finished work.
AI can help gather information, summarise a long document or give you a few ways into a difficult brief. It can be a useful sounding board when you’re working through an idea.
It can also give you a first draft. But first drafts need checking, as AI can get details wrong, miss the point or produce something that sounds plausible while saying very little…
Content, however it is brought together, still needs to be accurate, relevant and written for the people it’s meant to reach. Google’s guidance makes a similar point: content should be useful to readers, rather than being produced mainly to gain search traffic.
AI can help with the work, but it can’t take responsibility for it.
The value of knowing your audience.
Good marketing comes from understanding what matters to people: what they need to know, what might persuade them and what will make sense to them.
That understanding comes from listening, experience and working closely with your clients. It also helps your business decide when a message feels right for your brand, and when it doesn’t.
AI can suggest words and images, but it doesn’t know your customers or your business in the way your team does. Without human judgement, it’s easy to end up with content that looks finished but could belong to almost anyone!
The risk isn’t simply that more content will be made. It’s that more content will feel the same…
Be aware of the wider impact of AI.
There’s more to consider than the quality of the finished output. AI relies on data centres and a lot of resources like electricity and water to cool down systems.
The use of creative work to develop AI also raises copyright concerns for the people who make that work and how transparent the process is. Also, generated responses can repeat human biases or misrepresent parts of an audience.
These are reasons you need to consider before using AI, looking beyond the time saved. Are these tools actually right for this task? What information or creative material is involved?
Who might be affected by the results? Does the benefit justify using it here?
These are key questions because trust and originality are integral to reputation. Taking a moment to consider the wider effects can help businesses use AI tools with more care, rather than simply because they’re available.
A quick guide on how to use
AI in marketing efficiently.
Before adding generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to a task, you should ask yourself:
1. What part of this task would AI actually help with?
Name the job: summarising feedback, finding themes in a long document or drafting a few headline options. If the task isn’t clear, the result probably won’t be either.
2. Where does it need our judgement or experience?
Think about what requires knowledge of the audience, the brand, the facts or the finished format. Be clear about which decisions stay with the team.
3. Who will check the result before it’s used?
Make sure someone is responsible for reviewing it, rather than assuming the output is ready to go.
If you’re not sure how to answer these, we can help you review your options and find the most practical way forward!
A final check before applying AI.
When considering how to use AI in marketing processes, before implementing any tool, you should also check:
- Is the information accurate and up to date?
- Does it sound like us, and will it be useful to the people reading it?
- Is this tool appropriate for the information we’re entering, especially if it’s personal, confidential or client information?
- Do we understand the tool’s terms and the rights around any material it produces?
These checks are easier to follow when everyone knows the boundaries.
A short AI policy for your business can set out which tools are approved, what information shouldn’t be entered, when a person needs to review the output, and how to handle questions about accuracy, privacy, copyright and transparency.
An AI policy helps give your team a clear starting point and can be updated as the tools and guidance change.
The ICO’s guidance on AI and data protection is under review and may change. If you’re unsure about a particular tool or use, check the latest guidance and the tool’s terms before going ahead.
Here to help you where AI can’t.
At Ruddocks, we’ve seen a lot of changes over the 142 years we’ve been in business, as you can imagine!
The tools have evolved, of course, but the work still starts with understanding what a client needs and making sure the finished piece does its job, wherever it appears.
AI can help, but someone still needs to shape the idea, check the details, and take responsibility for what goes out.
If you’re looking to review your marketing, including where AI should or shouldn’t support, we’re happy to have a chat.
Let us help you take a step back, look at what’s working and decide what you’d like to do next!
Contact us
and say hello.
If you’re interested in working with us or simply want to keep in touch with our latest work and events, we’d love to hear from you.