The 3 Best (and 3 Worst) Ways for Marketers to Use AI

“Like it or not, AI is here to stay. You have 2 choices — adapt or fall behind.”*

Sounds overstated, but the sentiment is true. For savvy marketers, adapting to new technology isn’t a choice — it comes with the territory.

By now, you’re familiar with the benefits of AI:

• Saves time (most of the time)
• Reduces the tedium
• Lets you reallocate resources

But these perks have risks. If you misuse AI, you could (inadvertently):

• Spread misinformation
• Compromise data security
• Jeopardize your company’s reputation

So, what are the right and wrong ways to use AI?

Read 3 of the best (and 3 of the worst) ways to use AI right now. Plus, hear how industry experts are — and aren’t — using the technology.

Top 3 Use Cases for AI

Let’s start with the obvious:

1. AI can be fantastic for streamlining tedious, time-consuming work.

Tasks like intro-level research, data organization, summarizing and spell-checking are smart uses for AI. These tasks take significant time to execute but little time to validate.

But we’re more excited about the less obvious AI use cases. Here are some examples:

2. Use AI to improve your website’s user experience.

Chatbots and personalized suggestions (like how Prime shows other products you may like) can help you tailor the web experience to each user.

And Christopher Penn describes how you can use AI tools to make it easier for users to find information on your website:

 “AI can improve access to information on your website that’s hard to find … A language model can translate consumers’ natural language into the correct search terms, digest the page content and return it back as a conversation.”

In other words, AI can bridge the gap between the terms being searched (i.e., “back pain”) and the intent behind the search (sciatica). It’s no longer on the user to know the right terms — AI can figure out what they need in a way traditional on-site search can’t.

Or this AI use case from Andy Crestodina :

3. Let AI help you identify what’s missing in your content.

“Give the AI a detailed persona, then copy and paste your content and ask, ‘To what extent does this page meet or not meet this visitor’s information needs?’ When properly trained, AI can give you exactly what’s not on the page.”

View 16 other ways to use AI.

3 Ways Not to Use AI

AI is advantageous for certain tasks and can be catastrophic for others. Here are 3 marketing tasks that AI tools aren’t suitable for (at least right now):

1. Fact-checking information: Even OpenAI tells us, “ChatGPT can make mistakes. Consider checking important information.” Heed this advice and leave fact-checking for humans.
2. Creative or strategic work: AI still can’t compete with human expertise when it comes to jobs like building a marketing plan or creating from scratch. Instead, use it for monotonous tasks that can be completed (and checked over) at scale.
3. Creating original content: AI “writers” are predictive analysis tools — they predict what comes next in a sentence using existing data. Human writers are better at creating original content with unique insights and expertise.

Take it from Ann Handley :

“Clear writing is not the same as genuine insight. Generative AI is more of an efficiency accelerator than a ‘writing’ tool.”

Learn More About Using AI at Work

Interested in learning more about using AI as a marketer? For expert insights and a collection of resources, check out our Guide to AI in Healthcare Marketing.

Want the TL;DR? View this resource for a 60-second overview.

* I’ve read and heard this quote so many times I’m not sure who said it first. If you know the origin, let me know.