This is the first in a miniseries on how businesses can leverage AI writing software in their marketing departments. Does it make sense for your marketing?
While artificial intelligence is by no means new, it continues to progress and expand across many industries. And more businesses are finding ways to introduce AI into different departments. Most recently, marketing teams began using AI in the form of content generators to deal with the ever-growing demand for content production.
So, we’ve created a miniseries on how businesses can leverage AI writing software in their marketing departments. In this first installment, we’ll cover the basics of this technology and its marketing use cases.
What Does ‘AI Writing’ Mean?
AI writing refers to software that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to generate and improve written content. In other words, you can use it to automate digital marketing processes such as content ideation, production, auditing, SEO optimization and more.
Many AI writing applications are available, each with its own capabilities and features. Some examples of these include:
- Grammarly
- Jasper
- Writesonic
- Frase
- Copy.ai
Related Article: The Case for Artificial Intelligence in Content Marketing Use Cases
How AI Writing Works
AI writing software creates content based on the user’s direction and input. This means, you’ll need to input information such as topic descriptions, keywords, word limit, tone, format, headings and so on. Then, based on this information, it collects data from billions of online sources and pulls content relevant to your subject.
After the AI writing tool gathers enough material, it uses natural language processing and deep learning to create original text that sounds human-like. Most AI writing systems utilize Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3) technology. This allows the writing software to predict which words should come next in any given sentence. And it works one word at a time, using context to predict all content moving forward.
Benefits: Why Are Businesses AI for Content?
So, why are more and more businesses introducing AI writing tools within marketing departments? We talked to marketing and copywriting professionals who have experience with AI writing tools to discover why they use them and how they benefit.
- Cost effective: The whole purpose of this software is to automate content generation, saving both time and money. Madhav Bhandari, marketing consultant and founder of Early Stage Marketing, adds, “I’ve been able to grow my blog with just a $49/month investment from 0 to 1,500 monthly visitors. Without the AI writer, this would’ve cost me easily more than $2,000/month.” AI writing software is generally more affordable than outsourcing. And since it works as an inexpensive advertising and marketing tool, it’s a great option for small marketing teams and businesses.
- Increase content production: AI writing tools allow you to produce more content in a short period of time. And with a faster production time, you can focus on other essential business tasks. Toby Dao, marketing specialist at Tigren, elaborates, “The benefits are numerous, from increased efficiency to being able to scale your content production. With a few clicks of a button, you can have a whole campaign ready to go without lifting a finger. This is how we greatly improved our content output.”
- Avoid writer’s block: AI can help you get your article off the ground by quickly brainstorming headings and relevant topics. It can even generate an outline for you. Alina Dolbenska, content manager at Synebo, says she uses AI writing tools as a source of inspiration. “With them, it’s easier to proceed with a topic, especially when you’ve run out of ideas or things to say,” she adds.
Related Article: Marketers Uneducated, Untrained for Artificial Intelligence
How Can Marketers Use AI Writing Software?
AI writing applications typically provide users with various templates for different content needs. The content templates you have access to largely depend on which writing tool you select.
You can generally create the following marketing materials using AI writing software:
- Blog posts and long-form content
- Ad copy
- Product descriptions
- Social media captions
- Scripts (for videos or podcasts)
- Landing pages
- Email marketing copy
As you can see, this technology can produce a wide range of content to support your marketing goals. But other than content generation, what are AI writing’s use cases in marketing departments?
Let’s take a look:
Optimizing Content for SEO
These tools can help your team target keywords and optimize marketing materials for SEO. Some applications offer automated keyword research and templates for meta descriptions. Others support integrations with SEO tools and can even evaluate your content for SEO practices.
To prove that these tools are capable of producing content that ranks, Krista Doyle, marketing manager at Twitter, conducted her own experiment on her website Punchup AI:
“I had Jasper write an article targeting the long-tail keyword “how many calories does kayaking burn” and published it on my site without making any edits to the copy. After publishing 5 days ago, it’s already ranking on page 2 for a few high-volume niche keywords. Now, I can go back in to make some edits and hopefully hit page 1.”
Repurposing and Refreshing Content
AI writing software can also rewrite your content to improve its engagement levels and overall performance. This means you can simplify and automate repurposing and refreshing content. You can either opt to rephrase your existing copy or completely rework it for an original point of view.
Related Article: Reasons Why Ethical Conversational Design Is Vital for Enterprise AI
Aligning Content With Searcher’s Intent
As mentioned earlier, these tools generate content based on the data they gather from the internet. It will pull from top-ranking headlines, keywords, relevant topics, etc., on your chosen subject.
Dmitry Sokhach, founder of Shared.Domains, says that his business uses AI writing tools because you “can build your content based on what people actually want, as opposed to what you think they want. It’s ideal for whatever people are searching for.”
This aspect of AI writing software makes it easy to align your content with the searcher’s intent, which helps establish a customer-first strategy throughout your content. By focusing on the prospect or customer’s needs and pain points, you’ll generate engaging content that successfully moves them down the sales pipeline.
Is AI Writing for Your Team?
It’s understandable if you’re still on the fence about using AI writing software for marketing purposes. There are many pros and cons (we’ll cover the challenges in the next article in this series) associated with this technology. As such, it may not be a good fit for every business or marketing team.
To see if AI writing is right for you, start by identifying your needs. Ask yourself:
- What type of content would you auto-generate? (landing pages, case studies, long-form content)
- What are your content goals or KPIs?
- How many marketers or writers occupy your team?
- What is your marketing or content budget?
- What pain point are you trying to solve by using AI writing tools? (i.e., reduce production time, save money on outsourcing costs, etc.)
Once you’ve identified your needs and goals, compare them with what AI writing software offers your team.
Then, you’ll know if it’s right for you.