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AI and the Human Touch: Crafting Content Marketing Brilliance Together

December 14th, 2023 Gabriella Kose

The dawn of open AI in early 2023 sparked a wave of skepticism, curiosity and even fear among marketers. Businesses, on the other hand, scrambled to keep up and create AI messaging, capabilities and events. There is no doubt that in just a few short months, AI reshaped the way businesses create, distribute and analyze content. 

With 90% of US marketers now considering AI as indispensable, the narrative has shifted from apprehension to integration. However, if you’ve used any of these AI tools to help you draft content of any kind, you can see we are a long way away from being over-reliant on this technology.

The Role of Generative AI in Content Marketing and Digital Events

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Generative AI has allowed marketers and content creators to streamline tasks like converting webinars into blogs, e-books, transcripts and other content formats. For digital events, AI can analyze engagement data so you can understand the preferences and behavior of attendees, offer personalized content suggestions and help you optimize future campaigns. That being said, a human touch remains essential for curating the overall event experience and handling unforeseen situations. 

While an AI assistant, like SmartText, is a great proofreader, abstract and title writer,  it’s not foolproof. The Achilles’ heel lies in its occasional lack of a je ne sais quoi that makes it sound inherently human. These AI tools also require human oversight to correct inaccuracies and prevent plagiarism. Despite AI’s data-driven insights, genuine human perspectives are indispensable for crafting materials like company go-to-market enablement and identifying customer pain points.

Why AI Will Transform Marketing

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By combining generative AI capabilities with the vision, strategy and oversight of marketers, we can shift our focus to the things that really matter. Instead of copy editing or transcribing, we can spend our time scaling digital events globally and enabling sales with customer messaging that will resonate. The symbiotic relationship between AI and marketers shines in key areas:

  1. Opinions: Marketers bring unique perspectives to complement AI’s data-driven insights, crucial for aspects like company positioning and go-to-market strategy.
  2. Humor: AI may struggle with nailing a brand’s voice and wit, but it can refine content by generating a few options for amusing email promotions based on sample content. 
  3. Rhetorical devices: AI excels in assisting with rhetorical flourishes, adding depth to content by creating alliterations, metaphors, similes, hyperboles and more.
  4. Real-life experiences: Generative AI is helpful when conveying stories effectively but lacks unique human experiences to illustrate a point and the emotion that is sometimes required in copywriting. 

The Future of Content Marketing and Digital Events

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The convergence of AI and digital marketing is not just inevitable; it is already well underway. It’s tough to say exactly where AI will be in the next few months, much less in one or five years, but the hope is that it continues to enhance efficiency without overshadowing the human touch. Building authentic connections, crafting creative narratives and fostering trust cannot be taught to AI… at least not yet. 

As AI continues to evolve, marketers will find themselves at the forefront of a connected market, delivering more personalized online experiences while gaining insights into consumer behavior from a pure customer point of view. The key to success lies in embracing the collaborative power of AI and human innovation, creating a future where the digital marketing landscape is not just transformed but elevated to new heights of creativity, efficiency and engagement.