Cahill Camden: Founder at Press Jockey and Director of Digital Vision Media Group.
It has been less than three months since I published my last article, “Truth, Trust And Our Search For AI Expertise.” It feels as though a lifetime has passed since then.
The AI landscape has erupted into a whirlwind of innovation, spawning dozens of new applications and tech startups in the process. Despite recently being considered astonishing, basic chat-based communication with AI has already begun to lose its luster. In its place, a shiny new era of GPT4 and autonomous chatbots has arisen. These autonomous virtual “AI agents” operate tirelessly and largely without humans, carrying out their pre-defined objectives in perpetuity (or until goal objectives are met), executed with just a few starting prompts.
No longer do you have to interact continuously with AI. Now, at your command, AI can interact with AI, recursively adjusting and correcting course in perpetuity, all in pursuit of your goal or task at hand.
We are moving at warp speed. Our destination? Unknown. And yet it is clear that in our pursuit of an unknown goal (perhaps artificial general intelligence?), AI has left a mark on every industry—the press, media communications and marketing industries being no exceptions. In the blink of an eye, the ground beneath the feet of every executive and marketing team has shifted, creating challenges and opportunities alike.
While our end destination remains uncertain, I believe leveraging developments on the frontier of marketing and communications will be essential to the survival of businesses moving forward. Here are three areas to consider.
1. AI-Powered Marketing And Communication Strategies
In this new era of AI marketing, your brand needs no longer be confined to superficial metrics and limited data points as set by traditional databases and analysis. Instead, AI-powered media analysis can be leveraged to unlock strategic insights that were previously hidden.
As an example, traditional databases and media analyses rely on manual input, static algorithms and predefined rules. These are fantastic starting points but are limited in their complexity. With advancements such as vector databases, AI analysis can bring a level of sophistication and adaptability that was previously unobtainable.
How far should you, as a brand leader, go with AI-powered media and content strategy? That will really depend on you. You can dive as deep as adapting vector databases into your data collection and audience analysis or dip your toes in the water by leveraging third-party AI tools to help you uncover more insights and productivity. In either case, here are three areas where leaders can leverage AI to start moving in the right direction.
• Sentiment Analysis: You can use AI to help understand your audience’s emotional reactions to your brand, advertising and promotions. By analyzing comments, reactions, posts and feedback, it’s possible to integrate nuanced insights about customers’ feelings toward your brand into a more impactful strategy.
• Predictive Analysis: When used in combination with the data you have, machine learning (ML) algorithms can help give you insights into future scenarios. When directly targeted at strategy, it may be able to uncover insights about which customers are likely to churn, identify when to send your next email campaign or gain insights into what communication is most likely going to drive results.
• Personalized Content: With the right training and prompts, AI can be used to personalize content for individual customers based on their customer profile or unique characters and behaviors.
Ultimately, using AI-powered data analysis and tools can help you stand apart from the competition and engage with your customers.
2. Streamlined Media Communications
As AI evolves, new AI-powered tools can help brands navigate this shifting landscape of media communications with increased agility. AI-driven tools can significantly enhance the effectiveness and impact of marketing and communications efforts, potentially leading to substantial cost savings in the process. No longer a luxury, AI use is quickly becoming a necessity for our fast-paced, innovative environment.
As it relates to streamlined media connection, I’d recommend exploring the following.
• Advanced Media Outreach: AI tools can automate the process of discovering relevant media connections, assessing their potential fit and even drafting initial pitch emails that you or your communications team can edit and send.
• AI-Enhanced Content Creation: AI can be used to augment and assist your content team. Everything from the generation of content ideas and outlines to using AI-based editing, rewriting or summarizing techniques can help you reduce costs while scaling output. When used in combination with staff to add the human touch and fact-check, these techniques can be done without compromising quality.
3. Ethical Considerations Of Implementation
Despite the astronomical leaps and bounds being made in the world of AI technology, I believe it’s important not to lose sight of the ethical considerations of implementing it. For example, AI-based automation, while it is gaining ground on human judgment and creativity, still does not have the capability to fully adapt to audience insights and social changes or to generate human-level creative content. Over-reliance on AI automation could be more detrimental to your marketing or communication efforts—especially if it is perceived as manipulative or inauthentic, but also if it is simply not up to human-level standards.
Perhaps customers care less than we think; this boundary has yet to be defined or even discovered. However, it should be on your radar as a potential future challenge while you implement AI solutions.
As we hurtle forward into an AI-driven future, the marketing landscape will likely only continue to transform rapidly, and embracing AI’s potential while being mindful of ethical considerations is key to staying ahead of the curve. How you progress forward is at your discretion, but not taking action on AI will almost certainly not be an option. I believe it is the brands that thoughtfully adopt AI-powered tools and navigate this new frontier that will not only survive but thrive in the age of intelligent machines.
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