Adoption Considerations for Emerging AI Tech in Marketing

AI is abundantly everywhere.

• “Powered by AI” is splashed across every product today.
• “AI is the new internet,” is featured in almost every news article.
• “Quickly! Get AI into our operations,” says every business manager.
• “Our innovative AI tool,” shouts every new AI app that enters the market daily.

Artificial Intelligence is an exciting whirlwind

It’s no surprise. There is so much potential when it comes to emerging AI tech.

So, it’s important to learn all about it so you can make the right choices.

And while Artificial Intelligence is not exactly new technology per se, the entire world is currently in the grips of a massive AI adoption phase for both commercial and personal use.

As you can imagine, there’s a surge of organisations all over the world scrambling to jump in, give it a go and see what AI can do to improve their organisations.

Sure, AI has a long list of practical possibilities.

But with this comes a long list of ethical responsibilities and AI due diligence for everyone considering AI too.

You see, AI is particularly appealing in the business marketing space. It has promised to create all of our content, manifest our wildest campaigns, produce video in seconds and do everything we’ve always done, but in seconds flat.

How good does that sound, right?!

But, as business professionals, we all know two constant truths:

1. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is
2. Marketing for marketing’s sake is NEVER the right approach

I’m not hating on AI. Quite the opposite!

AI isn’t going away and it’s important to keep your eyes open.
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Whether you’re a Senior citizen, an entrepreneur starting a business or investing in career progression, you HAVE to know how to use AI tech

But, we do need to be more aware of the whole picture rather than just buying into all of the AI hype. 

You see, once you know the big picture, you can actually reap the true benefits of emerging AI technologies, rather than just getting swept away with a superficial excitement.
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Let’s dissect this a bit so you can get the best of AI for your use.

Is AI Marketing too good to be true?

Generally yes, on its surface.
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While it does promise “marketing on demand at the touch of a button” with platforms like ChatGPT, DALL-E and the endless list of iterations we see enter the market daily, AI is not the silver bullet that people keep promising.

So no, it won’t just “take over” your marketing. However, it will enhance your human efforts if you adopt AI responsibly.

That’s why I encourage you to give AI tech a try as they can be truly fantastic as powerful tools.

But in the end, you can’t fire all of your marketing team and hope for the best. These AI marketing tools are great, but they certainly require a human touch before and after.

Nothing is ever perfect with AI, and if you leave AI up to its own devices (thinking that it can do everything for you), you’ll end up with generic articles and marketing campaigns that don’t address the deep human emotional nuances of your audiences.

Again, I’m not saying don’t try them! 

But apply my human-AI-human sandwich approach to your Marketing AI tools:

1. Create prompts based on strategy and carefully considered information.
2. THEN allow AI to do its thing (in seconds!).
3. Finally, get a human to edit, re-prompt and approve.

This way, you prevent your business from publishing marketing that isn’t carefully crafted according to your market, customer and brand.

AI Marketing shouldn’t be adopted for no reason

With the abundance of AI tools, it can be super enticing to try new things.
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That’s a great thing! Don’t get me wrong.

I encourage you to try new forms of marketing to promote your business and reach new markets; and if AI gives you this, then great. However, the only marketing that works is backed by strategy.
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For instance, just because email automation platforms like MailChimp, Klaviyo and HubSpot allow you to send more emails at once than ever before, doesn’t mean you should. 

There is a difference between using AI tools in a smart way vs AI tools in a spamming way – you want to take the smart way!

So, when it comes to AI marketing tools, remember to adopt tech that actually helps you achieve your goals through strategy, and not add to generic spam.

How to select the right emerging AI tech in marketing

To avoid the above pitfalls of shallow AI use and, instead, using AI as a powerful tool to enhance your marketing in business, try the following.

1. Set your Business Goals

These are the goals of your organisation, whether it’s to raise revenue by a dollar figure or launch a new product. Everything should start here.

​2. Set your Marketing Objectives

Next, put together your marketing objectives that meet the business goals. For instance, what marketing do you need to do to achieve those goals?

3. Put together your Marketing Strategy

Right, now you piece together your overall guiding approach to Marketing.

4. Set your tasks that are like the tactics to enact the strategy

Here, you need to put together the executable steps involved to reach your business goals and marketing objectives. Only after this stage do you bring in your AI marketing tools.

5. Conduct research into AI tools that can help drive more efficiencies

This is when you can begin to adopt AI technology correctly – because it’s built around your organisation in a smart way. Not just because it’s the latest trend. At this stage, consider which AI platforms will help support your marketing tasks.

6. Set out all of your AI options (as there will be so many alternatives)

As I mentioned, there are hundreds of AI tools launching every single day. So, you have heaps of choices, and they usually all approach what you want differently. Take your time here to research all of the options and narrow your choices.

7. Book a demo to see it in action

The best part of the top Marketing AI tools is that they usually allow you to try them, either via a free demo or a freemium trial. Definitely give this a go as it will help you see them in action, especially with how they work around your specific business tactics.

8. Assess AI tool budgets

Of course, look at how all of these emerging AI tools fit into your budget, as they usually have some sort of reoccurring cost.

9. Avoid subscription creep

This is key! With all of the AI tech that’s now available, you’ll quickly find your budget full of so many of them, all costing you subscription fees. Be vigilant and ensure that you’re not overcommitting to AI tools that do all the same thing, or worse, you’ve forgotten completely about!

10. Choose and adopt your AI marketing tool

Make that final decision and get it into your business, so you can start to benefit from its capabilities.

11. Get training and set your AI policies

Just make sure you think about all of the Ethical AI considerations when you start training yourself and your team to use your AI tool.

It’s important to make yourself and your team feel comfortable with the introduction of this new AI platform using human-centric AI implementation. 

12. Actually use it!!!

This is a big one. Make sure that your new AI tech doesn’t just sit dormant. You want it to be a positive contributor to your success, and not a forgotten dead weight.

13. Asses its ROI in comparison to your business goals and objectives

Like any other business decision, make sure you pay close attention to the metrics around its use. Hopefully, the AI tech is cutting down your costs and improving your business efficiencies. 

14. Be AI proactive

Based on all of the above, continue to make decisions around your business’ use of AI Marketing tools based on how well they are working for and with your organisation.

Following this AI tech adoption framework means that you’re focused on using AI correctly as a productivity tool, and not just “because”.

I know that emerging AI technologies can be overwhelming and seem like a race to adapt or die – and to some extent, there is truth to this. However, if you remain diligent with your AI usage and implement good AI Governance Policies, you can set yourself up to achieve the best outcomes.

Goodluck! 
Christopher Melotti

Christopher Melotti is the founder of Melotti AI Ethics.

At Melotti AI, they champion responsible AI use in Australian Businesses.

Their suite of AI consulting services empowers organisations to forge ahead with confidence and integrity in their AI Implementation.​​
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Their AI Consulting needs include:

• AI Ethics Advisory
• Responsible AI Competency Training
• Ethical AI Framework Development
• AI Governance Policy Advisory