The case for investing in content marketing in an AI dominated world
In today’s world Artificial Intelligence (AI) and algorithms seem poised to take over significant aspects of our business lives. The pace and promise of change has begun to make formerly disruptive industries look like traditional legacy players.
Content marketing was once the communication industry’s upstart. Its advocates would boast of its significant ROI, impressive targeted outcomes and relatively low cost of outlay. Especially when measured against more conventional ‘broadcast’ marketing approaches.
So, as we enter an era dominated by AI and evolving search engine algorithms, should you still be investing in ‘traditional’ content marketing?
‘Traditional’ content marketing
Before the launch of ChatGPT at the end of 2022, the case for investing in content marketing was compelling and crystal clear. (Spoiler alert; it still is.) For a comparatively low outlay and with the potential for truly significant upside, traditional content marketing is able to: drive organic online traffic; nurture leads; educate the customer base; and establish and reinforce a company’s credibility in their chosen fields.
To succeed, content marketing needs to maximise aspects of search engine optimisation (SEO) and climb up the ranks of search engine results pages (SERPs) With engaging, relevant, well-researched content applying the right keywords, businesses can boost their online profile and attract organic, engaged visitors to their website and sales funnel.
The case for the defence
At every stage of the journey, content marketing plays a crucial role in guiding customers. From awareness to consideration and then finally, to conversion, it’s essential to have well-crafted content that helps to nurture leads, build trust and assist prospects with their decision-making process.
Important as it is, it’s not only the sales funnel where you need content marketing to assist your customers and support your brand. An informative, engaging content marketing campaign can help businesses to show off their credentials, demonstrate their real expertise and understanding of the customer experience, and gain credibility and loyalty among their audience.
Key benefits of content marketing, at a glance…
Content marketing can help you to:
– Turn online browsers into engaged customers visiting your site
– Educate customers and enhance your industry credentials
– Understand and gain insights into your audience and try out new topics
– Increase your conversion rates and generate more sales as users move through the ‘funnel’
– Build trust as you curate a library of useful content targeted at your readers
– Show that you understand your customer’s pain points and can solve their problems
– Attract a fresh audience and build brand buzz
The ‘elephant in the room’
ChatGPT launched at the end of 2022, and by January 2023 it had become what was then the fastest growing consumer software application in history. With 100 million users and with its parent company’s current valuation of $86billion, Open AI’s ChatGPT is credited with starting the AI boom. And that’s just one company. Let’s not forget Gemini, Claude, Llama, Ernie, CoPilot, and the inevitable Grok.
It may be early days, but it’s safe to say that AI is here to stay. So, how does this affect ‘traditional’ content marketing? The content industry continues to deliver many benefits, but increasingly sophisticated Language Learning Models (LLMs) and AI-enabled algorithms are now changing operations.
Let’s clear the air
AI is phenomenal. It promises to be transformative for numerous industries. But, for now, there are limits to what it can do. In our view, AI is an important business and communications tool, but it is not a replacement for human ingenuity, human connection, human insights, and human content. The cliché that ‘people buy from people’ became so because it’s true.
Naturally, it may be tempting to cut back on ‘traditional’ content marketing campaigns in favour of AI-generated content, but caveat emptor: buyer beware. AI can have a marked tendency to generate content that is remarkably generic and ‘vanilla’ – as opposed to producing writing and campaigns that are distinctive and persuasive. The reason for this? When lots of marketers are looking to create similar content, AI responds by churning out highly similar results, turning your brand to bland. Your content needs to be unique, inspiring, and show off your expertise, and to do that effectively requires the human touch.
There’s also another issue. AI is known for producing mistaken, sometimes even dangerous, recommendations. For instance, Google’s AI search feature recently told people to eat rocks and add glue to their pizzas. That’s the last thing you need when you’re trying to build a brand, serve a sales funnel, and create credibility with customers.
Quality is king
How can you leverage AI to improve your content marketing? Use it as a tool, as a boost, and always conduct rigorous quality control. True, algorithms can analyse vast amounts of data and optimise search results, which is invaluable, but Google’s E-A-T guidelines further underscore the significance of quality, humanly relatable content. E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
If you’re not addressing these benchmarks, if you’re not producing quality content, you won’t be climbing up the rankings. Over time, there may even be a risk of the business itself being penalised and losing some of its digital standing.
So, the imperative of producing quality content in an AI-driven world cannot be overstated.
Get in touch today to see how The Think Tank creates award-winning, human-led content that demonstrates your expertise, uniqueness and relevance. Visit our case study pages to view our work.
