With the shift into the AI world, you might be struggling to navigate the whirlwind of AI when it comes to marketing…and you’re not alone!
In this blog, we delve into the world of AI in marketing and explore how businesses can navigate the coming wave of change to stay ahead of the game. From understanding the basics of AI to exploring its practical applications, this post provides direction for marketers to harness the power of AI and drive their businesses forward.
Marketing in the Eye of the AI Storm
Everyone is talking about AI these days. What was once a futuristic concept is now a present-day reality—and it’s gaining momentum, FAST. As artificial intelligence becomes more deeply embedded in marketing, it’s fundamentally transforming the way brands connect with consumers.
The following article contains some helpful strategies for how to best use AI for marketing. The insights in the following paragraphs can be implemented over time and used in your business’ marketing strategy.
What is AI—and How Can You Use It to Support Your Marketing?
Citing AI generated content provided by Google Gemini (yes, we use it too when it makes good sense!), AI in marketing refers to using artificial intelligence to personalize customer experiences, create highly targeted messaging, automate tasks, and provide data-driven insights.
A recent study conducted by Epsilon Data Management – The State of AI in Marketing 2025, highlights significant insights regarding the adoption of AI in marketing across the retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG), financial services, travel and restaurant sectors:
“We are experiencing a broad adoption and acceptance of AI across the marketing industry.”
How is AI Transforming Marketing?
Current AI Marketing Strategies Highlighted by Sprout Social
- Analytics and Insights: AI provides data-driven insights into customer behavior, market trends, and campaign performance, enabling brands to make more informed decisions.
- Automation: AI can automate repetitive tasks like scheduling social media posts and generating reports, freeing up marketers to focus on strategic initiatives.
- Personalization: AI helps tailor marketing efforts to individual customer preferences and behaviors, leading to more relevant and engaging experiences.
- Content Optimization: AI can help optimize content for search engines and other platforms, ensuring it reaches the right audience and maximizes its impact.
- Predictive Analytics: AI can predict future trends and customer behavior, allowing brands to anticipate market shifts and adjust their strategies accordingly.
- Content Creation: AI-powered tools can generate various content types, including social media posts, website copy, and email marketing materials.
- Brand Management: AI-powered tools can help monitor brand reputation, track sentiment, and identify emerging trends, allowing brands to proactively address challenges and capitalize on opportunities.
AI Demands a Careful Balance Between Innovation and Control
As businesses across industries embrace AI, they must also navigate risks such as intellectual property violations and loss of brand voice.
This is especially relevant in content creation and brand management, where generative AI demands a careful balance between innovation and control.
A brand is a marketer’s most valuable asset—your unique identity. It is an intangible concept—your audience’s emotions and feelings toward you. Basically, a brand is your customer’s perception of you.
As marketing expert Marty Neumeier famously said: “A brand is not what you say it is. It’s what they (your customers) say it is.”
Brand affinity fuels the long-term success marketers strive for in a crowded landscape.
Brand Affinity Defined
Emotional Connection: Brand affinity goes beyond basic awareness or recognition; it’s about the emotional bond that customers feel with the brand.
Positive Association: Customers associate the brand with positive qualities and experiences, leading to a sense of belonging and trust.
Values Alignment: Customers feel that the brand’s values and beliefs align with their own, creating a sense of shared identity and purpose.
Loyalty and Engagement: A strong brand affinity can lead to repeat purchases, advocacy, and overall customer loyalty.
Built Through Experiences: Brand affinity is built through consistent positive experiences, effective communication, and genuine engagement.
Marketing and AI: Managing Risks & Responsibilities
“Striking the right balance between technology and human touch is vital for an organization.”
As businesses embrace AI for its benefits, they must also weigh its risks—especially in marketing. These include potential copyright issues and the loss of brand voice.
Members of Forbes Communications Council weigh in on these risks:
Eventual Homogenization
AI-generated marketing pushes the need to be authentic even further into the forefront of content creation. As marketers rely more on AI to generate content, homogenization begins to occur. This is the direct opposite of the purpose of branding, which requires differentiation and authenticity as a core component. – Jen Iliff, WunderLand
A Loss Of Individual Voice
Generative AI can help compile information, but in bringing together the many voices from the internet, it loses a marketer’s individual voice. Marketers shouldn’t use the information provided by generative AI as “final copy.” Rather, the information needs to serve as a starting point from which a marketer can add their own unique perspective, nuance and voice. – Kathy Sucich, Dimensional Insight
A Compromised Brand Voice
One of the biggest potential risks of using generative AI is compromising the brand voice. Marketers need to ensure that the content created reflects the brand’s true personality and that its uniqueness shines through. Delivering qualitative content is as important as speed. Being diligent about AI-based outcomes and keeping a check on data bias while using predictive analytics needs attention too. – Seema Kalra, The Right Thing Marketing Communications
A Loss Of Creativity And Originality
Marketing thrives on creativity, innovation and originality. Relying too much on generative AI runs the risk of losing these aspects and can result in uniform content. Imagine if every campaign relied on the same process; your brand’s distinctiveness would fade. AI can be a helpful tool for ideation, but striking the right balance between technology and human touch is vital for an organization. – Jonathan Kaufman, Smile Doctors
Misalignments And Inaccuracies
Using generative AI in marketing poses the risk of creating content that may be inaccurate or misaligned with a brand’s values, potentially damaging its reputation. To mitigate this, companies should set clear guidelines and a quality control process, invest in advanced AI tools with human oversight, and educate teams on its nuances to ensure content integrity and brand alignment. – Ronak Sheth, 360 ONE WAM Ltd.
Diluted Authenticity
Excessive reliance on AI in marketing risks diluting authenticity. Mitigate by integrating human oversight, ensuring AI output meets quality standards and prioritizing genuine relationships with media and stakeholders. Both tech innovation and a human touch are key for lasting impact. – Katie Jewett, UPRAISE Marketing + Public Relations
A Lack Of Human Oversight
I think one of the main risks that can be associated with the use of generative AI is the lack of human oversight. Since AI works with data, whatever content is produced by it will be a function of how accurate and unbiased that original data is, thus requiring human criteria to ensure accuracy. On the other hand, we need to keep training AI models to think the way we would think ourselves. – Jorge Lukowski, NEORIS
The Elephant in the Room: Will AI Replace Me?
Christina Inge, instructor at the Harvard University Division of Continuing Education believes that AI is both a challenge and an opportunity for those in marketing. “There is a saying going around now — and it is very true— that your job will not be taken by AI,” says Inge. “It will be taken by a person who knows how to use AI.”
Generative AI doesn’t think like humans and can’t replace the complex cognitive processes that marketing and communication professionals rely on to solve problems, which is what we’re hired to do. AI doesn’t reflect, have insights, mull problems, have epiphanies or experience moments of creative brilliance.
AI isn’t yet capable of that level of complex thought – it processes data and generates responses based on patterns, not experience or intuition. It’s a tool created by humans, not a substitute for human insight.
Generative AI Is Revolutionizing Marketing for Businesses
AI offers valuable opportunities to enhance what makes us uniquely human—our creativity, critical thinking, and storytelling. With intention and care, we can embrace AI as a powerful content partner that supports our work without compromising our integrity or brand.
As stated by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), while generative AI has its limitations, it also unlocks opportunities to amplify what makes us uniquely human—our creativity, critical thinking, and storytelling. With a thoughtful and intentional approach, we can embrace AI as a powerful content partner that enhances our work without compromising our integrity or brand—using it as a collaborator, not a replacement.
Re-Building Your Marketing Strategies Using AI
AI is rapidly transforming businesses, markets, jobs and society as we know it.
At >Greater Thought, we believe AI has the power to transform your marketing efforts, and we use it strategically to deliver value for our clients. At the same time, we understand the risks generative AI poses in its current state and take our responsibility seriously by establishing clear guidelines for the ethical use of AI-generated content, images, video, and audio.
As a brand-centric agency, we’re dedicated to helping you leverage AI effectively while safeguarding your brand’s strength and integrity every step of the way.
AI for Marketing: Strategies You Can Start Using Today!
- Embrace AI as a powerful content collaborator, knowing it’s a tool to assist—not to replace—you
- Safeguard your brand by treating AI-generated content as a framework—not the final version. Add your own perspective, nuance, and tone to ensure the message truly reflects your brand.
- Establish clear guidelines and a quality control process for the ethical use of AI-generated content with human oversight
Partnering with >Greater Thought to Leverage AI for Your Business’s Marketing
The use of AI in marketing has just begun. There’s no doubt it can have a profound effect on your brand and bottom line, but it can seem daunting. This is where Greater Thought’s marketing expertise makes the difference.
As the digital world continues to evolve, we’re the calm in the storm. We help connect your business to your ideal customers, allowing you to focus on what you do best. Explore our services or contact us today to see how >Greater Thought can elevate your digital presence.