As someone who co-wrote the book ““Becoming Artificial: A Philosophical Exploration Into Artificial Intelligence and What It Means to Be Human,” I’ve spent a long time thinking about artificial intelligence, even before ChatGPT was everywhere. Our book explores how AI went from a fantasy to a major topic for policymakers and a cause of job insecurity. The last twenty years have seen huge advances, making AI much more than just a theory.

AI has changed digital marketing drastically. But even with AI’s potential, human intuition, creativity, and empathy are still key for marketing. Today’s digital marketers need to use AI’s power while keeping that human touch in their strategies. This article will:

• Look at the role and impact of generative AI in digital marketing.
• Explore real-world examples of generative AI in marketing.
• Stress why the human touch is still needed for success.
• Give best practices for combining AI and human skills in digital marketing. Let’s begin.

The role of generative AI in digital marketing

Generative AI refers to AI that creates new content, like text, images, or music. In digital marketing, it’s usually used for automating content, analyzing data, personalizing marketing, and improving customer interactions. Generative AI offers many benefits for digital marketing, from saving time and money to making things more personalized and scalable. As highlighted in a recent Forbes article, let’s explore these key uses:

1. Content creation

Generative AI can write things like blog posts, social media updates, and product descriptions. This saves a lot of time, and because AI works constantly, it can produce a ton of content. We discuss how (and how not to) use AI for content marketing on LocaliQ.

2. Personalization

Generative AI is great at analyzing lots of data, so it can tailor content to each user based on what they do, what they like, and how they’ve interacted before. This personalization gets users more engaged and can boost conversions.

3. Data analysis

AI can also understand complex data, find insights, and predict what consumers will do. These insights help marketers create better strategies.

4. Design generation

AI isn’t just about text. It can also create visuals like banner ads, social media graphics, and even website layouts, which speeds up the design process and lets marketers do more A/B testing.

Product Studio, launched at Google Marketing Live 2023, utilizes AI to generate product visuals.

5. Customer interactions

AI can handle customer questions through chatbots, social media, and even phone calls. It gives instant, personalized answers, making customers happier and letting human staff handle more complicated issues. In each of these roles, generative AI not only automates tasks but also adds personalization and insights that were impossible before. This lets marketers focus on bigger-picture strategy and creative work, using both AI and human strengths.

Example of generative AI in digital marketing

Generative AI is already making waves in digital marketing. It can automate personalized emails, write engaging social media posts, and even create full blog articles. It can also analyze tons of data to predict consumer behavior, helping marketers create better strategies. One major example is how Google and Wendy’s are using Bard, Google’s AI chat, to improve drive-thru experiences. Trained on tons of data like order history and customer interactions, the system gives accurate and friendly responses.

Source Bard’s main job is taking drive-thru orders, which lets human employees focus on making food and other important tasks. This has made things more efficient and improved customer experience because Bard can suggest personalized menu items based on past orders or popular choices. What makes Bard special isn’t just its tech, but its human-like touch. It understands and responds to different accents, dialects, and ways of speaking, showing empathy and understanding that AI often lacks. This shows how generative AI can be used in digital marketing—not just for automation and personalization, but also for making customer interactions feel more human. Even though it’s AI, Bard creates a more personalized and engaging customer experience, combining AI power with human empathy. Related: See how Google uses generative AI in search results here.

The importance of the human touch in AI-driven digital marketing

Generative AI has a lot to offer, but it’s not a magic solution. Human touch is still essential for digital marketing success. AI might generate content, but humans need to guide it, add creative flair, and ensure it connects with the audience. After all, AI can’t fully replicate human emotions, creativity, and intuition. an article from the Marketing Insider Group points out several key reasons why the human touch is crucial in marketing:

1. Builds trust

Real human interaction builds trust and reliability. AI can give facts and figures, but only humans can convey the authenticity and passion needed to build brand trust.

2. Creates an emotional connection

We connect through emotions, and that ability to feel and evoke emotions is essential in marketing. No matter how advanced AI gets, it can’t truly feel or respond to emotions.

Free guide >> The 120 Best Words & Phrases for Marketing with Emotion

3. Helps to understand context

AI is getting better at understanding context, but it still struggles with complex situations or subtle nuances. Human marketers grasp context better, letting them create content and messaging that truly resonates.

4. Ethical considerations

Marketing involves many ethical factors, like data privacy and honest advertising. Humans need to oversee things to ensure AI-driven marketing follows ethical standards and rules.

The key takeaway

AI is important in digital marketing, but it should enhance human creativity, intuition, and experience, not replace them. By combining AI’s scale and efficiency with human creativity and empathy, businesses can create powerful, human-centered marketing strategies.

Best practices for using generative AI in digital marketing (with a human touch)

To get the most out of generative AI while keeping the human touch, marketers should follow some key practices. Train AI on good data, review and improve AI-generated content, and update the AI model regularly based on changing consumer behavior and market trends. The goal is a partnership where AI and human expertise work together. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) recently published a report that provides valuable advice on integrating AI and human expertise in digital marketing. The report highlights these key points:

1. Use high-quality data

Good data is essential for effective AI. Make sure the data used to train the AI is not only large but also accurate, relevant, and unbiased. Marketers are responsible for getting, managing, and maintaining this data.

Zero and first-party data are your most reliable sources for accurate customer data.

Want to learn how to use AI the right way for your marketing? Free download >> Emergency Guide to AI in Marketing

2. Continually review and refine

AI isn’t a one-time setup. Marketers need to constantly check and improve what the AI produces. This means making sure the content is accurate, relevant, and appropriate, and making changes as needed.

3. Update AI models regularly

The digital marketing world changes fast, with consumer behavior and market trends shifting all the time. So, AI models need regular updates to reflect these changes and stay effective.

4. Consider the ethical implications

Marketers should always think about the ethical side of using AI, like data privacy and transparency. Be open with consumers about how their data is used and make sure all AI-driven marketing practices follow relevant laws and regulations.

Cookie banners are one way to explain how data is used.

5. Collaborate

The end goal is a strong partnership between AI and human marketers. This means recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of both and using them to get the best results. AI can handle data and some content creation, while humans bring creative thinking, emotional intelligence, and ethical judgment. By following these practices, marketers can effectively integrate AI into their digital marketing strategies while keeping that crucial human touch. It’s not about picking sides but finding the right balance.

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Generative AI + human expertise = potential for marketing greatness

Generative AI is going to have a huge impact on the future of digital marketing. It can analyze huge amounts of data, write engaging content, create personalized experiences, and automate tasks, making it incredibly powerful and efficient. But even though we’re using AI more and more, that doesn’t mean the human touch is no longer needed. Actually, it’s becoming even more important. As we’ve discussed, building trust, connecting emotionally, understanding complex situations, and ensuring ethical practices are all things AI can’t fully do on its own. AI might be the one creating content, but human marketers guide it, bring the creative spark, and make sure it connects with the audience. This balance between AI’s abilities and human creativity and empathy is how we’ll achieve new levels of success in digital marketing. Here’s a reminder of the best practices for responsible use of generative AI in digital marketing:

1. Use high-quality data
2. Continually review and refine
3. Update AI models regularly
4. Consider the ethical implications
5. Collaborate Looking ahead, the challenge for digital marketers is to move beyond just using AI as a tool. They need to create a true partnership where AI and human expertise enhance each other. This way, marketers can use AI’s power while making sure their strategies and messages are authentic, ethical, and genuinely human. This partnership holds incredible potential, driven by the fusion of AI capabilities and the irreplaceable human touch. Want more AI resources? We’ve got you covered:

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