Harnessing the power of AI to streamline your workflow and boost performance

It feels like every time I go online it’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) this and Artificial Intelligence that, Even casual conversations at the pub with friends invariably steer towards the topic. It's inescapable!  What’s common with all of these discussions is that people view AI as the most transformative technical revolution of our lifetime or they fear that it might usher in a dystopian “I-Robot” type future. Personally, I don’t fall into either category, I just think it’s quite cool. 

Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen our jobs change as a result of companies like Google and Meta adopting a more machine-learning approach. Initially, it seems a bit scary with this looking like the start of computers taking our jobs but when you take a step back and look at it, it’s not scary at all in fact if anything it’ll help us amplify client performance. 

We should embrace these innovations because, at the end of the day, If there is an opportunity to to take performance to the next level you should seize it with both hands. So if you aren’t already taking advantage of this tool, here are a few ways you can harness the power of AI to streamline your workflow and boost performance. 

Content Creation and Copywriting

Crafting the perfect copy for an ad can be quite a challenge, especially when working with limited information. It can take a considerable amount of time to come up with a variety of headlines. AI technology is able to produce the same content within a minute, saving a lot of time. However, it is important to remember that relying solely on AI-generated content may lack the human touch. While AI-generated content can serve as a source of inspiration and even the core idea itself, it may lack important details such as an understanding of the client's nuances and messaging along with the intent of the searcher.

Keyword Research and Optimization:

We’ve all been there, you’re wracking your brain looking for that one keyword that will open up a wave of new conversions and take your campaign to the next level and not coming up with anything. This reduces the time spent agonising over a new theme or keyword to merely come up with the right prompt. Of course, the keywords still need to be validated by data as assumptions and reality don't always align. Typically we use Google’s keyword planner to conduct keyword research but with more platforms like AHrefs and SEMrush continuing to advance they can offer a treasure trove of information they have become even more valuable assets as of late. Away from the tailor-made solutions, ChatGPT is a viable alternative. While it isn’t specifically a keyword tool it offers worthwhile insights or suggestions on potential keywords when conducting a keyword gap analysis. 

Customer Insights

As marketers strive to understand the consumer, it can be a daunting task to do so especially at scale, even then, the research may not yield perfect results. However, AI can help us get closer to understanding customer desires on a larger scale. By analyzing recurring themes in search query reports, AI can do most of the heavy lifting and generate insights as a result. Additionally, AI can craft ad copy that aligns with the user's search terms and language based on the data it has uncovered.

It's Good But Not Great…Yet

Now as much as I am an advocate for AI I don’t think it’s some magical fairy godmother which will remedy all of our problems at the click of a button. Leveraging its strengths requires learning and experimentation. My biggest concern is the danger of over-reliance on AI and that people will see it as more than a crutch and solely rely on it to do all that I've mentioned here and more. There is no replacement for the human touch and an over-reliance on AI will lead to poorer performance and a disconnect from the things that really matter and ultimately drive results. 

It’s also crucial to note that AI in its current state is merely a large language model that has a finite pool of knowledge, some of which can and will be wrong. Therefore it’s important that we don’t take everything it says as verbatim and that you conduct independent research to validate its outputs.