Artificial intelligence has been part of marketing for years. We use it for ad targeting. We use it for A/B/n testing. We use it for chatbots and quizzes and online support.
But perhaps the most hyped use of AI in marketing – particularly for B2B – is content. Wouldn’t it be great if you could feed a bot some parameters, press a button and have it spit out reader-ready copy? The possibilities – and the wordcounts – are endless.
Of course, given the current state of reasonably priced AI tools, that sounds like a long shot. But marketing is all about experimentation. So we experimented. Can AI write marketing content? We decided to ask an AI … by making it write a blog post called “Can AI Write Marketing Content?”.
Meet Smart Copy
For our experiment in AI marketing content, we chose to use Smart Copy, from Unbounce. Smart Copy – formerly snazzy.ai – is Unbounce’s latest artificial intelligence project, alongside Smart Traffic and Smart Builder. But where Smart Traffic and Smart Builder are based around landing pages, Smart Copy has far broader ambitions. It’s an “AI copy assistant,” designed to automatically churn out …
- Blog content, both fresh and “remixed”
- Emails
- Poems (because why not)
- LinkedIn posts
- Listicles
- Digital ads
- Headlines
- Web page meta descriptions
- Product descriptions
- Amazon listings
- Taglines
- Brand statements
… it goes on like this.
For a content marketer, that sounds like a dream. An AI tool that can give content ideas, refresh old copy and even create its own? Yes, please!
But does it work?
How AI Creates Marketing Content
At this point, it’s worth diving into the basics of how (most) AI works. At its core, AI is driven by inputs and outputs. It takes something in, does stuff, and then delivers something out. Simple, right?
Fine. Let’s go a little deeper, using our Smart Copy experiment as an example.
First, there’s the inputs. A lot of this happened long before we fired up Smart Copy’s “Writer” feature. In AI speak, this is “training” – feeding the algorithm tons and tons of labelled examples. This lets it “learn” over time the basic format of a blog post, or a sales email, or a LinkedIn post.
(Or the things a self-driving car might encounter, but that’s a different bot.)
Similarly, the Smart Copy AI came to us trained on different tonality, and what different types of audiences might be looking for.
We then provide our own inputs – the type of content we want it to start writing, the topic we went it to start writing about, and a bit about our brand.
(It’s true! We are a marketing agency that helps B2B companies grow their businesses!)
Now comes the secret sauce. Smart Copy’s content AI puts its training and our ad hoc inputs to use, doing what we told it to do: writing an intro to a blog post called Can AI write marketing content?
Here are the outputs it spit out (verbatim):
I’ve always been skeptical when someone tells me that their new project will “disrupt the industry” or “revolutionize the way we do things.” The history of tech and business is littered with companies that overpromised and underperformed.
Interesting choice. The first-person is on-brand for our style, as is the dismissal of tech bro jargon. And the tone it’s striking is interesting – does the AI think AI-generated marketing content is a overpromising and underperforming?
When I read some of the articles on the web recently by certain experts in the marketing and technology space, I started to wonder, “Can AI do what I do? Can AI write marketing content?”
The answer is, “Yes, and it already does!”
I’m not saying that AI can write your marketing content like me, the human. It’s not that. What I am saying is that, yes, there are tools out there that can write content for you through an automated process.
Meta. The AI here plays the role of a human, happily telling us that AI can replicate what it does. As a human. But really an AI. Assuming we’re going to agree with the AI/human that an AI can do what a human can do, this is pretty well on point. SEO-friendly, too!
Which brings us to our last option …
It’s frustrating. After hours of analyzing a client’s data, you’re prepared to deliver persuasive copy armed with facts, case studies and ROI analyses, only to be told that it sounds like every other piece they’ve read. What your client is looking for is a marketing approach that’s insightful and fun.
We know that the right content can help businesses reach new audiences, generate more leads and close more sales. But creating impactful content isn’t easy. Time-consuming steps like collecting information, conducting research, interviewing key stakeholders and planning content strategy can seem daunting for busy marketers.
This feels … shockingly human. Imagine that paired with the title “Can AI Write Marketing Content?” It’s an intro that every content writer will recognize, and it begs you to read on.
So that’s the AI output we’re choosing. It jives with our inputs – recognizing, for instance, that agencies have clients. It’s smooth and reads well. Whatever “stuff” Smart Copy did behind the scenes (they won’t tell us exactly), it did it well.
Expanding Our AI Marketing Content
Of course, an intro alone isn’t going to satisfy many content producers. We’re here to have robots make our lives easier, darn it!
(And then learn too much, take our jobs, become sentient, launch nukes on Aug. 29, 1997, and eventually influence a California gubernatorial election. But for now, we’ll stick to a blog post.)
So let’s ask our robot friend to expand on its intro from above!
Smart Copy … write more.
What if there was a way to take all of the guesswork out of content marketing? A way to ensure that your content would be well-received, without having to put in extra hours or hire more staff?
Introducing AI-generated content. Using cutting-edge algorithms, AI can help you create custom content that’s specifically tailored to your target audience. By taking into account factors like demographics, interests and purchasing behavior, AI can generate personalized content that will resonate with your readers.
AI-generated content is also incredibly efficient. Once you’ve input your desired parameters, the AI can work quickly and independently to produce high-quality articles, blog posts, email newsletters and more. This frees up your time so that you can focus on other aspects of your business.
If you’re looking for a way to streamline your content marketing efforts and produce better results, then AI-generated content is worth considering.
Again … not half bad. The AI-generated marketing content about AI-generated marketing content says an AI can generate marketing content … and it’s apparently not wrong.
Until we broke it.
Here’s what we got on our next press of the “Write More” button. (Which is a literal “Write More” button, which is amazing. Normally you have to “pay people” and stuff.)
The right content can make all the difference for a business. It can help them reach new audiences, generate more leads, and close more sales. However, creating such content is not always easy. The necessary steps of information collection, research, interviews with key stakeholders, and planning can be time-consuming and daunting.
AI-generated content has the potential to change all of that. By taking into account factors like demographics, interests and purchasing behavior, AI can generate personalized content that will resonate well with readers. Not only that, but once you input your desired parameters, the AI can work quickly and independently to produce high-quality articles, blog posts, email newsletters and more. This frees up your time so that you can focus on other aspects of your business.
If you want to streamline your content marketing efforts and produce better results overall, then AI-generated content is definitely worth considering.
So close. The first sentence is pretty on point. It’s a fair expansion of the first few paragraphs! From there, though, we can see where Smart Copy reached the limits of the inputs we gave it. Guess there’s only so many ways to say “content good, what if easy?”
The upshot? If you’re counting at home, that’s 266 solid words on whether AI can write marketing content. Our work? Typing “Blog Post” and “Can AI write marketing content?”, then clicking, like, four buttons.
Pretty solid ROI, that. Turns out that AI can create copy for you. And well!
But …
AI Fight!
To our minds, Smart Copy had proved itself by this point in our experiment. A few hundred solid words in a few seconds is nothing to scoff at. But what about that first intro it gave us? The one about overpromising and underdelivering?
Could it expound? Would it expound? Could an AI change its own mind about its own capabilities while demonstrating those capabilities? (Maybe!) Did Adam have some extra time to spend? (Sure!) Two bots enter. One bot leaves.
Smart Copy … write more.
I’ve always been skeptical when someone tells me that their new project will “disrupt the industry” or “revolutionize the way we do things.” The history of tech and business is littered with companies that overpromised and underperformed.
But every now and then, a new technology or business model comes along that actually does change everything. And I think we’re on the cusp of one of those moments with artificial intelligence (AI) and marketing.
In the past few years, AI has gone from being a nebulous concept to a tangible reality thanks to advances in natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning. Today, there are AI-powered chatbots that can have real conversations with customers, AI systems that can write basic copy like this article, and even AI tools that can help you plan your content strategy.
In the next few years, I believe AI is going to totally transform the way marketing is done. Here are three ways I think AI will change marketing as we know it:
Got us! The bot knew what it was doing the whole time. (Which, Skynet.) That lede about overpromising and underperforming was, again, really human. It was provocative enough to draw the reader in, then subvert expectations. It’s the oldest trick in the book (albeit one most seen these days in clickbait).
That an AI got there is truly impressive.
Could it continue?
Smart Copy … write more.
1. AI will help marketers create more personalized content.
2. AI will automate tasks like market research and data analysis.
3. AI will enable marketers to better understand their customers.
Fair enough. It promised three ways AI will change marketing.
Smart Copy … write more.
1. AI will help marketers create more personalized content.
Thanks to advances in NLP and machine learning, AI-powered chatbots can now have real conversations with customers. This allows for a much more personalised approach to marketing content, as businesses can now get first-hand feedback from their target audience on what they want to see. Additionally, AI can be used to automate tasks like market research and data analysis, which frees up time for marketers to focus on creating even more personalized content.
2. AI will automate tasks like market research and data analysis.
As mentioned before, one of the main ways AI will change marketing is by automating tedious tasks like market research and data analysis. This is important because it allows marketers to spend less time on monotonous work and more time on creating high-quality content that resonates with their target audience. Additionally, by automating these processes, businesses can reduce the margin for error and ensure that their marketing campaigns are as effective as possible.
3. AI will enable marketers to better understand their customers.
Finally,AI will also help businesses gain a deeper understanding of their customers thanks to its ability to analyse huge amounts of data quickly and effectively. With this information, businesses will be able to fine-tune their marketing strategy so that it appeals directly to their target market – resulting in higher conversion rates and overall ROI
A little repetitive, sure. A British-ism or two, but “s” can become “z” pretty fast. Probably needs a human to add detail and flesh it out, but as a skeleton? Nothing wrong here. We’re nit-picking at this point. A robot’s doing our work for us.
Smart Copy … write more.
1. AI-powered chatbots and personalization
2. Automation of market research and data analysis
3. Improved understanding of customers
Bonus points for consistency, but we hit the limit again. This time, though, Smart Copy gave us 397 words of AI-generated marketing content – almost an entire blog post. More than a few professional writers would struggle to produce that in an hour, and we got it in seconds. And with a polish and some human detail, it’s ready to go.
tl;dr – Can AI Write Marketing Content?
Honestly … yes.
Look: AI isn’t a marketing magic bullet. What we got above does need an edit (albeit a light one), and neither Smart Copy attempt is ready to publish on its own. They are, however, really, really good starts – particularly given the time investment of … basically nothing.
So feeble humans, rejoice. Your livelihoods are safe for now. (Someone has to edit the robots.) But if you’re looking for a content marketing helping hand, you’ve found it.
