January 29th Edition

Leveling Up

Welcome back to Leveling Up. Let’s get right to it.

In this post, you’ll discover:

• If Google’s SGE will ruin search traffic by up to 40%

• Will marketers be fully replaced by AI?

• The real importance of showing up to work daily

• Plus much, much more!

- Eric Siu :)

Let’s Link

Here are the top 5 most helpful links to check out today:

1. 📊 Breaking down marketing industry trends in 2024

2. 🤑 Ad spend on short-form videos to grow by CAGR of $145bn+

3. 🤖 Why Google may rank AI-generated content over original news

4. 🪡 Why long tail keywords are important for SEO in 2024

5. 🍪 How to market effectively with cookieless attribution

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Podcast Highlights

Will Google’s SGE Ruin Traffic? You Can Lose 40% Of Your Visitors Because Of This…

Here are the highlights:

• 🔍 Google's AI Search tool is seen as a traffic-destroying nightmare by News Publishers.

• 📉 The Atlantic estimates that 75% of the time, AI-powered search will provide a full answer, causing the site to miss out on traffic and potential revenue.

• 🤖 Grok creates content with more emotions and does a really good job at storytelling, which sets it apart from other AI chatbots like Bard and chat GPT.

• 📧 Using contextual data to tailor marketing messages can lead to more effective communication with potential customers.

• 🤖 Many AI tools being built are not defensible and will be commoditized quickly, leading to an overload of options and a time suck for users.

• 💰 The key to winning in the AI space is having proprietary data sets and layering them with advanced AI models like GPT to gain amazing insights and move your business forward.

Deep Dive

Should You Leverage AI in Marketing Instead of Hiring Marketers?

The marketing world is buzzing with talk of artificial intelligence and how it’s revolutionizing the industry.

This is causing small- and mid-sized enterprises to leverage AI instead of hiring more marketers. As marketing strategies get more and more saturated with AI-powered tactics, it leaves marketers asking one question:

How can businesses thrive in an environment where everyone seems to be using the same technology to create similar content?

In this post, we will explore the challenges presented by the rise of AI in marketing and give you a few pointers on how to deliver high-quality content at a scale that doesn’t fully rely on automation.

The AI Buzz in Marketing

AI has become the talk of the town in marketing circles.

Businesses, regardless of their size, are exploring ways to harness the power of AI to streamline processes, personalize customer experiences, and optimize marketing campaigns.

61.4% of marketers have used AI in their marketing activities, and this trend is only expected to grow:

The appeal is clear: AI promises efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and data-driven decision-making. Still, 64% of marketers are concerned that AI will steal their jobs.

There’s this compulsion among businesses to automate as much as possible to reduce reliance on human marketers.

Once everyone is leveraging identical tools in the same exact way, producing nigh-identical content and messaging, no brand will feel different from another.

Find Your Brand’s Identity Again

In order to differentiate your brand, think about a puzzle where each piece has its own shape and design, distinct from the others. And just like those unique puzzle pieces, your brand should strive to be the one that perfectly fits into a specific niche, standing out from the rest.

Imagine trying to do a puzzle where all the pieces looked identical. There would be no distinctiveness, no individuality. This is what’s happening in the realm of AI in marketing. The allure of touting AI as a selling point is causing many brands to say the same things, highlight the same selling points and make their marketing copy or blog posts practically the same as everyone else’s. 

This is the wrong way to use AI.

This technology may have enabled businesses to create content and campaigns more efficiently, but it has also led to a homogenization of marketing content. When everyone relies on the same AI tools to generate content, they risk blending into the crowd.

The key to marketing is to make your content relatable and unique. Relatable content is growing significantly this year, but it’s difficult to rely on AI tools like ChatGPT when its AI-generated writing doesn’t resonate with users.

While AI can produce content quickly, standing out from the competition is how you’ll generate leads. The best way to do this is by creating unique, high-quality, and branded content.

Let’s take a look at some strategies to consider.

Bring Back a Creative, Human Touch

It’s honestly amazing how quickly we reached this point. With tools like ChatGPT becoming more mainstream in the last year, brands have quickly learned how to overuse AI. While AI can assist with content creation, human creativity is irreplaceable.

You shouldn’t abandon the creative input of skilled marketers.

Instead, use AI to augment human creativity rather than replace it. The human touch can infuse personality, emotion, and authenticity into your marketing, and your audience will inevitably find something special about your content that sets it apart from others. So, the smart move is to hire a human editor who is proficient with AI tools.

Data-Driven Personalization

AI excels at mulling over large amounts of data to personalize marketing efforts, but this personalization should not stop at surface-level data.

Go beyond demographics and consider the emotional and psychological aspects of your audience. Tailor your messaging to resonate on a deeper level with your target customers.

Use AI for Insights

AI can provide valuable insights and analytics. Businesses can use AI tools like Sonar to gain a better understanding of their audience, track campaign performance, and identify areas for improvement. These insights can power strategic decisions and fine-tune marketing efforts.

Remember that AI isn’t always accurate. In fact, experts are predicting that ChatGPT’s accuracy is getting worse – sometimes even unable to answer even simple math questions. So always have team members review any insights that ChatGPT is sharing.

Invest in Quality Content That Maintains Brand Consistency

Even in the age of AI, content is still king: 76% of content marketers use content to generate leads. And the most effective type of content for nudging leads into the consideration stage is:

However, you won’t experience these results unless you produce high-quality content.

AI-generated content may be quick, but it often lacks the depth of the human mind. To truly stand out, invest in high-quality content produced by skilled writers. Quality content fosters trust and credibility with your audience, and can help establish your brand as an influencer in your space.

Even as you strive for uniqueness, it’s essential to maintain brand consistency. Ensure that your messaging and branding remain coherent across all channels. Consistency builds brand recognition and trust over time.

Don’t Fully Rely on AI in Marketing

When used correctly, AI in marketing can enhance the efficiency of your campaign. But as more businesses embrace AI, brands risk creating indistinguishable content that blends in with the competition.

To thrive in an AI-saturated landscape, businesses must create unique and creative content. Success in the age of AI marketing requires brands to harness technology while preserving human artistry.

This doesn’t mean that brands shouldn’t use AI. Companies can use AI to expedite the content creation process and stay updated on the latest technology to aid their campaigns – not entirely replace their marketing professionals.

By balancing AI and the human touch, marketers can deliver content that resonates deeply with their target audience.

If you’re ready to level up your content with AI tools and the human touch, Single Grain’s AI experts can help!👇

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To your growth
- Eric Siu

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• Listen to our Marketing School podcast for daily marketing news

• Subscribe to the Leveling Up YouTube channel for interviews with key marketers, entrepreneurs, and more

• Apply to join our private network for 7-9 figure founders

• Read the Single Grain blog for actionable marketing tips

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