AI in Digital Marketing – Is it Any Good?

by | Oct 11, 2023 | Digital Marketing

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, you’ve undoubtedly encountered the buzz surrounding AI. (I’ve been living in my room which is somewhat less comfortable)  It’s been lauded as a technological marvel that promises to revolutionize various industries, and perhaps even threaten job security. The image at the top of this blog was created by Midjourney using my ugly mug as inspiration. It’s pretty close. Later on, I will provide something truly horrifying that AI made for me. (Don’t worry, unlike other bloggers I will deliver!)

Today, we’re diving into the realm of AI in digital marketing, exploring what it means for businesses, clients, and the future of the industry. It is exciting, though the more you experience AI, the more you’ll notice the absolute horror they can create.

One prominent name that’s been making waves is Chat GPT, an AI service with the capacity to respond to an array of queries, perform calculations, and, notably for digital marketers, generate seemingly ‘custom’ content. But does it truly live up to the promise of uniqueness

Imagine needing to craft a 1000-word blog post on “SEO.” You’d turn to Chat GPT and input a prompt like this: “Compose a 1000-word blog post on the topic ‘SEO’ paying attention to all the factors one needs to rank.” In the blink of an eye, it begins crafting your ostensibly ‘unique’ blog post.

Watching Chat GPT in action is undeniably impressive; it types faster than you can think or type yourself, unless you’re a gamer like me, high on caffiene and energy tablets and writing 50 blogs a minute for your cruel and remorseless boss. Thoughts like “This will change my life” and “our work will become so much more effortless” inevitably cross your mind.

But, as it often goes, things that sound too good to be true usually are, and in our view, this case is no different.

While Chat GPT undoubtedly offers valuable support, helping generate creative ideas, provide quick solutions, and save time, it can’t match the quality of SEO content that a human can produce (That’s me! I’m a human!!!) After using Chat GPT several times, it becomes apparent that its content is not as unique as it claims. It may shuffle sentences, replace a word or two, or even repeat itself, leaving you to question whether you’ve ended up with content that’s no different from what someone else using the service received. In reality, it’s not as unique as it initially appears.

Testing from many companies has produced mixed results when it comes to SEO, with some people heralding AI as the master of the universe, and others condemning it to redundancy, before it’s had a chance to adapt, learn and improve – like the Thraddash in Star Control.

Chat GPT is just one of several text-based AI services, with Google’s Bard, Bing’s AI integration, and Meta’s recent entry into the field. AI in digital marketing is expanding rapidly, and we can anticipate further advancements in the coming years that surpass our current expectations.

However, AI’s role in digital marketing extends beyond text. It’s also making its mark in image generation, a development that leaves us awestruck. With platforms like Leonardo AI and Midjourney, we’ve experienced the stunning capabilities of AI-generated imagery. These tools can create remarkable pictures, wallpapers, lifelike avatars, and more. The cover for this blog was made by AI, however, it’s not always brilliant. Here’s an absolutely CURSED image I made using Midjourney by using the image on the left as a prompt. It’s from my Sci Fi series, and all I wanted was a cool picture of me and my friend Rikki sodding around making sci fi… Instead the warped and dangerous AI decided to turn me into a woman. It does this every time I wear a wig, in EVERY… SINGLE… IMAGE.

Notably, I’ve never received the same result twice from AI image generation, making it genuinely unique. Though there have been instances where artists have complained about AI, because the AI have been trained on their work and their signatures have ended up in the final products… Copyright could become a big issue in the not too distant future.

Our advice for AI image generation: practice is key. Getting your dream image will take multiple attempts with the right prompts and settings. It’s something of a skill. Also, don’t let AI do all the work. Use it to lay the foundation and fine-tune with a tool like Photoshop.

AI is here to stay in digital marketing, and it’s only going to get bigger and more advanced. Rather than shying away from it or overusing it, we must find the right balance to ensure our clients receive the best possible service. If AI can be part of that, great, though frankly, as an SEO expert getting paid by the hour, I’d rather do it properly and make sure it’s done right. If you enjoyed this article and appreciated my whining, you can tune into Chan Walrus: Space Adventurer, my crappy sci fi series on my website here. Please leave a comment if you do, I always appreciate the people who take the time to watch the things I create.