Despite the recent hype around ChatGPT, the opportunities for using AI in marketing are far from new. We have been advising on using AI for marketing since at least 2017 when we first recommended businesses consider these 15 use-cases of AI in marketing.
Yet before 2023, I have been surprised by relatively low levels of interest and use of AI by marketers and within businesses when we have asked in our surveys. Typically in-house use of AI had been at the level of 10-15% of respondents since it seems only the largest brands with Business Intelligence teams could work on their own AI applications. Of course, levels of use are much higher if you include AI in paid media such as Google Ads, LinkedIn or Meta Advertising.
However, with the growth of interest in using ChatGPT for marketing, our recent research shows a big uptick in usage of AI in marketing:
48% of marketers are using now AI to assist with generating content, with 10% planning to use it in future.
However, the use of AI for targeting and website personalization is lower, around 28%.
This chart from our free Future of Digital Marketing report gives more detail on AI usage:
Despite the increases in adoption, there still seems to be a shocking of amount of businesses who aren't using AI, or even planning to use AI in future... The report also shows a similarly shocking pattern for use of AB testing.
I say this is shocking since there are plenty of examples and research showing that AI outperforms marketers. For example, recent research from Persado comparing AI and human-generated email headlines shows that:
Generative AI creates a 68% engagement uplift when comparing the average clickthrough rate for the highest AI perfoming messages compared to human-authored controlled messages. Marketers chose the best performing campaign message only 33% of the time.
In our next Masterclass webinar for Pro members in October on Using AI and ChatGPT in Marketing I will recommend reviewing both the strategic options for using AI including developing AI policy and strategy. Our member resources have advised on using AI since 2017 and we use AI ourselves including chatGPT.
In this webinar, I will cover:
Our latest Quick Wins are also designed to help marketers learn practical ChatGPT prompting skills:
By Dave Chaffey
Digital strategist Dr Dave Chaffey is co-founder and Content Director of online marketing training platform and publisher Smart Insights. 'Dr Dave' is known for his strategic, but practical, data-driven advice. He has trained and consulted with many business of all sizes in most sectors. These include large international B2B and B2C brands including 3M, BP, Barclaycard, Dell, Confused.com, HSBC, Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, M&G Investment, Rentokil Initial, O2, Royal Canin (Mars Group) plus many smaller businesses. Dave is editor of the templates, guides and courses in our digital marketing resource library used by our Business members to plan, manage and optimize their marketing. Free members can access our free sample templates here. Dave is also keynote speaker, trainer and consultant who is author of 5 bestselling books on digital marketing including Digital Marketing Excellence and Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. In 2004 he was recognised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as one of 50 marketing ‘gurus’ worldwide who have helped shape the future of marketing. My personal site, DaveChaffey.com, lists my latest Digital marketing and E-commerce books and support materials including a digital marketing glossary. Please connect on LinkedIn to receive updates or ask me a question.
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