AI has rocked our world, impacting daily life, industry, how we conduct research, and how we consume media. The relationship between marketing and AI is complicated. Relying too heavily on AI marketing can reflect negatively on your business. However, there are great ways to use AI to improve and support your marketing efforts. In this article we will look at the facts and discover the truth about AI advertising and marketing. We will discuss how AI can help your business, hurt your business, people’s opinions on AI advertising and marketing, and the value of the human touch.
How Businesses are Using AI for Marketing
- Content Generation: Generative AI can produce graphics, images, written content, websites, social media posts, ads, and print pieces.
- Ad Optimization: AI can utilize historical data and user behavior throughout a campaign to optimize ad timing, ad placements, and which ads are served to which individuals.
- Personalized Marketing: AI can analyze user data, including behavior and demographic info, to deliver personalized content that an individual is more likely to enjoy and engage with.
- Content Timing: From email marketing and SMS marketing to social media posts, AI can recommend the best time to deliver content.
How AI Can Help Your Business
AI can be a great marketing tool when used correctly! AI marketing tools can improve efficiency, help companies learn about their audience, and expand their reach.
A Budget Well Spent
With improved timing, audience segmentation, ad optimization, and quick data analysis via AI, marketing efforts are more on the nose. This means budgets can stretch further and less money is wasted.
AI Audience Analysis
An AI audience analysis can help businesses understand current and potential customers better. AI can comb through consumer data, reviews, and user behavior data to create in-depth reports. This info can guide marketing efforts and help businesses reach and connect with their audience.
Bring New Users to your Website
Content from any website can appear in AI search results, bringing new users to the site! People use AI for everything these days–asking questions, recommendations, topic summaries, research, etc. Adding content to your website with this in mind is a smart strategy. An FAQs page and relevant blog content are two examples of ways to improve website SEO and consequently the odds of your website showing up in AI searches.
Getting Organized with AI
Notes, brainstorming sessions, and meetings can be sporadic and a little messy in the marketing world. AI can turn written notes and audio recordings into organized documents. This enables marketers to be in the moment and keep the creative juices flowing without worrying about writing everything down perfectly.
Things to Remember & Best Practices for Using AI for Marketing
AI can hurt your business if you’re not careful! AI is there to support your marketing efforts, not to take over. Consider the following points and AI marketing tips to keep your business on the right track.
AI is Unoriginal
Generative AI isn’t going to come up with anything new or groundbreaking. That’s because AI analyzes data that is already on the internet and uses perceived patterns to generate “new” content, but it isn’t fresh; it’s just recycled. You need people to think outside of the box and come up with creative and original marketing ideas and advertisements.
Do Not Blindly Trust AI
AI is helpful, but far from perfect. Human oversight is crucial to avoid embarrassing mistakes or straying from who you are as a business. You should always analyze AI content before putting it out, or better yet, use AI content as inspiration for your own work.
- Stay true to your brand & values: Carefully look over any AI content that you plan to use in your marketing strategy to make sure it aligns with your brand and values.
- Check the facts: If you’re putting information/facts out into the world (in a blog, for example) that you gathered via AI, it’s imperative that you check the original source to ensure that info is correct and reputable.
- Grammatical and Visual Errors: We’ve all noticed obvious imperfections in AI photos, like hands with too many fingers. Incorrect grammar is equally embarrassing. Errors in your company’s marketing suggest laziness and can damage your reputation and credibility. These AI errors can make your company a laughingstock.
Don’t Lose Your Individuality to AI
Your business is unique, and your marketing should be too! If you rely too heavily on AI content creation, you run the risk of simply blending in with all the other businesses in your industry that are doing the same thing. Generic looking content is easy to ignore, so it does not hold much value.
Avoid Quantity Over Quality
Marketing is hard work, but it pays off! Putting mass amounts of “AI slop” (as the kids call it) out into the world is not a good marketing strategy. Just because AI can generate content quickly, doesn’t mean your customers want to see it. For example, flooding a customer’s inbox with 10 AI-generated emails will likely lead to a low open rate and a lot of “unsubscribe” clicks. You’re better off sending fewer, more thoughtful emails.
Public Opinion of AI Advertising and Marketing
The use of AI in advertising is relatively new, and while some consumers think AI ads are cutting edge, others do not trust AI advertising or the companies that choose to utilize it. Let’s look at some statistics to paint a clearer picture.
General Feelings Toward AI Advertising
The 2026 Bentley University-Gallup Business in Society survey asked Americans, “In general, how do you feel about businesses using AI to create advertisements?” Here are the results.
- 49% view the use of AI to create ads negatively.
- 19% view the use of AI to create ads positively.
- 32% were neutral
Trust & Authenticity
People want to do business with companies they trust and connect with. Do people trust AI advertising? Studies show that AI ads can diminish this honest connection that consumers yearn for.
According to research conducted by The Harris Poll, 4As, and Infillion:
- 78% of consumers believe AI makes ads “feel less authentic”.
- 63% said they would be “less likely to purchase from a brand that uses AI-generated ads”.
- 73% said they would be “less likely to trust an ad” they suspected was made using AI.
Attitudes About Different Uses of AI in Advertising
The same Bentley-Gallup study referenced above revealed that there is more nuance to the issue. People find some uses of AI in advertising more acceptable than others.
- 75% of said it is acceptable to use AI to “help employees brainstorm ideas or create early drafts of ads”.
- 53% said it is acceptable to use AI to “create the final text, image, or video used in ads”.
- 62% said it is unacceptable to use AI to “create people or voices in ads”.
Finding the Right Balance
The key to marketing in the age of AI is finding the right balance. There are elements of marketing that AI can improve, such as audience research and large-scale data analysis. AI can also be supportive for early brainstorming and organizing your thoughts. However, humans are still the heart and soul of good marketing. It takes a human to deeply understand a company’s identity, think creatively, and know how to connect with other humans.
Cutting-Edge Marketing that Doesn’t Cut Corners
At Smarketing we use AI the right way. We utilize AI technology to improve SEO, understand your audience, maximize the efficiency of our campaigns, and ensure your budget is spent wisely. However, we are still old-school when it comes to the creative process and client relationships. We take the time to get to know our clients, discuss their goals, and understand their brand identity so that we can create marketing materials that are authentic, unique, and connect with your customers.
Smarketing is a small, full-service marketing agency located in Knoxville, TN. From websites to brochures, we do it all, and we do it well! We are invested in the success of each of our clients and believe that humans are the core of good business and quality marketing; AI is simply a tool to support us. Visit our website or contact us today to learn more about what we can do for you!