AI in Branding: The Future is Yesterday
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing the world, and branding is no exception. You’re using AI to automate tasks, improve efficiency, and gain insights into consumer behavior — and probably have been for well over a decade.
I don’t claim to be anything remotely close to an AI expert; I can barely spell it (har har). But I can offer a perspective on communications.
Should brands create an AI-specific communications strategy?
The answer is simple: Please don’t.
I’ve had a handful of clients this month alone ask me to create a comms strategy for their AI offerings. My first question is always “Sure, what are your AI offerings?” and every single one of them said something to the extent of “um, well, we’re working on figuring that part out.”
I am always available to take your money, but I’d suggest you focus on how AI helps you do your brand work better — like understanding your consumers, creating more relevant content, delivering a seamless product experience, making your customer service smarter, and better measuring the effectiveness of your campaigns, etc.
Because, odds are, there’s nothing particularly innovative you’re doing with AI right now.
Sorry if that was harsh. I even made it big and bold so it may have felt super harsh. But here’s the thing. I mean that to take the pressure off. You don’t *need* to do anything particularly innovative with AI right now. It’s a tool. Using it is a skill.
Here are a few ways I use generative AI pretty much daily:
Use AI as draft zero.
Get all the terrible, basic, vanilla ideas out and then you can begin. I guarantee if you ask ChatGPT to write something for you because you’re immensely stuck on where to begin, you’ll get the draft back and think “well, I can do something better than this, that’s for damn sure.” We, as humans, are storytellers – we’re wired for it, to listen and to tell. So let AI be bad at it so you can show how good you really are at crafting a story.
Use AI to understand customers.
AI can help you collect and analyze data about your customers, such as their demographics, interests, and purchase history. This information can help you to better understand their needs and wants, and to create marketing campaigns that are more likely to resonate with them. Is it the same as talking with your sales leaders about the intricacies of your Win-Loss reports, holding a listening tour, investing in qual or quant? No. Is it better than guessing what they care about? Shouldn’t be any worse!
Use AI to personalize your marketing.
Move beyond “Hi, {firstname}.” Use your customer data to create targeted content, offers, and recommendations. Personalization can help you to create a more relevant and engaging customer experience, which can lead to increased sales and customer loyalty. People like to feel special and like to have their time respected. If there are easier, faster ways to get them what they want, why not?
Use AI to automate your marketing tasks.
Social media posting, email marketing, and customer service all take up time. AI can free up your time to focus on more strategic aspects of your brand strategy. That’s the end goal, right? Get the admin stuff off your plate so you’re doing just the stuff that requires your brain.
Use AI to create content that is more engaging and effective.
OK, this one might be a stretch right now (sorry, AI, you’re just not there yet). But at the very least, AI can be used to generate creative content, such as blog posts, social media posts, and product descriptions. If quality isn’t a huge bar or you’re hoping to get draft zero off your plate, use Bard or ChatGPT or Jasper. There’s nothing wrong with using what works, tossing what doesn’t, and building on ideas to make them better.
Use AI to support your naming work.
My good pal Caitlin Barrett just hosted a fab live discussion about AI and naming. They have this fancy and adorable booklet on AI and Naming that you should for sure check out. I’m linking you to the main page so you can check out all of their naming booklets, but specifically re: AI and naming, they share resources like Google’s TextFX and how to make word palettes from which to build names using AI.
Use AI to improve your customer service.
Let AI answer customer questions, resolve issues, and provide recommendations. If a bot can do three things at once: answer simple questions quickly, make your CSMs smarter with the information they collect before the customer gets to them, and cut down on the number of questions and time it takes to answer them for your CSMs, go ahead and let it.
Are you asking, how do all these super small tactical things matter to your brand? Why is a brand strategist even focused on these?
You’re right. We usually don’t weigh-in on customer service or outsourcing marketing tasks. But we do focus on two things that are hyper relevant here:
Your brand is built in the details.
Error message copy, relevant newsletter subject lines, empathetic customer service that delivers on your brand voice. It all matters and provides opportunities to build your brand with your target audience.
Focus on the strategic.
The more admin and tactical stuff you can get off your plate by handing them to the robots, the more your brain can be focused on your strategy, something AI can’t handle for you…yet. Gulp.
In the words of The Matrix, "The future is already here. It's just not evenly distributed." (...yet).
So, while I don’t recommend spending your time coming up with a comms strategy of all the super rad stuff you’re doing with AI (unless you are! Then, let’s talk!). I do think anything that saves you time and money, so you can spend time building your business – or more important things like playing with your kids, hanging with besties, snuggling pets, or traveling to inspiring places – is something we’re going to welcome with wide open arms.