How Marketers Are Navigating Content Creation with AI

Introduction

HubSpot has just released some critical information on the marketing industry that you need to know about. In conjunction with AI expert podcast The Next Wave, HubSpot has produced a comprehensive report entitled 2024 AI Trends for Marketers: How AI is Driving Productivity and Business Growth. This report is full of captivating insights into the reactions, trends, and future of AI use in marketing.

The report is based on a survey of leading marketing professionals who did a deep dive into how they’re using AI tools now, what they imagine the future of AI is for their businesses, and their tips and tricks for using AI technology. One of the most compelling chapters in this report is on content creation. We’ll examine the challenges linked to AI tools, how they’re currently being used, and the best practices suggested for making the most of this technology.

Current Challenges in Content Marketing

HubSpot’s report aimed to answer a few very important questions, one of which was, “What are the challenges in content marketing in this new AI landscape?” It uncovered three main challenges that weigh on marketers’ minds and dominate their interactions with AI tools.

Challenge to change

One of the biggest challenges for marketers is the challenge to change from old procedures and tools and to adopt and learn new ones. According to the survey, 57% of marketing professionals felt pressure to learn to use new AI tools or risk becoming irrelevant. At the same time, they may also feel that they lack the resources and expertise they need to make these changes. Also, many marketers are still suspicious of AI technology and question its necessity. This can be a critical barrier to the adoption of new AI tech.

Pressure to produce

With new, expansive tools also comes the expectation that marketers will be able to use them adeptly to increase their efficiency and productivity. Marketers who are already working in so many different areas can feel the pressure to produce more content than ever before because they have AI tools to help them. Often, however, the expectations placed on them can be overwhelming.

Quality of content

Many AI tools focus on enhancing human-produced content, such as grammar checkers like Grammarly and ProWritingAid. However, other tools can produce content extremely quickly but with substandard quality. AI is still learning and developing, which means it still needs a lot of review and professional intervention to ensure the content it produces is ready to provide to customers.

What are Marketers Using AI For?

One critical focus of the survey was to find out what marketers are actually using AI tools for in their daily tasks. These tools are far more extensive and pervasive than many marketers think. This is good news. By learning about how other professionals use AI to enhance their work, marketers can gain new ideas and find inspiration. 

Marketing is a vast area that requires a broad skill set, and as content marketing booms, the skills needed to operate in this area also expand. Different marketers will possess skills in certain areas but welcome tools that can aid them in others. Right now, around 50% of marketers surveyed say they see AI as a very effective tool for creating content.

So, how do marketers use AI tools for content creation?

Creating outlines

Marketers can use AI tools to create outlines for their written content and videos. In fact, 41% of survey respondents say they already do this to save time. While they may still write their own content or shoot videos, they can streamline the process by generating detailed outlines to provide content producers with direction.

Writing copy

According to the survey, 46% of marketers are using AI to help them write copy. Since we’ve all heard of the power of large language models (LLMs), with a big focus on tools like Open AI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Meta’s LLaMA models, this might come as no surprise. These programs have made headlines for their extensive generative and natural language processing abilities. Marketers are using them to create text for a range of content types, from emails and newsletters (47% of users) to text-based social media posts (46%), video-based social media scripts (46%), and blogs and long-form content (38%).

Creating images

Many marketers use AI tools to create images to enrich their written content in blogs, posts, and articles. They can write text prompts that direct the styles, themes, and contents of the images they wish to produce, and their AI image generators help them produce stunning new pictures.

Creating video content

As with image content, AI tools are now available to create video content, and the video they can generate is awe-inspiring. Marketers can use them to edit their filmed content intelligently or to create brand-new content using text-to-video applications.

Performing research

Research can be quite a broad topic, but AI tools are available for almost every aspect of research marketers can think of. At present, 31% of marketers are using AI tools to help them dig up statistics and other information, assess and analyze their own data, and learn more about their specific subject matter. All of these tasks can help them find information more accurately and efficiently.

Brainstorming

In addition to research, 31% of marketers use AI tools to help them brainstorm. These tools can improve productivity by generating multiple ideas to start the brainstorming process and giving marketers ideas they can run with.

Learning how to do things

A final way that marketing professionals are using AI tools to help them create content can often be overlooked. Rather than using the tools directly to generate or modify content, they can instead use them to learn how to master editing programs or write compelling video scripts. HubSpot’s survey found that 40% of marketers are already using AI tools to help them learn to perform tasks more effectively and efficiently to keep up with the demand for content placed on them.

Best Practices for Using AI Tools

HubSpot’s survey uncovered a broad range of ways marketers use AI tools to create content directly and help them plan and produce new content aligned with their goals. At the same time, new users may find these tools complicated, hard to learn, or even intimidating. For these reasons, HubSpot’s report offers extensive suggestions for best practices to follow when aiming to create original content materials that can engage audiences and follow business goals. These best practices include:

Brainstorming original ideas: AI content generators produce content outputs based on their provided inputs. It’s worth taking the time to brainstorm new ideas before turning to these tools to take advantage of your marketing team's creativity and varied perspectives.

Making content more personal: One of the biggest complaints people have these days with AI-generated content is that it seems rigid and generic. This makes it challenging to produce marketing materials that have to connect and resonate strongly with audiences. Most tools can be prompted to “make it more personal” so they adjust tone and voice, or this can be done manually. 

Fact-checking generated content: AI tools scour the internet and their databases for information, but they sometimes find competing sources or facts that don’t agree. This is why it’s always necessary to review any AI-generated content to check its facts and figures carefully before putting anything out publicly.

Checking content quality: Marketers always review a video before publishing it on their social media. However, it’s surprising how many would post written content without thoroughly checking it for quality assurance. AI tools can help, however, and at present, 44% of marketers use AI tools to check the quality of their written materials before releasing them. Even AI-generated content should be double-checked by another AI tool to ensure grammar, spelling, and tone are all up to quality standards. 

Using AI tools creatively: Many marketers use AI tools for social posts and articles as these are some of their most time-intensive tasks. However, there are many other uses for AI, from writing customized emails to preparing automated service replies. Look for new and different ways to use these tools to truly maximize their value.

Making content more human: While AI tools constantly improve, most people can still pick out AI-generated content, and many may find it off-putting. This is why 86% of marketers say they carefully review and edit the content their tools generate. They aim to add a more human feel, make content more accurate, increase flow and readability, and weave key marketing messages into their materials. While this takes time, it’s still necessary to help materials resonate effectively with their target audiences.

Marketers Are Using AI Tools to Streamline Content Creation

According to HubSpot’s survey, 43% of marketers who use AI create content using these tools. Their AI tools help them streamline their processes, research and brainstorm content, and educate themselves to improve the content they produce. AI is also a time-saving tool, helping them keep up with the demand for content so they can reach their marketing goals.

Many more insights await you in HubSpot’s 2024 AI Trends for Marketers: How AI drives Productivity and Business Growth. How are AI tools driving career momentum for marketers, and what are leaders saying about AI and the future of marketing? Download the full report to find out what the future holds.