Whats Next For AI In B2B Marketing

I’m sure all of you have heard about ChatGPT by now. In case you haven’t, ChatGPT is a language-based AI model. See, ChatGPT can answer almost any question you give it. Although some of the answers still aren’t that great, it is a ‘learning’ model. Meaning that the more feedback it gets from humans about the answers it gives, the more accurate the answers are! Over time the quality and accuracy of its responses will drastically improve. 

This has had huge implications on marketing areas such as SEO, Paid Search, Social Media, etc. Tons of services that leverage the ChatGPT API popped up seemingly overnight. For example, Copy.ai helps you write emails, blog posts, and social media posts using this technology. WriteSonic enables you to write Facebook and Adwords ad copy (amongst other things). None of these services even existed a couple of years ago (and if they did, the quality was awful and practically unusable without major human revisions).

Perhaps the area that was most impacted was SEO. This is because, using ChatGPT (and similar language models like Google’s BARD or Facebook’s LLAMA), it’s now possible to optimize a 1500-word, SEO-optimized blog post in seconds. Needless to say, this has enormous implications for Google as it can cause its SERPS to be flooded with AI-written content. Is this so bad if the content written by the AI can provide the knowledge and value the person was looking for? That remains to be seen. Regardless, Google has taken a ‘No-AI’ approach to SEO by modifying its EAT (Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness) parameters for content.  It has now added an extra E to the equation – which stands for Experience. Google wants humans who have experience in the subject matter to write on the topic. This is why a blog post I write on B2B Marketing will probably rank higher than one on Gourmet Cooking. 

In addition, Google has implemented technology to detect content written by AI systems instead of humans. They even flat-out stated that AI copy is against guidelines. Understandable, as it threatens their dominion over the search engine market.

But what about the next generation of AI? There is a lot of debate on this, but I see this space evolving in a direction where AI can use tools. Instead of asking an AI to write copy or answer a specific question, you can ask it to DO SOMETHING for you. For example, “Create a performance report on my AdWords campaign.” This AI will then be able to access AdWords, import data to Looker, access Looker and create a report for you. Or you may ask, “Find me keywords to target for SEO on B2B Marketing”. The AI will then access SEMRush, run some queries and reports, and pull the information you want from that dataset. 

How far away are we from something like this? This is probably a question for AI experts, but given the speed at which ChatGPT has evolved, I think we’re about 3-5 years from seeing operational AI like this (not in beta or in learn mode). Much like the impact ChatGPT has had on marketing, this next generation of AI will make it look like the difference between a Nokia 3350 and an iPhone 14 Pro, and it will genuinely be a paradigm shift.

How we, as marketers, adjust to this new reality is still a big question. Should we embrace it? Should we treat it as just another tool in our toolbox, albeit a very potent tool? Personally, I think this kind of AI will enable us to do far more with a lot less effort. I don’t think it will replace marketers altogether, as some people fear. I don’t think AI that can be creative and problem-solve complex issues is on the horizon anytime soon. I believe this type of tool-using AI will make some ‘grunt work’ obsolete. IMHO, this is a good thing and will allow us to shift focus on providing more creativity and value in our output. Time will tell if this is how things will play out.