I don’t know about anyone else, but chatter around ChatGPT has dominated my LinkedIn feed for months. From here’s-one-I-made-earlier examples of the tech’s writing prowess to heated debates regarding its inevitable role in our lives, there’s seemingly no end to the discourse it’s generating.
After spending almost two decades in recruitment marketing, it’s time to throw my hat in the ring. Spoiler alert: There’s no plot twist at the end of this post declaring it was actually penned by ChatGPT. I’ve seen enough of those.
This post is the result of tons of reading on the role of AI in marketing and delving into the murky waters of AI safety (I recommend catching OpenAI researcher Scott Aaronson’s lecture at the University of Texas on YouTube).
In true ChatGPT style, you might think you can predict my stance on this tech from a marketing perspective. Be gone, machines; you will not replace us! In reality, its application in recruitment marketing provides significant value for all parties, including me. However, that’s not to say it doesn’t have its limitations.
It’s important to clarify that the use of AI in recruitment marketing is not new. Chatbots incorporating tech like ChatGPT have been used for some time.
ChatGPT utilises natural language processing (NLP) techniques, meaning it can generate responses in a conversational manner. It can automate routine tasks such as answering frequently asked questions and scheduling interviews in a way that’s timely and personalised to the individual. This makes the recruitment process more convenient and engaging for a wider pool of candidates and frees up time for recruitment marketers to focus on more strategic tasks. In addition, it delivers a plethora of data on candidate interactions, offering insights into their preferences and behaviour, which helps marketers optimise recruitment strategies and more effectively target specific groups.
Love them or loathe them, most of us will have interacted with some form of chatbot. So, why is everyone suddenly getting their knickers in a twist about AI and, notably, ChatGPT?
The area of AI that’s ruffling feathers in the marketing world is referred to as generative AI. It’s a type of intelligence that can take human inputs and create something new, whether art, writing, video or audio. Still leveraging the aforementioned natural language learning models, it picks up patterns in the models and leverages those patterns to complete thoughts or repackage ideas. Its ability to make conveying ideas easier and faster means that generative AI has the potential to be a transformative technology for creative endeavours.
Already, companies are utilising generative AI to write advertising copy, press releases and articles. It’s even been used to create artwork, poems and complete novels. It’s a compelling prospect for some and terrifying for those who have honed their craft in marketing content creation.
AI can generate ideas, simplify complex concepts for social posts, synthesise research, create ad and landing page variations, help overcome language barriers, create lead nurturing sequences, adapt tone for different audiences, and personalise sales outreach. These are marketers' jobs, meaning AI tech could potentially remove the need for professionals to dedicate resources to these time-consuming areas of the job.
However, to say that AI will replace marketers is to underestimate their role and the skills they bring to the table. In short, there are vital attributes humans possess that a machine simply doesn’t.
Crucially, any AI system is only as good as the data it consumes and works with. As a result, biases and errors can occur, reinforcing the critical role of human creators when it comes to writing and editing content. Additionally, current AI systems cannot:
Conduct original research or analysis. AI brings you the facts as it finds them. It's unable to delve deeper into data to add substance and join the dots in your research or analysis.
Fact-check. AI reports the data it's fed, even if that's wrong. That's why a human fact-checker is essential in creating any content piece.
Provide lived experience. While it can mimic humans, AI is not alive and, therefore, can't provide genuine lived experiences and the unique perspectives we humans can bring to the table.
Quality control. AI says it like it is, without accounting for taste and quality. So, while AI can help writers spend less time writing, they should reinvest that time into ideas, quality control and editorial strategy.
One of AI's most hotly debated shortcomings is its inability to predict the future. AI can analyse data to make certain predictions about the outcome of future events, but it's hugely limited and lacks any of the nuances of the world around us. Of course, humans can't predict the future either, but our lived experience, knowledge in our field of expertise and awareness of local and global events of the past, enables us to make more informed predictions.
A great example of this can be seen in a recent Growth for Knowledge (GfK) video, where the company's CMO Gonzalo Garcia Villanueva goes head-to-head with ChatGPT to debate the latest trends in marketing. The AI holds its own on current marketing matters, but when asked to name the biggest trend for the coming year in marketing, it's stumped. In contrast, Villanueva drew from his experiences and observations from the previous months to predict that 'customer obsession' is the order of the day regarding caring about what customers want, where they are and how they're consuming content and building strategies around these truths.
In addition, work is ongoing to develop a 'watermark' for AI-generated content to prevent students from using it to write essays and falling foul of plagiarism rules. And you can bet your bottom dollar that, once such a watermark is developed, Google will be ready and waiting to penalise content written by AI…
AI’s existence in our world and the future of work is inevitable. Those old enough to remember the early days of the internet will recall the splashy headlines declaring it would never catch on. Additionally, recruiters will be familiar with the think pieces of the 2010s that questioned the role of their profession in light of accessible CRM systems and interactive careers pages.
For many years, marketers have faced the proverbial axe in light of emerging technology. A recent example is Hubspot which, while created for brands and agencies alike, was once thought of as a death knell for marketers. After all, companies just needed a licence and the knowledge of how to use it properly and, voilà, an instant out-of-the-box marketing campaign. Only it’s rarely that simple, is it?
Sticking with the Hubspot example, companies still need the expertise and resources to utilise this software effectively. Following its rise to prominence in the mid-2010s, agencies were increasingly called upon to lend their knowledge and take over software management so that companies could maximise their significant investment in the product. How do I know this? I was working in agency at the time and found myself on the receiving end of some tearful phone calls from stumped, time-poor in-house marketers who desperately needed help.
Fast forward to 2023, and Marmalade Marketing is a Hubspot Solutions Provider. It helps us to do our jobs more effectively and deliver better results for clients – far from the enemy of our profession we were warned it was. ChatGPT is no different. Like all new technology that touches our industry and presents huge potential benefits for us and our clients, we're embracing it.
Our investments in these areas mean our clients get access to the latest technology without splashing out on pricey licences, training and the resources required to make the most of them. Most importantly, they gain access to decades of experience, valuable insights, industry-leading knowledge and a lived experience that no AI can replicate.
Not yet, anyway…