Artificial intelligence is a transformative force for marketing and sales teams. But the power of AI comes with a significant set of risks, challenges, and concerns that must be addressed to fully harness its potential.
This article is for …
- Chief Marketing Officers,
- Content marketers, and
- Sales managers,
… to help you get the most from AI tools, and avoid common pitfalls.
Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)
AI’s ability to streamline marketing operations leads to significant efficiency gains, allowing marketing teams to achieve more with less. For instance, AI-powered tools can speed up — and in some cases even automate — tasks such as content creation, email marketing, and social media management, reducing the need for extensive manpower and thus lowering operational costs.
AI-powered tools also enhance strategic decision-making by providing a comprehensive analysis of consumer behavior and market trends, and enable marketers to run cost-effective, hyper-targeted digital campaigns.
This data-centric approach enables CMOs to craft more effective marketing strategies, targeting the right audience with personalized content and optimizing budget allocation for maximum ROI.
These use-cases are backed by research. The CMO Club interviewed CMOs and marketing executives and found they’re using AI tools for:
- Faster content creation
- Tactical content creation (keyword research, content optimization, predicting user behavior)
- Saving time that can better spent on creative strategy
- Decision-making based on more data analysis (which is much faster using AI) and less intuition
However, while these capabilities offer CMOs and their marketing teams tons of convenience, there’s one major concern CMOs should keep in mind.
What to Watch Out For
One major concern is over-reliance on AI, which can lead to neglecting human creativity and intuition. While AI can automate many tasks and generate data-driven insights, it lacks the nuanced understanding and emotional intelligence that human marketers bring to the table.
The urge to turn to AI as much as possible is understandable, especially for CMOs running lean teams. As noted by Sam Gong, SVP of Marketing at WorkSpan and guest on the Revenue Makers podcast, “Everyone’s being asked to do more with less.” CMOs are eager to find solutions, and vendors are eager to provide them. “The vendors will oversell them,” Gong cautions. “The impacts will be overstated.”
The solution: Ensure that AI tools are used to assist creativity rather than replace it. At this stage, AI is good at mimicking cognition, but it lacks true understanding and creativity. It can surface ideas, but it can’t spark them.
Use AI for automation where it adds value, such as data analysis and routine tasks, but ensure that strategic and creative decisions remain under human control. This balance helps leverage AI’s strengths while preserving human creativity and judgment.
For more insights into what’s on CMOs’ minds right now, including AI, this episode of Revenue Makers is also worth a listen.
Content Marketers
AI tools have revolutionized content creation and distribution, offering significant benefits for content marketers. These tools can generate a wide variety of content types, from blog posts to social media updates, and even personalized emails at scale.
For example, AI-driven platforms like Writer.com can produce content based on specific guidelines, saving time and resources for marketers, and 6sense’s Conversational Email leverages AI to craft personalized, relevant, on-brand email campaigns.
Additionally, AI tools can distribute content across multiple channels simultaneously, optimizing reach and engagement and ensuring that content is delivered to the right audience at the right time.
But AI isn’t pure convenience for content marketers. There’s an important concern that they need to watch out for.
AI Makes Things Up Sometimes
In the same Revenue Makers episode referenced above, Gong cautioned, “You have to be careful with [AI]. ChatGPT will give you an output, no matter what. It’s not going to be right all the time.”
Fast Company compiled a list of amusing AI failures, while CIO and Prolific have documented some very serious issues with AI that have led to discrimination and lost jobs.
AI can provide valuable insights, but these need to be interpreted correctly and in context. It’s critical for content markers to serve prospects and customers with material that is educational and reliable. Depending solely on AI outputs without human oversight can lead to content that woefully misses the mark.
The solution: To mitigate this risk, content marketers can implement several best practices:
- Human Oversight and Collaboration: AI-generated content should be reviewed and validated by human experts. This helps catch errors and align the output with the brand’s voice and standards. Custom-tuned AI can be automated for certain use cases, but it’s critical to test and review.
- Limit Your Dataset: Restrict AI usage to reliable tools that only use high-quality, diverse datasets. Results generated from comprehensive and varied data sources can reduce the risk of generating biased or inaccurate responses. Also look for tools that allow you to leverage proprietary data without it being incorporated into public data sets.
- Clear Guidelines and Boundaries: Define specific use cases for when AI is and isn’t appropriate (i.e. generating content summaries for social media vs. creating brand-sensitive content) and codify protocols for AI usage, including approved prompts, human fact-checking processes, and other safeguards against AI-generated inaccuracies.
What to know more about AI-powered content creation? Check out this episode of Revenue Makers, which explores balancing human expertise with AI capabilities.
Sales Managers
There are remarkable use cases for AI tools for sales managers too, particularly in the areas of lead scoring, sales forecasting, automated outreach, and deep customer insights.
Lead Scoring: AI Improving the Accuracy of Lead Scoring and Prioritization
AI marketing tools significantly enhance the accuracy of lead scoring by leveraging advanced algorithms and vast amounts of data to evaluate leads.
Traditional lead scoring methods often rely on manual assessments and predefined criteria, which can be subjective and limited in scope. In contrast, AI tools analyze a wide range of data points, including behavioral data, demographic information, and engagement metrics, to provide a more comprehensive and precise lead scoring system.
For example, AI can track a potential customer’s interactions with a company’s website, social media, and email campaigns to identify patterns that indicate a higher likelihood of conversion. This allows sales teams to prioritize leads that are more likely to convert, ensuring that their efforts are focused on the most promising opportunities.
Sales Forecasting: Enhanced Accuracy in Predicting Sales Outcomes
AI also plays a crucial role in improving the accuracy of sales forecasting. Much like with lead scoring, traditional sales forecasting methods often involve manual data entry and subjective judgment, which can lead to errors and inconsistencies.
AI tools, on the other hand, use machine learning algorithms to analyze historical sales data, market trends, and other relevant factors to generate more accurate and reliable sales forecasts.
By integrating data from various sources, such as CRM systems, social media, and market analysis, AI can identify patterns and correlations that might not be apparent to human analysts. This comprehensive analysis helps sales leaders predict future sales outcomes with greater precision, enabling them to plan more effectively and set realistic targets.
Automated Outreach: AI-Powered Email and CRM Automation
AI marketing tools can automate outreach efforts through AI-powered email and CRM systems, enhancing efficiency and consistency in communication.
AI can personalize email content based on recipient behavior and preferences, ensuring that messages are relevant and engaging. This automation allows sales teams to maintain regular contact with leads and customers without the manual effort typically required.
Automations that interact with CRM systems can also track customer interactions, update contact records, and provide reminders for follow-ups, ensuring that no lead is neglected.
Customer Insights: Understanding Customer Needs and Behavior
AI can provide deep insights into customer needs and behaviors by analyzing vast amounts of data from various touchpoints. These insights enable sales leaders to understand their customers better, tailor their strategies, and enhance customer satisfaction.
Additionally, AI can segment customers based on their behavior and preferences, enabling more targeted and effective marketing and sales strategies.
AI can clearly do a lot, and some folks in sales might think it can do everything — stoking fears that they might get replaced by software.
Afraid of Your New Robot Overlords?
The automation of tasks traditionally handled by humans can lead to fears of job displacement among sales teams. This can result in resistance to AI adoption and decreased morale. It’s crucial to address these concerns and demonstrate how AI can augment rather than replace human roles.
The solution: Don’t cower from AI, embrace it.
To address fears of job displacement, sales managers should invest in training and upskilling their sales teams. By equipping employees with the skills to work with AI tools, they can enhance their roles and increase productivity. This approach helps demonstrate that AI is a tool to augment human capabilities rather than replace them.
Freeing up tedious tasks with automation lets sales reps focus on closing deals and developing those skills faster with more experience and coaching. Not only will sales teams have even more technology-centered skills under their belts, but they’ll also become better sellers faster.
Still worried AI might take your job? Give this article a read.
Conclusion
AI-powered marketing tools offer huge benefits that come paired with massive pitfalls if CMOs, content markers, and sales managers aren’t prepared. The solution isn’t to shy away from AI, but rather to use it thoughtfully.
Think of AI platforms as tools in your revenue team’s toolbox: Enable them with reliable tools they can trust, teach them how to use them safely, and empower them to work more efficiently not only for the sake of the business, but for the futureproofing of their careers.
