How to Use AI in B2B marketing

New technology can be intimidating for everyone, and with the rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) across the board in today’s economy, marketing is experiencing the same uncertainties that other industries face. 

So, how to use AI in B2B marketing effectively? The answer is: practice. 

According to Hubspot’s annual State of Artificial Intelligence report, almost two-thirds of marketing professionals have committed budget space to implementing AI tools for B2B marketing. Typically, this means investing in software and shortcuts for employees to use during their day-to-day tasks. Results show increased efficiency and productivity as a result, leading to positive ROI. 

The remaining third of marketers surveyed shared uncertainty about the results AI tools can provide, along with potential biases (toward specific groups) that could impede success. While the answer is changing week by week, let’s review AI as it stands today and how B2Bs can use it safely and effectively: 

Generative AI in Marketing: Editing vs. Generation

Many execs and department heads are still asking how to use AI in digital marketing, and the answer isn’t as straightforward as we’d like. One answer for optimizing your workflow could be using your talents for creative and expert-level task completion while relying on AI more for editing and refining tasks. AI can also be useful to help with grammar and syntax mistakes and to improve tone consistency throughout a piece of content. 

When using AI for marketing, certain prompting methods can help you brainstorm topic ideas or gather preliminary information for research. AI can also help craft smaller content, such as a subject line for an email or a meta description for a completed blog post. 

*Graphic Credit: Christopher Penn, TrustInsights.ai

The graphic above provides a visual representation of the potential benefits of generative AI in marketing. It also recognizes the areas where AI won’t be as helpful, i.e. new-idea generation and creative perspective. Think of AI as your co-pilot, but not the driver. If you get in and start the car, you can input an address and AI can help you get there like a GPS unit. However, AI isn’t ready to get behind the wheel for creative endeavors. 

4 AI in Marketing – Examples to Try

Even hesitant marketers admit that AI tool use is only going to grow. It’s not outlandish to say virtually all marketers will be using AI in one manner or another by 2025. 

We broke our recommendations for AI use into four categories: 

1. Social media
2. Email
3. Longer content
4. Analysis & editing

1. Social Media

Each social media platform has its own audience and best practices. Keeping this in mind, it only makes sense to adjust content to fit each platform – but this can be time-consuming. Enlisting AI tools to create Facebook- and LinkedIn-specific posts promoting an article you want to share can provide audience-specific content in mere seconds. 

Those who regularly create social content know that breathing excitement into the complex topics you’re promoting can be … challenging, even if they’re super-relevant to your audience. AI can also help break down larger works into digestible chunks that can be shared with your target audience. 

When it comes to automated, AI-based social media marketing, you may already be using it if you own a scheduling tool like HubSpot or Hootsuite. These platforms have even integrated an AI writing assistant into their posting tools. From there, it’s a matter of setting up the post with a time and date to auto-publish to your social media channels. 

2. Email

Communicating with lead, customer, and colleague bases can be a challenge, especially if all three are growing at once. Optimizing your messaging is possible by:

• Personalizing at scale – Automation tools can fill in details about the reader so the message sounds like you crafted it just for them
• Triggering actions – Automated sequences can drip-feed customers nurturing emails, or notify a salesperson when they need to manually act, so that no lead is left behind
• Evaluating tone – Give an AI specific instructions about voice and goals, and it can rework your copy, adding clarity and reducing the chance of conflict 

It is important to note here, however, that AI can’t replace the human warmth and context that naturally enriches our writing. AI works using a large language model (LLM), which could be compared to a digital version of the encyclopedia - if the encyclopedia could read articles, books, and other content to constantly update its information. It absorbs both information and the language used to present the information to the reader - allowing it to share information in a humanlike conversational tone.

Since LLMs apply a specific algorithm to answer questions, the creative and uniquely human element of AI content is lacking. This is why, while AI provides value in a supportive role, it’s far from an adequate replacement for human content creators. 

Not seeing a solution to your AI situation? Our AI resource library includes: 

• Will Marketing Be Replaced by AI? Or Form a Marketing Dynamic Duo?
• AI in Marketing for Content Creators: Generative AI
• Artificial Intelligence and Marketing for Content Creators: Crafting Prompts

3. Longer Content

When ChatGPT and Bard (now Gemini) first became big news in 2023, many marketers weren’t sure if their careers were over. Some companies did jump to relying on AI for content marketing to boost production speed and reduce their employee salary costs. However, AI can only do so much without the oversight and creative intervention of a human. 

That said, when it comes to AI for content marketing, there are several ways your digital doppelgȁnger can be helpful:

• Translation: Are you a non-engineer trying to write about technical B2B topics? Good luck researching online – many concepts and key product details are presented in complex technical documents. Breaking this information down for a more general audience means adjusting the jargon to a more reader-friendly format. AI marketing tools can be helpful for this purpose. 
• Rephrasing with a goal in mind: The first draft of most content focuses on nailing the correct information down. However, to make it ready for the public’s eyes, the copy might need a little TLC. This is another area where AI tools can significantly save time, adding transitions, fleshing out incomplete thoughts, and so on.
• Topic brainstorming: Writers and strategists can hit a wall while content planning for a specific client or topic. AI tools can analyze who’s performing well in Google search for your product, service, or keyword and report on popular topics when the writer is at a loss.
• Repurposing content: Once you’ve written a piece of content, part of its value is in its recyclability. Is there potential to build from that piece and reach readers with different content types and on different platforms? AI tools are great for reformatting content so you’re not reinventing the wheel. 

4. Analysis & Editing

Marketing strategy and content mapping rely heavily on brainstorming and identifying keyword and industry trends you can leverage. These processes typically go better when there are multiple “minds” available to consider and volley an idea back and forth. 

With the advent of ChatGPT and more specific AI solutions for marketing, getting a quick perspective on your brainstorming does not require scheduling time with co-workers. Instead, you can capitalize on the use of AI tools for: 

• PPC (pay-per-click): Why not outsource the tedious ad campaign design process? Creating PPC ad headlines flies by if you use AI for description variations and incorporating certain keywords. 
• Analysis: For those trying to achieve specific tone, goal, or context, it can help to have AI analyze text from an existing, similar piece of content. This helps clarify and streamline the focus for the new content. You can also ask a chatbot to identify missing information based on the M.O. of your content. 
• Proofreading: AI tools can proofread a rough draft to help create a uniform tone throughout a piece of content. It can also help to adjust the overall feel if the writing is too dense or shallow for your target persona.

But First, Do You Know How to Use Your Persona?

With a better understanding of how to use AI in marketing, you can implement new processes to increase your efficiency with daily tasks. You can outsource the monotony of certain work and free up time to focus on the more creative aspects of the job. Your campaigns and content will be better for it – but don’t forget the human touch.

No content campaign will work if you don’t have a well-defined buyer persona that provides the AI invaluable context. If you’re unsure you have that foundation set, check out our resource on creating a buyer persona: