Mediaboss Marketing

The Gist:

Generative AI has transformed the way that marketing departments create text, images, videos and other content, with three-quarters of marketing departments using generative AI tools today and a vast majority of the others expecting to use them within the next two years, according to a new report released today. The report, published by the generative AI chat cloud company Botco.ai, surveyed 1,000 marketers in the US in March.

"If anything, we were surprised by just how many marketers are already using generative AI tools, in such a relatively short time since they were first brought to market," Anu Shukla, co-founder and executive chairman of Botco.ai, told CMSWire in an exclusive interview. "We havent seen any other technologies transform marketing departments in such a short period of time in a long time, maybe ever."

Shukla added that generative AI is no "flash in the pan but something that can drive real-world impact. This is supported by the ROI that marketers are reporting theyve gotten from GenAI, which is also remarkably quick for such a new technology."

Botco.ais survey reports that OpenAI's ChatGPT is the most commonly used generative AI tool. Among the respondents who use generative AI, 55% use ChatGPT. Other tools, ranked by popularity, are as follows:

"We suspected that ChatGPT would be the top GenAI tool, given the huge splash it made when it first came out and all the buzz that has been generated since then," said Shukla. "We also werent too surprised that some enterprise marketers have been reluctant to test GenAI because of concerns about the time it takes to train their teams or the privacy and security risks that are inherent in the systems. But we feel these are overall minor concerns that can be overcome with the right support and solutions."

Interestingly, the survey showed that more complex companies and industries (such as B2B, software, technology and finance) use generative AI more frequently. Among these industries, software and technology rank highest with a usage of 91%, followed by finance at 90%. This demonstrates the potential of integrating generative AI in even the most sophisticated marketing divisions. In fact, three-quarters of respondents mentioned that their generative AI tools are trained on proprietary content, emphasizing the importance of accurate and reliable responses in chatbot solutions.

"For chatbot solutions in particular," Shukla said, "its crucial that these tools are trained on a companys proprietary content in order to give accurate, reliable responses without the hallucinations that can be created when a platform is trained on the internet at large."

Botco.ais report also discussed what companies use generative AI for most frequently. Website copy ranked highest here: 48% of respondents said that their company is likely to use generative AI for this purpose. Other common uses include creating email copy, social media copy, social media images and more.

"In most cases, generating content with AI tools is not as cut and dried as some make it out to be," Shukla said. "While some content chatbot content, for instance can be fully automated, other times it takes human involvement to get the content to where you want it to be in terms of quality, tone, positioning and other factors. So theres a learning curve for writers, editors and marketers to get up to speed on the best way to leverage GenAI tools and work with them in the most productive way possible."

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Most companies have either already integrated or plan to soon integrate generative AI. Where is the line in terms of whats reasonable? There is a clear division of opinions on this subject.

The survey found that 66% of respondents use generative for brainstorming; 49% of respondents said that they rely on AI to produce final content from scratch. As written in Botco.ais report, the possibilities are endless, but marketers must first work out whats considered to be fair play.

Related Article: FTC Won't Tolerate Generative AI Deception in Marketing, Customer Service

The rapid adoption of generative AI tools and the quick ROI reported by users indicate a significant transformation in the marketing industry. As marketers become more comfortable with generative AI technology, its applications are expected to increase.

Challenges like accuracy, security, and privacy must be addressed to ensure its continued growth. Indeed, these issues are the reason for many marketers reluctance to implement generative AI.

The high usage of generative AI tools in marketing departments points to an industry-wide transformation rather than a temporary fad. As the technology matures and its applications expand, marketing professionals can expect to see even more innovative and efficient ways to create content and engage with their customers. While many companies are already using or plan to soon use generative AI, issues still remain on the subject. These main issues include the debate on how much generated content is ethical as well as the need to address privacy and security issues.

"We believe that this is just the early stages of generative AI tools and their use by marketing teams to create all sorts of valuable content," Shukla said. "As the technology matures and marketers get more comfortable with using it, we will begin to see more and more applications. There are still hurdles to be overcome, such as accuracy, security, and privacy for enterprise data. But, on the whole, the high usage of GenAI tools is clearly the start of an industry-wide transformation and not just a fad that will wane over time."

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Where Are Marketers on the Generative AI Adoption Curve? - CMSWire