3 facets of inbound marketing will no longer be the same after AI: here’s why

Inbound Marketing is about providing unique, standalone value through content to your prospects. It’s a “show, don’t tell” methodology: I will to show tell you that my brand is empathetic, helpful and trustworthy, rather than just telling you.

But what about a world where people no longer look to your brand for content… They look to AI?

The marketing industry is rapidly evolving thanks to AI, and with any change, it’s natural to question the status quo: will the traditional inbound marketing playbook continue to triumph in a post-AI world?

Inbound marketing isn’t going anywhere, but it East change thanks to AI. Here, let’s take a look at some changes marketers can expect to see in inbound marketing and AI over the next few years.

How Inbound Marketing will change thanks to AI

1. AI will transform the content creation process.

Short term, creative director of HubSpot Matthew Watkins believes AI will reduce the quality of content we see on the web and social media.

As he puts it: “AI has made it easier to create the worst kind of content. It hasn’t changed much when it comes to creating really good content that matters and improves people’s lives. Can creators create faster with AI tools? Of course, but really. Valuable content always requires a human being to extract insight from it. Creators always need a good idea to make AI work for them.

Watkins adds: “Unfortunately, AI will fill the Internet (more than it already is) with bland and empty platitudes, images and videos. Finding the good stuff will get harder before it gets easier.”

When you consider all major technological changes, you will see this same pattern occurring. In the early days of social media, for example, people largely posted large stacks of never-before-seen photos to their Facebook accounts. Nowadays, people have become much more adept at creating high-quality content because it’s the only way to stand out on social media.

While we will absolutely see a decline in the value of content in the short term, this will inevitably lead to a strong return to high-quality content in the long term. As the quantity of content increases online, quality will become an increasingly critical aspect of your strategy if you want to stand out in a post-AI world.

Additionally, a one-person marketing team will find it easier to compete with teams at larger companies thanks to AI.

As Senior Editorial Manager Ben Harmanus says: “AI tools allow people to “experiment” with an idea in a short time. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. This helps to iterate faster and retest, because “testing” isn’t as expensive as it used to be. be.”

He continues: “It’s now easier for a single person to outrun a company’s marketing department because that person can publish an idea in no time. She still needs someone who can grasp a smart prompt, someone who understands the importance of the brand. consistency is a person who can tell the difference between right and wrong.

This is one of the major changes we will see thanks to AI: marketing will become a more level playing field. You won’t need enterprise-level marketing budgets to compete. AI will become a tool that any marketer can use to create stronger content.

Harmanus believes that AI will have the same impact on content creation as cloud CRM has on managing contacts on a spreadsheet — in other words, it will change virtually everything.

2. AI will radically change user expectations when it comes to newsletters.

Right now, email personalization is largely limited to symbolic personalization, like the “Hey, Caroline” I see at the start of my emails.

But this will radically change thanks to AI.

To find out how AI will impact newsletter creation, I spoke with rasa.io Director of Innovation, Paul Christmann. rasa.io is a tool that allows businesses to automatically pull relevant articles from the web to include in their email newsletters.

A process that only works with the help of AI.

As Christmann told me: “We have AI that tries to find other content that is accessible on the web and that is relevant to both the sender and the recipient. And that’s where AI really shines: when it can create personalized newsletters. to each individual based on what we know about them.

He adds: “If we’re scouring the web for content that’s interesting to our recipients, how can we comb through 500 piles of junk to find the good ones to really spend your time in?” And then, within that pool of content, how do we find the selection that’s right for each reader?”

Imagine a world where every newsletter was curated with your interests, values, and content preferences in mind. Similar to a social media algorithm that gets smarter over time, these newsletters will hand-deliver the content that interests you most.

This is a powerful opportunity for a major overhaul of your newsletter strategy. In the future, users will expect this personalization, so email marketers will want to prepare by testing how AI can help them now.

Christmann points out that there is currently a challenge to mass personalization: namely that you cannot edit each email individually before it is sent.

As he puts it: “If I have an audience of a hundred thousand people, I’m not going to read a hundred thousand of these emails for proofreading. So that still leaves me in this weird exploding method. »

Over time, Christmann believes this challenge will be solved through AI. He told me: “AI will help me adapt these messages over time and ensure that they have my voice, my tone, etc. There will be ways in which AI will continue to improve the creation of newsletters.”

3. AI will change the way marketers analyze data.

Beyond content creation, AI will revolutionize data analysis within marketing teams.

For example, Chris DevonaSenior Paid Media Manager at HubSpot, currently uses ChatGPT to format their ad campaigns.

He says: “I have a working prototype that allows me to submit a brief that I created in the ChatGPT code interpreter. ChatGPT then formats the brief into a CSV file that I can download and then import into Google Ads to bulk create entire campaigns or create entire campaigns. edits easily. This saves hours of manual formatting.

Imagine some of the more manual tasks you perform throughout the day as a marketer. Which could potentially be automated using AI?

As Devona told me: “I’m also working on a workflow that will allow AI to analyze data from week to week and produce insights to reduce the time it takes to log in to the platform and train them myself. »

Devona told me: “I think when AI is initially introduced into the ring, the first thought is creation, but using it as an assistant can potentially provide greater value. »

In the long term, entire marketing teams will adopt AI-driven data analysis strategies to bypass current complicated and inefficient data collection and analysis processes.

AI will fundamentally transform inbound marketing… but the foundations will remain the same

There is no doubt that AI will radically change the way inbound marketing works, step by step.

Over the next few years, we will see AI transform the way marketers create content, analyze data, and connect with their audiences.

As Christmann says: “AI will fundamentally transform inbound marketing. It will transform everything we do. It will make us think differently about issues we took for granted. Jobs will be different and it will be uncomfortable for many. of people, but ultimately it is a job generator and a job creator. But the game is still the same.

One thing AI won’t change? The purpose of inbound marketing. At its core, inbound marketing is about connecting with your prospects through valuable content.

The how, what and where of content creation will radically change thanks to AI. But the “why” will remain the same.