AI will make so many things better and more efficient for marketers. Don’t believe me? Ask ChatGPT to rattle off all the ways it can help. I can restate them, but you’ve heard it already. Bottom line is a lot will be easier, faster, cheaper, and more targeted. A great marketing strategy seems to be just a keystroke away.
That’s the good part.
So, what happens when great becomes the new norm? What happens when everyone can target their ads with incredibly powerful algorithms? What happens when an optimal marketing mix is easy to create and execute? What happens when very expensive creative is available to everyone?
Well, your best customers, your most likely prospects, your raving fans will be put through the wringer. They will be absolutely inundated with ads from every competitor, every new brand, every new deal over and over and over and over and over again. Not with cheesy, crappy ads, either. The creative will be strategically developed and tested for maximum impact to a specific person.
It will be mind-numbing. You think customers are already getting fatigued by digital? Buckle up. Breaking out in a way that creates meaningful recall will be harder than you can imagine—and it will get better and better and better and consequently harder for everyone.
Here’s a thought: Use AI to find a way around AI.
Let AI own the grunt work. It’s a tool, after all. Use it as such. AI will make you more efficient and more effective with everything you are doing now. It will do the same thing for your competitors. Change your objective to be about finding NEW ways to market to your customers instead of simply improving your current marketing approach.
Skeptical? Think AI really can do it all? Here are two ways you can push your marketing that AI can’t automate:
Get Physical.
Take a portion of your budget and reinvest in sampling, product demos, store events, and experiential marketing. The human experience is irreplaceable. AI can’t make people taste, touch, try and experience your brand. It also lets people interact with a community of fans—face to face. 85% of people say they will buy a product after experiencing it. While everyone else works to optimize the tail-end of their digital spend, reinvest some of it in physical, experiential marketing to bring it to life.
Be Popcorn-worthy.
Production value is going to get better. That doesn’t mean creative will, though. Things that were once too expensive will now be possible. We will see more and more video. Again, AI will make this easier and cheaper for everyone. Instead of a :15 or :30 second ad to grab attention—go long. Create entertaining stories that are 2-3 minutes long. Make it about telling a great story and integrate your brand in the narrative. It’s not an ad, it’s a short film. It’s something people will want to watch. Make them reach for the popcorn instead of swiping away. Everyone else will be out-shouting each other and you will be creating an authentic, fun way to experience your brand.
This is the kind of thinking we do at The Zest Lab. Our focus is finding fresh, unorthodox, and unique ways to reach passionate consumers to give our client partners a strategic advantage.
We would love to chat with you.