I’m currently serving as the Chief Marketing Officer at DCS. These days, I’m using AI in content strategy and content production with my small content team. This article shares some of our hard-earned tips.
Are you ready to allow AI in content strategy plans you make?
Picture this: You’re directing an orchestra, which in this case is your marketing team. But you’re not just working with violin and trombone players. You have a futuristic synthesizer sitting in the orchestra — Artificial Intelligence (AI).
This synthesizer allows the orchestra to create music in all-new ways. But it doesn’t work on its own — it’s a tool that needs a smart human to run it, and to coax the best output from its limited capabilities.
This is a way to think about the role of AI in content strategy: Your orchestra’s synthesizer is like AI on a marketing team. AI doesn’t take over marketing. It doesn’t replace a person on your team. But, in the hands of the right “player,” AI can contribute meaningfully to the content strategies you implement.
The importance of AI in content strategy for CMOs is no longer a question. AI in content strategy is a must-have. Read on to learn why.
AI in content strategy: A temporary distraction?
We’ve heard the rumors of impending doom for marketers.
“The robots are coming for our jobs!”
But how important is the role of AI in content strategy, really?
I believe the introduction of AI is equivalent to the introduction of home computing, or the mobile phone — technology innovations which were introduced in my lifetime.
Related: Manage AI Tools to Automate Content Creation: A Practical Guide for Powerful Results
Here’s why CMOs should use AI in content strategy:
- Personalization: AI-powered personalization can tailor content to individual user behavior. Your marketing campaigns will fit your prospects’ like a bespoke, custom-tailored blazer. Nice!
- Analytics mastery: AI goes through data faster than a toddler through a bowl of olives (or was that just my toddler daughter?). AI takes your columns and rows of data and helps you understand your audience’s preferences and predict future trends.
- Quality control: Ever wish you had an extra set of eyes to check content quality? With AI, you’ve got them! This is a powerful way to use AI in content strategy — as a first-line proofreader for the written content you create.
If you’re this far into this article, you must be at least “AI-curious.” Read on to learn how to use AI in content strategy in a few simple steps.
3 steps to start using AI in content strategy today
For marketers, AI goes beyond writing help and can assist you with content strategy decisions, too.
You can share your current content results and — with a tool like ChatGPT — ask it to share guidance.
As mentioned in this article about getting started with AI in content creation, there are a few parameters to feed your AI tool so it can provide on-point answers about content strategy:
Relevant parameters for content strategy questions
- The target audience for your content
- Your industry and your niche
- Your most urgent business goals
- Your long-term business goals
- Relevant industry or customer data
Here’s a three-step prompt you can try in a tool like ChatGPT. Fill in the bracketed phrases with your own information.
Step 1: Provide context to the AI tool
You are a [ROLE] in the [INDUSTRY/NICHE]. Your business has a short-term goal to [ACHIEVE WHAT?]. Your business has a long-term goal to [ACHIEVE WHAT?]. In the industry, [CURRENT STATE OF INDUSTRY]. Your current customer base is [CUSTOMER DATA HERE].
Step 2: Ask a question of the AI tool
What content strategies would help my business achieve the goals above?
Step 3: Encourage the tool to ask clarifying questions
Please ask any clarifying questions required to answer the question fully.
Don’t skip the last question! Any chat-based AI tool will be able to ask questions that will provide more context and information — and allow it to provide a much better answer.
As your AI tool begins displaying its recommendations for your content strategy, stay with it. Ask clarifying questions back to it.
Then — and this is crucial:
- Ignore the answers that don’t work
- Consider the answers that are surprising, but may be useful
- Re-combine ideas as-needed
The key to using AI tools for content strategy is to think of them as brainstorming partners. You never use the first, unpolished idea that pops up in any brainstorming session. But those ideas are sparks that lead to revenue-producing strategies once team members get involved in making them a reality.
CMO-to-CMO
It’s decision time, my CMO friend. If you’ve been hemming and hawing about whether to adopt AI into your content strategy, here’s your wake-up call.
I’m the author of the popular Master Content series of books, and I’m here to say that using AI in content strategy is smart.
It’s not perfect. It’s certainly not human. But the role of AI in content strategy is just beginning. Embrace it and be fearless!
– Pamela
Why CMOs should use AI in content strategy
If you haven’t started yet, I encourage you to find a place to use AI in content strategy today — before your competition masters this tool.
Remember: In the world of marketing, standing still is going backward. Put on your futuristic hat, embrace the potential of AI, and lead the way for your team.
Your content strategy (and your ROI) will thank you for it.
Disclaimer: Experiencing mind-blowing efficiency, impressive ROI, and heightened creativity may be a side effect of integrating AI into your content strategy. Use wisely, enjoy responsibly.
