A very hot topic for 2025, is the use of AI within marketing. And most importantly, the question of whether it will replace the need for a marketing team? Invites to seminars, workshops and masterclasses abound, all talking about the uses for AI and the rapidly changing AI landscape.
How can it be used most effectively to support marketing strategies and plans, as well as tactical everyday activities?
- Automation of tasks. AI can assist with email marketing automation for example, as well as segmenting target or existing clients.
- Templates. AI tools can produce a useful framework for a plan, a list of requirements for organising an event for example.
- Content Generation. I find AI a useful tool when creating content, both for myself and for clients. However, I do not use this as the basis for writing content. I may at times use it to provide inspiration for a particular phrase or sentence, when I am struggling to find the appropriate phrase to capture what I want to say. And I do utilise tools like grammarly that are helpful for editing work and finding mistakes that have been missed.
- Personalisation. Taking client service further, AI can tailor content to an individual client. Perhaps using an avatar of an investment manager in a personalised video client report. Alternatively delivering market updates in multiple languages. Used as a complementary service to a relationship manager it can be a useful tool.
What would AI not currently be able to help me effectively with?
- Thinking how to develop an effective marketing strategy. Whilst it can help generate content or undertake data analysis, it cannot yet develop strategies or campaigns that specifically resonate with target audiences on more of an emotional level, understanding their ‘buying’ trigger. As yet, it lacks the nuanced understanding of human emotions and the ability to respond to those appropriately with a creative marketing strategy.
- Creating an authentic brand story. This remains a very human skill that AI has yet to be able to craft. Customers still gravitate towards brands that foster a sense of community and shared values. I work with clients to help identify what makes them different and create a narrative to support their messaging.
- Personal relationship building. Financial Services, whether B2C or B2B very much relies on trust. Avatars can be useful for sharing market content, but a human relationship is still the foundation of many relationships in the industry. Gen Z – those in their late teens to early twenties, are said to value authenticity and trust even more than previous generations. A human marketing resource can help design engaging events, think about partnerships that work for your target client base and so on.
So, the question is, did I use AI to write this blog post? No!
But I did ask AI tools the same question, and even ChatGPT agrees that AI will not replace marketing, but will reshape it, and working a hybrid model can help provide efficiencies to help businesses and marketing teams. As AI continues to develop it will be more of a collaborative tool. It should assist Financial Services Marketers with data analysis, reporting and technical requirements, but marketing at its core is about human connection, and as yet, AI has not evolved that far…
Please get in touch if you have marketing challenges that I could help you with. I’d be delighted to discuss how we could work together.
