February 28, 2024

Overcoming Artificial Intelligence FOMO 

With the revolutionary potential of artificial intelligence (AI) for marketing being touted far and wide, executives and marketers at small- to mid-sized B2B organizations can be forgiven for having a little FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). Here’s how to overcome it.

AI Works for Us, Not Vice-Versa (At Least for Now)

Rather than getting overwhelmed by all the amazing things that AI can do for marketing, it’s best to start by asking what it can do for your marketing team today.

It’s also helpful to take a step back and understand what AI really is for marketers—it’s a tool that they can use to work more effectively and efficiently, or more precisely, a set of tools. To appreciate it in this context, it’s best to avoid thinking about AI achieving singularity or HAL 9000 from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey (Go Illini!).

Start with the Marketing Needs(s)

Just because a tool exists doesn’t mean it’s the right solution for every firm’s needs. AI is being used for some amazing things in marketing, but the most amazing applications of AI typically come from B2C companies with amazingly big marketing budgets.

The good news is there are many no- to low-cost AI options available for B2B marketers at small- to mid-sized organizations with limited budgets and resources. The bad news is there are so many new options available it can be hard to select those that make the most sense.

The best way to get started with AI is by identifying one or more of the most pressing marketing needs. According to Salesforce.com, marketers currently use AI most often for basic content generation and data analysis.

Next, determine if AI is a good solution for the need in terms of benefits and costs, including soft costs of integrating and optimizing the tool. Finally, select and deploy the right AI tool(s).

What are the AI options available? Here are some basic categories:

• >ChatGPT and Dall-E can be used for many marketing applications and are available free or at a low monthly cost for more advanced options.
  >Most Marketing Automation Platforms now provide some basic AI content generation and/or productivity capabilities as part of their offering.
  >Since ChatGPT’s introduction in late 2022, dozens of stand-alone AI-based paid marketing tools have emerged. These tools cater to specific marketing functions such as marketing process automation, custom content, design, email, chatbots, SEO, advertising creative, image generation, video and more. 
  >AI software solutions are available that allow larger organizations to build and train proprietary, custom AI marketing tools for many of the above uses.

Rather than trying to evaluate the claims of all the AI marketing solutions available—a list that grows monthly—B2B marketers who start with their most pressing needs first, implement the AI tool(s) that will have the most impact today, and build from there aren’t missing out on anything but the hype.