Does Content Marketing Still Work With AI?

Running a business online? You’ve probably seen a lot of talk about artificial intelligence in marketing. Some say it’s the end of traditional content marketing, others say it’s the best tool you’ll ever have. The truth is somewhere in the middle. AI can make things faster and give you more ideas, but it can’t replace the human qualities that connect you to your audience.

When we say AI, we’re not talking about the terminator or unique thoughts. AI models like Claude and ChatGPT predict the next most likely words based on patterns they learned from huge amounts of text. Think of them as very advanced autocomplete systems rather than a person you’re talking to and that thinks like you do.

AI models predict words rather than drawing on real experience, it can’t replace human judgement or understand the nuances of your business and audience. The predictions they make can’t fully take into account the ins and outs of your business or understand your specific audience like you do. They can get you most of the way and can be used for heavy lifting or repetitive tasks but to get your content marketing to work you still need to add the strategy, authenticity, and knowledge.

Start With Your Audience’s Real Problems

Content marketing works best when it’s built around what your customers actually care about. This means the problems they actually have, not just what AI has guessed they are likely to experience. Talk to your customers directly. Send short surveys, pick up the phone, check your social media comments, or even chat with them in person. You’ll quickly find out what they’re struggling with and you can base your content solutions on this information.

You might plan a big piece about your latest service, but your audience may prefer quick tips or short FAQs on your product pages. When you create content that solves these specific problems, you show you’re listening and that’s what helps you get more leads from visitors.

Use AI As Your Assistant Not Your Boss

Think of AI as a helper who can sift through piles of information quickly but still needs your guidance. It’s great for coming up with topic ideas based on what it knows and it can help you find what people are searching for and spot trends before they get big.

But you need to keep the final say. AI can make suggestions, but you need to fact check everything it gives you and follow up on the ideas it gives you. Always fact check AI output and rewrite it in your tone of voice. This keeps your brand consistent and stops you sounding like every other AI-assisted blog online.

You’re spending all this time building an online reputation, don’t just settle for the Chat GPT tone of voice.

Adding yourself into the AI is what will get you the speed of AI without sacrificing your voice. It will keep things consistent for visitors to your website and keep everything cohesive across all of your channels.

Track What Actually Matters

How do you know if your content is actually working for you? We don’t just mean web pages or blogs here, do you know if your social activity is helping or maybe the content as part of a display campaign?

It’s easy to get caught up in vanity metrics like page views or likes. They can make you feel good, but they don’t necessarily mean your content is working. For a better picture of how things are working look at things like how long people are engaging with your content, the quality of leads coming in, and whether your content is helping to move people along in your sales process. Compare metrics from before and after using AI so you can clearly see its impact on your marketing.

Don’t Switch To Autopilot

The temptation with content marketing is to give everything to the AI to handle, it’s cheap and fast, we see the appeal. But that is the equivalent of giving over the keys to your office to a company you have no control over. You can’t hold an AI accountable if it does something you don’t like.

Never put information into an AI that you wouldn’t be happy putting on to your social media feed. Check everything it suggests to you and monitor how it impacts your marketing.

Does Content Marketing Still Matter?

A topic getting coverage at the moment is how AI Mode is going to impact businesses that rely on traditional search to get leads. There are a lot of similarities between SEO and optimising for AI results but key differences to keep in mind.

AI tools, including search engines, are constantly scanning websites and building a picture of each brand. They look at everything to do with your brand, it will scan every piece of content it can find about you from your homepage to product descriptions and even customer reviews. It’s not just limited to your website or social posts either, they take into account whatever they can find about you online.

When it comes to your website and optimising for AI. If your content regularly talks about sustainability, uses a friendly, informal style, and mentions customer support a lot, AI will likely see your business as eco-conscious, approachable, and service-focused and may show you for semantically related searches.

Every piece of content you publish has the potential to represent your brand in AI-generated results. To make sure AI gets it right, keep your tone consistent across all your pages, and avoid mixed messaging. Be clear about what you do, who you help, and what you stand for. Include factual, specific details about your products, services, and expertise.

The shift from traditional SEO is simple but important. AI doesn’t just decide where to rank you, it could quote you directly. In that sense, your content isn’t just a way to get clicks, it’s acting as your online spokesperson and it matters more than ever.

If you’d like a no obligation chat about content marketing or how AI could impact your business fill in our form below and we’ll be happy to chat!