In today’s rapidly evolving digital world, staying current with—or even ahead of (gasp)—marketing trends requires more than just a well-thought-out strategy. It demands innovation and adaptability, traits that generative AI can bring to the forefront of digital marketing. Generative AI is revolutionizing the process of engaging with audiences, creating content, and testing marketing strategies. And, for resource-constrained higher ed marketing teams, AI can be a game changer.
Below, we unpack a few ways how.
Three Ways to Use Generative AI in Marketing
In our experience, leveraging AI (e.g. Chat GPT) in a way that creates customer value and increases efficiency requires many of the same skills necessary for managing employees. You must have the ability to:
- Identify objectives
- Clearly communicate direction
- Provide strong feedback
When those things come together, AI can be used in multiple ways.
1: Generative AI for Content Creation
Anyone who works in higher education marketing knows that content creation is a time-consuming and resource-intensive task. Generative AI can be a powerful tool for making the creative process more efficient. By using AI to generate the “first draft” of content (think ad copy, blog posts, email copy, and even graphic design concepts), marketers free up time to focus on strategy and concept refinement.
However, just as if you were teaching an employee how to write a copy, you need to give the AI parameters. These include:
- The campaign’s objective (awareness, sales, sign-ups, etc.)
- The target audience (who they are, what they want, how they feel)
- Other parameters (character limits, etc.)
As you may already know, it is a best practice to create an AI persona as your prompt to create engaging content that uses your brand’s voice to deliver content that resonates with your target audience. Think prompts along the lines of:
“You are a marketer working in higher education tasked with writing a why-now article about why prospective graduate students should apply for grad school. Write a blog post no longer than 1100 words targeted at prospective graduate students that highlights the benefits of graduate education and career impact, including earning potential. The tone should be friendly, and the call to action should be ‘learn more’. Use the keyword ‘graduate degree benefits’ according to SEO best practices.”
Once the AI creates an initial draft, you can 1) provide the AI with feedback and additional information to refine and finalize or 2) perform the copyediting necessary to finalize the draft yourself. Either way, starting with AI shortens the runway to a final piece.
Note: Google and other search engines are working hard to identify and penalize pages with content that relies too heavily on AI. In March, Google released an algorithm update that marked a significant shift in how it evaluates and ranks content. Websites identified as using too much AI-generated content have faced severe penalties, including complete de-indexing.
The key takeaway: Use Generative AI as a tool, but do not rely on it to replace human thought, customization, critical thinking, and copywriting.
2: Generative AI for Ad Copywriting
Chat GPT and other AI tools can be very helpful in supporting ad copywriting and ideation. While Generative AIs do a great job of spitting out headlines and descriptions quickly, it is important to remember that AI is a tool (as discussed above), not a replacement for human creativity, experience, or insight. It’s the balance of AI’s efficiency with human intuition that creates the most resonant ad copies.
Our research shows that the effective use of AI as a tool in ad copywriting can generate higher click-through rates (7 – 9%) than the industry averages for non-branded higher education keywords. When paired with a great landing page experience, effective integration of AI tools can boost your return on advertising spend (ROAS).
3: Generative AI for A/B Testing and Optimization
While the potential for this has not yet been fully realized, Generative AI will likely be the future of A|B testing and optimization – Google has already taken steps in this direction.
At Eduvantis, we use Google’s AI-driven ad formats to gather real-time market feedback about how messaging resonates with prospective students. Then, we roll those learnings out across other channels to improve cross-channel campaign performance.
For example, we used AI as a tool to optimize a client’s messaging. After 6 months of testing, we found that “Sense of Place” and “The Community” rose to the top, outperforming both the other messaging buckets and industry performance benchmarks. When leveraged in conjunction with branded search strategies, these messaging types – which leaned into the concepts of atmosphere, welcomeness, and belonging – generated click-through rates (CTRs) in the range of 14-15%, while non-branded search campaigns generated CTRs in the 5-6% range.
We leveraged these learnings to guide the client in the generation of video content to be used in their down-funnel re-engagement strategies (email, organic social media, remarketing). When launched on LinkedIn as ads, this content put up view-to-completion rates in the 70-80% range.
The Key to Success: Writing the Right Prompt for Generative AI
Operating Generative AI tools like ChatGPT requires specific inputs to ensure accurate and relevant information. The most effective technique to limit generic responses is to provide the AI with a persona, instruction, and context.
- Personas: When you ask the AI technology to emulate a specific role, this will generate tailored and clear responses.
- Instructions: Due to the many functions AI can produce, instructions must be specific. Clearly define what actions you want from AI, including the type of output (e.g. report or a dialogue). Providing an example gives the AI a reference point, allowing the system to understand your expectations.
- Context: When you provide the AI with the audience, tone, and other context-specific instructions, the responses will be much more relevant.
- Example Prompt: Take the role of a marketing copywriter for a regional institution of higher education. Create a series of Instagram captions highlighting the career outcomes and increased earning potential of graduating from an MBA program. Keep the tone friendly and intelligent, targeting prospective students ages 24-34. Keep the word count of each caption under 50.
Generative AI Challenges and Considerations
While the potential of generative AI in digital marketing to enhance productivity and impact is immense, it’s not without challenges. Institutions must navigate ethical and legal considerations such as data privacy, transparency, copywriting laws, and the responsible use of AI. It is and will continue to be vital that marketers employing AI stay abreast of industry trends, updates, and regulations.
In Conclusion – A New Era of Personalization & Efficiency
Generative AI is ushering in a new era of digital marketing, where personalization and efficiency take center stage. Its ability to automate at scale, create content, and optimize marketing campaigns offers a competitive advantage that cannot be ignored. Generative AI is a powerful tool that is reshaping the digital marketing landscape. However, its implementation must be approached with caution, keeping its challenges and ethical considerations in mind.
As the digital marketing landscape continues to evolve, those who harness the power of generative AI will find themselves utilizing an iterative process that ensures that marketing efforts are always evolving and optimizing in ways previously unimaginable.