Artificial intelligence (AI) looks set to become one of the major marketing trends of 2025, with an impact on everything from customer service to content creation to A/B testing. Many brands and marketers are already integrating tools like ChatGPT and Dall-E 3 into their content and campaigns, excited by their speed and efficiency. Yet businesses also need to consider the risks of using AI for marketing and whether the potential rewards outweigh them.
AI definitely has its share of benefits for marketers. It can quickly gather research material, brainstorm and outline ideas and collect large amounts of data for better customer targeting and personalisation. Yet there are downsides as well: privacy concerns, legal grey areas and the potential for inaccurate information.
Luckily, it’s easy to build a solid marketing strategy and launch a thriving campaign without AI. Anchor Digital has done it for many purpose-driven brands on the rise, and we can help you succeed as well. Here’s the Anchor Digital guide to why you should avoid marketing with AI and what to do instead.
What Will The Influence of AI be in 2025?
As the new year gets underway, AI will become more advanced at targeting and provide you with a more detailed overview of customers’ decisions and behaviours. The flip side of this is privacy concerns. While AI will be able to gather large amounts of customer data quickly, marketers still have a responsibility to protect customer privacy. Likewise, while AI can quickly produce content, humans still need to make sure it’s accurate, free from biases and doesn’t sound robotic.
One of the biggest shifts in using AI for marketing is happening in search engines. Google and Bing are embedding AI-generated responses into their search results, changing how marketers aim for visibility. As AI tools alter the way that web users find information, marketers now have to consider how effectively AI-generated responses will capture their brand message.
At times, the difference between AI-generated blog posts and articles and those humans have written is hard to discern. This will soon extend to video and other visual content. Yet marketers have to balance the convenience (and realism) of AI-generated content with increasing demands for more authenticity and a more relatable approach.
Why Avoid Using AI in Marketing?
Some of the main issues you’re likely to run into when marketing with AI include:
Legal and ethical concerns
There are several legal and ethical implications for using AI. Using generative AI tools for content creation can lead to possible intellectual property and copyright violations. AI also can’t filter out biases, which can result in content that perpetuates stereotypes about or even excludes marginalised groups.
AI also isn’t trained to ask for permission before gathering data from consumers, which can lead to both legal issues and customers feeling that you’ve disrespected their privacy.
AI can also generate content that’s false and misleading, which can lead to serious legal consequences for brands and businesses.
In an era where how ethical and sustainable you are as a brand matters a lot to customers, these possibilities can cause a loss of reputation on top of legal and financial trouble.
Impact on SEO
Google prioritises helpful, reliable, people-first content on its search engine results page (SERP) and penalises content that’s low-quality or spammy. While AI-generated content is unlikely to get you penalised on its own, it also lacks the authenticity and professional experience that brands can use to provide users with reliable, trustworthy answers. If you rely on AI-generated content, don’t be surprised when you start to slide down in the rankings.
Lack of the human touch
While chatbots are growing more sophisticated, they still lack the nuance to answer customers’ more specific questions. For those dealing with customer service, one of the most frustrating things is vague, unhelpful information.
While generative AI can quickly summarise information from the variety of voices on the Internet, one thing it’s missing is a voice of its own. AI can’t yet replicate the personality of the brand voice your users have come to expect.
Inaccuracy
AI needs programmers to regularly update it with information so it can keep up with new developments. Because it’s not equipped to conduct in-depth research and data analysis of its own, AI has a high likelihood of making errors in accuracy that will hurt your credibility and your brand.
Tools to Use Other Than AI
If you want to create great content and optimise your marketing strategy, there are many tools you can use besides AI generators. Although some of these tools have AI features, their main purpose is to help you take a human approach to areas like content creation, data analysis and customer relationships.
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is still the most widely used graphic design tool, setting the standard for photo editing. While AI-generated images can be detailed and impressive, they’re almost always immediately recognisable for what they are.
Abode Photoshop can help you edit YouTube videos, produce animations for your marketing campaigns or remove blemishes from photos. The possibilities are endless, and the power is in your hands.
Google Analytics
While AI tools can optimise and automate some marketing tasks, Google Analytics gives you a deeper understanding of website and app performance that doesn’t interfere with user privacy. Google Analytics tracks user behaviour and measures the success of your campaigns while tracking the data you need to make the next campaign a success.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a versatile platform that allows you to research, schedule, post and track content all in one place. The leading platform for social media analytics, HootSuite integrates with all the major platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn etc.) and takes on the role of your virtual social media manager—no AI necessary.
Mailchimp
A popular email marketing platform for businesses of all sizes, Mailchimp provides you with all the tools you need to create, send and track e-mails without AI. Easy to use, with a suite of analytics features, Mailchimp integrates with all the popular e-commerce platforms.
Human Written Content for Humans at Anchor
Anchor Digital provides marketing solutions with a personal touch and content written for human audiences, not just bots. Our copywriting and content writing services connect with your consumers and communicate the strong points of your business in your unique brand voice. While our focus is on providing the answers your potential customers are looking for, our helpful, informative content also pleases Google’s ranking system. Our human writers will craft blog posts to your standards and won’t be charging you for AI-generated articles.
Anchor provides search engine optimisation services to improve your rankings on search engines like Google and Bing. We keep on top of new developments in the SEO industry without losing track of the timeless principles that have always worked, and our best-practice SEO is aligned with your brand voice and your story. While it’s important to work with search engines, we never lose track of the fact that, ultimately, your content is for the benefit of human readers. We take a personalised, integrated approach that’s the opposite of generic box-ticking.
To find out more, contact the Anchor Digital team. We’ll help your business achieve lasting AI-free marketing results.
