The Impacts of AI on Digital Marketing

Lisa Haas, marketing strategist, coach, and University College adjunct instructor, explains how AI is the next evolution in digital marketing. Learn how AI is impacting content generation, personalization,  measurement, optimization and more. Lisa also shares tips on where she thinks this evolution is going and how to stay on top of the changes as they emerge. 

Transcript

[00:00:00] Welcome to elevate ed a space for conversations around the intersection of industry and higher education from the mile high city of Denver, Colorado. This podcast is brought to you by the university of Denver's college of continuing and professional studies university college, where we are elevating experiences for the adult learner through career focused credentials. 

[00:00:37] Cindy: I'm speaking today with Lisa Haas. 

[00:00:40] Lisa is a seasoned marketing expert.

[00:00:43] Cindy: With a deep understanding of consumer behavior, market trends, and effective communication strategies. Her proficiency in digital marketing tools allows her to navigate the ever evolving landscape optimizing campaigns and maximizing return on investment. [00:01:00] She's adept at analyzing data and extracting valuable insights. She guides informed decision making that steers businesses towards success. She is a professional trainer and a marketing strategist. She's adjunct instructor at university college, teaching a host of digital marketing courses.

[00:01:21] Welcome Lisa. Okay, let's start by talking about how you come into this space, what you do as a marketer. And then we'll move into talking about the AI that is consuming us. us. right now.

[00:01:36] Lisa: Absolutely. Okay. So, well, I, I've always been a technophone. I, you know, started playing on Lisa two in the eighties in terms of learning how technology works and how to code things.

[00:01:47] When I started in the world of marketing in general, it was back in the 1900s. So radio. Newspaper, print we're all brilliant, predominant [00:02:00] leaders in the space of marketing throughout my career, obviously the admin of the internet social media, and now AI has required me to stay up with the technology of my craft.

[00:02:12] Just because it's digitized so much, it used to be very manually counted versus. Digital accounting and then instructional design actually came to me when I went to get my master's degree in order to teach at University College. I got a degree in performance and learning, which allowed instructional design to come and learn how adult learners you know, assimilate information and utilize it into their jobs to become more high performing individuals.

[00:02:41] So it's a really interesting intersection of. Teaching and course building while I'm also doing marketing and digital marketing specifically. And I'm using old school principles of how people inter, interchange with one another, how they engage, how they, they still buy products very similarly. The decision process isn't [00:03:00] much different.

[00:03:00] It's just a little longer now with a few more touch points. So, it's just really interesting to see, you know, a career span of, you know, when I was a child, I would have to get up and off the couch and change the channel manually on the television. And now, yeah, I'm right there with you, it like beams into my phone at this stage of the game and through voice technology, I can get it to change the channel.

[00:03:25] So, it's just a very interesting evolution over the last 40 years or so. 

[00:03:30] Cindy: Absolutely. And here we are thrown into all of the I guess I would call it at this point, complete upheaval of most everything. I don't know that there are very many industries that aren't being touched or affected by AI or the considerations around the impact of AI.

[00:03:55] Right now. And so as a [00:04:00] point of level setting maybe just provide an overview of how artificial intelligence is currently being used in digital marketing. 

[00:04:10] Lisa: You are right. Every industry is being impacted at this stage. I receive a series of communications every morning with long and involved emails about all the different industries that are being touched by AI.

[00:04:20] Yeah, digital marketing is being impacted predominantly. In that Google is really trying to make the user the focal point as this AI tool start to evolve, we've done a lot of keyword optimization and there's been some games around backlinking and. Keyword stuffing and so many different things that go into gaming the system of search engine and optimization techniques that.

[00:04:50] Which has been going on, yeah, for a really long time in Google. I mean, Google's been trying it seems to, to put things into place to get a handle on that. [00:05:00] Yeah, they really haven't. I think the latest updates between the Google Helpful Index, Helpful Content Index, which is all about ranking the user higher than the search engine, and then the search experience now that's integrating AI, you can already start to see the changes that are happening.

[00:05:18] Which means as digital marketers, our job is to figure out how do we continue to show up in front of the target audiences that we're working with. So. No different than when social media first came about in, you know, the early two thousands. It just means we're having to level up what we do as marketers.

[00:05:37] There are industry is always changing in relation to technology, and this one's just going to be a little larger change, but. No longer are we just branding specialists in the marketing space. We're data scientists, we're technologists, we're stack marketers, where we're trying to figure out how to get technologies to talk to one another.

[00:05:56] What's cool about AI is it's going to actually create a little bit more seamless [00:06:00] environment where we'll be able to see more easily. People going through our funnels, people predictive analytics will be able to share more information during times when people are making decisions. We're going to understand our audiences more effectively because the, the.

[00:06:16] Data assimilation that's done through AI is so grand that we can't possibly do it as humans in a manual way that's timely. And the computers will allow us to really assimilate that data more quickly and determine what parts of our funnels are converting, what tools are really driving our target markets to those conversion metrics that we're looking at.

[00:06:37] Cindy: Right. And it occurs to me in this moment that it might be worth Drawing a clear distinction between AI, as in artificial intelligence that's used in, you know, in different tools and technologies in this space, and generative AI which I think, I think has gotten a lot of attention, but I think, I [00:07:00] think sometimes people right now when they're referring to AI, they're referring to generative AI, and what we're talking about is AI.

[00:07:10] And I think both are important. I think both looking at both of the equations is important. The AI tools in general, which are just going to hopefully assist humanity at another level of evolution. Generative AI is where I. Live pretty consistently as a digital marketer in helping me create blogs and content that are useful.

[00:07:31] Brainstorm ideas create more optimized headlines for Google advertising. So that generative side of things, you know, it's probably most pervasive in the marketing world, specifically every tool. I open every email tool search engine tool you know, blogging tool website. All of them are now having a I integrations of let us help you craft your message, right?

[00:07:57] Cindy: Yeah. And, in terms [00:08:00] of ad optimization the AI tools , they're just getting a whole lot more sophisticated and now the AI is woven in, it's completely changing the landscape of those tools and how you use tools.

[00:08:15] Is that accurate? Yeah. I mean, yes, I think that's accurate. You know, AI has definitely been integrated into Google advertising and algorithms. We've been talking about algorithms for years and years at this point.

[00:08:25] That's all AI. That's those data scientists who figured out how to get the computers to learn. In the generative AI space now, it's becoming so much more focal point. It's more of the computers are using large language programs to simulate information and and deliver that information to a content marketer, but then the content marketer has to have some gray matter involved to qualify the accuracy of the information to continue to ask better prompts of the computer to get better [00:09:00] information from it rather than just.

[00:09:01] This is the evolution that's becoming so very much in our, in our face right now. We're, we're about to see cell phones that have generative AI as we shop on Amazon, that are going to be providing consumers with prompts of things based on search, based on intent, based on sentiment. And that's really what's evolutionary.

[00:09:21] And as marketers, we've got to figure out how to capitalize on that and continue to Bye. Design relevant, interesting, compelling content that is originally created by an AI generative tool like Gemini or a chat GPT, and then the marketer has got to go in and add in the brand voice, add in the additional linking, make sure that it's culturally sensitive.

[00:09:46] I've run a couple of blog programs where I'll put in a specific topic and the computer will spit out content to me that is absolutely inappropriate to put out into the world, right? So you've got to have some level [00:10:00] of discernment when you're working with the AI to determine, is it on brand voice? Is it set up for your audiences to compel?

[00:10:09] And will it truly lead you to the goals that you have as an, as an, as an organization? 

[00:10:15] Cindy: Yeah, that critical thinking piece is, so important. And 

[00:10:21] You know, your point about being culturally sensitive.

[00:10:24] Yeah. My experience with AI is it is a zero cultural sensitivity and maybe will evolve at some point in that way. But but right now it definitely it flattens things. It does generalizations, . It does.

[00:10:39] Lisa: Well, I also find that. One of the benefits that I'm seeing out of AI is that I can go to it and prompt out, you know, remind me of the levels of a good marketing funnel and like, and it'll present information that I've learned somewhere along the way and have forgotten. [00:11:00] Not that I've forgotten components of a marketing funnel, it's what I do every day, but that's a really general example.

[00:11:05] So sure, what I find, like I was putting together a strategy recently for a client and. was using AI to help me better define the fictional persona and tell the story of that persona. It, it thought of things that I would have eventually gotten to, but that it was, it was faster. So it easily dropped up demographics for this particular persona.

[00:11:31] And then even went a little further and added psychographics and motivations and, and, and things that I then could look at that information, challenge it and say, yes, I think this aligns with the goal of the organization. I think this persona is accurate as well as then asking the computer. Or the AI tool additional qualifying questions, which then made it a richer persona experience.

[00:11:56] So, again, it's about how you ask the computer the [00:12:00] questions. That's why I don't believe humans are going to be replaced here. We're just going to be utilizing these tools to be more efficient in what we do. And what was really interesting out of that particular case study is I was then able to take that persona, because I was able to create it inside of 10 minutes, which would have eventually, would have taken me two, three hours prior to, and then extrapolate even more information of a strategy of how this persona might engage online.

[00:12:26] The computer was able to gather more of that data more quickly than I could have. It would have taken me days to create this. Yeah. So that's where, but again, I had to use gray matter. I, I also found, you know, it was the computer was wrong a couple of times. And so I would say, you know, Gemini, that's incorrect.

[00:12:48] You've got that wrong. And then I also, I jokingly put out on Facebook, I found myself consoling the AI. It's okay. You'll do better next time. I'm right where it's it's not really learning at this [00:13:00] stage. It's gathering data off of already existing content on the Internet, which is why accuracy is so important.

[00:13:06] You know, there's 20 to 25 percent error rates out here on the Internet in general. And, you know, when you go even deeper, like Pew Research did a huge study on this. It says if it's misinformation, it spreads 10 times faster, which means the internet has to determine, and this AI has to determine, is this accurate information or is this a viral misinformation spread?

[00:13:30] I'm not sure it's got that ability just yet. Mm hmm. Yeah. Another reason why we need people. 

[00:13:37] Cindy: Yeah. Your point about this just being like the next evolution, I think is so Spot on, you know, and treating it that way embracing it as you've been talking about is the way to really understand and make best use of the tools you mentioned.

[00:13:56] A little bit earlier, you mentioned about, personalization [00:14:00] targeting and how are you seeing that changing right now? 

[00:14:04] Lisa: I'm seeing a lot of changes in personalization especially using AI. In a handful of ways. First of all, the AI can use all of my personal information as it's collecting data on me of things I've been searching.

[00:14:19] You know, I'm planning a trip for the eclipse that's coming, for example. And so the internet is capturing that I'm looking for those things. And so the AI is starting to personalize and deliver content to me based on that search ability. And with dynamic searching, which is what AI is really great at.

[00:14:38] In a minute. It's not quite there. It's going to be there in a minute. It's going to know it's Lisa searching and that I'm looking for something specific and it's going to be able to go and determine you know, that I live in the mountains and that I'm a professor at the University of Denver. It's going to have all of that information as well and really personalize of like, as a [00:15:00] professor.

[00:15:00] Did you know this discount was available or since you are a long time learner, while you're there, there might be this other thing you're interested in. So personally, personalization, I think, is going to be the hyper result of AI, especially as AI tools get to learn us individually, not just as a collective.

[00:15:20] Mm hmm. I'm seeing this a lot in email. A really simple example is where the headline will change or subject will change on an email delivery and then go out to a group of non openers with a different type of email subject line. And we find that when you add the name of the individual, our https: otter.

[00:15:40] ai

[00:15:47] Collect even more information about us as individuals. It will get better and better at customizing our experiences. 

[00:15:55] Cindy: So let's talk about the other end the the measurement and how [00:16:00] AI is changing your ability to be able to Take in the data and then pivot 

[00:16:08] Lisa: Yeah, I think when we talk about AI measurement, we're going to see some advanced analytics come along where it's not just going to be about personalization and customization will be able to very easily identify variables inside of campaigns that are working in those that are not.

[00:16:25] From a really simple example of measurement predictive modeling is probably a really big place where the AI is going to allow marketers to place content and offers in front of audiences when they're most likely to engage or convert. So when I first started in social media, which was also an upender in terms of how we communicate online.

[00:16:45] Yeah. The first things that we discovered was, there's a lot of testing around when do men absorb content and when do women absorb content, not to be stereotypical in any way, you know, I want to be all about diversity and [00:17:00] inclusion, but we discovered through those studies that typically men were early morning people reading content and women assimilated information in the evening.

[00:17:09] So now the computer will be able to determine that Lisa reads her content at 3 o'clock in the afternoon and my husband Mike really likes to look at content at 11 p. m. at night rather than a generalization. So there's that again, AI personalization, predictive kind of modeling that it's really gonna. I think going to explode.

[00:17:30] We're going to see better allocation of budgets as well as a result of being able to measure more effectively what's working, what's not and at the moment, a lot of our marketing pieces are siloed. Like my email marketing isn't necessarily talking to my social media marketing very effectively, and I'll be able to tie those two things together and look at the omni channel type of approach to marketing.

[00:17:54] Where we're meeting each individual on whichever device, whichever platform, whichever channel they happen to [00:18:00] be on with the next level of the message, rather than, I call it spray and pray, where I'm just sharing messages everywhere, every place, everyone, so that I can try to get somebody to click on something, right?

[00:18:12] Cindy: Right. That optimization across all those channels. I could see how it's going to get a lot more sophisticated. 

[00:18:21] Lisa: Oh, it's like every day we've, since we've been here on this call for the last 20 minutes, I've probably received five emails from different tools sharing their latest update for AI, Google, Microsoft, Amazon X slash Twitter, all of them.

[00:18:37] Are running at this as fastly as quickly as possible, and so we're going to see big changes happen over the next 12 months, even where it's going to feel revolutionary. There's going to be a few challenges, though. I think we also have to keep in mind data privacy, certainly in there. Like, how much am I willing to allow the computer to collect data and how much integrity and transparencies there?

[00:18:59] If we [00:19:00] have bad data, like misinformation, that kind of information could be assimilated and provide some pretty interesting results. And, you know, we're relying on these computers to do the interpretation of data, and as we've already talked about, they're not real smart yet. Right, so really keeping ethics in front of us and data, the data integrity in front of us is going to be really important as we move through these next handfuls of steps in the world of AI integration.

[00:19:29] Cindy: All right. Last question, and. I don't know I don't know if you're ready,

[00:19:33] but do you have tools that you would recommend or tips for trying to just adapt and stay ahead of what's coming?

[00:19:43] Lisa: I think that's an excellent question. First follow the influencers, you know, Neil Patel of NP Digital.

[00:19:48] He's been out here in the digital space for You know, 15 years. He's definitely on the front edge front edge of learning it himself, integrating it with his team. He's running some tests right now of [00:20:00] Gemini versus chat GPT and which is bad for best for content. You know, I work with a lot. I follow a tool report and geek AI, which give me daily updates.

[00:20:10] So I think education is the key. Curiosity and exploration are also big as these tools roll out. Don't be afraid. I have a lot of clients that are standing in fear and say, well, we need to keep humans front and center. I want to be optimistic and think that AI actually helps us even more keep humans front and center and that will get rid of some of this.

[00:20:36] Black hat kind of dark web world, which is manipulating some of the things that are out in front of us. And I believe we'll get maybe more transparency through AI. We'll see. But, you know, be curious. Our job is going to be. Watchdogs for accuracy, keeping an eye for cultural sensitivity, making sure that we're staying up on privacy, [00:21:00] integrity and regulation around these tools as well as then continue to educate ourselves, remain curious and test track adjust, which is a core value of all things marketing, regardless of what technology is in front of you.

[00:21:13] Cindy: I love that. And I love the optimistic spin. Lisa, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. Wonderful to take a quick little dip into your brain. Thank you so much. 

[00:21:23] Lisa: You're very welcome. Thank you very much for having me. 

[00:21:27] Cindy: From workforce development to the adult learner experience in an outside the classroom, we're exploring the unique space where industry and higher education collide. Have a topic you're passionate about. Join our conversation by submitting suggestions or interview ideas through our website@universitycollegedotdu.edu forward slash elevated.

[00:21:55] I hope you'll subscribe and share this podcast with colleagues and friends who are also [00:22:00] interested in fostering connections between industry and higher education. Thanks for listening.