It’s pretty much impossible to ignore artificial intelligence’s impact on business operations. While some industries are only just beginning to feel these effects, others (like digital marketing) have already experienced rapid transformations. We’ve been keeping a close eye and an open mind on AI developments for the last couple of years. We’ve even integrated generative AI into many of our daily processes and procedures to maximize productivity, which is really important for us as a small agency.
Content
If you’ve spent any time reading about AI innovations, you’ve almost certainly come across the phrase “generative AI” before. This type of artificial intelligence, arguably made mainstream by Open AI’s ChatGPT, creates content like text or images based on user-submitted prompts using what the AI has learned from available data. Our content regularly relies on ChatGPT to spark creativity or expedite writing tasks that tend to be time-consuming, such as:
- Working on blog post ideation
- Starting research on a topic
- Writing meta descriptions, headings and introductions
- Devising questions for client interviews
- Creating ALT text for images
- Brainstorming appropriate hashtags for social media
- Personalizing social media captions to a brand’s voice
Though ChatGPT does a pretty good job handling these tasks, we don’t just take what an AI engine gives us and call it a day. Generative AI can be pretty generic and sometimes downright inaccurate on its own. A human touch is essential. So, we tweak outputs to ensure the content is correct, reads well, is optimized for SEO and is aligned with our clients’ brand voice. Ultimately we’ve found generative AI tools like ChatGPT allow our content team to be more productive. We can spend more time researching a topic and optimizing a post to create more unique, helpful content which is ultimately better for our clients and their readers.
Design
So far, Parkway’s design team finds the generative fill and expand tools in Adobe Photoshop to be one of the best uses of AI. These tools expand images past their original outer edges, allowing our designers to fill in previously empty spaces with inanimate objects or backgrounds. So far, AI still struggles to replicate people authentically, so we recommend steering clear of generative AI for that use. We also love how easy it is to touch up and edit photos using AI tools.
Adobe Illustrator also has some new interesting features. Its text-to-vector graphic tool allows designers to create vector graphics directly from inputs, essentially creating a unique style or mimicking the style of a specific image. However, we think this tool still needs a little bit of tweaking before it gets our full stamp of approval. And, just like with copy, designers are still necessary to oversee AI and tailor designs to a client’s specific needs.
Advertising
AI has been a part of Google Ads for a few years now. This technology influences which ads are displayed to users based on factors such as relevance and the likelihood of a conversion. The AI engine essentially performs predictive analysis by collecting and reviewing performance data over time. AI also pairs different copy and image assets provided by our team to show the best combination in each scenario.
While Google Ads also has generative AI features to create copy and images, Parkway hasn’t dabbled in these yet. Google’s AI doesn’t have the best record when it comes to generating YMYL (your money, your life) content like medical and financial advice. Because our client roster includes so many YMYL and regulated industries, we leave ad creative solely to our human team.
