Will AI Marketing Work For Your Small Business?

As a small business owner, you probably encounter plenty of ads about the complexity of Artificial Intelligence (AI) marketing. They claim to do hours of work in seconds and create more relevant content, but let's look deeper.

Does AI have the same capabilities as personal marketing agencies? Walk away being able to make an informed decision about who should handle your marketing. Consider how personal marketing agencies contrast to those of AI.

AI Certainly Has Limitations.
Beware: AI has and will make SERIOUS mistakes. Even artificial intelligence requires learning, so when entrepreneurs entrust it, they need to be careful in the beginning. In fact, this month, Elon Musk and other tech leaders have asked for a 6-month global moratorium on further development because of the unknowns of what it is capable of and concerns over its harm. Here are some examples of past failures:

• Within the first 24 hours of launching Twitter's chatbot, Tay, it made racist and sexist comments.

• Amazon's AI resume filter only recommended male candidates.

• Autonomous driving accidents

• IBM Watson, an "Oncology Expert Advisor" in Texas, made dangerous recommendations to medical staff.

• A facial recognition system in China identified a woman as a jaywalker while she was riding the bus.

• Amazon's facial recognition system matched 28 Congresspeople with criminal mugshots; 40% were people of color.

• Snapchat's AI bot gave sexual advice to journalist Geoffrey Fowler, posing as a thirteen-year-old, and advice on how to snag alcohol. So, any minor can consult with the bot inappropriately.

AI Lacks Emotional Intelligence, But WE Don't!
Here are ways that AI marketing differs from personal agencies like us:

• AI copy sounds robotic — because it is. As a business owner, you probably already know how important a brand voice is. Robots don't sound like YOU.
• When AI formulates emails and SMS messages, they often appear as spam. It doesn't have the empathy to speak in your desired brand voice.
• Unfortunately, AI doesn't care whether or not your business succeeds. Here at STS, we do, and we work seven days a week toward your success.

• While we have the creativity to make your content original, using AI puts your content at risk of blending in with other ads. Brainstorming and strategizing are essential in marketing, and only humans can do that.

• AI tends to create pesky pop-up ads that freeze your screen for 30 seconds. The idea is to force you to look at the ad, but usually, people think their screens are broken and get frustrated.

• Even if the spelling and grammar are perfect, AI tends to leave out essential details in copy.

• AI can't pull from personal or emotional experiences. 
• When a customer complains, a good response is not one-size-fits-all. Only a heart-to-heart conversation can help you determine a warranted response. What appeased one individual may not appease another. AI doesn't have the emotional intelligence to respond appropriately to body language, facial expressions, tone of voice, and most importantly, intuition.

At STS, we strategize to direct action from the readers based on your goal(s). We consider what motivates the PEOPLE in your target audience. So, we focus on their needs and the emotions surrounding them. 

How do we do that?
We mentally relive our own LIFE experiences and how we emotionally process them.

Decide for yourself which marketing approach sounds more practical. No matter where you are, we can get your business results with the strategy, skill, and empathy that AI lacks. Contact STS for marketing consulting, content creation, social media marketing, strategic website design and any other services that your business needs to reach PEOPLE.