Are you wasting your ad spend with AI? 🤯

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AI Marketing School Newsletter #37

Are you wasting your ad spend with AI?

Wondering if generative AI is draining your ad budget faster than ever?

You're not alone.

We're seeing a huge spike in AI-generated websites diverting media spend into ‘pointless impressions’.

And AI-generated content farms pumping out crappy articles quicker than a squirrel on speed, only for their programmatic advertising campaigns to return mediocre results.

“We also need to be cognizant of not just budget wastage but also production wastage — why does nobody care about all those DCO (dynamic creative optimization) versions not being used?” says Lindsay Hong, COO of content agency Locaria.

But despite these concerns, there's also optimism.

Industry experts, like Femi Taiwo from media agency Assembly, propose that while the current experimentation with generative AI could lead to wasted ad spend, this phase may be necessary.

“If all the experiments lead us to a place where we can get better AI-generated ads, less intrusive (and obvious) personalization, and streamlined A/B tests to drive increased purchases, then was the initial spend really wasted?”

What marketers need to know

• As marketers and agencies flock to using generative AI, many have wasted media dollars on fake impressions and unused creative options.
  

• Don't go all-in on AI (or one particular AI-powered campaign) and expect miracles. Diversify your approach to achieve the best results.
  

• At this stage of the innovation cycle, however, marketers must experiment with AI to identify what works best.
  

• This will obviously result in some wasted spend—but it’s the equivalent of going one step back so the industry can go two steps forward.

Pre-order and save $200 on our AI Marketing Mastery Course

We’re excited to announce that we’re creating an AI Marketing Masterclass training series.

It will consist of three one-hour-long videos, where we’ll share everything we've learned about AI marketing so far.

1. How pro marketers can free up hours per day with ChatGPT

2. Building a custom chatbot to be your professional copilot

3. Automate your marketing workflows and eliminate tedious tasks  

Best of all, we’re running a silly introductory offer, charging just $100 for marketers who sign up ahead of its release on 8th August (full price $300).

And if you’re not satisfied with the content, you’ll get a full refund.

It’s a no-brainer. 

Sign up here to reserve your spot before the introductory offer ends.

How I’m using ChatGPT’s AskYourPDF plugin to fact-check 100+ legal articles

As you know, ChatGPT Browsing is still down.

Which has presented me with a pretty significant hurdle.

I’m working with a client who wants me to SEO-optimize a hundred articles about legal forms per month, enhance the readability, and check that the content is accurate.

I’m writing a page per US state—so for each subject, I need to verify that state’s laws. 

It’s crucial that I get this right.

In the past, I’d use ChatGPT’s Browsing function (and my own research) to verify if the information was legally sound.

Now, however, I’m turning to the AskYourPDF plugin.

Here’s how.

My fact-checking process

1. Gather the necessary information: I run a Google query for each state’s laws regarding the legal matter in question. For example, ‘Powers of attorney laws California’.
   

2. Paste it into a Google Doc: When I find a comprehensive and trustworthy source, I copy and paste the information into a PDF. I repeat this process for each state until I have an all-encompassing document of each state’s laws regarding the particular legal matter.
   

3. Turn the Google Doc into a PDF: I then turn the Google Doc into a PDF, clicking ‘File’, ‘Download’, ‘PDF Document’.

4. Upload the PDF to Google Drive: Having uploaded the PDF to Google Drive, I then hit the three dots (‘More Actions’) and copy the link.
   

5. Open ChatGPT with plugins and turn on AskYourPDF: I the following prompt before pasting the article draft:
   
   ‘Verify whether the information in this article is correct. Use the AskYourPDF plugin and analyze this pdf [link] to check that the statements are accurate and legally sound.’

Essential reading

With newsletters roaring back into fashion like Y2K, it’s hard for marketers to separate the must-reads from the must-try-harders.

Which is why when we see a great resource, we want to share it.

Stacked Marketer is one such gem, covering all things digital marketing in about 7 minutes each morning.

It's been running for over 5 years, is read by over 50k marketers, and is one of the rare few newsletters we make time for every day. Check it out (or sign up in one click here!)

*Full disclosure—we get a couple of dollars for every signup.

VP and MD of Google UK & Ireland shares her thoughts on the future of AI in marketing

Debbie Weinstein, VP and MD of Google UK & Ireland, recently outlined her thoughts on the future of AI-powered marketing in a piece in The Drum.

Unsurprisingly, she’s excited.

Referencing a McKinsey study, she noted that 70% of companies adopting AI for marketing purposes experienced a revenue increase, while 28% saw cost reductions.

She went on to explain how Google’s AI capabilities are helping marketers. For example, Google’s AI-powered broad match feature uses AI to align businesses with relevant queries based on semantic search meanings, resulting in a 25% increase in conversions.

What’s more, Google's AI-powered Performance Max solutions have helped businesses increase their conversions by 18%. This has already increased by 5 percentage points over the past year alone as Google improves its AI models.

What marketers need to do

1. Pinpoint the exact problem you need AI to help you solve. Be as specific as possible.

2. Leverage first-party data and customer insights to maximize the potential of AI solutions.

3. Embrace an iterative 'test, learn, scale' methodology to continually refine and improve AI-driven strategies.

Recommended resources and tools📚 🛠️

1. Consumers and marketers see a role for (responsible) generative AI in customer experiences

Learn how marketers are planning to use generative AI to enhance their customer experiences.

2. Silatus

An AI-powered tool that pulls from high-quality market and academic research before presenting in-depth reports on your chosen topic.

3. Advertisers urged to disclose AI use in social media campaigns

Advertising giant Ogilvy is leading calls for advertisers and social media platforms to publicly disclose when they use generative AI in their campaigns.

Thanks so much for reading. With the abundance of content on the internet, your attention means a lot. If you have any suggestions or feedback on how we can improve the newsletter, please shoot us a reply. We'd love to hear from you!

Until next time. Happy marketing.

Tom and Charlie