Disadvantages of AI in marketing and how an agency can help

Chances are you’re already familiar with the benefits AI can bring to many aspects of our working lives, particularly marketing. If not, then maybe you’ve been living under a rock.

But it’s rare that anything is ever the golden ticket, the perfect tool, the full package — even AI has its drawbacks. In this blog, I’ll discuss the disadvantages of AI in marketing, but fear not. I’ll also tell you how an agency can help overcome these challenges.

The disadvantages of AI in marketing

1. AI can't replace humans

While AI can do some things that humans can’t — such as trawling the internet for large amounts of data in seconds — robots aren’t coming for our jobs. 

For AI to succeed, it needs human intelligence to decipher the legitimacy and quality of the data and translate it in a way that’s digestible for people.

While AI has come leaps and bounds, people often prefer human interaction to answer questions and ideas.

2. It's missing the creative element

Let’s face it, AI suggestions often read a little (or very) dry. While AI can generate creative ideas, such as AI-generated images, screenplays and poems, it still doesn’t come close to what humans can achieve.

Of course, these are getting better by the day with platforms like Midjourney, but ultimately, it's the human input at the beginning that allows creativity to come to life in the end.

You should never copy and paste straight from your AI tool without making changes first. Add the creative element back in, check the legitimacy and add your own spin.

Search engines can also spot AI-generated results and de-rank them, so you’ll want to make sure you’re adding flair to your copy.

3. AI isn't always right

You shouldn’t believe everything AI tells you. While most of the time the information is accurate, that doesn’t mean to say it’s right 100% of the time because algorithms can be wrong.

Linking back to why AI still needs human interpretation, it doesn’t have the power to accurately decide whether something is right or wrong. It’s also unable to conduct proper sentiment analysis, i.e. identify sarcasm or emotion.

Go ahead and try the platforms you use already. Whether it's ChatGPT, BARD, GPT-4 or anything else, you'll there's always a disclaimer that information can be wrong, so tread carefully.

Marketing should be about more than just maths and formulas, which is what AI essentially is. Humans are more than numbers and science with creativity, tastes, experiences and preferences that should be treated equally to formulas.

Plus, if big-name figures like Elon Musk and even Sam Altman are suggesting AI should be regulated, maybe businesses shouldn't immediately turn to it just because it's the hottest trend right now and instead, put a customer-focus spin on it and how it can help them.

How an agency can help solve these challenges

If you already work with agencies, you’ll be well aware of the benefits they can bring to your internal teams. If not, and you’re hoping to fully capitalise on the benefits of AI, it might be time to consider partnering with one.

Agencies that are ahead of the curve are already well-versed in AI, meaning they can deliver the benefits without your internal teams having to add another task to their to-do list.

Agencies offer the best of both worlds — the creative elements of their marketing specialists blended with the wealth of data that AI has to offer. They can source the information through AI and then add the creative elements back in.

Working with AI frequently will also mean they can easily spot AI inconsistencies or fall downs and fill in any gaps. 

Put simply, if you’re looking for high-quality, well-researched outputs that still have the creative element that speaks to real people, then working with agencies that champion AI is the answer.