AI Is Like Nuclear Energy for Marketing Creatives. Handle With Care
Don’t let ChatGPT talk you out of building a distinctive brand.
When it comes to B2B communications, you may have noticed a trend lately.
- It has to do with bullet points.
- They seem to be everywhere.
- And we bet you know exactly why.
Generative AI loves bullet points. Of course it does. It was trained on some of the best marketing communications out there. Bullet points are effective. However, their sudden ubiquity might be a warning sign of something more sinister for your brand: the commodification of creativity.
Yes, tools like ChatGPT, Dall-E 3, and Claude are essentially nuclear reactors for your creative output. But just like nuclear power, they require careful handling to prevent brand meltdown.
With competitors accessing the same creative tools, B2B brands are finding themselves back at square one from a creativity standpoint – producing undifferentiated content that blends into that sea of sameness.
The solution isn’t rejecting these tools, of course. It’s strategically reimagining how your creative team operates – and thinks. But how?
At Access Marketing Company, we’ve evolved our framework to help brands thrive in this new landscape, ensuring productivity and efficiency don’t overshadow creativity. It comes down to two simple decisions we made as an organization.
We Make Time for Strategic Creativity
Branding is a long-term strategy, not a checkbox. But there’s a natural tendency to prioritize urgent tasks over important ones. That’s where the 80/20 rule comes in – ideally, your creative team should spend more than 20% of their time on non-urgent, essential tasks. That ensures there’s bandwidth to refuel and maintain focus on the long-term goal of elevating your brand voice. The problem? Time. And that’s where AI has proven its worth as a work partner: handling the easy but time-consuming tasks that get in the way of big-picture thinking.
Pro Tip: Use AI to streamline urgent tasks – resizing images, first-draft copywriting, basic editing, and content updates. This creates more time for what truly matters: developing unique brand perspectives, asking more profound questions to stakeholders, crafting distinctive campaign strategies, and pushing creative boundaries no algorithm can match.
We Foster a Culture of Creative Safety
Speaking of “pushing creative boundaries” – long a risky proposition for risk-averse leaders – may be harder to achieve in an era where AI can generate “good enough” at the expense of breakthrough campaigns. You need to provide a fail-safe environment where your team isn’t afraid to zag when everyone else zigs.
The key? Make sure your team feels empowered to use AI as a springboard, not a crutch. At AMC, we encourage our creatives to start with AI but never end there. They should actively challenge AI-generated assumptions about what works in B2B, iterate and embrace the occasional happy accidents that lead to breakthrough ideas.
Are You Stuck in “The AI Trap”?
Despite growing investments in AI tools, many B2B brands struggle with implementation. They treat AI like a magic bullet for content creation without considering the strategic impact. The result? Wasted resources and diluted brand equity.
The warning signs are clear (and, yes: bullets points ahead):
- Your content is faster, but engagement is falling.
- Your team spends more time fixing AI than creating.
- Your marketing looks just like your competitors’.
- Your brand voice is drifting as everyone uses AI differently.
Sound familiar? You’re not alone. Here’s the real cost: While you’re spending more on AI tools and training, you’re getting less return on your creative investment. You may increase your returns by outsourcing these lifts to an outside company – but proceed with caution. Agencies are wasting effort on ineffective tactics due to varying levels of expertise and experience across different solution areas.
If you’re interested in learning more about how to shop for the right creative agency, we encourage you to read our whitepaper: How to Gauge a Marketing Company’s Legitimacy.)
The ROI of Creative Distinction
In today’s AI-saturated market, brand differentiation isn’t just about standing out – it’s about driving results. Our clients see higher engagement rates, stronger lead quality and better conversion rates because their content rises above the AI-generated noise. While competitors blend into each other, our approach helps them capture attention and market share.
We’d Love to Hear from You
If you’re ready to skip the AI-human partnership wrestling match and speak directly with a full-service creative agency, please give us a call at 720.536.8650. We’re happy to talk with you about expanding your creative resources and developing a long-term winning strategy.
