AI Integration in Marketing: Strategic Insights For SEO & Agency Leaders

Will AI eventually take my job?

We know, there’s a looming concern that human roles are being replaced – but that’s not the case at all.

The real key to success is learning to work with AI instead of against it.

Though AI can perform tasks with remarkable speed and accuracy, it lacks the unique human qualities like empathy and creativity that drive effective campaigns and connect with audiences on a deeper level.

By combining artificial intelligence with the best of human ingenuity, you can transform your strategy and unlock your true marketing potential.

So rather than viewing AI as a threat to your position, why not embrace it for the valuable tool that it is?

Let’s explore some of the ways you can leverage AI technology to stay ahead in an increasingly competitive market.

How To Level Up With AI

Once you learn to seamlessly integrate AI into your agency’s workflow, you can offload those tedious, repetitive tasks and focus on higher-level strategy and creativity.

Conversational and generative AI in particular have revolutionized marketing, offering more advanced capabilities to increase efficiency.

From data analysis to customer engagement, here are some of the opportunities AI presents:

• Process vast amounts of data and identify complex patterns, providing deeper insights to help you make more informed decisions.
• Analyze consumer behavior and preferences to deliver hyper-relevant messaging and personalized journeys at scale.
• Automate time-consuming, manual processes to save time, reduce human error, and allow for high-impact activities.

AI may be shaking things up, but don’t worry – it’s not here to steal your spotlight. (Only share it!)

Here, we’ll walk you through the ultimate agency strategy guide to help you use AI to enhance your human capabilities and elevate your marketing campaigns.

1. AI Can Help You Understand Exactly Where All Your Leads Are Coming From

Tracking the source of inbound leads is crucial if you want to understand the effectiveness of your marketing efforts – that’s where call attribution comes in.

By seamlessly tying together online and offline customer interactions, you can paint a more comprehensive picture of the multi-channel customer journey.

This holistic approach enables you to identify touchpoints across various channels and optimize your strategies accordingly.

For example, you may think you know why your clients’ phones are ringing, but how do you know the true effectiveness of each marketing channel or campaign?

What if you could pinpoint which ads, campaigns, or search terms are behind each call?

With AI-powered call attribution, you can gain valuable insights into which channels are driving the most conversions.

How Call Attribution Works

• Step 1: Assign – Select unique call tracking numbers to assign to each campaign or listing.
• Step 2: Track – Potential customers see your ad or listing and call the associated phone number.
• Step 3: Forward –The calls ring directly into your main business phone, regardless of which number they use.
• Step 4: Analyze – Because they used one of your tracking numbers, you instantly know which ad or campaign inspired them to call.

With AI-powered call tracking, gone are the days of wondering how your digital marketing efforts are tied to high-value inbound calls.

For agencies, this helps prove the real value of your services and extend the life of your client relationships.

2. AI Can Help You Save Time On Manually Reviewing Calls

Listening to and analyzing phone calls manually can be time-consuming and inefficient for agencies.

However, it’s an important part of understanding the customer experience and sales team performance.

With AI-powered call analysis tools, you get quality, keyword-tagged transcriptions with near-human-level accuracy.

Not only can this technology help you save over 50% of the time spent listening to phone calls, but it can also help you deliver actionable recommendations to clients and drive better results.

Conversation Intelligence, for instance, is trained on over 1.1M hours of voice data and enables real-time analysis for instantaneous results.

This advanced tool provides opportunities for you to improve your strategy through the following granular insights:

• Spotting disparities in the industry-specific lingo your sales team uses, compared to the lingo your prospects are using to describe their business challenges and goals.
• Identifying trends or gaps in your service offerings based on what your prospects are asking for.
• Identifying frequently asked questions and other important topics to address through content marketing.
• Setting goals for lead qualification — not just the quantity of leads generated for your business.

Conversational AI is perfectly suited to summarize the content of long conversations – however, the call summaries still require a human to read them and determine the main takeaways.

But if you work in a bustling small business, it’s unlikely you’d have the bandwidth for tasks such as call transcription, summaries, keyword spotting, or trend analysis.

Rather than displacing human labor, conversational AI is assisting businesses in taking on tasks that may have been overlooked and leveraging data that would otherwise remain untapped.

3. AI Can Help You Lower Cost Per Lead / Save Money On Tools & Ad Spend

Ever wonder why certain campaigns take off while others fall flat? It’s all in the data!

Even failed campaigns can offer invaluable insights into your client’s audience and messaging.

But if you can’t spot the underperformers quickly enough, you risk wasting your ad budget on ineffective tactics.

The quicker you can identify what’s working and what’s not, the quicker you can pivot and adjust your marketing strategy.

With AI-powered tools, agencies can access instant insights that enable them to reduce wasteful spending and improve overall campaign efficiency.

How To Deliver More Value With AI

• Make a bigger impact in less time: AI-powered technology creates a force multiplier within your agency, allowing you to make more of an impact with the same level of inputs you’re already using.
• Unlock actionable insights from call data: AI is revolutionizing the way companies leverage call data by enabling them to gain insights at scale. As a result, businesses can increase their ROI and deliver greater value to their clients by analyzing hundreds of calls efficiently.
• Foster alignment with data-driven strategies: By analyzing customer conversations with AI, businesses can align their marketing strategy with data-driven recommendations, enhancing overall coherence. Additionally, the ability to create triggers based on specific phrases enables automated analysis and reporting, further streamlining the alignment process.
• Drive effectiveness with rapid insights: Leveraging Conversation Intelligence enables agencies to deliver better insights faster, increase conversion rates, refine keyword strategies, and develop robust reporting capabilities.

With the right AI-powered tools, you can access the insights you need to ensure maximum ROI for your clients.

4. AI Can Help You Improve Overall Agency Efficiency

Are you spending too much valuable time on tasks that produce minimal results?

Many agencies find themselves bogged down by routine, administrative tasks that don’t contribute much to their bottom line.

But with AI automation, agencies can streamline their operations and redirect their energy towards more strategic endeavors.

From email scheduling and social media posting to data entry and report generation, AI can handle a wide array of tasks with precision and efficiency – giving you time to focus on high-impact activities that drive growth and deliver tangible results.

Ways Your Business Can Benefit From Automation

1. Automatically transcribe your calls to boost close rates: See how your team is handling difficult objections and ensure that they’re delivering your businessʼ value proposition in an effective manner.
2. Score calls based on quality and opportunity: Take the time-consuming work out of scoring your calls and determine which campaigns drive the best calls to your business.
3. Classify calls by your set criteria: Qualify, score, tag, or assign a value to the leads that meet your criteria, automatically.
4. Automatically redact sensitive information: Protect your customers by removing billing or personal information. Keep your data safe and secure through complete HIPAA compliance.
5. Monitor your teamsʼ performance: Use Conversation Intelligence as a valuable sales training tool to ensure your team doesn’t miss any key messaging marks.
6. Know your customersʼ needs: Identify conversation trends in your phone calls and stay privy to evolving customer needs.
7. Improve your digital marketing strategy: Use AI-powered insights to inform your digital marketing strategy and boost your online presence.

By automating mundane tasks, agencies can optimize workflows, increase productivity, and improve efficiency across the board.

5. AI Can Help You Deliver Exceptional Customer Service

No matter what customers you serve, you can use the insights you gain from AI to improve their experiences.

By aggregating and analyzing call insights, you can identify common pain points, questions, and concerns from your own customers and prospects.

There are so many possibilities with this data.

• Account managers and sales staff can prepare for common pain points before conversations occur.
• Create content that addresses common issues and include helpful information in your onboarding process.
• Use the insights to develop new or expanded products and services and become better partners for your customers.

By predicting and responding to your customers’ needs, you can build lasting relationships and reduce churn. Maintaining retention is becoming increasingly difficult. Offering exceptional service and partnership can reduce churn and make you a critical part of your customers’ marketing activities.

A new report by Microsoft and LinkedIn reveals the rapid adoption of AI tools and skills in the marketing industry.

According to the 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report, which surveyed over 31,000 people across 31 countries, marketing professionals who leverage AI enjoy a competitive advantage.

Employers recognize the efficiency gains AI capabilities provide in marketing roles and increasingly seek applicants with those skills.

Karim R. Lakhani, Chair of the Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard, states in the report:

“Marketers are harnessing the power of AI to work smarter, not just faster. It’s enabling them to focus on higher-value, creative work while automating more routine tasks.”

Here are some highlights from the report illustrating the need to develop an AI skill set to remain competitive.

AI Aptitude: The New Must-Have Skill for Marketers

The survey data reveals a strong preference among business leaders for candidates and employees with AI skills.

A majority, 66%, stated they wouldn’t consider hiring candidates lacking AI proficiency.

Further, 71% expressed a preference for less experienced job seekers with AI skills over more seasoned professionals without that expertise.

This inclination was pronounced in creative fields like marketing and design.

Michael Platt, a neuroscience professor at the Wharton School, states in the report:

“AI is redefining what it means to be a competitive marketer in today’s digital landscape. Professionals who can effectively integrate AI into their work are positioning themselves as invaluable assets to their organizations.”

The report indicates that early-career marketers who develop AI skills could benefit significantly.

77% of leaders reported that employees adept at leveraging AI would be trusted with greater responsibilities earlier in their careers than their peers without AI skills.

The AI Arms Race For Top Marketing Talent

Data from LinkedIn shows that job postings highlighting AI tools and applications have seen a 17% increase in application growth compared to those that don’t mention AI.

Additionally, 54% of early-career employees cited access to AI technologies as a key factor influencing their choice of employer.

Organizations that provide AI training and support for their marketing teams likely have an advantage in attracting top talent.

Why SEJ Cares

The widespread adoption of AI in marketing signifies a shift in the skills and capabilities necessary for succeeding in this rapidly evolving industry.

As AI transforms marketing approaches, professionals who fail to adapt risk being left behind.

The 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report’s findings are relevant to marketing professionals at all levels. They demonstrate that AI proficiency is necessary for career advancement and job market competitiveness.

Additionally, the report highlights businesses’ role in fostering an AI-driven culture.

Companies investing in AI tools, training, and employee support will be better positioned to attract and retain top talent, drive innovation, and achieve better results.

Read the full report.

How This Can Help You

For marketing professionals to succeed in the AI era, the report suggests:

• Prioritize developing AI skills through courses, workshops, training programs, and collaborating with AI practitioners to gain hands-on experience.
• Embrace experimenting with new AI tools and techniques, integrating them into daily workflows to improve efficiency.
• Share AI knowledge actively with colleagues to foster a culture of knowledge sharing and drive organizational AI adoption.
• Highlight AI capabilities during job searches by demonstrating the successful use of AI to drive results in previous roles.
• Choose employers committed to AI adoption that provide access to cutting-edge AI tools and support ongoing learning.

These recommendations can help you future-proof your career and advance in an increasingly competitive field.

Featured Image: eamesBot/Shutterstock

Appeasing the advertising algorithms on social media and Google has always been a mix of art and science – but there are plenty of rewards, not only in terms of active engagement but also in terms of lowered ad costs.

So far, AI tools have proved useful as an algorithm-cracker for the biggest digital marketing and ad agencies.

The problem is that small businesses and boutique agencies are still working to find the entry point with AI to pinpoint the recipe for ad success – from creation, targeting, testing, and reporting. This raises some thorny questions:

• What are the key AI tools marketers should be using?
• How can they be used between creative, ad deployment, and measurement?
• How much should a business plan to invest in AI tools?
• Is this more or less expensive than traditional advertising strategies?

I recently interviewed Logan Welbaum, an ex-Google and Meta employee who worked directly with the ad platforms at both companies.

Today, he is the founder and CEO of Plai, a Y Combinator-backed platform focused on advertising automation.

Welbaum has a precise understanding of social media ad algorithms and, specifically, how AI can be used to optimize ad strategies in line with them.

Image from Logan Welbaum, April 2024

Below is a lightly edited transcript of my questions and Logan Welbaum’s answers.

How Google And Meta Leverage User Interaction Data

Greg Jarboe: “From your experience at Google and Meta, how were large companies utilizing AI for ad optimization? What key functionalities did these solutions offer?”

Logan Welbaum: “Platforms such as Google and Facebook leverage user interaction data to optimize their ad serving. Their AI technologies offer advertisers the highest level of performance for their advertising campaigns.

Their approach is different from that of ad agencies and Plai, which own inventory data and optimize campaign creation. They offer features that allow for the uploading of additional data and the targeting of more specific audiences, because the inclusion of more data and signals enhances the performance of their AI systems.”

How Can Small Businesses Leverage AI-powered Solutions?

Jarboe: “How can smaller businesses, without the resources of large corporations, leverage similar AI-powered solutions for their advertising needs? Are there affordable, accessible options available?”

Welbaum: “Understanding ad metrics and following changes in social media ad algorithms requires experience. Plai trains our AI model to learn our experience in digital marketing and observation from our existing campaigns, so that it can assist small businesses.”

Jarboe: “Beyond basic automation, what unique functionalities can AI offer smaller businesses in ad creation, targeting, and measurement that traditional methods lack?”

Welbaum: “Ultimately, AI can save small businesses and agencies time and money. AI allows them to generate and analyze ad content in a much shorter amount of time and with fewer people than it would normally take. AI can build detailed plans and lists for targeting and help track the success of a campaign.

With Plai, small businesses can use our tools to launch things like video or Facebook ads in seconds and keep track of each ad’s progress all the way through its lifecycle. Our tech is a text-to-advertising approach, so a small business can just plug in their criteria and Plai will generate an ad with relevant keywords and images or videos.”

Jarboe: “Can you elaborate on how your platform specifically uses AI to address the needs of smaller businesses in ad creation, deployment, and measurement?”

Welbaum: “Taking Google Ads as an example, Google Ad Manager gives customers full control over a campaign but requires experience and knowledge to create a performing campaign. On the other hand, they have a product like Smart campaigns for those with little experience in digital marketing, but it lacks control and transparency.

Plai utilizes AI to guide small businesses to create a performing campaign. This allows advertisers to save time and reduce mistakes, but also gives control if they want to update AI’s recommendations.

Similarly, in terms of measurement, Google Ad Manager offers a comprehensive view of a campaign through an extensive array of metrics, whereas Smart campaign provides a more limited set of metrics. Our AI analyzes all available metrics, interprets them, and then delivers actionable insights in language that doesn’t require any digital marketing expertise.”

What Are The Challenges For Small Businesses Arising From Social Media Ad Algorithms?

Jarboe: “What are the key challenges small businesses face when navigating social media ad algorithms? How does Plai utilize AI to help them overcome these challenges?”

Welbaum: “SMBs want to grow revenue and run their businesses. Ads that are relevant and creative perform better and win and SMBs a cheaper ad cost because of it.”

Jarboe: “Can you provide concrete examples of how smaller businesses have achieved success using Plai’s AI-powered advertising solutions? What metrics demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach?”

Welbaum: “Plai customers have seen 90% decrease in ad-cost as well as 105% higher click-through rates than the industry standard. Not only do Plai customers spend less on ads and see better click-through results, but the platform also allows them to generate ads more quickly and effectively, reaching their desired target audience ultimately generating more business.”

How Will AI-Powered Advertising Tools Evolve In The Next Few Years?

Jarboe: “In your opinion, how will the landscape of AI-powered advertising tools evolve in the coming years? What new functionalities can we expect?”

Welbaum: “Ad creative will improve dramatically for brands of any size with any budget.” 

Jarboe: “While AI offers significant advantages, are there any potential drawbacks or limitations smaller businesses should be aware of when employing AI for advertising?”

Welbaum: “We automate everything from a single prompt, but we still provide features and options for customers to take over and control or make edits. Still having that control is essential.”

How Can Small Businesses Prepare To Integrate AI Into Marketing Strategies?

Jarboe: “Looking ahead, how can smaller businesses best prepare to fully integrate AI into their overall marketing strategies?”

Welbaum: “Small businesses can prepare to implement AI into their marketing strategies through the creative process and general optimizations – these two elements of advertising will naturally be a first step for AI to fit within SMBs.”

Jarboe: “ChatGPT, while impressive, represents just one facet of AI. Can you elaborate on other AI applications beyond language models that can be beneficial for smaller businesses in advertising?”

Welbaum: “Recommendation algorithms, such as Amazon’s ‘customers also bought’ feature, serve as one example. Plai has a wide range of clients. This enables our model to identify successful strategies among a subset of customers and then recommend those insights across our entire customer base.”

Jarboe: “How important is it for smaller businesses to possess a basic understanding of social media ad algorithms to effectively utilize AI-powered advertising tools?”

Welbaum: “SMBs want to grow revenue and run their businesses. Ads that are relevant and creative perform better and win and SMBs a cheaper ad cost because of it.”

AI Is Leveling The Playing Field In Advertising

When it comes to advertising, AI offers significant advantages – and it’s not just for big businesses.

With advertising platforms leaning into AI technology, incorporating it into your process can help you navigate their algorithms. Automated campaigns are just part of the equation. AI can power more efficient analysis and unlock new customer insights. As the technology improves and more platforms and service providers lean in, it will become more accessible.

Incorporating AI into your marketing approach can help you stay competitive as a small business.

More resources:

• Generative AI Integration SERPs And PPC Advertisers
• Content Creation In An AI World
• PPC Trends 2024

Featured Image: BestForBest/Shutterstock

With the expansion of generative AI and its integration into most SEO workflows and processes, coupled with the significant impact of layoffs in the tech sector, one has to ponder: is AI poised to replace all of our jobs?

In January, Google laid off hundreds of workers as it shifted its investments and focus to AI development. The tech giant is not alone; brands like UPS and Duolingo, to name a few, are doing the same thing.

Is this a new trend, or is it something to be really concerned about?

Let’s explore how AI is unlikely to replace SEO specialists completely, but it will certainly transform how we work.

A Closer Look At How AI Is Transforming The Field Of SEO

Before AI went mainstream, much SEO work was manual and required much time to perform certain tasks.

For example, optimizing a landing page could take thirty minutes to a couple of hours, depending on your experience and skill level.

Producing a content strategy took a good amount of time (i.e., a week or more), depending on the site, competition, search engine results pages (SERPs), etc. But now, with AI, SEO pros can do things quickly and more efficiently.

Here’s how AI can help us become more efficient. But be careful to also acknowledge the limitations of AI. A humanized approach, incorporating AI where appropriate, is a win-win situation.

Enhancement Of Tools To Drive Better Efficiency

AI has definitely enhanced some of the tools we use to perform our jobs, making tasks like keyword research, competitor analysis, and content optimization more efficient and effective.

AI algorithms can process copious amounts of data faster than humans, providing insights that can inform our SEO strategies.

For example, AI tools can help SEO specialists discover new keyword opportunities, analyze the performance of their content, and identify gaps and areas for improvement more quickly and easily than we previously did in the past.

AI tools can also automate some tedious and repetitive tasks that SEO specialists perform, such as generating titles and metadata, checking for broken links, optimizing images, finding the semantic relationships between keywords, identifying search trends, and predicting user behavior.

Content Creation And Optimization

One of the biggest benefits I have seen with AI is that it is particularly good at ideating content topics and even helping to draft content.

However, human oversight is crucial to ensure the content remains high-quality, accurate, and relevant to users while adhering to brand voice and E-E-A-T principles.

AI tools can help SEO specialists generate content ideas based on user intent, search trends, and competitor analysis. They can also help provide suggestions for headlines, subheadings, images, content briefs, and links.

However, AI tools cannot replace the human element of content creation, which requires creativity, empathy, and persuasion.

Humans must still create and review content to avoid potential legal and ethical issues, negative PR outcomes, and factual inaccuracies. With the March update, Google took aim at “scaled content abuse” and applied manual actions to many websites producing a large amount of AI content without human input.

SEO and content editors still need to review, edit, and approve any output from generative AI tools to ensure that it meets the expectations and needs of their target audience.

You can’t just take the content from your AI platform – not make it useful, relevant, factual – and hope it will rank because it probably won’t, especially for competitive phrases.

Changing The SEO Landscape

With the rise of AI and AI powering Google’s Search Generative Experiences (SGE), SEO could potentially go through one of the biggest changes that ever happened to the industry.

As search engines increasingly use AI to refine their algorithms, SEO specialists need to adapt their strategies. AI can help them stay ahead of these changes by predicting trends and identifying new optimization opportunities, such as SGE snippets.

For example, AI tools can help SEO specialists not only monitor and analyze the impact of algorithm updates, but also provide recommendations for adjusting SEO tactics accordingly. They can also help leverage new features and formats that search engines introduce, such as SGE featured snippets.

By leveraging AI tools, SEO specialists can optimize content for these new formats, increasing their chances of ranking higher and attracting more qualified traffic to their clients and their own sites. This success hinges on interpreting the data and putting together a winning SEO strategy.

Human Insight And Creativity

Despite the advancements in AI, human insight and creativity remain essential. Understanding audience needs, crafting compelling messages, and strategic thinking are areas where humans excel and are critical in SEO.

AI tools can provide data and insights but cannot replace the human ability to interpret and apply them.

SEO specialists still need to use their judgment and experience to decide which SEO strategies and tactics are best suited for their goals and context.

They also need to use their creativity and storytelling skills to create content that engages and persuades their audience and builds trust and loyalty.

AI tools cannot replicate the human emotion and connection vital for a successful SEO strategy.

Ethical Considerations And Best Practices

AI tools must be used responsibly and in accordance with search engine guidelines. SEO specialists play a key role in ensuring the ethical use of AI and adherence to best practices to avoid penalties.

As SEO professionals, we need to be aware of the potential risks and challenges of using AI tools, such as data privacy, bias, and quality issues. We also must ensure that the data we use and the content we generate with AI tools are accurate, relevant, and trustworthy.

AI’s Enhancements And Boundaries In SEO

AI has certainly made it easier and more efficient to complete SEO tasks, such as on-page optimization and coding, which frees up some of our time to work on strategic growth opportunities.

These advancements are not perfect and do have some limitations, including:

• AI is dependent on being trained on pre-existing information and data. It lacks the ability to innovate beyond known information unless it has been trained on it.
• The lack of human experience and wisdom. AI cannot match the nuanced understanding and contextual insight in a way that experienced SEO professionals do.
• Requirement for direct inputs. AI’s effectiveness is contingent on the quality of the inputs it receives, and it can struggle with subtle strategy shifts that we humans can easily navigate.

Wrapping Up

AI will continue to become an invaluable tool for SEO specialists, but it won’t replace the need for human expertise, creativity, and strategic thinking.

The role of SEO specialists will evolve, with a greater emphasis on managing and interpreting AI-generated data and insights – and less on manual and repetitive tasks that the machines can now do with human oversight.

SEO specialists who actively learn and embrace AI with a human-centric approach to refine their skill sets will gain a competitive edge and a brighter future in the SEO industry.

More resources: 

• AI For SEO: Can You Work Faster & Smarter?
• Can AI Perform SEO? Experimenting With OpenAI’s GPT-3
• SEO Trends 2024

Featured Image: Stokkete/Shutterstock

This edited extract is from Data Storytelling in Marketing by Caroline Florence ©2024 and is reproduced and adapted with permission from Kogan Page Ltd.

Storytelling is an integral part of the human experience. People have been communicating observations and data to each other for millen­nia using the same principles of persuasion that are being used today.

However, the means by which we can generate data and insights and tell stories has shifted significantly and will continue to do so, as tech­nology plays an ever-greater role in our ability to collect, process, and find meaning from the wealth of information available.

So, what is the future of data storytelling?

I think we’ve all talked about data being the engine that powers business decision-making. And there’s no escaping the role that AI and data are going to play in the future.

So, I think the more data literate and aware you are, the more informed and evidence-led you can be about our decisions, regardless of what field you are in – because that is the future we’re all working towards and going to embrace, right?

It’s about relevance and being at the forefront of cutting-edge technology.

Sanica Menezes, Head of Customer Analytics, Aviva

The Near Future Scenario

Imagine simply applying a generative AI tool to your marketing data dashboards to create audience-ready copy. The tool creates a clear narrative structure, synthesized from the relevant datasets, with actionable and insightful messages relevant to the target audience.

The tool isn’t just producing vague and generic output with question­able accuracy but is sophisticated enough to help you co-author technically robust and compelling content that integrates a level of human insight.

Writing stories from vast and complex datasets will not only drive efficiency and save time, but free up the human co-author to think more creatively about how they deliver the end story to land the message, gain traction with recommendations and influence decisions and actions.

There is still a clear role for the human to play as co-author, including the quality of the prompts given, expert interpretation, nuance of language, and customization for key audiences.

But the human co-author is no longer bogged down by the complex and time-consuming process of gathering different data sources and analysing data for insights. The human co-author can focus on synthesizing findings to make sense of patterns or trends and perfect their insight, judgement, and communication.

In my conversations with expert contributors, the consensus was that AI would have a significant impact on data storytelling but would never replace the need for human intervention.

This vision for the future of storytelling is (almost) here. Tools like this already exist and are being further improved, enhanced, and rolled out to market as I write this book.

But the reality is that the skills involved in leveraging these tools are no different from the skills needed to currently build, create, and deliver great data stories. If anything, the risks involved in not having human co-authors means acquiring the skills covered in this book become even more valuable.

In the AI storytelling exercise WINconducted, the tool came up with “80 per cent of people are healthy” as its key point. Well, it’s just not an interesting fact.

Whereas the humans looking at the same data were able to see a trend of increasing stress, which is far more interesting as a story. AI could analyse the data in seconds, but my feeling is that it needs a lot of really good prompting in order for it to seriously help with the storytelling bit.

I’m much more positive about it being able to create 100 slides for me from the data and that may make it easier for me to pick out what the story is.

Richard Colwell, CEO, Red C Research & Marketing Group

We did a recent experiment with the Inspirient AI platform taking a big, big, big dataset, and in three minutes, it was able to produce 1,000 slides with decent titles and design.

Then you can ask it a question about anything, and it can produce 110 slides, 30 slides, whatever you want. So, there is no reason why people should be wasting time on the data in that way.

AI is going to make a massive difference – and then we bring in the human skill which is contextualization, storytelling, thinking about the impact and the relevance to the strategy and all that stuff the computer is never going to be able to do.

Lucy Davison, Founder And CEO, Keen As Mustard Marketing

Other Innovations Impacting On Data Storytelling

Besides AI, there are a number of other key trends that are likely to have an impact on our approach to data storytelling in the future:

Synthetic Data

Synthetic data is data that has been created artificially through computer simulation to take the place of real-world data. Whilst already used in many data models to supplement real-world data or when real-world data is not available, the incidence of synthetic data is likely to grow in the near future.

According to Gartner (2023), by 2024, 60 per cent of the data used in training AI models will be synthetically generated.

Speaking in Marketing Week (2023), Mark Ritson cites around 90 per cent accuracy for AI-derived consumer data, when triangulated with data generated from primary human sources, in academic studies to date.

This means that it has a huge potential to help create data stories to inform strategies and plans.

Virtual And Augmented Reality

Virtual and augmented reality will enable us to generate more immersive and interactive experiences as part of our data storytelling. Audiences will be able to step into the story world, interact with the data, and influence the narrative outcomes.

This technology is already being used in the world of entertainment to blur the lines between traditional linear television and interactive video games, creating a new form of content consumption.

Within data storytelling we can easily imagine a world with simulated customer conversations, whilst navigating the website or retail environment.

Instead of static visualizations and charts showing data, the audience will be able to overlay data onto their physical environment and embed data from different sources accessed at the touch of a button.

Transmedia Storytelling

Transmedia storytelling will continue to evolve, with narratives spanning multiple platforms and media. Data storytellers will be expected to create interconnected storylines across different media and channels, enabling audiences to engage with the data story in different ways.

We are already seeing these tools being used in data journalism where embedded audio and video, on-the-ground eyewitness content, live-data feeds, data visualization and photography sit alongside more traditional editorial commentary and narrative storytelling.

For a great example of this in practice, look at the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Snow fall: The avalanche at Tunnel Creek (Branch, 2012)” that changed the way The New York Times approached data storytelling.

In the marketing world, some teams are already investing in high-end knowledge share portals or embedding tools alongside their intranet and internet to bring multiple media together in one place to tell the data story.

User-Generated Content

User-generated content will also have a greater influence on data storytelling. With the rise of social media and online communities, audiences will actively participate in creating and sharing stories.

Platforms will emerge that enable collaboration between storytellers and audiences, allowing for the co-creation of narratives and fostering a sense of community around storytelling.

Tailoring narratives to the individual audience member based on their preferences, and even their emotional state, will lead to greater expectations of customization in data storytelling to enhance engagement and impact.

Moving beyond the traditional “You said, so we did” communication with customers to demonstrate how their feedback has been actioned, user-generated content will enable customers to play a more central role in sharing their experiences and expectations

These advanced tools are a complement to, and not a substitution for, the human creativity and critical thinking that great data storytelling requires. If used appropriately, they can enhance your data storytelling, but they cannot do it for you.

Whether you work with Microsoft Excel or access reports from more sophisticated business intelligence tools, such as Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, Looker Studio, or Qlik, you will still need to take those outputs and use your skills as a data storyteller to curate them in ways that are useful for your end audi­ence.

There are some great knowledge-sharing platforms out there that can integrate outputs from existing data storytelling tools and help curate content in one place. Some can be built into existing plat­forms that might be accessible within your business, like Confluence.

Some can be custom-built using external tools for a bespoke need, such as creating a micro-site for your data story using WordPress. And some can be brought in at scale to integrate with existing Microsoft or Google tools.

The list of what is available is extensive but will typically be dependent on what is available IT-wise within your own organization.

The Continuing Role Of The Human In Data Storytelling

In this evolving world, the role of the data storyteller doesn’t disap­pear but becomes ever more critical.

The human data storyteller still has many important roles to still play, and the skills necessary to influence and engage cynical, discerning, and overwhelmed audiences become even more valuable.

Now that white papers, marketing copy, internal presentations, and digital content can all be generated faster than humans could ever manage on their own, the risk of informa­tion overload becomes inevitable without a skilled storyteller to curate the content.

Today, the human data storyteller is crucial for:

• Ensuring we are not telling “any old story” just because we can and that the story is relevant to the business context and needs.
• Understanding the inputs being used by the tool, including limitations and potential bias, as well as ensuring data is used ethically and that it is accurate, reliable, and obtained with the appropriate permissions.
• Framing queries appropriately in the right way to incorporate the relevant context, issues, and target audience needs to inform the knowledge base.
• Cross-referencing and synthesizing AI-generated insights or synthetic data with human expertise and subject domain knowledge to ensure the relevance and accuracy of recommendations.
• Leveraging the different VR, AR, and transmedia tools available to ensure the right one for the job.

To read the full book, SEJ readers have an exclusive 25% discount code and free shipping to the US and UK. Use promo code SEJ25 at koganpage.com here.

More resources: 

• What Is Data Visualization And How To Use It For SEO
• 11 Stunning SEO Data Visualizations To Inspire Your Reporting
• Leveraging Generative AI Tools For SEO

Featured Image: PopTika/Shutterstock