• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, May 5, 2023

There is a not-so-quiet revolution going on in marketing: 73% of companies use generative AI tools to create text, images, videos or other marketing content, according to The State of GenAI Chatbots in Marketing, a study by Botco.ai. 

Email ranks near the top. Brands are using AI for:

• Website copy — 48%
• Email Copy — 44%
• Social Media Copy — 42%
• Social Media Images — 39%
• Chatbots for Customers — 37%
• Website Images — 36%
• SEO Content — 35%
• Blog Posts — 33%
• Marketing/Sales Collateral — 33%

But there are challenges, including:

• Team training — 50%
• Cost — 45%
• Privacy and security concerns — 45%
• Data scarcity — 31%
• Poor quality of content — 29%
• Generative AI’s unethical biases — 24%

Then there’s this: “Even when these models write confidently, they might not do it competently,” the study notes. “They typically train on publicly available data, such as the information one could find on Wikipedia.”

This misleading content is often presented at truth, the study adds. 

The solution? About three-quarters of the respondents have their generative tools trained on their proprietary content, which “removes the erroneous data from the pools that internal and proprietary GenAI use,” at least in theory. 

Apparently it is all worth the trouble: 66% of firms that use GenAI report a positive ROI, and 58% cite an increase in performance.

Now you may be skeptical given that Botco.ai offers an AI solution that it referenced in this report. But the statistics may provide a snapshot into current rates of adoption. 

Of those using AI, they are employing it for the following applications: 

• Image creation — 69%
• Text Creation — 58%
• Audio/Voice — 50%
• Chatbots — 37%
• Coding — 30%

Moreover, two out of three marketers use AI to brainstorm, the study says. 

Marketers are using these generative AI tools:

• ChatGPT — 55% 
• Copy.ai —  42%
• Jasper.ai — 36%
• Peppertype — 29%
• Lensa — 28%
• DALL-E — 25%
• Mid-journey — 24%  

The study cites statistics showing that the generative AI will grow by an annual compound rate of 32% and $126.5 billion by 2031.

“It’s difficult to think of another technological leap that has transformed marketing departments the way generative AI has,” claims Rebecca Clyde, co-founder and CEO of Botco.ai. 

But Clyde adds, “Whereas with today’s generative AI tools, marketers can quickly and easily develop all sorts of content, enterprises must be vigilant on data accuracy and privacy risks that are associated with large language models.”

Botco.ai surveyed 1,000 marketing professionals in March 2023.