Anna Anisin is an entrepreneur, founder and CMO of Data Science Salon and FormulatedBy.
Generative AI (GenAI) is rapidly transforming B2B marketing with its ability to accelerate content creation with text- and image-generating power. GenAI enables scalability, faster content production, hyper-personalization and advanced data insights. 57% of B2B companies employ generative AI tools to reduce content creation cycles.
Currently, 50% of B2B marketing leaders leverage AI, and "75% are likely to adopt generative AI for business promotion as AI-driven advertising grows." With this shift, the generative AI market is projected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2032. But is there a hidden cost? Are we losing the human touch? Or more importantly, is the human element no longer needed?
While AI systems perform tasks smoothly, retaining a human dimension in B2B marketing is crucial to building trust. If your brand incorporates authentic human elements alongside AI-driven strategies, it can create more meaningful and impactful marketing experiences.
Why The Human Touch Matters
Even when AI bots penetrate the most complex B2B marketing campaigns, they can't completely replace the human touch. But why is the human element still essential to perform complex tasks when replacements like GenAI are available?
1. Emotional Connection
Emotions are the essence of humankind that AI automation lacks. It excels at analyzing vast datasets to identify trends and predict consumer behavior, overshadowing the power of emotions in marketing. Emotions influence decision-making, sometimes leading to bold, high-reward actions. Marketing campaigns with an emotional touch increase the brand's visibility by 21%, and 76% of consumers prefer brands with which they have an emotional connection.
2. Brand Differentiation
The market is submerged in AI-generated content, including blogs, social media posts and emails. Among marketing leaders, "approximately 42 percent reported using artificial intelligence (AI) tools a few times per week or daily when writing or generating content."
While AI can produce enormous volumes of content, it lacks originality and emotional depth. Add a spice of individuality with storytelling and humor. Thoughtful touches like personalized notes, videos and emails to clients build a strong relationship and help secure an emotional connection, often resulting in immediate decision-making.
3. Ethical And Empathetic Marketing
Maintaining ethical and empathetic boundaries while running a marketing campaign should be a top priority. Trust declines when companies use chatbots without clear disclosure, as consumers seek a balance between AI-driven convenience and human connection. Salesforce reported that 89% of customers want to know whether they are talking with a human or AI, demonstrating the need for transparency.
Strategies To Retain Humanity In An AI-Driven World
Keeping a human touch in B2B marketing is important. Here’s how to make it possible.
Human-Centric Content Framework
Start your content with human insights like real-life examples, success stories and testimonials. Raise questions and address pain points to create an emotional connection with your audience. Once your audience gets connected emotionally, you can use AI-driven insights and stats to produce a logical statement that supports your human-centric approach. Lastly, a compelling human call to action seals your audience's decision.
'Less But Better' Content Philosophy
Less but better is a direct approach that loudly prefers quality over quantity. For example, you send AI-generated emails daily to your customers and flood their inboxes with robotic and emotionless texts. Conversely, your competitor sends personalized emails to customers with a direct approach and a clear call to action. The audience is much more likely to respond to the personalized emails.
Personalized Messaging
AI-powered data segmentation can classify B2B buyers based on their behavior, industry, size and previous interactions. Personalization based on the size and nature of the company improves the effectiveness of B2B marketing campaigns. A survey reports that "90% of consumers in the US find the idea of personalization appealing," with 72% willing to engage only with messages that have been personalized.
To ensure AI-generated campaigns maintain a human touch, you should create content that showcases your brand as an authentic entity.
Human Oversight And 'Final Touch'
Finally, a professional editor must review AI-generated campaigns and material to confirm their authenticity and legitimacy, eliminate bias and check emotional intelligence. The collaboration between AI and humans must include statistics, authenticity and creativity. Inserting the brand identity with a specific color theme, language and tone adds the final touch to your marketing campaigns.
Best Practices For Seamless Integration
• Transparent AI Usage: Providing disclaimers where AI-generated content is used and offering opportunities for direct human engagement reassures audiences that people remain in control.
• Team Alignment And Training: The AI-centric era necessitates comprehensive training to ensure that marketing evolves with advances in artificial intelligence. Marketing professionals should understand how to use AI tools for research, automation and analytics while preserving a human touch in the end product. Training programs should emphasize talents AI cannot reproduce, such as creativity, emotional intelligence and strategic storytelling.
• Blend AI Efficiency With Personal Storytelling: Storytelling is the emotional weapon of humans that no AI can replicate effectively. Try blending the power of storytelling with AI-driven data to support your fictional story with real-life statistics.
• Maintain A Consistent Brand Voice: AI sounds robotic and flat, making your brand voice dull and overly promotional. Before publishing any content, refine AI-generated content to align with the company’s established voice. Use humor, anecdotes and customer-centric language to maintain relatability while keeping messaging on-brand.
The Future Of B2B Marketing: AI And Human Touch
While AI advances rapidly, some speculate that human involvement will diminish. But that doesn’t reflect the reality. In a world built by and for humans, authentic interaction remains irreplaceable. It fosters trust, strengthens relationships and ultimately drives better decision-making.
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