Unlocking the Future of AI: Key Takeaways for Communications Leaders from INBOUND 2023

The recent INBOUND 2023 conference in Boston, organised by HubSpot, provided a wealth of insights into the future of AI and its implications for the industry.

95% of marketers have used AI in their work, and 36% use it daily or weekly, according to data showcased by SurveyMonkey at the conference. This rapid adoption signifies the immense potential and pivotal role AI plays in shaping marketing strategies. As we delve into insights from the INBOUND Conference 2023, we’ll unravel how generative AI is revolutionising the communications landscape and how marketing leaders can leverage it to stay ahead of the curve.

Personalisation Over Quantity

Kicking off the conference with her Spotlight Session, HubSpot's CEO, Yamini Rangan, emphasised a crucial takeaway - cranking up your content production with AI doesn't necessarily equate to more leads. The reason? Today's consumers are hungry for a personal touch. They're looking for content that speaks directly to their needs, their challenges, and their aspirations. Spamming them with generic content will only breed disconnection.

As AI-powered content generation tools become ubiquitous for marketers, content that retains its human touch will rise above the noise. Instead of deploying AI as a content mill, marketers and communications leaders should harness it to craft personalised experiences. Marketers should take advantage of the ability to sift through customer data, comprehend individual preferences, and deliver tailor-made content for each user.

When it comes to leveraging AI in communications, it's not about churning out content en masse. It's about delivering quality over quantity and favouring personalisation over generalisation and adopting the technology in a way that helps you meaningfully connect with customers.

Thought Leadership: Leveraging the Human Advantage

Yamini Rangan, HubSpot's CEO, Tomer Cohen, LinkedIn's Chief Product Officer, and Taina Palombo-Price, LinkedIn's Senior Director of Product Marketing, tackled the mammoth topic of AI's role in reshaping the marketing and sales landscape. The game changer? Informational content has been dethroned.

Enter generative AI-powered writing tools like ChatGPT, making it a breeze to churn out informational content. But here's the catch—this ease of creation is turning informational content into a dime-a-dozen commodity. The million-pound question for every content creator should be what can we write that AI can't?

The golden ticket is original thought leadership. Tools powered by generative AI still leave much to be desired when it comes to cooking up original insights based on lived expertise. That's where we, the human content creators, step into the limelight.

By zeroing in on original thought leadership from expert spokespeople, content creators can whip up content that's not just valuable—it's downright irresistible to their audience. The payoff? Skyrocketing brand awareness, website traffic, and lead generation.

Public relations can be your secret weapon in carving out your niche as a thought leader. By crafting and pitching trailblazing thought leadership pieces to journalists and bloggers, content creators can catapult their content onto the world stage and reel in a broader audience.

Safeguarding Security Standards

In her Partner Day session on ‘Future-Proofing Your Business: Addressing AI-Related Risks and Opportunities’, Meghan Keaney Anderson, Jasper's VP of Marketing, drove home the criticality of adhering to stringent security standards when deploying AI-powered tools.

It’s important to remember that not all AI-powered platforms are created equal. Some have baked privacy into their platforms from the get-go and have designed their platforms with robust security measures to protect user data. However, some commonly-used AI applications utilise user inputs as a training ground, and sensitive customer data can be harnessed by algorithms to enhance the platform's performance.

Safeguarding your intellectual property and customer data is paramount. This calls for a rigorous vetting process before giving the green light to an AI platform. You need to ensure it's up to date with industry-standard security protocols and arm your team with the know-how to sidestep potential breaches.

As we plunge deeper into the era of AI-driven marketing, data security isn't just a cherry on top—it's an absolute must-have. It's integral to maintaining customer trust and safeguarding your brand's reputation.

Leaning into Cognitive Dissonance

Steven Bartlett, entrepreneur and host of Europe's #1 podcast 'Diary of a CEO', threw down the gauntlet in his session 'Focus on the Future: Navigating the Next Decade.' He challenged marketers to wrestle with the cognitive dissonance that comes with innovation shaking up our industry. 

AI, for example, was once a concept straight out of science fiction. Today, it's at the heart of marketing automation, customer service, content creation, and more. Similarly, concepts like NFTs might have seemed downright absurd at first glance. By learning about and understanding these seemingly nonsensical concepts, communications leaders can position themselves at the forefront of innovation. They should set the pace, and embrace the unconventional. Because let's face it, it's the ideas that leave us scratching our heads that pack the most disruptive potential.

Wrapping Up

The INBOUND 2023 conference left us with a clear vision of AI's future. Communication leaders must take these lessons to heart, by using AI to make real connections, put security first, and see cognitive dissonance not as a roadblock, but as a springboard for innovation. AI shouldn’t be used to pump out informational content, but used strategically to stand out from the crowd, and connect with your audience on a deeper level.