Over half of all content on the internet is now AI-generated, 58% of businesses use AI chatbots to handle customer interactions and 62% of businesses use AI to generate marketing assets.
But 70% of consumers see a clear gap forming between those businesses that use AI well, and those that don’t.
The challenge is clear: With a disparity between AI ambition and its real-world execution, how can you use AI in a way that delivers for your business, improves the experience of your customers, and genuinely assists your employees?
To get some help in answering this, we spoke to Ben Walker, Founder of The Zoom Agency and Adjunct Professor of Generative AI and Marketing at IE Business School.
Set robust foundations
AI opportunities are seemingly everywhere. As Ben explains, “It’s been a land grab of opportunity for many of our clients. AI has given many team members perfect grammar and spelling and seeming fluency in second and third languages – which is seen as a net positive.”
Before diving head-first into AI integration, however, he advises business departments to get the foundations right.
Firstly, they need to take stock of their information access, to understand what exists and where AI can support.
Breaking down complex, advanced information into bite-sized chunks is where AI can excel. “For example, if a new product is launched and all the marketing team has is the design and technical specifications, they can use generative AI (GenAI) platforms to help them align messaging with target audience segments that piece together product and placement,” he adds.
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Meanwhile tools like Google’s NotebookLM offer a fresh twist on creative brainstorming. “Upload your documents and be a fly on the wall as two virtual voices discuss the document in a podcast-style format. This enables creatives to generate new ideas as they passively listen to conversations. I’m sure giant whiteboard sessions are being used less and less these days.”
These use cases focus attention on real-world impact rather than experimentation for the sake of it. Which is the second key to building a solid foundation for great AI – business alignment. “As partner and customer bases catch up, many companies face a disconnect between how AI is being used and the organisation’s broader goals, resulting in content and outputs that feel generic or impersonal.” Business goals should be at the forefront of any AI investment of time or money.
Lastly, explains Ben, employees shouldn’t feel left behind by the rate of change: “Employees often lack the structured training needed to use GenAI effectively, leaving its potential underutilised..”
Shift from volume to value in outreach
The tension between automation and personalisation is no secret – but, according to Ben, the numbers game is failing many businesses.
“To cast a wider net for business development, we’ve had to use automation, and over the years, it’s often come at the expense of personalisation. We’ve all seen these outreach ‘bots’ on LinkedIn where everyone just wants to connect at first and then the hard sell comes a couple of days after… this is the numbers game, and the win ratio is very low.”
This underscores the growing issue of impersonal, automated outreach strategies that focus on volume over value, generating a flurry of activity with very little long-term effectiveness.
Instead, Ben advises business leaders to make a strategic shift from targeting masses of prospects with the same message to a smaller, well-researched audience with high-quality outreach.
“Use AI tools to craft hyper-targeted messages that are relevant and engaging to the user, and track response rates to refine your strategy further.”
Position AI as a creative partner to employees
Finally, successfully bringing about the use of AI in any business is to get your employees on side. Ben sees employee onboarding and education as critical to the matter of successfully bringing the human element back into AI-driven initiatives.
“Employees are the most important stakeholders in the company, so it’s important to get them to rally around your AI initiatives. The companies getting it right are using AI as a creative partner to deliver meaningful customer engagement all the while preserving a personal touch. Those that don’t risk falling behind.”
“Most recently at SATO, I’ve worked on employee engagement efforts to integrate generative AI into workflows. My team works with large organisations to ensure AI outputs remain consistent, accurate, and valuable by embedding brand guidelines, teaching advanced prompting, and creating processes to address challenges like hallucinations.
“ Above all, we position AI as a tool to enhance human interaction, encouraging employees to refine AI outputs with their expertise through feedback loops,” he adds.
Aim for great, not perfection
Despite growing concerns over authentic and ‘good’ AI usage, according to Ben, now is not the time to slow progress. Hesitation, he warns, can be just as damaging as rushing blindly to action.
“It’s clear that many enterprises aren’t using generative AI optimally, but, for example, one of my clients had a blanket ban on all generative AI products for months until a framework and policy was put in place. This is not the answer – it slowed progress and forced some employees to subscribe to their own tools to get ahead. Companies, no matter the size, need to act faster to deploy policies and build processes around failsafe methodologies.”
Businesses that implement AI programs that feel impersonal risk creating a gap between themselves and competitors who use AI in a more authentic way. As AI becomes more embedded into the seams of all business operations, companies that succeed will be those who view AI as a complement to human interaction, not a replacement for it.
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