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Friend or Foe? Generative AI for Graphic Design

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Friend or Foe? Generative AI for Graphic Design

This blog is part of a three-part series on the potential uses of AI in B2B content marketing. Accelity team members are currently exploring available tools and how they can help us best serve our clients. Check out our blogs on AI in copywriting and AI campaign strategy. 

While AI has been all the rage lately with the arrival of ChatGPT, there is one area of the creative world where the technology has definitely NOT been welcome: graphic design. There is a ton of controversy over whether AI is stealing from artists, in addition to other creative concerns about whether it will put artists out of a job. 

What does this mean for those of us in B2B marketing? The future is unclear. There are some really exciting—and kind of scary—possibilities. 

We asked our Designer Nate Panetti what the role of AI in graphic design and which tools he’s been using to support his creative work.

Generative AI tools our Design team is testing

With all of the hype around generative AI for content creation, many companies are applying the technology to graphic design. We’ve had too much fun testing out these tools to see how good they are at capturing our vision (or at making fingers). 

DALL-E 2

We’re familiar with how ChatGPT is changing the way we write, but its creators OpenAI also have a product for AI-generated design. DALL-E 2 uses AI to that can create realistic images and art from a description in natural language. Unlike ChatGPT, DALL-E 2 is not free. 

DALL-E 2 features include:

  • Image generation: Create original, realistic images from a text description, combining concepts, attributes, and styles
  • Outpainting: Expand images beyond what’s in the original canvas, creating expansive new compositions
  • Inpainting: Realistic edits to existing images. Add and remove elements while taking shadows, reflections, and textures into account.
  • Variations: Take an image and create different variations of it inspired by the original.

Prompt: A Modern Painting of a Frog Eating a Donut while Sitting By A River

Shutterstock AI Image Generator

Prompt: An ant playing the guitar surrounded by blades of grass

Adobe Firefly

With our team spending much of our time in Photoshop, we’re excited to experiment with Adobe’s venture into the tex-to-image AI space, Adobe Firefly. Adobe only uses licensed or copyright-free images for generation, differentiating itself as the more ethical option. Firefly is currently in beta, and users need to request access. 

With Adobe Firefly, designers are able to achieve:

  • Text-to-image: Generate images from a detailed text description.
  • Text effects: Apply styles or textures to text with a text prompt.
  • Recolor vectors: Generate color variations of your vector artwork from a detailed text description.

Prompt: Punk Rock Flamingo with a Mohawk

Canva

The not-so-design-savvy members of our team report that Canva also has a text-to-image generator, available for free to users. As with other AI tools, users simply need to type in a prompt. From there, they can drop the image into their Canva creation and edit using their tools. 

Prompt: Professional headshot made to look like a painting; Watercolor style applied

3 examples of how AI has helped our marketing efforts

We aren’t so sure about using AI for complete image generation—both because of ethical concerns and because the technology isn’t super reliable—but there are plenty of cases when AI is already helping our team. Here are some ways that AI can help designers automate tasks and create image magic. 

1. Removing backgrounds from images

Removing the background from a photo is so simple but so tedious. Sites like Remove Background are great for when you need to remove a background from an image without the work of going into Photoshop and attempting touchups. 


2. Enhancing photo quality

This tool from Cutout.Pro came in handy recently for one of our clients. We needed a headshot from the company’s Founder & CEO, but the resolution of the file he had was too low. Normally, we’d say this is something that cannot be changed, but as AI capabilities are getting better tools like this do a great job. 

NB: Be careful—for this kind of AI usage, the generator is making features based on the environment and not what is actually there. In the example below, one of the bricks might not actually have a scratch on it, but it could’ve added a scratch to give it more detail. Use these tools with that discretion because they aren’t always 100% perfect. 

3. Creating a background

Removing a background is one thing, but having AI create an image where there wasn’t one is another. Using the right prompts, AI can fill in the blanks of an image to remove objects. 

In this example, our designer needed to remove the subjects from the image so that the client could use an updated photo of the team on the previous background. Instead of having everyone go back to the location and retake the image, he used DALL-E 2. Nate took a group shot of the Info-Pro employees and removed the people so we could have the background by itself. He described what the image looked like to the AI generator to have it fill in the missing image. 

A final note about using AI for design

While our team is excited about the potential for AI in helping us to automate simple tasks or jumpstart our creativity, it comes with a few big caveats. 

We recommend NOT using AI in the following circumstances:

  • To generate campaign assets. It can be great for getting some inspiration shouldn’t be used for final client deliverables. 
  • As a replacement for creativity. Robots don’t think in metaphors, so their ability to represent something visually is limited to how well you can prompt it. 
  • To mimic another artist’s style. Unless the artwork is in the public domain, be cool and don’t try to rip off someone else’s work. 
  • To create images with fingers. Unless you enjoy 14-fingered nightmare mutants. 

Superpower Your Marketing Strategy with AI

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Superpower Your Marketing Strategy with AI

This blog is part of a three-part series on the potential uses of AI in B2B content marketing. Accelity team members are currently exploring available tools and how they can help us best serve our clients.

For as many articles as there are raising alarms about the dangers of AI, there are just as many mocking how bad AI still is at executing many tasks. When it comes to marketing, AI still isn’t ready to draft final versions of copy on demand or generate images of fingers.

Where AI really shines in marketing is its role as a strategy tool. AI works best when it’s used as a jumping-off point that helps marketers take an idea and move it forward. If you know the right prompts, AI can give you myriad insights into your brand, competitors, audience and more. 

It’s like having a coworker to bounce ideas off of, but that coworker was trained on data models capturing decades of information. And also doesn’t steal your lunch in the breakroom. 

We asked our Marketing Account Manager Stephanie Roland for her input on how she’s using ChatGPT to generate new insights, validate hypotheses, and brainstorm concepts for her clients. 

A note on ChatGPT—AI tools that help marketers have existed for years, but the conversation really took off when OpenAI released ChatGPT in November 2022. When this freemium chatbot launched, it became the fastest-growing app in the history of the Internet. While there are other tools available, such as Taskade, we’re going to focus specifically on ChatGPT and its reinforcement learning model to discuss how it can help with brainstorming and marketing strategy.

4 ways marketers can use AI for campaign strategy

1. Idea generation 

The responses ChatGPT generates—ranging from boringly traditional to wildly hilarious—make it a fun tool for brainstorming. By punching in details about your target audience, goals, and objectives, ChatGPT can offer a variety of concepts and campaign angles to explore.

Strategy consultant Julian Cole recently held a webinar that featured tons of awesome prompts for using ChatGPT for strategy. One of our favorites? Asking ChatGPT to generate r/showerthoughts about a topic, industry, brand or product. 

2. Audience analysis

Buyer persona research is a huge part of building a successful marketing strategy, and it takes a lot of time. ChatGPT can summarize information about target audiences and uncover new personas to gain a broad understanding of who you’re marketing to. Plus with the handy chat model, marketers can ask follow-up questions about customer demographics, preferences, and behavior to better understand their audience and tailor their campaigns accordingly.

Here is the incredibly thorough buyer persona profile it created for our example based on a super simple prompt:

Create a buyer persona for the founder of a tech startup where they are the only employee

Name: Sarah Techwell

Background Information:

  • Age: 35
  • Gender: Female
  • Education: Holds a master’s degree in computer science
  • Work Experience: Has 10 years of experience in the tech industry, including working for established companies and startups.
  • Family Status: Single, no children
  • Location: Based in a tech hub city like San Francisco or Austin

Demographics:

  • Occupation: Founder and CEO of a tech startup
  • Industry: Technology
  • Company Size: Currently the only employee

Goals and Motivations:

  1. Building a Successful Tech Startup: Sarah is driven by her desire to build a successful technology startup from scratch. She wants to create a product or service that disrupts the industry and gains significant market traction.
  2. Solving a Problem: Sarah is motivated by identifying and solving a pressing problem in the market. She wants her startup to provide a unique and innovative solution that improves people’s lives or business operations.
  3. Autonomy and Independence: Sarah values the freedom and autonomy that comes with being an entrepreneur. She enjoys having control over the decision-making process and being able to shape the direction of her own company.
  4. Financial Success: While not the primary motivation, Sarah is aware of the financial potential that comes with running a successful tech startup. She wants her hard work to be financially rewarding and hopes to secure funding or achieve profitability in the long run.

Challenges:

  1. Limited Resources: As the only employee, Sarah faces the challenge of limited resources, including time, manpower, and financial capital. She must be resourceful and efficient in managing all aspects of her startup.
  2. Wearing Multiple Hats: Sarah is responsible for various roles within her startup, such as product development, marketing, sales, finance, and customer support. This requires her to have a diverse skill set and the ability to switch between tasks quickly.
  3. Competing with Established Players: Sarah’s startup is likely to face competition from established players in the industry. She needs to differentiate her offering and find a unique value proposition that sets her apart from the competition.
  4. Scaling and Growth: Sarah must navigate the challenges of scaling her startup, including hiring and managing additional employees, expanding the customer base, and securing funding or investment to support growth.

Psychographics:

  1. Ambitious and Driven: Sarah is highly ambitious and has a strong drive to succeed. She is willing to put in the long hours and hard work required to build a successful startup.
  2. Risk-Taker: Sarah is comfortable taking calculated risks and embracing uncertainty. She understands that entrepreneurship involves inherent risks and is willing to face them head-on.
  3. Innovative and Creative: Sarah values innovation and embraces creative problem-solving. She thrives on finding unique and out-of-the-box solutions to challenges.
  4. Tech Enthusiast: Sarah has a deep passion for technology and keeps up with the latest trends and advancements in the industry. She enjoys exploring new technologies and incorporating them into her startup’s offerings.

3. Messaging and positioning

Developing the perfect brand messaging statements can take hours of finding exactly the right words. Marketers can use ChatGPT to rework and refine their messaging and positioning strategies. By discussing the unique selling points of a product or service, target audience needs, and competitive landscape, ChatGPT can provide suggestions and help optimize marketing messages for maximum impact.

Here’s the brand messaging statement ChatGPT wrote for MediConnectPro, a fake healthtech it also created earlier in the chat:

Brand Messaging Statement for MediConnectPro:

“At MediConnectPro, we believe in simplifying healthcare through innovative technology. Our mission is to empower healthcare organizations with a comprehensive and user-friendly platform that streamlines communication, enhances collaboration, and revolutionizes data management. With MediConnectPro, healthcare professionals can focus on what truly matters – providing exceptional patient care. Join us in embracing a future where healthcare is efficient, interconnected, and driven by the power of digital transformation. Discover a new era of healthcare with MediConnectPro, where communication meets excellence.”

4. Competitive analysis

Yes, you can go to each competitor’s website and spend time clicking through all the pages, reading their content, and checking their social (and you should still do that, too). But ChatGPT can synthesize what it knows about competitors quickly to help you get a high-level overview of the competition. You can even ask follow-up questions to find opportunities to outperform in areas where the competitor brand is lacking. 

When NOT to use AI for campaign strategy

The common refrain when using AI is to proceed with caution; even ChatGPT now has disclaimers at the end of some of its responses reminding people that it isn’t always accurate.

When asked about the benefits of using ChatGPT for campaign strategy, it added this caveat:
It’s important to note that while ChatGPT can provide valuable insights and recommendations, it’s always advisable to combine AI-generated suggestions with human expertise and critical thinking to create well-rounded marketing campaign strategies.

See? Even the robot agrees: AI works best with human expertise. 

With that reminder, it’s important to note that AI shouldn’t be your only tool. Here’s why:

  • AI cannot develop the campaign for you. You know the client or brand much better than AI. You’ll need to add the human element—empathy, humor, culture, etc.—to make the campaign successful. 
  • AI isn’t “set it and forget it.” First, you need to verify that the information ChatGPT provided is accurate. You’ll also need to continue to test and optimize what you found in the brainstorming stage. 
  • AI doesn’t have the most up-to-date information. If your competitor is relatively new, or you want to build a campaign around a new product, ChatGPT likely won’t be useful as its models were trained in 2021. 

Kickstart your strategy with the help of AI

When it comes to brainstorming and uncovering new ideas, ChatGPT’s wacky responses are an advantage. Bouncing ideas off of the robot can help you think about a problem or solution in a totally different way, uncovering the seed that will eventually become your super-effective strategy. While marketers should always make sure to verify and monitor AI outputs, the ideas it can generate will help unlock insights you might never have imagined. 

Exploring the Role of Generative AI in Copywriting

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Exploring the Role of Generative AI in Copywriting

This blog is part of a three-part series on the potential uses of AI in B2B content marketing. Accelity team members are currently exploring available tools and how they can help us best serve our clients.

When you think of using AI tools for marketing, perhaps the first thing you think of is how to use them for writing projects. If students are using it for their homework, marketers are using it for their assignments too, right?

Yes and no. While AI tools like ChatGPT can whip up a blog post (using your target keywords and in the brand voice) in a matter of seconds it… still sounds like a robot wrote it. So while AI isn’t coming for our jobs (at least any time soon), there are still some really cool ways it’s helping us to write stronger copy.

We asked our Senior Copywriter Michelle Breen which AI tools she’s been testing for content marketing. (This is all meta; Michelle is writing this blog with the help of the robots!) 

Join us as we share what we’ve learned about the AI tools available to copywriters, how we can use them to optimize client work, and when it’s best to stick to good old-fashioned human copywriters. 

Tools our Copy team is testing

  • ChatGPT: The freemium chatbot developed by OpenAI and the most popular AI tool since its launch in November 2022. With the right prompt, ChatGPT can do anything from writing an ebook to planning the perfect vacation itinerary. 
  • Copy.ai: The tool I was using before ChatGPT. Because Copy.ai is specifically marketing focused, its templates, prompts, and outputs are much more helpful. Users can generate only a certain number of words for free each month. 
  • Simplified: Simplified is an AI tool for content creators, not just copywriters. It has dozens of templates for generating email, social, web copy and more. (I use it when I run out of my free credits on Copy.ai). 
  • HubSpot AI: This is a new feature still in beta and powered by OpenAI. Since we’re a HubSpot marketing agency our team has slowly been getting access to see how we can use it with our clients (stay tuned!). 
  • GrammarlyGO: Grammarly’s AI has been powering our copy for years by suggesting edits for clearing writing. It just launched an AI feature to help with rewrites, voice changes, cuts and other improvements. 

4 ways copywriters can use AI for content marketing

1. Outlining blogs and long-form content

The worst part about writing content, especially long-form content, is staring at the cursor on your screen when trying to get started. AI can kickstart your momentum by coming up with an outline and filling in subtopics for each section. It often provides a solid framework copywriters can build from. 

2. Generate multiple variations of copy

Copywriters know all too well that when you’re writing a campaign, you say the same things OVER and OVER. While that can be good—prospects need to see a message multiple times for it to be effective—it can also be repetitive. AI can help writers come up with fresh new ways to state a message. 

3. Rewrite copy in a different voice

Just because we work with B2B SaaS doesn’t mean it has to be B2Boring. Our clients each have their own unique voice, and AI tools can help rewrite copy to fit different brands. However, AI doesn’t understand humor very well. (Have you ever asked Siri or Alexa to tell you a joke?) So while these tools can’t fully capture writing as your client, they can give you some ideas for making copy more engaging. See the example below. 

Let us help you win more clients. Schedule a demo today.  

4. Brainstorm headlines, subject lines and microcopy

Writing 1,000 words on the challenges insurance agencies face when they rely on manual processes? Easy enough. Coming up with an eye-catching headline for that blog? The hardest part. AI can help with the brainstorming and include the necessary keywords too. 

You can see the titles ChatGPT suggested for this blog post above. There are some solid choices, but we ultimately chose “Exploring the Role of Generative AI in Copywriting.” ChatGPT usually LOVES a subtitle, which can make a title pretty lengthy; plus, we didn’t want to make it seem like the blog would be a full endorsement of using AI (see the next section). 

How NOT to use AI in copywriting

We’re all learning here! There are many great potential uses for AI in copywriting, but before you fire your copy team, here’s what you need to know. 

AI does not know about recent events. 

AI is pretty limited in its knowledge of current events. If you’re writing about how proposed legislation could impact your audience, for example, it’s not going to be able to help you. Need a basic overview of Abraham Lincoln’s biography? Sure. Need to know how the most recent unemployment numbers are impacting your sector? AI can’t help. 

AI will not create novel or unique ideas.

Whether you’re a CEO trying to find a faster way to write marketing emails or a marketing director looking for ad campaign ideas, AI can only get your started. It might think of something you didn’t, but because it’s based on existing content, it got its ideas from someone who already thought of it (that’s a whole ‘nother can of worms). It’s up to you to take that inspiration and make it sound new to fit your brand. 

AI lacks the human touch. 

Sorry CFOs, you still need people. People are much better than robots at understanding emotions, sarcasm, tone, brand, and other nuances. These subtleties are what make great marketing campaigns so effective: they resonate with the audience on a human level. AI can help you get started with brainstorming (learn more about that in our campaign strategy post), but it’s up to the copywriter to choose the right words to drive the message home. 

Conclusion: It’s a start

In conclusion, generative AI has the potential to revolutionize B2B copywriting. With the ability to quickly produce large amounts of text and automate repetitive tasks, it can save time and increase productivity for copywriters. AI-powered tools can also help generate creative and engaging content, while still allowing for human input and oversight. However, it’s important to remember that AI-generated copy is not a one-size-fits-all solution. There are still scenarios where human writers may be better suited for the task. By using AI in conjunction with human writers and understanding its limitations, businesses can leverage the power of AI to improve their B2B copywriting and stay ahead in a competitive market. The future of B2B copywriting is looking bright with the help of generative AI.

^ ChatGPT wrote that. It’s not how I would’ve concluded; I would keep it shorter and not spend so much time repeating the blog. It’s also not the main takeaway from the blog, but I’m not surprised the robot assumes it’s making my future look bright. 

So, what do we think? AI is a great tool for helping copywriters get started on writing tasks, but good marketing still demands the human element to resonate with the target audience: humans.