AI for Marketers: How to Use AI Across the Content Lifecycle

Most marketers have discovered or are starting to discover the power of generative AI to meet the growing demand for fresh, high-quality content at scale. Tools like ChatGPT for text generation and Beautiful.ai for creating presentations have become popular choices for producing content efficiently. This article delves into several other use cases for AI to consider as you look to streamline your processes going forward. AI for marketers can revolutionize current approaches, enabling teams to do more with their existing resources. 

In this blog, we discuss how marketers can leverage AI digital asset management tools across the four stages of the content lifecycle: pre-production, production, distribution, and post-distribution.

In the pre-production stage, marketing teams often begin by evaluating assets they already own or have licenses to use. These can be located quickly with AI-powered visual searches like Google Lens, which recognize color palettes and patterns and make pixel-based comparisons of a visual similarity. 

FADEL PictureDesk includes a picture library of up-to-the-minute news, sports, celebrity and entertainment content streaming in from over 100 photo agencies. The tool leverages AI for visual similary searches and clustering of similar content so that editorial teams can easily identify visually similar content, streamlining the process of discovering relevant images or videos for marketing purposes.

If appropriate assets cannot be found within a brand’s DAM, marketing teams are tasked with acquiring and creating new assets. To keep the campaign running smoothly once the baton is passed to the production team, it is important to add descriptors that make them easy to find—as well as rights information that clearly indicates how, when, and where assets can be used. Most DAMs incorporate AI tagging and metadata generation to automatically assign relevant keywords and descriptions as soon as an asset is uploaded. Additionally, Document AI concepts enhance the ability to extract usage rights information, enabling tagging and rights association for assets. This streamlines content management and maximizes opportunities for future content reuse.

AI can also be used to analyze audiences and pull together industry research and data to find out what resonates. Then, enhanced search and retrieval using AI-driven algorithms can even go so far as to apply nuanced characteristics, for example “mom vibe”, “loves kids”, “empathetic.” This allows marketing teams to more effectively express their brand or product image by finding the right talent and content to fit the campaign. 

AI can also enable targeting based on visual characteristics. For example FADEL PictureDesk will pinpoint visual similarly based on selecting an area within an image such as sunglasses or a bag. 

Additionally AI can also assist from an SEO standpoint to suggest words that will boost content discoverability among the target audience.

Finally, AI can be used to generate a wide range of content. ChatGPT and Jasper are well-known tools for generating text, while tools like Midjourney and Leonardo use AI to generate images and even animated videos based on text prompts. Suno allows users to generate songs with or without lyrics with just a few words, and Synthesia lets you choose from a variety of avatars and voices to create bespoke videos. You can even choose different languages and accents.

These tools have huge potential to elevate productivity, even when modifications to the generated content are required. However, we still recommend proceeding with some caution. The risk of using AI to generate content all comes down to rights. Law firm Ropes & Gray published an April 2024 article citing “more than a dozen suits pending across the United States in which copyright owners are pursuing various theories of infringement against AI platforms.” The lawsuits are being filed against the AI platform creators who have used copyrighted works to train their AI as well as companies that use the AI-generated content. The authors and artists assert that AI platform creators have no right to be using their source files to inform generative AI. They also believe that the derivative content that the AI tools produce is ultimately their property, as enhancing or modifying a protected work may not be permitted based on the usage rights assigned by the original contributor. 

Litigation is not only costly, but in the unchartered territory of AI, where legal precedent has not yet been established, cases could drag on for years, draining time and resources. This is why FADEL recommends an automated digital rights management (DRM) approach that is integrated with your DAM so there is complete visibility into usage rights. By capturing contributors and usage rights and associating them with each asset in your DAM from the very beginning, you can protect yourself from misuse of not only the original content, but any derivative content that may be generated using AI-powered tools.

The pre-production work of properly capturing descriptions and rights pays off during production, allowing teams to quickly and easily find the assets to be used in the campaign. Then, using AI, these assets can be adjusted. For example, Cutout Pro can be used to remove unwanted objects or backgrounds from photos or videos. AI can also automatically format ads for different social media channels, determining not only image rotation but word placement when an image is resized for different purposes. This drastically reduces time spent manipulating images for different applications.

AI tools can help personalize the customer experience by analyzing customer interactions and feedback to refine messaging and suggest variations that appeal to distinct segments. This targeted approach ensures that content not only reaches the right people but also engages them effectively, driving higher conversion rates and fostering brand loyalty.

With different dialects and languages to consider when going international, AI tools like DeepL and Google Translate can help bridge language gaps with translation and keywords that span demographics and locations. AI can tackle a multitude of languages simultaneously, allowing teams to identify and apply content for global markets a lot faster than finding skilled resources to translate campaigns into multiple languages.

At the same time, AI can flag cultural sensitivities and adapt to regional nuances. For example, AI may suggest that an ad targeting the American market that features a hot dog may be better off using a baguette for the French market. For both translation and cultural adaptations, human review by a native speaker is recommended to ensure the content is appropriate, does not unintentionally offend, and does not diminish the quality of the asset.

AI accessibility tools can alter colors and fonts, translate text into braille, and apply advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithms to convert written text into audible speech for the visually impaired, allowing these users to access and navigate digital content. 

For any of these production alterations, you will need to make sure you have the rights to change the content in terms of colors, fonts, etc., and are careful to associate the usage rights of the original asset when you save the new content in your DAM.

AI can inform marketing strategies by analyzing vast amounts of data to identify where, when, how, and to whom you should distribute to make the greatest impact. By examining historical performance metrics across various platforms, AI algorithms can pinpoint which channels yield the highest engagement for specific content types and recommend a distribution plan that aligns with these insights. Then, AI can segment audiences based on their preferences, behaviors, and demographics, allowing marketers to roll out more personalized content that resonates with different groups. 

Additionally, AI can predict the most effective moments to share content. Machine learning models can analyze user behavior patterns to identify peak engagement times for their target demographics. This increases the likelihood of content being seen, thus boosting campaign effectiveness.

Machine learning algorithms can provide insights on how well content aligns with campaign goals based on past performance data. This allows for iterative adjustments; if AI detects that certain messaging won’t perform well, marketers can modify the content on the fly to better fit the campaign’s requirements. This ensures that the final output is engaging and relevant.

AI can evaluate content for specific keywords, tone, and messaging that match predefined campaign objectives and guidelines. For example, if a campaign aims to promote sustainability, AI can scan content for relevant terms and phrases, ensuring that it adheres to the brand’s environmental commitments and resonates with the target audience’s values. This helps marketers more rapidly validate and sign off on campaigns and get them out in the world.

AI can help you monitor and manage your digital content after it has left your DAM and been published across various platforms like websites, retailers, and social media. Content tracking and monitoring help inform campaigns while at the same time protecting your brand from violations and expirations. 

AI tracks content using advanced technologies like image and video matching. Matching technology uses image profiles or signatures including color, shape, size, format, text, and digital watermarking to identify images along with stills and keyframes embedded in videos. It can also detect modifications to images such as cropping, colorizing, transposing, overlaying, and rotating. Similar concepts can be applied for music, where notes, chords, and transitions can be detected even when the music has been altered, sped up, or mashed up.

These are all helpful if you know what you’re looking for, but AI can also be used to identify unknown published content that is being associated with your brand. Technologies such as facial recognition, object identification, and logo detection can be used on various marketplaces to ensure the assets being used are compliant and the goods being sold are not counterfeit.   

Benefits of post-distribution content tracking include:

Legal Compliance Content tracking helps you remain compliant with copyright and licensing laws, preventing legal disputes and avoiding costly penalties. AI-powered searches can identify images, video clips, and even music overlays across the web. This allows brands to track and monitor how and when assets are being used beyond their own websites and proactively initiate takedowns and renewals. 

Consistent Brand Messaging Tracking and managing brand assets ensures consistent messaging and visual identity across all channels, strengthening brand recognition and trust. This is particularly helpful during rebranding efforts.

Campaign Effectiveness Measurement Monitoring the performance of digital assets provides valuable insights into which content resonates most with your audience, allowing for data-driven adjustments to optimize future campaigns and maximize ROI.

The emerging capability of using AI to identify AI-generated content is becoming a growing necessity in today’s environment, where consumers reward transparency, authenticity, and content integrity. Aboveboard brands routinely face the challenges of combating fraudulent, misleading, harmful, or manipulative content, and even deep fakes. AI can determine an asset’s provenance, which safeguards brand reputation, protects from lawsuits for unauthorized or inappropriate use, and preserves the value of human creativity and intellectual property in the digital space.

FADEL is a leader in AI-powered DAM and DRM solutions. Our focus is to empower companies to make the most of their content and innovations while avoiding the pitfalls associated with unauthorized use of digital assets. Our software is built with brand protection in mind, ensuring that the short-term benefits of using AI don’t come back to haunt you in the long term.

We have incorporated many of the above-mentioned AI tools directly into Brand Vision, our content compliance DRM software designed for brand protection. With Brand Vision, you can easily reap the benefits of AI without implementing technology add-ons or facing a steep learning curve. Brand Vision integrates with all market-leading DAMs and our SaaS delivery means that your investment will continue to evolve and leverage more AI capabilities as they mature. 

Schedule a demo to see firsthand how Brand Vision supports creativity and brand protection throughout the content lifecycle.

For a deeper dive into some of the pros and cons of using AI to support published content, download our whitepaper, “The Transformative Role of Artificial Intelligence in the Publishing Industry.”