Passed on 7 April, 2025

4. Using AI

In the rapidly shifting landscape of digital marketing, leveraging the latest technology can help streamline your efforts and connect with customers more effectively.

✅ Learning objectivesBy the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:Use AI to help in the content creation process.Recognise the pros and cons of using AI to create digital content.

Learning objectives

By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:

Use AI to help in the content creation process.

Recognise the pros and cons of using AI to create digital content.

Creating content with AI

Discover how you can integrate AI into your digital marketing activities.

How AI can help you

You’ve probably realised by now that a lot of digital marketing work involves writing. Whether you’re writing emails, social media posts, video scripts, or product descriptions, AI can help you refine and develop your work.

What is AI?

Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to computer systems that can complete cognitive tasks typically associated with human intelligence. You can use AI tools to augment and automate general digital marketing tasks, such as creating social media content, drafting email campaigns, and generating product descriptions.

What is generative AI?

Generative AI (gen AI) is a type of AI that creates content like text, images, or videos. It can also provide insights and help personalise experiences. You can interact with generative AI using prompts, voice commands, or images to guide its output. This makes it a powerful tool for tasks ranging from creating marketing content to automating everyday processes.

Help from generative AI

We now know that you can use generative AI to help you complete both practical and creative tasks. Check out some examples below of how this could support your digital marketing work.

Create content

You can use generative AI to help generate text, images, and other media. For example, you might generate ideas for social media captions, product descriptions, or even entire blog posts.

Analyse information quickly

Generative AI can analyse large amounts of content quickly. For example, you might use generative AI to analyse customer reviews, social media sentiment, or market research reports, helping you identify key trends and insights faster.

Answer questions in detailed and nuanced ways

Generative AI is effective at summarising information, which makes it useful for research. For example, you can prompt generative AI to provide you with information about target audience demographics, competitor analysis, or industry best practices.

Simplify day-to-day work

You can also use generative AI to augment routine tasks. For example, AI can help you generate email subject lines, personalise customer communications, or even suggest optimal ad placements.

Make AI your own

If you have brand guidelines, you can teach generative AI about them to create your own brand guidelines assistant. It will apply your brand guidelines to the content it generates to help you maintain your tone of voice, brand attributes, and more.

A point to note

Even though AI tools are becoming more common in professional fields, it’s important to remember that human creativity, critical thinking, and judgment are essential for using them effectively. This approach is known as ‘human in the loop,’ where human expertise and decision-making guide AI outputs. By combining your unique skills with AI, you can work more efficiently and make informed, thoughtful decisions.

Prompting generative AI

One way to work with generative AI is by providing prompts, either through written input or by using your voice to guide the conversation.A prompt is the input you provide the AI model to elicit a specific response. A good prompt follows a simple framework:Task,Context,References,Evaluate,Iterate, orT-C-R-E-I.If you ever forget a step, just remember:ThoughtfullyCreateReallyExcellentInputs.

A prompt is the input you provide the AI model to elicit a specific response. A good prompt follows a simple framework:Task,Context,References,Evaluate,Iterate, orT-C-R-E-I.If you ever forget a step, just remember:ThoughtfullyCreateReallyExcellentInputs.

-C-R-E-I.

If you ever forget a step, just remember:ThoughtfullyCreateReallyExcellentInputs.

Task: Persona

Task is about what you want the AI model to do. It can be broken into persona and format. Persona refers to what expertise you want the generative AI to draw from. For example, you could ask it to reply like a professional speechwriter or marketing executive with 15 years experience. You can be as detailed as you like when adding a persona.

Task: Format

Format refers to how you want the output to appear, whether that’s a bulleted list, short sentences, or a table. Keep in mind that the task should be clear and specific about what you want the generative AI to do.

Context

These are necessary details to help generative AI to understand what you need from it. This is the difference between writing ‘Give me some ideas for a birthday present under £30’ and ‘Give me five ideas for a birthday present. My budget is £30. The gift is for a 29-year-old who loves winter sports and recently switched from snowboarding to skiing.’

References

Sometimes you’ll add references for generative AI to use while creating its output. You just asked for ideas for a birthday present. If you add examples of birthday presents you’ve given in the past as references, you can get a more useful output. Keep in mind, there may not always be clear references for what you need especially if you're searching for ideas and inspiration.

Evaluate

Once you have the output, it's time to evaluate. Ask yourself if the input you provided gave you the output you needed.

Iterate

If you evaluate your output and determine that you’re not getting what you need, you can try again by adding more information or editing your prompt. This is the key part of prompting effectively.

Prompting frameworks

There are plenty of ways to construct an effective prompt. The order of how you construct a prompt is less important than the substance of the prompt itself.

Use of language

Be clear and specific in your instructions. Use natural language, write as if you’re speaking to another person, and express complete thoughts.

Generative AI in practice

Imagine you own or work for a sustainable clothing brand. You want to make a positive impact using digital marketing. You understand the right message matters, so you’ve come up with two social media campaign concepts, and you’re trying to decide which best suits the needs of your brand.You decide to turn to AI for a fresh perspective. Let’s explore the prompt you use.

You decide to turn to AI for a fresh perspective. Let’s explore the prompt you use.

You write:

I am a digital marketer working at a clothing company that is committed to sustainability and ethical fashion practice. We have a strong focus on reducing environmental impact.

You ask:

I’m trying to decide between two social media campaign ideas. Please help me evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each campaign in a clear, structured format. Also include additional considerations I should have top of mind.

You add references:

Campaign A: Earth First Fashion prioritises sustainability and ethical practices through influencer collaborations and user-generated content. Campaign B: Style with a Conscience focuses on fashionable design and versatility with subtle nods to be eco-friendly, using visually appealing imagery and working with fashion bloggers.

You add context:

You also supply some background information about the company and the brand’s point of view.

The output:

AI recommends a hybrid approach, blending elements from both campaigns and suggests a campaign name, too. The response is an organised breakdown of what might work well and what might not for each campaign, specifically tailored to the company’s goals.

✅ ActivityNow it’s your turn. Use generative AI to help you create a piece of content usingT-C-R-E-I.For this activity, you could use Gemini. Alternatively, there are suggestions for other generative AI assistants and tools listed inHelpful resources.Check the items off as you go.Input aTask, remembering to specify the persona you would like the generative AI tool to take on and the format you would like the output to be in.AddContextto your prompt, such as details about the audience and your business. You could add information about the tone of voice you’d like the generative AI tool to use, too.IncludeReferences. This could be about topics you’ve posted about previously, or that have been particularly popular.Evaluatethe output. Is it what you expected?Iterate. Could you make any adjustments to the prompt or include further details to get a better result?

Activity

Now it’s your turn. Use generative AI to help you create a piece of content usingT-C-R-E-I.For this activity, you could use Gemini. Alternatively, there are suggestions for other generative AI assistants and tools listed inHelpful resources.

T-C-R-E-I

For this activity, you could use Gemini. Alternatively, there are suggestions for other generative AI assistants and tools listed inHelpful resources.

Input aTask, remembering to specify the persona you would like the generative AI tool to take on and the format you would like the output to be in.

AddContextto your prompt, such as details about the audience and your business. You could add information about the tone of voice you’d like the generative AI tool to use, too.

IncludeReferences. This could be about topics you’ve posted about previously, or that have been particularly popular.

Evaluatethe output. Is it what you expected?

Iterate. Could you make any adjustments to the prompt or include further details to get a better result?

Download PDF

Considerations for using AI

AI can be a useful tool to help you accomplish tasks, however, there are things that you should keep in mind when using it.

The human element

AI works best when used as a complement to our uniquely human skills and abilities. It requires human involvement. No AI tool has the depth of experience, practical knowledge, or interactive skills that people have.

Be responsible

Be mindful of what you put into an AI assistant or tool and always evaluate and verify what comes out. Be particularly conscious of bias, stereotypes, and incorrect information.

Stay secure

Carefully consider if you need to use confidential or sensitive information to perform a task. Avoid entering personal or confidential information. Always consult any company rules or policies first, and check how the data you entered might be used.

Check your knowledge

It's time for you to check and reflect on what you've learned so far.

Question 1 of 1

Let’s recap our prompt framework:T-C-R-E-I.Use the wordsTask,Context,Resources,Evaluate, andIterateto fill in the blanks.

Use the wordsTask,Context,Resources,Evaluate, andIterateto fill in the blanks.

When writing a prompt, you should include the

, which can be separated into persona and format.

Adding

, such as topics you’ve used or presents you’ve given in the past.

When you

the output, it might not be quite what you were expecting.

If that is the case, you could add more

and to your prompt.

You can

until you get a suitable response for your generative AI tool.

Show Answer

Almost.Let’s recap.When writing a prompt, you should include theTask, which can be separated into persona and format.AddingResources, such as topics you’ve used or presents you’ve given in the past.When youEvaluatethe output, it might not be quite what you were expecting.If that is the case, you could add moreContextto your prompt.You canIterateuntil you get a suitable response for your generative AI tool.

Let’s recap.When writing a prompt, you should include theTask, which can be separated into persona and format.AddingResources, such as topics you’ve used or presents you’ve given in the past.When youEvaluatethe output, it might not be quite what you were expecting.If that is the case, you could add moreContextto your prompt.You canIterateuntil you get a suitable response for your generative AI tool.

When writing a prompt, you should include theTask, which can be separated into persona and format.AddingResources, such as topics you’ve used or presents you’ve given in the past.When youEvaluatethe output, it might not be quite what you were expecting.If that is the case, you could add moreContextto your prompt.You canIterateuntil you get a suitable response for your generative AI tool.

When writing a prompt, you should include theTask, which can be separated into persona and format.

AddingResources, such as topics you’ve used or presents you’ve given in the past.

When youEvaluatethe output, it might not be quite what you were expecting.

If that is the case, you could add moreContextto your prompt.

Lesson complete

Great job!You now know how to prompt generative AI to help you produce content, and some of the considerations you should make when using AI.Head to the next lesson to discover more about the ethics and legal considerations of content creation.

You now know how to prompt generative AI to help you produce content, and some of the considerations you should make when using AI.Head to the next lesson to discover more about the ethics and legal considerations of content creation.

Head to the next lesson to discover more about the ethics and legal considerations of content creation.

4. Using AI ​

Learning objectives ​

Creating content with AI ​

How AI can help you ​

What is AI? ​

What is generative AI? ​

Help from generative AI ​

Create content ​

Analyse information quickly ​

Answer questions in detailed and nuanced ways ​

Simplify day-to-day work ​

Make AI your own ​

A point to note ​

Prompting generative AI ​

Generative AI in practice ​

You write: ​

You ask: ​

You add references: ​

You add context: ​

The output: ​

Activity ​

Considerations for using AI ​

Check your knowledge ​

Question 1 of 1 ​

Lesson complete ​