Written by APSCo Marketing Forum Co-chair, Vickie Collinge, Associate Director, BlueSky PR
The growth of AI is both impressive and, understandably for some, concerning. For recruitment marketers, Artificial Intelligence tools can present a number of opportunities to streamline communications, but it also has the potential to cause a bit of a headache.
ChatGPT, for example, has crept into recruitment consultants vocabulary over the last year. While it is great to see more staffers getting involved in marketing and content, relying solely on AI tools without human intervention (or rather the expert marketing eye) isn’t always a good thing. Aside from the fact that tools like ChatGPT or Copy AI can go off on a bit of a tangent when producing copy, people are also becoming wise to AI-generated content. Given that authenticity is crucial in PR and marketing, this is naturally a concern.
The sheer number of AI tools that recruitment marketers and staffing firms in general can use is extensive to say the least. In fact, Rich Gibbard, Director at Recbound delved into the differing platforms that can be used for everything from email outreach and copywriting, to lead research and Pay Per Click automation.
I won’t list them all here, but it’s certainly worth taking a look at the recording to gain an insight into the wealth of tools that are at your disposal. What did become apparent, though, is the clear need to be selective around both what AI you’re using, and what they are being utilised for.
The core purpose of Artificial Intelligence is to save time. There’s elements of the marketing mix that take a lot of administration, from note taking and form filling, to data mining and lead tracking. AI can add real value in streamlining time spent on these tasks, giving marketers more headspace for other critical components that are best left to people.
Explore the tools available, but always have in mind what the ulterior goal is when investing in anything. Remember that it’s not about choosing the cheapest option, but rather the most effective.
I mentioned authenticity earlier and it was certainly one of the points that kept cropping up in discussions. Indeed, Kieron Mayors, Head of Marketing at Paiger, warned, you shouldn’t let AI steal your authenticity. Using any tools to create both individual and corporate content can save time, but it also needs to sound like the business or person it represents. Having the human touchpoint, particularly as a final check before going live with anything, will help maintain authenticity of content in particular.
Kieron also made a very valuable point during his presentation; people are going to start adopting AI in the business, whether it’s driven by their own personal intuition or a company-wide role out. For recruitment marketers, that give us two options:
1. Take a reactive approach to spotting where consultants are using AI that goes against brand guidelines, OR;
2. Own and control it
Let’s be honest, marketing is often the function that is asked to explore new tech tools like AI and how they can be integrated into the business. Given that most firms are at the early adoption stage with Artificial Intelligence, now is a prime time to lead the charge and ensure any AI being used across the business supports marketing.
You don’t need to be an expert in coding, tech integrations or the intricacies of AI itself, but there’s no doubt that recruitment marketing experts need to be able to leverage tools for the benefit of their function and the business as a whole.
We’d also love to hear from you about the core recruitment marketing topics you want to discuss in future forum discussions. Feel free to reach out to myself (Vickie Collinge, Associate Director, BlueSky PR) or Maxine Hart at APSCo directly to share your ideas or requests.