Artificial intelligence is already a protagonist in many digital marketing strategies, optimizing campaigns, personalizing communications, and accelerating results. However, one of the main challenges faced by brands is using this technology without sacrificing their unique and authentic voice.
While AI allows scaling content and automating interactions, today’s consumer values what is genuine. According to the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer survey, 81% of people state they need to trust a brand to decide to purchase from it. This means that more than efficiency, it’s essential to maintain humanity in communication.
“It’s not about choosing between technology and humanity. The key point is knowing how to use artificial intelligence as a means to enhance creativity, not as a substitute for it,” says Raphael Lassance, Growth expert and partner/mentor at Sales Clube, Brazil’s largest sales community.
The use of AI in digital marketing should follow certain guidelines to maintain authenticity in communication. AI is a powerful tool for scaling, testing, and optimizing. But a well-defined positioning is necessary, ensuring the brand’s voice is always present, even in automatically generated messages. What creates connection is human emotion—and that still can’t be automated.
Below, Lassance highlights five essential practices for those who want to use AI strategically without losing their brand essence:
- Clear tone of voice direction:tools must be fed with the brand’s values and language. Without this, they risk generating generic and impersonal messages;
- Active human curation:even with automation, the human touch remains crucial. Reviewing texts, images, and interactions ensures empathy and sensitivity in messages;
- Purpose-driven content:using AI to speed up content production is valid, as long as the materials provide real value to the audience. Superficiality undermines trust;
- Data as empathy allies:the tool allows deep analysis of behaviors and interests. Using this data to deliver value, not just to sell, is what builds relationships;
- Responsible testing:AI facilitates creating campaign variations, but it’s essential to constantly evaluate the impact of these variations on brand perception.
The combination of artificial intelligence and digital marketing is expected to become increasingly sophisticated in the coming years. But for this to generate real value, we must remember—at the end of the day—we’re still talking to people. And people connect with stories, not robots.
