What Is Generative AI?
If it feels like AI tools are suddenly everywhere, rest assured you’re not wrong. From auto-writing blog posts to creating custom images to drafting marketing emails, Generative AI has gone from curiosity to practical tool seemingly overnight.
For business owners and marketers, that raises a fair question:
Should you be using generative AI in your digital marketing efforts?
Short answer: probably—but with caution and context.
As a consultant who helps brands with digital PR, SEO, and content marketing, I’ve had a front-row seat to how AI is shifting the content landscape. I also see how easy it is to get it wrong, and how errors can harm your brand rather than help it. Let’s break it down.
What is Generative AI?
Generative AI is a category of artificial intelligence that doesn’t just analyze data—it creates new content based on patterns it’s learned. Think tools like ChatGPT for writing, DALL·E or Midjourney for image generation, and Jasper or Copy.ai for marketing copy.
You give the tool a prompt (like “write a blog post about remote work benefits”), and it generates content in seconds.
Sounds like a dream for busy marketers and small teams, right?
It can be—but only if you understand what it can and can’t do..
Where It Works: Content Drafting, Brainstorming, and Speed
- Used correctly, generative AI can:
- Accelerate first drafts of blogs, emails, press releases, and ad copy
- Help you brainstorm keywords or headlines
- Suggest outlines or expand on bullet points
- Assist with routine SEO tasks, like meta descriptions and FAQs
These time-savers can be a big help if you’re managing a lean team or trying to stay visible without a full marketing department. But while AI can produce volume, it can’t ensure value—not on its ow
Where It Fails: Strategy, Substance, and Brand Essence
Generative AI is trained to produce content that sounds good. But sounding good isn’t the same as being strategic, accurate, or on-brand.
This is where many marketers go wrong with AI. They treat it as a plug-and-play content engine and expect it to deliver meaningful results. Instead, they end up publishing content that’s:
- Off-tone
- Misaligned with their customer journey
- Lacking in originality or insight
- Unlikely to rank, convert, or impress
Why? Because no AI tool understands your brand essence, without some work on your part.
Brand Essence Can’t Be Prompted (Unless You Know What You’re Doing)
Your brand essence is the underlying personality and voice that connects everything you say and do. It’s how your audience feels when they encounter your content—and it can’t be replicated with a generic prompt.
Generative AI needs direction. The better your prompt, the better the output. But even a well-written prompt can only do so much if you haven’t defined:
- Who you’re talking to
- What you stand for
- How you want to be perceived
- What makes your voice distinct
This is where experience matters. Without a human guiding the content through the lens of strategy and brand identity, AI content is just a competent regurgitation of what’s already online. And that’s not what moves the needle for your marketing ROI.
Use AI, but Don’t Abdicate Strategy
The smartest marketers are experimenting with AI, but they’re not outsourcing their voice—or their authority.
They’re using AI to:
- Create rough drafts that they edit for tone, accuracy, and positioning
- Quickly summarize articles or interview transcripts
- Generate ideas for campaigns or content calendars
But the final product still runs through a strategic human filter—because that’s where differentiation happens.
SEO and PR Are Especially High-Risk for Generic AI Content
In SEO, Google has been crystal clear: content that is helpful, original, and written for people will always outperform generic filler. If you’re using AI to mass-produce pages that say the same thing as every competitor, you’re not helping your rankings—you’re hurting them.
And in digital PR, editors and journalists won’t respond to templated outreach or boilerplate articles, and sending pitches that are straight from AI can get you banned by the outlet or the journalist, eliminating chances for coverage in the future. Editors want thoughtful ideas, relevant commentary, and story-driven value—things AI can’t deliver on its own.
The takeaway? If you’re trying to be seen as a leader, you can’t just sound like everyone else.
So—Should You Use It?
Yes—if you use it strategically.
Here’s a simple framework I recommend to clients:
Start with a clear marketing goal.
Are you trying to grow traffic? Improve visibility? Build authority?Know your brand tone and customer voice.
If you can’t explain how your brand should sound, AI won’t guess correctly.Use AI for acceleration, not automation.
Get a first draft or a content outline—but don’t publish without a human’s final touch.Measure results.
Are the pages performing better? Is engagement improving? Or are you just producing more content with less impact?
My Perspective and Why it Matters
I use generative AI in my own work—but I use it the way a good photographer uses a lens: to frame the story, not to invent it.
The difference between brands that win with AI and those that don’t comes down to strategy, expertise, and intentionality. These are things I help clients develop—and no tool, no matter how powerful, can replace that.
If you’re wondering how to bring AI into your content or PR process without losing your voice or wasting time on low-impact content, let’s talk. I’d be glad to help you use these tools in a way that actually moves your business forward.
A Final Thought
AI is here to stay. But the real question isn’t whether you should use it … It’s whether you know how to use it well.
Bill Threlkeld is president of Threlkeld Communications, Inc., a Digital PR, SEO and Content Marketing & Measurement consultancy. Built on three-plus decades experience in Public Relations and Content Marketing. Bill’s unique value is in leveraging PR to create content “clusters” and campaigns integrating a blend of Public Relations, SEO, social media, and content that can be tracked and measured for optimized performance. Bill’s experience includes: tech, musical instrument, pro audio, legal, entertainment, apps, software, cloud services, travel, telecom, and consumer packaged goods.