It seems like AI has gone from a movie trope to a distant possibility, to now completely integrated into our society overnight. From Siri and Alexa to ChatGPT and even our new AI-powered features in SAGE Online, SAGE Web, and SAGE Websites Professional Plus, AI has become part of our daily lives.
It’s pretty fascinating that you can ask Siri to look up something for you. Or even solve a math problem – take THAT former junior high algebra teacher! I won’t name names but I’m a writer, math has never been my forte. And NOW not only is there a calculator in my pocket, but I can ask it to solve math problems!
As a promotional products distributor, you might not have a need to solve an algebraic equation, but you probably could use help with product inspiration and content for your projects, presentations, and your website. So now you have the tools, let’s look at some best practices for utilizing them!
Idea Generation
When it comes to using an AI-powered generator, it can be an amazing way to help bust through that creative block. For example, let’s say we’re looking for products for a ghost-hunting expo. I couldn’t think of anything beyond the standard stuff like beanies and hoodies. So, I plugged the topic I was searching for into the Idea Wizard in SAGE Online (also available in SAGE Web).
What exactly is the Idea Wizard you ask? Think of it as your very own AI assistant! The Idea Wizard will give you promo ideas for your client’s event or promotion. All you have to do is click the Ideas icon in the top right of your search screen. A pop-up window with a text box will appear, then just type in a short summary of your event.
The more details you can provide, the better your results will be. For example, if my ghost-hunting expo client wanted only eco-friendly items, I would change my topic to eco-friendly products for a ghost-hunting expo.
Once the Idea Wizard generates product suggestions, you can easily search for matching products within the database. This is where it plopped out a bunch of options I didn’t think of before, like spirit boxes.
It was pretty amazing; it cut my research time in half and suggested items I would have never thought to search.
Plus, if you don’t find what you’re looking for right away, you can just click Get More Ideas to generate additional options.
Content Generation
In addition to the Idea Wizard in SAGE Online and SAGE Web, you can also harness the power of AI through content generation for your projects, presentations, and your SAGE Website Professional Plus.
One cool thing that SAGE’s AI feature does is that it can enhance any of the text you’re working on. So, for example, I’m going to enhance this acrylic ghost award for the presentation we’re working on for the ghost-hunting expo.
The text is meh. Generic. We can do better. So let’s see what enhance gives us (side note: I keep saying enhance in my head like a superhero with an echo). When we click the cute little robot with the word “enhance” next to it, we get a dropdown seeing these options:
You can translate it into Canadian French.
And translate it back into English (though you might have to do some edits as translating anything, no matter the program, is tricky for readability).
Or I can make it sound better.
When it comes to generating copy for a presentation, your website, or a blog post, you must be mindful of two very important things: tone and SEO.
AI-generated text should first and foremost be used as inspiration, a first draft if you will. You should never copy and paste the results without editing and rewriting your text.
Why? Tone. People can tell it was written by AI. There isn’t a voice there – think about how HAl 3000 talks in 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s very monotone and, for lack of a better word, robotic.
Not to mention, while AI does have the ability to learn, it cannot think. Essentially this just means that your content will still need a second set of (human) eyes to make sure everything makes sense!
Rewriting your text for clarity and tone can really go a long way. Let’s look at an example.
In the Presentation Publisher and Project Management modules, you can now utilize AI to create introductory and closing text, respectively (watch the webinar here to see how). I asked for an introduction paragraph for my presentation pitching a marketing proposal for that ghost-hunting expo, and this is what I got.
Sounds pretty good so far, but we can bring a little life to the party (no pun intended) and include some of the stuff we found earlier with the Idea Wizard.
As promotional product experts, we are thrilled for the opportunity to present an array of exciting items you can utilize to promote your upcoming expo: Ghost Hunters United! We have personally selected unique ideas that are perfect for creating spine-tingling hype and excitement for your event. From customized t-shirts and tote bags to spooky keychains and ghost-hunting equipment, we believe we have just what you need to celebrate all those ghostly adventures!
Better, right?
And if that doesn’t convince you, another big reason you should always rewrite your generated content for clarity is SEO. One of the top questions on anyone’s mind when it comes to AI is whether it will affect your SEO rankings on Google. Let’s just say that I’m keeping my relationship status with Google as “it’s complicated.”
Search engines like Google (as though there is any other search engine. Bing? Never heard of her) use bots to crawl websites. While they crawl like little spiders through the web, they’ll make an index of what is on your web pages. Google will penalize websites that have content made just to raise SEO rankings. Websites need to have valuable content. And with AI, while it can produce really great content – if you don’t check it, you could risk handing out bad content like the content-that-might-be-misleading-or-inaccurate type of bad.
Plus, AI sometimes tends to make things overly complicated with big words. That makes for bad readability for both Google and visitors to your site. Google likes websites that have good readability and good usability. Think 8th-grade level reading. Meaning that it likes things that are concise and to the point but are also easy for a user to navigate and understand. Google’s bots take their cues from humans. Think about it – you’re not likely to spend a long time on a webpage that doesn’t have the information you need at a quick glance or if it’s confusing, right?
The Takeaway? These are brilliant and incredibly useful tools for inspiration, but you should always double-check your information’s readability and accuracy and edit accordingly.
Using the new AI-powered features in SAGE will help you come up with creative ideas, content, and save you a ton of time. By following these best practices, you can ensure you are utilizing each feature to the best of its ability and optimizing your results.
For more information on how to use the new AI-powered features in SAGE Online, SAGE Web, and SAGE Websites Professional Plus, check out this webinar or contact your Account Advisor today!
