We are seeing a massive rise in artificial intelligence in the marketplace right now, with business owners jumping onto tools like ChatGPT and Gemini to churn out marketing materials. I recently sat down with Daniela, our design expert at BRBD Marketing, to break down what is actually happening with AI generated ads, because many small businesses are using these tools in ways that completely kill their results. If you want to bring in more leads, you need to understand exactly where AI fails and how to use it correctly.
Key Takeaways
- Exclusively AI content causes consumer distrust. Younger generations completely reject purely AI generated marketing, often calling it AI slop.
- Pure AI ads look identical. They copy old, bad habits from the internet, leading to overly designed images filled with confusing icons.
- Real data shows AI ads get fewer clicks. We tested this against our non-AI campaigns and found that purely AI content drastically lowers conversions.
- Authenticity is the ultimate pattern disruptor. People buy from people they trust, so showing the real faces behind your business beats a digital script every time.
Why are purely AI generated ads hurting your lead generation?
The biggest weakness of artificial intelligence is that it looks backward, meaning it learns from what has already been done a lot on the internet. Because most historical marketing is generally bad, AI simply copies those bad habits, resulting in pure AI ads that are incredibly easy to spot. These designs are usually extremely oversaturated and overly designed, listing every single service on one image and throwing in a bunch of random icons that do not even make sense for what you are trying to explain. For example, we see plumbers listing their services alongside icons that do not represent the actual job, which creates a massive gap in trust.
There is a huge disconnect between what business owners think and what consumers actually feel, especially when you look at the actual data:
- The Trust Gap: 82% of advertisers or businesses think that AI builds trust, while in reality, only 35% of the audience actually trusts brands that exclusively use AI.
- The Authenticity Factor: Two-thirds of consumers say that they feel AI generated content is less authentic, meaning you are actively pushing people away by letting a machine do all the work.
What happens to your campaign results when you switch to authentic content?
We see the real world impact of this with our clients at BRBD Marketing, having recently looked at a construction company that was running very basic, purely AI generated ads and getting absolutely zero responses within a few days. When we switched them over to proper, non-AI ads, the results changed instantly, because people are simply less likely to click on a purely AI ad. Our data proves that ads that are not purely AI get way more clicks, and those leads are much more likely to convert.
Daniela and I experienced this firsthand when she helped change our social media structure, running up to me in the office with a camera for our “Hey Brad” videos to ask spontaneous questions. It works because it serves as a pattern disruptor, so when people are scrolling through a feed of generic, heavily edited garbage, seeing a real person who is not heavily edited builds instant trust. Whether you run a construction company, a cleaning company, or a marketing agency, you must show real people.
How should a small business owner use AI for marketing without losing leads?
If you are doing in house marketing, the best advice is to keep it simple, meaning you should not overcrowd your designs. A strong ad only needs a powerful headline identifying a problem, the solution you bring, and a clear image with a strong call to action.
You can absolutely use AI as a tool to help with image ideas, layouts, or basic design starts if you do not know how to use Canva, and if you learn to use proper, design focused prompts, you can get a clean start that does not look like AI slop, but it should never replace creativity. Do your research by looking at the bad AI ads in your industry so you can easily see how identical they look, decide what you want your brand to stand for, and remember that consumers value authenticity more than ever, because as the old saying goes, people buy from people they trust, and if they cannot see your face, they cannot trust you.
Ready to scale your lead generation?
If you are a small business owner and you want to stop guessing with your marketing, let us take a look at what you are doing. Visit brbd.co.za today to get a free audit and see exactly how many high quality leads your business could be bringing in.
