Generative AI is a high-value, additive capability for marketing, not a replacement for talent. The elimination of marketing roles and jobs is reactionary.
Proving the point: 81% of marketing leaders say gen AI won’t reduce team size, according to a May 2023 Norwest Ventures generative AI survey of marketers. Nearly one in five respondents in this same survey expect to hire more people to take advantage of generative AI capabilities.
However, marketers who don’t dive in and embrace AI to elevate their work risk falling behind in their careers. The best marketers are getting on their front foot right now, figuring out how and where to apply generative AI and all its variations. AI will advance your career if you understand where and how to apply it.
Dig deeper: 5 ways to harness AI in B2B content creation
For historical context, we turn to tech innovator and investor Marc Andreessen: “We had two such anti-technology jobs moral panics in the last 20 years — “outsourcing” enabled by the Internet in the 2000s, and “robots” in the 2010s. The result was the best national and global economy in human history in pre-COVID 2019, with the most jobs at the highest wages ever.”
It’s not your replacement
AI and all its derivatives (machine learning, natural language processing, etc.) is the fastest, biggest shift I have been a part of in my lifetime. In fact, the market will grow twentyfold to $2 Trillion by 2030, according to Next Move Consulting. The AI revolution screams career opportunity.
Software providers are bringing new AI tools and adding AI capabilities to products marketers use every day. Applied thoughtfully, generative AI is having an immediate impact helping marketers and teams save time, increase efficiency, and enable new capabilities. Staying ahead and adding key skills are required to deliver more value as a marketer amid the AI boom. However, to truly adapt, we need to comprehensively understand exactly where and how it’s going to impact our roles and responsibilities. Reiterating, the best advice here is to dive in.
Taking lessons from significant transformations including the rise of the Internet (1990s), the proliferation of mobile (2000s), and the adoption of marketing technology (2010s), here are three essential applications of AI in marketing.
1: Shorten research and planning cycles
Marketers are using AI to quickly compile market trends and data required for GTM planning and execution. They are also automating the packaging and dissemination market and customer insights to your product, campaign, comms, and sales teams. Robotic processing bots can create apps quickly to automate everyday tasks from report generation to website updates to checking and improving content. Last week at a marketing summit, I heard the phrase “Generative AI is the new intern.”
2: Create content in all formats your customers use
Content creation and enhancement is the No. 1 application of generative AI for marketers. Marketers are using AI to create foundational content such as educational blogs and articles, SEO optimization, social media posts, newsletters, and time-consuming product documentation. The ability to create video from text and vice-versa has been a game changer to offer audiences and customers choices for content consumption.
AI-generated content also frees up time to create specialized content — signature storytelling and value-creation content pieces that help differentiate your company and solutions by providing more profound value to your prospects and customers. These generative AI-enhanced capabilities all deliver on your B2B customers who want self-serve research and content consumption before engaging with a sales representative.
3: Deliver new levels of personalization and experiences
Data is key in understanding, engaging, and delighting your audiences and customers. AI makes it easier to sort through vast amounts of big data from more sources with AI playing the role of the efficient processor, synthesizer, and analyzer. AI can also help marketing teams build the right messages for the right audiences at the right time, delivering new levels of personalization which is critical to developing long-term customer relationships and impressing prospects. With more data processed faster and AI’s capability to track patterns that no human can identify, marketers can drive enhanced one-to-one, tailored experiences delivered across multiple channels such as social media, email, text, and websites.
Be proactive and experiment with AI now
AI tools and applications abound today. You can elevate your knowledge of the use of generative AI quickly because generative AI is so accessible. To jump in and advance your practical knowledge, compare notes with peers on what they’re using and doing, and tap into your formal and informal community of pros you trust (LinkedIn, GTM Insights, Pavilion, Propolis to name a few), and follow valuable resources like @MarTech. Or simply prompt your generative AI-powered search tools to understand how these tools are progressing.
Sometimes, your company may not support using AI or limit access based on policies. No worries. There are so many tools to use in your everyday life that will help you get up to speed to understand how AI works and what’s possible. Many of these apps have free versions you can use and experiment with. And, it should be said that if your company leaders aren’t encouraging the experimentation and adoption of generative AI, it may be a sign your career prospects may be limited. Something to factor into your career plans.
No excuses. Let’s go!
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Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.
