I love and hate marketing. Love because it is so vast and versatile: whether you love numbers or pictures, numbers or words – you will find anything. The other side is that after eight years in the industry, many tasks have become tedious: writing ads and figuring out brand messaging doesn't excite me so much, but "a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do".
Thankfully, some clever guys invented ChatGPT, which can do most of that tedious work if we use it correctly. However, that raises another question: will I be able to still have my Dom Perignon and caviar bread and butter, or is it the time to start looking for some fancy spot under a bridge and design a sign "Give me some food, AI has taken my job". That's why I decided to analyse the perspectives of AI overtaking marketing jobs and what skills marketers should keep improving to keep our jobs. Let's go!
How AI Influences the Marketing Job Market
As you could have guessed, I am quite a lazy person, so I will let numbers do the talking:
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According to Goldman Sachs, ~300 million jobs could be affected by generative AI, meaning 18% of work globally could be automated. Ouch, that sounds tough!
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Let's see how things look in marketing. A funny and dystopian website WillRobotsTakeMyJob gives an 18% probability that robots will replace the marketing manager's job. Sounds a bit bad, but it's not a big deal compared to other professions.
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Marketing AI Institute's pollstates that 25% of marketing work will be automated in the following years. That doesn't mean "a quarter of marketers will be fired", but some specialists could meet less workload.
The numbers sound apocalyptic but wait to start looking for a new job. According to the same Marketing AI Institute report, 56% of marketers think that more jobs will be created by AI in the long-term – such naive people, mua-ha-ha (joke).
Also, experts consider that AI will transform the industry but won't eradicate it – marketers need to adapt to new realities and learn new tools and approaches. Let's cover which marketing competencies can't be replaced with AI, so we can catch up and ensure our jobs are safe.
5 Essential Skills for Marketers in the Era of AI Automation
The main area of AI application is repetitive tasks, including routine creative and analytical ones, like writing email copies and social media posts. AI will threaten data-processing jobs, such are marketing analysts and those who work with ad targeting and optimisation.
To avoid firing, marketers need to work on human skills AI can't copy yet to stay competitive.
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The art of asking the right questions.
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Connecting dots and departments.
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Creativity and creativity management.
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Marketing AI tools management.
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Emotional intelligence.
Let's cover them in detail.
Skill #1: The Art of Asking the Right Questions
AI is good at reproducing billions of combinations of existing data, but it's not great at generating something entirely new or getting data from "the analogue world". And what brings us new data? Questions! That's why human marketers are still "on a horse".
Speaking to the target audience, sniffing on competitors, and conducting newsjacking have become more critical than ever. To ask the right questions, it's good to have a checklist of questions for different marketing goals: finding different audience needs, positioning ideas, etc.
To think out of the box and come up with unusual questions, it's good to read books from different fields and do creativity exercises, like finding 101 unique applications for an avocado.
Another critical question is who to ask questions. Except for the target audience, marketers also need to talk to sales, customer support, IT, and lawyers – AI can't build relationships with them. That leads us to skill #2.
Skill #2: Connecting dots and departments
AI in marketing can offer invaluable insights and data. Still, it falls upon us, the human marketers, to comprehend how to leverage that information across the diverse tapestry of our organisations.
Marketing doesn't exist in a vacuum; it intersects with sales, product development, customer support, and other departments. To excel, we must comprehend the entire customer journey and collaborate seamlessly with various stakeholders to craft cohesive and integrated strategies.
By synthesising and unifying, marketers ensure their campaigns harmoniously align with overarching business objectives and deliver a seamless customer experience across all touchpoints. While AI may provide recommendations and suggestions, we must bridge the gaps and assemble the puzzle pieces into a unified whole.
Skill #3: Creativity and creativity management
Regarding creativity, AI still struggles to match the prowess of human marketers. While AI can generate content based on existing data, it often lacks the spark of originality and the audacious thinking that human creativity ignites.
That's why we must foster and elevate our creative skills to conceive innovative campaigns, compelling brand messages, and captivating content that deeply resonates with their target audience. Creativity is the defining factor that sets brands apart and empowers them to shine amidst a sea of competitors.
Furthermore, as AI tools increasingly permeate the marketing landscape, we need to cultivate proficiency in managing AI-generated content. They should be able to curate and refine AI-generated outputs, ensuring they align with the brand's voice and objectives. It's a delicate dance, striking the right balance between harnessing AI's capabilities and infusing that crucial human touch to forge impactful marketing materials.
Skill #4: Marketing AI tools management
With the surge of AI tools in marketing, we must become adept at managing and leveraging these technologies. This encompasses comprehending the capabilities and limitations of various AI applications, handpicking the most suitable tools for specific tasks, and seamlessly integrating AI into marketing workflows.
We must learn how to harness AI tools to automate repetitive tasks, analyse voluminous datasets, and extract valuable insights that inform decision-making. These tools help me the most in the work I do:
- Aiter.io – it generates ad texts and strategy ideas with a click. It helps with routine tasks and is a starting point for idea generation.
- Durable creates a website in seconds. I use it to generate secondary landing pages quickly; after this, it just needs some editing.
- Beautiful.ai – the same as Durable, but for presentations.
- Albert AI – uses AI to optimise ad campaigns.
Of course, now there are thousands of them, so you need to keep an eye on the industry. I use directories like Futurepedia to track new tools.
BTW, remember that managing AI tools also entails safeguarding data privacy, considering ethical implications, and complying with regulations. We need to possess a comprehensive understanding of the ethical utilisation of AI and be well-versed in the potential risks and challenges associated with AI-driven marketing.
Skill #5: Emotional intelligence
While AI can analyse data and predict consumer behaviour, it falls short when understanding and empathising with human emotions. Emotional intelligence is a skill that we need to develop to create meaningful connections with our target audiences.
Understanding consumer motivations, desires, and pain points requires emotional intelligence. We can compete with robots by empathising with our audience, anticipating their needs, and tailoring messaging to resonate emotionally. This skill becomes even more critical as customers seek authentic and personalised experiences from brands.
Additionally, emotional intelligence is vital in building and maintaining relationships with colleagues, stakeholders, and clients. Successful marketers know how to navigate different personalities, resolve conflicts, and collaborate effectively to achieve shared goals.
Conclusion: I Will Survive, You Will Survive
In conclusion, while AI tools are transforming the marketing landscape, there are specific skills that marketers can continue to cultivate to remain relevant and valuable in the age of automation.
We can position ourselves as indispensable assets in the AI-driven marketing world by honing our ability to ask the right questions, connecting dots and departments, nurturing creativity, managing AI tools effectively, and developing emotional intelligence.
So, AI is not a threat to our existence but an opportunity to eliminate all that tedious marketing work nobody loves and concentrate on the fun stuff. Hooray!