AI is everywhere, improving and pervasive. The press is flooded with articles about the latest AI advancements and possible concerns about this technology.
Generative AI helps you create text, images, code, and videos. But AI also has the potential to impact marketing and simplify tasks through automation. Marketing jobs may not be completely replaced by AI, but they will evolve with it.
click the book imagebuy.
In the Q&A below, marketing artificial intelligence Co-author Paul Roetzer discusses how AI will impact marketing. He outlines the questions raised in his book, including why his AI is important to marketers, the limits of AI, and the skills needed to remain relevant in the AI age.
Editor’s Note: This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
AI seems to be starting to take off, but it’s been around for quite some time. Can you give some everyday examples of AI that people may not be aware of?
Paul Roetzer: AI has been in the lives of consumers for over a decade. For example, Netflix learns your preferences to recommend shows and movies. Spotify predicts what songs you should listen to next. Amazon predicts what you will buy. All social media feeds predict what you will interact with and what content will be most interesting to you. Many consumer applications predict behavior, a form of AI.
AI content tools such as ChatGPT and Jasper.ai are generative tools, the underlying functionality of which has been revealed over the years. It’s just this year that AI seems to be ubiquitous, including in our consumer and professional lives. Now everyone has access to this technology.
Why is AI important for marketers?
Lotzer: Because it changes everything. Marketers are knowledge workers. We live by thinking and creating. There are four main factors a marketer should consider to determine if her AI can help, he said. Marketers need to ask whether the task is data-driven, predictive, repetitive, or generative.
For example, if you’re trying to send an email, you’ll need to decide which list to send to and when to send the subject. This is a data-driven decision.
It is a predictive decision in judging past performance to drive action. You are trying to predict when someone will open this email and take action.
The repetitive part uses the same process each time, such as sending an email. The generating part is creating images, languages, videos, audio or code.
Thinking about these four factors, marketers do one or more of these categories every day. There are opportunities to use AI to assist with tasks. I usually say that at least 80% of what marketers do every day can be intelligently automated. In the next few years, AI will assist and speed up many tasks.
What are the limitations of AI today?
Roetzer: The technology is great, but it’s in very early stages of development. For example, consider generative AI and AI lighting tools. they always make mistakes. They simply make up information or hallucinate about names, dates, places, and quotes.
Generative AI tools can have high error rates. They are still powerful, but error limits can be a barricade at the moment.
Depending on your industry, such as financial services, healthcare, or law firms, the use of some of these tools may not be permitted. These industries tend to be more conservative about using these tools due to the inherent risks. Technology exists and adds value, but there are still obstacles, such as accuracy, that can slow progress and capabilities.
How do you think marketing jobs will evolve using AI?
Roetzer: It’s a huge productivity boost, so you can get more work done in the same amount or in less time. There are several career paths that are very highly AI-assisted, to the point that some specific roles may evolve.
I don’t really believe in jobs disappearing, but I do believe there will be a reallocation of time and resources as AI can do many of the jobs previously done by humans. I think it will enhance our creative and strategic capabilities.
For example, for ideation and summarization of scientific papers on AI. These papers are thick, so finding the gist rather than reading them all will help you choose which ones to read. I see AI as a way to save time.
Do you think marketing will replace you now or in the future?
Roetzer: I would like to say no, but to some extent it will. There will be a race between reimagining career paths and finding new AI-enabled jobs and roles. We don’t know at this time, but there will be new positions in the next 1-2 years.
There will be more startups as it will be easier and cheaper to get started. These companies will need fewer employees by deploying AI.
We hope that each organization will choose how they use this and educate their leaders on how to think about how AI can be used to enhance their workloads, not necessarily replace people. . For example, a company that has a wish list of projects or campaigns they want to do, but can’t find the time or people to do it, can use AI to change assignments and get more done. .
What skills should marketers learn to stay relevant?
Roetzer: I still believe that marketers need to be creative and have critical thinking and writing skills. Most output from generative AI requires someone to be involved in order to edit or rewrite. It’s best not to rely on AI for all your writing, citing lack of accuracy and insight.
AI writing tools are great for summarizing, outlining ideas, and transcribing, but good editors and writers determine if the AI output is correct and in keeping with the company’s brand. I think is still necessary.
AI is not as creative and imaginative as humans. Marketing still requires some imagination and guidance, but AI prompts are key to knowing what AI should do. There is art and science to advance AI.
Learn more about the pros and cons of AI-generated content.
How do you think marketers should get started with AI?
Paul Lotzer
Roetzer: First, we need to understand this topic. Take courses, read books, listen to podcasts.
And competence comes from experimentation. So if you’re a writer, try 3 or 4 writing tools, give them the same prompts, and see what happens. It’s best to try them yourself to see how they work and how you can incorporate them into your workflow.
Learn more about AI at these conferences.
