Will I be fired? 🔫

Is it curtains for marketers?

March 28, 2024

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Hello AI marketers!

That recent Sam Altman bombshell quote got me thinking. 

For those who don’t know, he said: "AI will do 95% of what marketers use agencies, strategists, and creative professionals for today.”

Marketers already know that controversial statements can get people talking, but is it fair to think AI will totally replace marketers? Or is this a bit short-sighted? 

Here’s my take…

Generative AI has surprised people so far. Altman said himself last year, “Creativity has been easier for AI than people thought.” And creatives are getting hit hardest by AI job replacements. 

So, where does marketing stand? I cast my mind back to an excellent Seth Godin podcast on AI, where he said: 

"The job you have didn't exist 40 years ago, so why do you think it's going to live forever?" 

Watch the podcast below. It’s excellent.

Seth’s comment is super-relevant here. AI might replace 95% of creatives one day, but we have the opportunity to leverage AI to increase our productivity in the here and now. 

By doing that, we can reap the rewards in the present and join the 5% when the time comes. 

Not everyone has that opportunity. Let’s seize it. 

How Can We Join The 5%? đź“Š

Marketing in the age of AI isn’t a magic wand that will solve all our problems overnight. It's a tool – a powerful one, no doubt – but a tool nonetheless. And like any tool, it's only as effective as the person wielding it. And like any tool, it can’t do everything.

That's where we come in. As marketers, it's our job to separate the hype from the reality and figure out how we can leverage AI to enhance our work, not replace it. And that requires a deep understanding of both the capabilities and the limitations of these technologies.

For starters, it means getting hands-on with AI tools and experimenting with how they can enhance our work. As Seth advises, "If you're not using AI for half an hour a day, you don't understand. You should put it on your calendar and go use it."

But it also means doubling down on the skills that set us apart from the machines and differentiating what AI can and can’t do. 

Knowing where AI and human marketing skills start and finish is vital to becoming part of that 5%. 

What AI CAN Do âś…

Let’s think about some areas where AI has a clear edge on humans:

  • Speed and Scale: Godin summed it up: "What AI does today is it replaces competence. If you are simply mediocre, I can get an AI to do it cheaper and faster than you." Use AI’s scale to your advantage for tasks that take you a long time and suck up your productivity hours, such as research, data analysis, and generating content.  

  • Accelerate Iteration: AI allows for rapid experimentation and iteration. You can generate thousands of designs, pieces of content, or product ideas in the time it would take a human to create a handful. While 90% may be throwaways, that 10% can spark new creative directions.

  • Unlock New Abilities: Not even the most experienced full-stack marketer can do literally everything. They leverage tools to help. AI is the ultimate toolset for marketers who can now extend into new areas and offer fresh value propositions to clients, from AI-enhanced web design to powerful infographics generated with AI tools to custom videos, art, you name it. Use AI to extend your abilities. 

What AI CAN’T Do ❌

And now, where humans hold the aces:

  1. Be a Human! Think about what entertains people. People want real experiences. They want to be told stories. People don't just want a recipe; they want the personality behind it. Gordon Ramsay's appeal isn't just his cooking skill; it’s his unique character. Provocative, off-the-wall marketing ideas are often the most effective. It’s a human thing. 

  2. Rebel Against Patterns: By definition, AI works by recognizing and exploiting patterns in data. That makes it poor at rebelling against established patterns – the essence of disruptive innovation. AI can optimize, but it struggles to question the paradigm itself. 

  3. Build Real Moats through Communities: A passionate community around a brand, product, or idea is one of a business's most powerful moats. But authentic communities are built on shared values, emotional bonds, and a sense of belonging that AI struggles to fabricate. A human founder's vision, vulnerability, and personal touch can inspire fierce loyalty in a way that AI's cold calculations can't match.

The point of this exercise is that we need to get away from this narrative that marketing, and indeed marketers, will suddenly become obsolete. 

As I wrote that list, I realized how much AI has to accomplish to fully replace human marketers and creatives. In the meantime, it presents an opportunity for those pragmatists who take advantage. 

But hey, that's just my take. I want to hear from you – how are you navigating the AI landscape in your own work? What challenges or opportunities do you see on the horizon? 

Until next time, keep learning, keep experimenting, and keep pushing forward.

Want to get the most out of ChatGPT?

Revolutionize your workday with the power of ChatGPT! Dive into HubSpot’s guide to discover how AI can elevate your productivity and creativity. Learn to automate tasks, enhance decision-making, and foster innovation, all through the capabilities of ChatGPT.

Here are a few great AI marketing resources and tools I’ve encountered recently. Enjoy!

Have you seen this crazy AI-generated viral video on X? It shows a real woman’s face, but the lip-syncing and voice are 100% AI-generated. This is enabled by HeyGen, which can lip-sync AI-generated spoken words in multiple languages to your face. Amazing for all sorts of marketing applications. 

Here’s a cool hack from Neil Patel. Assuming your site is written in English, determine where your most non-English visitors come from. Use ChatGPT to re-write your blog posts in that language(s), get them checked over, and publish. Neil Patel found this massively increased his international organic traffic, and you can potentially do it in numerous different languages. 

OpenAI released some astonishing examples of its text-to-video model Sora’s capabilities, spanning advertising, marketing, and art. Sora is sure to send shockwaves through marketing and the creative industries as a whole. Get ready for the biggest AI announcement of 2024 by familiarizing yourself with Sora today. 

What did you think of today’s email? Loved it? Hated it? Hit reply and tell me why.

Until next Thursday! Happy marketing.

The AI Marketer