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Is AI-Driven Marketing the Future or Just a Passing Trend?
AI is transforming the way we approach digital marketing, from automating content creation to personalizing customer experiences at scale. But is it really the future of marketing, or are we just riding a temporary wave?
I’m curious to hear how everyone is using AI in their marketing strategies. Are you relying on tools like ChatGPT for content creation, AI-driven analytics for optimizing campaigns, or automating customer journeys with AI-powered chatbots? What impact have you seen in terms of ROI and engagement?
Do you think AI will eventually replace more traditional marketing methods, or is there still an irreplaceable human touch that technology can’t replicate? Let’s dive into how AI is reshaping the digital marketing landscape!
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1 Reply
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There are certainly efficiencies that AI is going to provide over the long term, but we’re also in the middle of an epic hype cycle, so it’s hard to know exactly the impact it’s going to have. I suspect the SEO world is going to change significantly, and I hope that AI will give room for more personalization, but beyond that it’s hard to know exactly.
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AI in marketing is definitely being discussed more than it’s implemented.
Where I work, we are learning what benefits AI marketing tools can bring into our strategies but thinking it could replace than humans we have working in our team is no where near.
AI has a lot to work on which our minds have already conquered. -
It all depends on consumer relation to it. So far it seems to be associated with corniness and tackiness, at least with an established brand. The problem with AI was its timing… we could produce extremely high-quality content pre ai with relative ease so that’s a huge hurdle. Also, people like to know you put effort in your content; it is a huge paradox – people are reluctant to consume content that is cheap no matter the quality.
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The future of social media will be determined by advertising, the same way that advertising helped to shape the platforms we know and use today. Publicly traded social platforms have their value determined by assets, like most companies, but unlike most companies, the major assets for social platforms are Data: What eyeballs are on what product, whether that impression leads to a conversion, and what the aggregated data can reveal about the audience/consumers.
Its worth pointing out that Machine Learning has been used at scale in data aggregation and analysis for over a decade. Most programmatic advertising services already have machine learning folded into their workflow for audience optimization and insights. Whether or not those tools have been making better ads? Have they been increasing ROI? Thats up for debate. Its certainly profitable for the DSPs [companies that sell and host adspace], but a lot of companies, including giants like Johnson & Johnson, have largely turned away from programmatic buys [which include the personalized ads you see inserted as banners or in-line videos on platforms like TikTok and Instagram], favoring more direct forms of digital marketing, including B2B on social platforms. Apparently, what they have noticed is that the sales of some products don’t respond to ad buys, even though they may respond well to others. Some of the most effective keywords in programmatic buys have to do with class action suits [like mesothelioma], political campaigns, or business services [squarespace to State Farm small business insurance].
What all of this means is that the tools used to parse data at scale, the precursor to “AI Tools” as they are being sold to us today, have shown success in some areas, and haven’t lived up to expectations in others. The problem is that the platforms pushing these tools are claiming broad utility instead of specific utility [“You can use this for A,B,C,D,E,etc.” vs “Here is a specific use case”], and its very likely that a lot of the companies trying to implement these tools at scale will roll back the services they offer while audiences seek out better tools more suited to their needs.
Generative AI has a similar problem: Audiences seek out authenticity and connection, and social networks tend to form along those lines. Sure, there is a lot of hype surrounding generative AI, and there are a lot of accounts that get good numbers on mainstream platforms, but the quality of that engagement doesn’t reflect what we’d expect from a stable audience with sustained engagement. It performs well if you’re just looking at engagement on week-to-week graphs, but hasn’t shown that sustained stability that makes for valuable advertising space, which is how platforms make their money.
jfc I wrote an essay, sorry
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I’ve been exploring AI in marketing quite a bit. I’ve tried using Jasper for content generation—it helps speed up the process, but you still need a human touch to make it engaging. Zapier has been great for automating workflows, especially when integrating different marketing tools. Meanwhile, Pulse social monitoring for Reddit has made my Reddit interactions way more efficient by suggesting relevant comments tailored to subreddits I’m focusing on. I think AI is here to stay, but it’ll work best alongside human creativity and strategy rather than completely replacing them. It’s more about enhancing what we already do, not taking over entirely.
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This will likely be an unpopular answer.
AI will wilding impact marketing. I’m the CEO of three digital marketing agencies and I see it coming on strong.
ChatGPT, in particular, has brought inexpensive AI, efficiency and creative solutions to the masses, and agencies are feeling it.
A top notch branding agencies told me they’ve “been decimated” since ChatGPT was released.
A vendor that we outsource writing to lost 50% of their work/leads within six months of ChatGPT’s release.
With AI search results, SEO is becoming less critical.
Although my agencies haven’t been impacted, we see the writing on the wall and we’re working on beating the technology to the next punch. It’ll first infringe on the lower end of the market, then as they see results and the technology improves, it’ll work its way upmarket.
The trend in AI improving over time is inevitable. No technology remains stagnant over time, and AI will be no different. Technology not only improves over time, the rate of improvement accelerates over time. The rate of improvement is turning from horizontal to vertical faster now than ever before.
Due to this increase in the rate of improvement, we will see many more changes in the next five years than we did over the past five years. Think back to what we’ve seen in the last five years. The next five years will see that plus another 25-75% on top of that.
We know AI will be better than your average marketer, but will that happen in 50 years, 10 years, 5 years, 1 year, or five months?
It’s literally just a matter of time. I don’t know when, but I know it will happen. I’m guessing sooner, not later, and that’s what we’re hedging against.
The real question is, What to do now to prepare?
Crystal ball time…
As time goes on, the “digital” in digital marketing will be more reliant on AI. We saw it happen with advertising targeting, and now it’s happening with the creative side.
We won’t need as many people to target ads. We won’t need as many people to SEO pages. We’ll need fewer people to build webpages, which will be less valuable to the world as SEO demand diminishes due to providing the answer instead of links to answers, as automation takes the heavy lifting of web dev away, and as AI shifts to answer search queries from other sources of knowledge than webpages.
What’ll likely be less impacted is the demand for top talent for bigger companies and those who are investing is standing out. Lower end clients will move to free or low cost solutions quickly. Higher end brands will utilize AI, but they’ll still need creative and talented humans to set themselves apart from the masses who leverage AI and who all look and market the same as everyone else.
That’ll leave good old fashioned marketing with a heavy dose of branding, positioning, messaging, and advertising.
Our industry will be going back in time. To a time before most of us reading this, including me, witnessed. Think Mad Men type of marketing.
Marketers and “agencies” with little to no experience or talent will get pushed out as easy money tightens up.
Those with real talent, experience, and resources will leverage AI and thrive.
I know…an unpopular opinion, but we are in for consolidation.
What to do about it?
If you’re a career marketer, get a job with a rock solid agency. The very small agencies are in for a rough ride.
Watch Mad Men start to finish. Take notes.
Read autobiographies from OG advertisers like Ogilvy.
If you’re an agency owner, align yourself other agencies who have a vision, resources, and the fortitude to create solid processes with solid people. Listen to industry thought leaders. Get into an alliance with others who share best practices and reflect on their vision of where the industry is going.
Don’t grasp to the old ways. Don’t fight it. Embrace change.
I know this is not the answer most will want to hear, but I hope this helps.
~ Erik
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