Can AI replace my job?
As a marketer, I tend to ask this when Artificial Intelligence paved its existence in the new world of work, especially in the digital marketing industry. I was skeptical back then and believed it was my other competitor at my job roles.
As a result, I didn’t use it. And I know I’m not the only one.
Many marketers were also afraid to use ChatGPT and Bard when it was released in the early stages. They believe it is only a passing trend or a mere threat to our job security.
Imagine, the tasks you can manually finish in an hour or day can be generated with just one prompt. And if you’re a marketer who has been in the industry for a long time, AI in marketing innovation is disturbing at first.
But as time went by, I realized how much time and opportunities I wasted by not leveraging AI tools. When I started using it, it widened my horizon on how to use it to my advantage and step up my marketing game. There’s so much potential AI can offer in minimizing your repetitive tasks and focusing on more creative marketing activities.
So, if you’re wondering if AI can replace marketers? My answer will be a firm NO.
How to use AI in Marketing?
According to Karim Lakhani, a professor at Harvard Business School specializing in Artificial Intelligence, it is not AI that will replace humans, but a human who knows AI will. As we evolve in a more technology-driven workplace, it is also the time to embrace AI and harness its potential to make your business develop. Instead of perceiving AI as a threat, look at it as a tool that can make your job easier. AI was created not to replace humans but to promote human-AI collaboration to achieve better results. There’s no shame in using AI tools to finish your marketing tasks because it was made for that. It can save you time and effort for work that can be automated and rely on data-driven strategies.
Aside from that, do you know that ChatGPT is not only one AI tool? I know we mainly relate to ChatGPT if we discuss AI software, but many options are launched out there that specialize in helping you in different marketing categories.
Below are the tools you can refer to that is suitable for your marketing needs:
- For your content writing: ChatGPT, Jasper, CopyAI, and Bard
- For video purposes: Fliki, SuperCreator, Runway
- For better audio quality: Krisp, Altered, Voicemod
- For coding: Github Copilot, AutoRegex, Lightning AI
- For productivity: Notion AI, Albus, SlidesAI
- For images: Midjourney, Canva AI
- For meetings and presentations: Tl:dv, Loopin, Tome, Desktopus
These are some software you can consider as your assistant in your marketing tasks. Most of these offer free trials and monthly subscriptions depending on how difficult it can be to generate your work. However, bear in mind that some AI tools are still prone to misinformation and limitations as they only scrape all information from the web. Being too dependent on them without fact-checking and reviewing them may still be an issue for a long time.
Marketer’s Advantage in the Rise of AI
Now that we define AI in marketing, it’s time to move on to how marketers can take advantage of it. With the rise of AI, most marketer’s jobs can now be automated, which lessens their work. But there’s one marketer’s skill that can never be comprehended or replicated by AI.
And that is to think and speak like a real human.
Yes, it is possible, that AI can improve to more personalized and human-like content. But if you read content on the web or social media, it is easy to distinguish what is written by AI or not.
I remember using ChatGPT to generate captions for the brand I handled, and it is evident, to me as a marketer and to the other audience, that the caption is AI-generated if I just copy-paste it as a whole. And if you want to build a genuine community for your brand, using that will only make them not trust you.
As someone who uses ChatGPT in my work, I think I got the formula for how it works. Most of the time, there’s only one source of the topic you want to generate. Whether you create a better prompt or play words so ChatGPT can give you a better answer, it will only be a paraphrased version of the initial response. It means that if you only rely on it without revising it, it will just add noise and won’t resonate with your community.
Making all your money and efforts go to waste. These problems are the reasons why you still need to hire marketers.
Now, as a marketer, how can you market yourself to your clients in the rise of AI?
- Optimized and Personalized Marketing Solutions
We can’t deny that there are still allegations that clients may just choose to subscribe to AI tools rather than hiring marketers. For me, there’s no problem with that, especially if you only have a tight budget and need a temporary marketing solution for your business. However, building a brand without marketing teams is not sustainable as you grow. Every brand needs personalized strategies because they have different pain points and goals. And AI tools can’t generate that. If yes, it will only give you a shallow answer and not based on expertise.
This is the first reason you shouldn’t fear that AI can replace you. Remember, you are honed by your education, years of experience, past job opportunities, and flexible and creative mindset. Your mastery of your craft will not be on the same level as AI tools. What you can do is utilize AI to give your data-based answers and then work on providing deeper insights into things like customer research, brand message, and content strategy, which are the foundation for optimized and personalized marketing solutions.
- Focus on Creative and New Ideas
In the years when AI tools were not yet a part of the workplace, marketers spent more time finishing repetitive tasks like reports, researching, and from-the-scratch editing, which took most of their time. Having many responsibilities on their plates makes their creativity slumber. As a marketer, creativity makes you stand out from your target audience. These are why we applaud Barbenheimer, Fenty x SuperBowl, and Angkas’ marketing campaigns. They provide fresh ideas on incorporating your brand with your market using creative and out-of-the-box campaigns.
Now that marketers can add AI to streamline their workflow system, it gives them more time and focus to prioritize producing new ideas and brand stories that their community may love. It also makes their content research easier because AI can help them give outlines, summaries, and trend reports on topics they want to know more about.
- Time to Upskill and Learn New Skills
I remember reading a LinkedIn post telling me that the rise of AI can be a test to determine who the true marketers are. Do you know why? Because if you are genuinely a marketer, you can easily spot the difference between you and an AI. If you observe that the quality of your work is no different from what AI-generated content can give, it is time to adapt to changes and upskill. Marketers need to be flexible and open to change. As we live in a digital era where everything can change in an algorithm, trends, and updates, staying stagnant in your old skills can help your competitive edge. The future of marketing will be integrated into AI innovations. We must face that. And if you’re not consistently upskilling yourself, clients may choose AI tools over you.
Aside from that, AI innovation also opens new skills that marketers must have as we navigate digital marketing. Some examples of skills marketers should learn are data analysis, algorithmic marketing, AI-driven content creation, and chatbot management. These skills can help you know tips on how to use AI tools properly and ethically.
Marketer-AI Collaboration
In conclusion, marketer-AI collaboration is fundamental to creating better marketing strategies and content creation. Artificial intelligence tools may not be as efficient as how marketers work, but they are incredible at data processing and automation. On the other hand, marketers are experts in understanding the human psyche, weaving creativity and storytelling, and provoking emotions to their desired audiences. When marketers and AI team up, it can be a powerful duo! Combining the two makes the system faster, more efficient, and effective. In the future of marketing, marketers-AI collaboration will be more evident as it enables marketers to utilize AI tools to focus on creating more complex and personalized tasks.
So, if you’re a marketer like me, don’t overlook the power of AI. Leveraging it is a win-win solution! Just make sure that you use it with the utmost responsibility and accountability.
