- By: Mark Jakobsen
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The marketer’s job continues to get easier!
Let’s face it, the marketer’s job has never been so easy. We have AI imaging software to help us with photos and graphics, writing AI software to help us with our written copy (either complete or tweaking depending upon how much you lean upon it), and not to mention all those AI tools to mine for contact data, interpret your own data, help with SEO, PPC, Google Ads and all the other marketing stuff.
It seems I can’t go a week without some company reaching out purporting to have the best latest tool that integrates AI into the core of their service to supercharge my business and drive me to new heights. Hello growth, profits and the easy life.
It’s not actually that easy
Sadly, or luckily, what we currently have isn’t AI at all, and because of that it still needs a lot of direction and interaction from us as human marketers. What people are calling AI is actually still machine learning, but yes, to all those that have called yourselves “The AI Guy” I understand the correct version of “The Machine Learning Guy” doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Despite ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, Microsoft’s CoPilot or any of the others not being AI, they are still extremely powerful tools, which when incorporated correctly into your marketing processes can help to elevate your content, delivery and results.
Machine Learning vs AI
The two are related, and undoubtedly what we have now as machine learning has the capacity to evolve into true AI.
What machine learning does is enable computers to learn automatically through pre-described inputs to run tasks without human intervention. Think of your email sequences you set up to generate and nurture new customers. Once you have crafted your messages, set and segmented your target audience, you can click start and allow the system to run through and complete the task. Great! But you still need to monitor it to evaluate how you can tweak it to improve the success.
This is where true AI would take it to the next level
Now, what if it was true AI? The process could be completely different. Imagine you had Data from Star Trek on your marketing team. All you’d need to do is provide him with the details of your product and the type of customers you would like and he’d go off and craft the messages, create the graphics, send the emails, monitor, adjust, and probably a whole lot more.
AI would have the deductive reasoning and awareness needed to not just run the campaign but understand why it is working or not working. From that it would be able to adjust accordingly to ensure your marketing qualified leads are boosted as high as possible.
The drive forward
A few years ago when the AI craze started there were plenty of stories asking whether the marketers job was safe. This discussion often comes up when new technology is introduced into an industry.
While it hasn’t replaced us, it is providing us with increasingly more powerful tools at our disposal to use to engage with our audience. And it is making our lives easier, but we still need the human to drive. It can’t currently replace the human creativity or strategic thinking.
No doubt machine learning will continue to evolve, and at some point it may well crossover into actual AI. Who knows what will happen then, it will depend on whether the creator is a Noonien Soong, or a Dr Daniel Graystone. But you know, all of this has happened before. All of this will happen again.
No AI was used in the writing of this article.