Generative AI is a big elephant in marketing rooms around the globe.
For years experts have predicted the potential disappearance of traditional jobs due to AI and automation. Did you hear about the robot that can make cocktails?! Whatever next?
Next is that many marketers are asking valid questions: Is my job at risk? Can (or will) robots and ChatGPT effectively replace us?
ChatGPT and Generative AI in B2B Marketing
AI and tech based on AI have been around for the better part of the 21st century, depending on when you start tracking. The arrival and rapid adoption of generative AI tools in 2022, such as ChatGPT and Midjourney, have left us in awe of their capabilities.
These tools seem poised to replace a multitude of marketers’ tasks, including content creation, design, and some light coding. Blogs, web pages, and ads can be written in record time, with images as rich as their orchestrators’ minds, created in a heartbeat. Meetings are recorded and summarised and tasks are created before the meeting even concludes. And the list of day-to-day tasks conducted by generative AI continues. Speed and effort have become a commodity that generative AI literally spits out.
It’s safe to say that if marketers ARE NOT using some form of generative AI in 2023, they are less effective than they could be.
With this in mind – If tasks are taking less time and effort, will fewer B2B marketers be required? Will marketing juniors, for example, become a dying breed?
Why Generative AI Won’t Replace B2B Marketers
So far, it can’t. This is largely due to two deficiencies:
Deficiency one: The human element of marketing - psychology
No doubt, generative AI is shaking things up in marketing as a whole, but it’s far from taking over the heart of marketing (or sales) – understanding how people tick. Marketing and sales are realms deeply connected to our understanding of human behavior. As humans, we possess a unique capacity to grasp the intricacies, slang, emotions, and subtleties of our target audiences - qualities that artificial intelligence cannot replicate. Or will it?
The nitty-gritty, the feels, and all those one-of-a-kind audience vibes, humans still outsmart the machine.
Let’s take creativity for example, in an increasingly competitive market, whether it’s cybersecurity or health insurance, brands need to stand out from the competition. In order to stand out, you can not rely on generative AI which is, well, generic. A person with a crazy brain instructs the machine on what kind of crazy image is needed.
Standing out also means understanding your target audience in a way generative AI can’t. An experienced marketer will be able to determine whether the image created on MidJourney can resonate with the target audience.
Deficiency two: The human element of marketing - experience
The unsung heroes are the skilled individuals who operate and optimize these AI engines. Their deep expertise in the field is indispensable. Generative AI tools are worthless, or in professional marketing terminology, garbage in, garbage out.
- If the prompts used aren’t precise enough, the output will be highly generic.
- If the person writing the prompt isn’t a marketing professional, the prompt won’t be precise enough.
- If the person reviewing the prompt and its output, then the output will largely be incorrect, inaccurate, generic, repetitive, or all of the above.
For example, AI can write your cybersecurity blog BUT without professional intervention, the content will be highly generic and therefore useless beyond its fluff and buzzwords. And you know what we think of buzzwords, right?
What about B2B Marketing Juniors?
Generative AI will greatly help juniors to produce junior work more quickly and efficiently. For example, up until recently, writing social media posts for a blog would have literally taken hours. Especially if you need to write several versions in numerous styles. Likewise for writing ads. Now, generative AI prompts can produce variations in record speed. They can also mimic specific writing styles.
Let's take one of our previous LinkedIn posts as an example:
"Buzzwords and jargon are KILLING your marketing campaigns!
Come on admit it, how many of these yucky buzzwords have you used in your marketing campaigns?
"Seamless", "End-to-end", "Robust", "Tomorrow is now", "Flexible", "Transparent and all-encompassing", "Beautiful", and of course, our favorite of them all, "Streamlining"... 🤢
Don't beat yourself up too much. You're not the only one.
Here's how you can stop this form of verbal sewage from damaging your campaigns and what you can do to improve your messaging so that it targets the right people for better results.🎯"
Now, let's see how ChatGPT rewrites this post, changing its tone to be more professional:
"Eliminate Overused Buzzwords for More Effective Marketing
It's time to address a common issue in marketing: the overuse of buzzwords and jargon. How often have you found yourself using terms like "seamless," "end-to-end," "robust," "tomorrow is now," "flexible," "transparent and all-encompassing," "beautiful," or the notorious "streamlining"?
Don't worry; you're not alone in this. Many marketers fall into the trap of relying on these clichés.
To enhance your marketing effectiveness, it's essential to eliminate these overused phrases and focus on crafting messaging that resonates with your target audience, resulting in better outcomes."
This time, I told ChatGPT to shorten the text and use slang:
"Ditch Those Buzzwords, Fam! 🚫"
We've all been there, tossing around buzzwords like "seamless," "end-to-end," "robust," and more. 😅
But here's the lowdown: Cut the clichés, focus on what resonates, and watch your results soar! 🚀📈🎯"
It does mean that juniors will be learning different tools and skills for their job. But change is good and nobody enjoys writing social in 20 styles.
We're at a pivotal juncture where junior marketers can evolve rapidly. Their fusion of advanced generative AI tools and creative human thinking propels them forward. AI may contribute 80% of junior output, but the remaining 20%—entailing human discretion, attitude, and contextual understanding—remains irreplaceable. Don’t be afraid to use AI tools fearlessly but intelligently at the same time.
As we cruise through the early stages of the generative AI revolution, these tools are leveling up our marketing game. It's high time for both the newbies and the OGs in the biz to hop on this wave, soak up some game-changing knowledge, and use AI to flip the script in this ever-changing industry. So if you are nervous about losing your job? Don’t be. AI and AI tools for marketing have not supplanted junior professionals in marketing and revenue operations (Revops). These domains require human expertise for success. Also, if marketers no longer hire juniors, there will be no future senior marketers. That means bye-bye to future CMOs and other high-ranking marketing positions.
Hope this brought that smile back to your face. If you want to learn more about how we can integrate AI with your marketing efforts, reach out and let me know. We’ll grab a coffee.
Best,
Billy
