Reshaping the Marketing World with Generative AI
With the emergence of generative AI in recent years, there has been a lot of discussion about potential changes to the way the creative process currently works. The restriction in the time it takes to generate content, along with the changing roles of creatives, is at the forefront of the discussion. This is especially prevalent in the marketing industry, within which experts are already expecting a massive restructuring to take place. By feeding instructions about a brand’s goals and personality into a machine learning system, companies can have access to dozens of outputs that align with their creative needs within seconds.
Seasoned experts are advising companies to employ generative AI’s abilities to assist with catalyzing the idea creation process, rather than creating the entire marketing strategy. With its ability to rapidly birth idea frameworks, the AI offers a canvas for human creatives to evaluate, refine, and cultivate into refined concepts. However, by over relying upon AI, the marketing message can become depersonalized with none of the brand’s personality making it to the final message. Human creatives are unrivaled by AI in their ability to infuse messages with emotion, and therefore are an essential part of the creation process.
As a result, the fears of marketing employees having their jobs replaced by AI are unfounded. Most of the employees within the marketing industry will find their roles increasingly centered around creative direction and design. Most of the simpler tasks will be replaced by the automation abilities of AI, such as drafting social media captions, composing email campaigns, and shaping website copy. The majority of human contribution would then lie in their unique aptitude for creative thinking – an aspect that is absent from AI’s repertoire, yet absolutely necessary for content generation.
This shift could lead to a restructuring of the marketing industry’s employment hierarchy. Certain roles could be rendered obsolete, leading to a huge number of layoffs for the employees traditionally carrying out these functions. Copywriters and virtual assistants have been pinned by experts as a particularly vulnerable role, as their tasks can be easily carried out by AI. Companies are starting to anticipate these trends and favor candidates that have existing proficiency and familiarity with generative AI. Therefore, professionals within the marketing sphere must adapt to and embrace this technology, rather than being fearful of it replacing their jobs. Marketing professionals are encouraged to be aware that AI, when used correctly, will make their jobs more streamlined but couldn’t replace their personal touch.
