The Skills You Need to Thrive in the Era of AI As a Marketer

As with any transformative technology, AI has marketing professionals on their toes; leaving them to wonder where the fate of their jobs lie. Should you have to worry and anticipate a massive disruption of AI threatening the security of your job? asks, Alice Oh, Digital Marketing, Specialist at MarketPro

Artificial intelligence has been a trending topic for quite some time now, which comes as no surprise as the use of it is on the rise in every industry. According to a report by Salesforce, 51% of marketing leaders today state that they currently use AI in some scope, with 27% planning to start using it over the next two years. As it continues to grow, it will progressively impact how our society functions and transform the way we work as marketers.

As with any transformative technology, AI has marketing professionals on their toes; leaving them to wonder where the fate of their jobs lie in the era of AI. So, should you have to worry and anticipate a massive disruption of AI threatening the security of your job?

Marketers - have no fear. AI isn’t going to replace you or any of your colleagues just yet... Well most of them, at least. The truth is, that even though AI technology is incredibly advanced (and intelligent), it is not sophisticated enough to completely take over and master the combination of human IQ and EQ.

We haven’t experienced the full potential of AI yet. But as the power of AI comes to fruition, it needs the support of humans and drives the need for marketers to build up their expertise. While it may replace a few routine and mundane marketing functions that don’t require much intellect or skill, it will create new roles and transform the role of the modern marketing expert into something quite exciting.

Here’s how to embrace the future of marketing with AI and ramp up your skills to evolve right alongside it.

Embrace and Accept AI with Open Arms

In order to develop skills suited to support AI, you must first accept and understand the current and potential use cases of it.

AI is particularly helpful when it comes to automating repetitive tasks and sorting through massive amounts of data. From analyzing which type of content resonates with a specific audience persona to curating the content all on its own, AI is incredibly proficient in providing deep insights into the consumer and optimizing workflows. By automating so much redundant work, AI gives you the opportunity to craft more sophisticated strategies and prioritize your time on tasks that make a meaningful impact.

The best way to “survive” the AI shift is to embrace its strengths and how they compliment your own capabilities as a marketer. By understanding the limitations and possibilities of AI, you can better understand how it’s going to impact (and enhance) your work.

Video: Artificial Intelligence for People in a Hurry

Become Fluent in Analytics and Data

AI technology makes marketing tasks significantly more efficient and enhances data-driven decision making. Marketers are now better able to identify their target consumer and understand their needs and wants like never before.

Big data - also known as massive amounts of data that are quite impossible for any human to process - is something AI is well-equipped to manage and sort through. It serves marketers with meaningful actions and insights, pattern predictions, and highlights valuable relationships that may not have been discoverable by the human mind.

However, the data that AI delivers needs to be translated by a human for proper result. In order to do so, you must be able to understand analytics and interpret the outputs to drive meaningful connections and actions. Making these connections allows you to understand the consumer, their behavior and motivation to better serve them and meet their needs.

You Can’t Put a Price on Human Emotional Intelligence

The continuous integration of AI into the customer-centric world impacts how consumers interact with and purchase from brands. This type of technology continuously drives customer demands and expectations higher, forcing marketers to deliver better experiences than ever before.

AI is able to provide social insights that allow you to deliver messages across various channels based on customer behavior. However, it falls short in the emotional capacity needed to genuinely connect with consumers. It lacks the competence in understanding the context of certain scenarios that occur along the customer journey. Different factors like location and culture significantly impact the journey and experience, most of which are possible for only humans to inherently understand.

The empathy and emotional intelligence (EQ) you have as a human allows you to better understand the consumer and tailor content for a highly personalized journey and experience.

A combination of sophisticated analytical skills and EQ empowers you to leverage AI in targeting your core customer in ways that weren’t possible just a few years ago.

Unparalleled Creativity Cannot Be Simulated

As you and I know, we expect more from a brand than just a great product or service nowadays. We want to connect with the company, and expect nothing short of an incredible and seamless buying experience from them. This is essentially what makes us return and go back for more.

The customer should always be at the heart of marketing. From the design of the product to the messaging to the customer service, everything should revolve around the brand’s consumers.

AI drives new, cutting-edge ways to do marketing and ways to share brand stories. And there is simply nothing that can connect to the emotions and feelings of a human better than another human. This is where the unparalleled creativity of humans is incomparable to any machine or technology.

AI allows you to have more free time to focus on creative work and other tasks machines don’t have the ability to do. If you have a unique, creative mindset to compliment sharp technical skills, your level of competence is unmatched to any transformative technology.

Lifelong Learning Is a Must to Survive

AI and other disruptive technologies will decrease the amount of efforts and time spent on day-to-day tasks. But it can never replace the human touch successful marketing requires. In the midst of constant transformation and developments in the tech space, marketers who are able to continuously learn, expand their skills, and evolve quickly alongside technology will always be able to survive.

We predict AI will always need human input in order to maximize its value. Picking up technical skills is particularly valuable in order to get ahead. Doing so will help you “speak the language” of AI and deliver even more value as a marketer.

We also predict that AI will continue evolving very quickly, and its impact on marketing as we know it will be absolutely profound. The ability to constantly evolve and grow will help you adapt to future breakthrough developments - which are inevitable in the digital landscape.

The best marketers of the future will use innovative technologies to enhance their skills and results they drive for their employers, not replace them.

As you and I know, we expect more from a brand than just a great product or service nowadays. We want to connect with the company, and expect nothing short of an incredible and seamless buying experience from them. This is essentially what makes us return and go back for more.

The customer should always be at the heart of marketing. From the design of the product to the messaging to the customer service, everything should revolve around the brand’s consumers.

AI drives new, cutting-edge ways to do marketing and ways to share brand stories. And there is simply nothing that can connect to the emotions and feelings of a human better than another human. This is where the unparalleled creativity of humans is incomparable to any machine or technology.

AI allows you to have more free time to focus on creative work and other tasks machines don’t have the ability to do. If you have a unique, creative mindset to compliment sharp technical skills, your level of competence is unmatched to any transformative technology.

Lifelong Learning Is a Must to Survive

AI and other disruptive technologies will decrease the amount of efforts and time spent on day-to-day tasks. But it can never replace the human touch successful marketing requires. In the midst of constant transformation and developments in the tech space, marketers who are able to continuously learn, expand their skills, and evolve quickly alongside technology will always be able to survive.

We predict AI will always need human input in order to maximize its value. Picking up technical skills is particularly valuable in order to get ahead. Doing so will help you “speak the language” of AI and deliver even more value as a marketer.

We also predict that AI will continue evolving very quickly, and its impact on marketing as we know it will be absolutely profound. The ability to constantly evolve and grow will help you adapt to future breakthrough developments - which are inevitable in the digital landscape.

The best marketers of the future will use innovative technologies to enhance their skills and results they drive for their employers, not replace them.