Last month, I took my first Waymo ride – a fully self-driving trip through the streets of San Francisco. As I walked out, two other people who had just finished their first walk exchanged surprised looks with me. We shared a mixture of awe and disbelief, marveling that a car could drive alone on city streets.
One day, I imagine I’ll feel the same amazement seeing a completely autonomous marketing campaign unfold – from inception to optimization – without human intervention. This vision of an autonomous marketing pipeline represents the future of AI in marketing.
As we move from today’s point solutions to standalone marketing pipelines, I’ll explore what will change, why it matters, and how marketing teams can prepare for success.
The current AI landscape in marketing: point solutions and AI augmentation
Shortly after ChatGPT was released in November 2022, these magical “AI buttons” started appearing in our software. At first, clicking on it seemed a bit gimmicky – the results often fell short of the hype surrounding AI.
But over the past two years, I’ve seen an explosion of AI “point solutions” in marketing: single-tasking tools that can create voices, generate videos, or design images. Alongside these standalone solutions, larger enterprise suites like Adobe and Salesforce have begun integrating AI capabilities into their software.
Although these solutions help increase productivity, they do not fundamentally change workflows. They act more like co-pilots, assisting us with tasks but not taking the wheel. In our car analogy, it’s like lane assist technology: it helps, but we’re still driving.
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The emergence of autonomous marketing pipelines
Over time, point solutions will consolidate as providers seek to differentiate themselves with more comprehensive offerings. For example, HubSpot, which started as an inbound marketing tool, has expanded to cover everything from sales to customer service. increasingly integrating AI. But its AI functions remain point solutions, offering AI-generated content, customer service agents and reporting.
While autonomous vehicles allow passengers to set a destination and let the car take care of the rest, autonomous marketing pipelines will eventually operate with minimal human guidance. These pipelines will create and deliver content and campaigns aimed at specific results, bringing significant efficiency and effectiveness to marketing operations. Campaign delivery will feel more like a finely tuned engine than a series of discrete tasks, and we will see a shift toward a transparent, data-driven process.
In the future, the campaign design team could collaborate with AI to generate campaign ideas, then rely on an AI-driven pipeline to manage tactical execution: testing ad variations, adjusting channels and refine audiences in real time. Or consider a campaign that uses machine learning to self-optimize and improve over time. The workflow starts to look like this:
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How does this impact marketing organizations?
As you can imagine, marketing roles will evolve significantly in a world of autonomous marketing pipelines. AI takes over tasks like creating thousands of ad variations to test, letting top creatives focus on unique ideas and innovations that AI has yet to conceptualize. (For example, AI could not have written this article because the concept of autonomous marketing pipelines is not yet widely known!)
Other marketers will support pipelines in different ways. A copywriter can work on establishing guidelines for AI-generated content and refining voice prompts for campaigns. Graphic designers could create innovative images or styles, then train AI to reproduce those visuals at scale.
This change will also bring new roles to manage data, infrastructure, workflows and automation ethics. Here are some examples of roles we might see as autonomous marketing pipelines take shape:
Key Skills Required for Self-Employed Marketing
Marketers preparing for an autonomous future should focus on developing data, technology and communications skills.
Data skills
AI runs on data. Understanding how AI consumes and interprets data is essential for marketers. A strong grasp of data fundamentals helps marketers better understand the capabilities and limitations of AI. By honing their analytics and audience segmentation skills, marketers can improve their collaboration with AI, using insights to interpret analytics, measure effectiveness, and react quickly when automation goes off track. of its trajectory.
Dig Deeper: How to make sure your data is AI-ready
Technical skills
As automation grows, marketers will need stronger technical skills. Today we have users ranging from beginners to advanced administrators in tools like marketing automation platforms.
In the future, more complex systems will require us to program, monitor and troubleshoot pipelines. Those with skills in APIs and automation platforms will be better equipped to manage these pipelines without relying solely on IT.
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Communication skills
Effective communication will be key to managing standalone marketing pipelines, as they represent a significant shift. This shift will require clear, cross-functional collaboration as marketers navigate new technical, legal and ethical landscapes. Success will depend on leadership buy-in and effective communication of results within the organization.
Preparing for Autonomous Marketing Pipelines
Although fully autonomous pipelines may seem far away, marketers can start preparing now.
Training and development
Start by developing the technical skills of your team. Close skills gaps with internal courses, certifications and workshops, especially in areas like data. Identify the key skills your team is lacking, then find relevant courses or certifications to fill those gaps. Consider pairing marketers with more technical team members in mentoring roles to promote learning.
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Experimenting with low-stakes pipelines
Encourage teams to experiment with small automation pipelines, such as automating content creation and scheduling. Start mapping workflows to identify where automation could connect different parts of your marketing stack. If you buy point solutions, make sure they integrate seamlessly with the rest of your tools.
Building your internal network
Just as autonomous vehicles require multiple systems to work together, autonomous marketing pipelines will require unprecedented coordination across departments, including legal, IT and data teams. To strengthen your internal network, start by forming a cross-functional AI council with representatives from each area.
Develop a strategic mindset
Although task efficiency is important, focusing solely on efficiency can miss the bigger picture. High-performing teams will look at long-term goals, pipeline efficiency, and customer experience. Be clear on your organization’s goals and align automation efforts with those goals.
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Get the support you need
Keeping up with marketing AI is a full-time job. Seek advice from experts who stay up to date with AI developments and can advise you on platforms, software and strategies to prepare your organization for the future. Mistakes related to unscalable platforms, incompatible software, and unprepared teams can be costly.
Final Thoughts
It still amazes me that we have technology that can make driverless cars. And with marketing AI rapidly evolving, it’s easy to see how marketing could soon follow suit.
Marketing is rapidly moving from standalone solutions to automated pipelines that need to be guided and managed. Some professions could evolve or disappear, while others will adapt to meet the needs of AI.
By increasing their technical skills, deepening their understanding of data, and building critical relationships, marketers preparing now will stay relevant and succeed in the coming world of self-driving marketing pipelines.
Contributing authors are invited to create content for MarTech and are chosen for their expertise and contribution to the martech community. Our contributors work under the supervision of the writing and contributions are checked for quality and relevance to our readers. The opinions they express are their own.
