Ivana is co-founder and CMO of Puzzle Partner, a thought leader in travel technology marketing, a licensed pilot and startup advisor.
From my perspective as a marketing strategist, the “A” in AI could stand for “awesome” instead of “artificial.” After all, you provide it with data, present your problem or question, and there it is: a solution as simple as a pin. But therein lies the problem. While AI can offer a solution, it often lacks pizzazz – that unexpected and exciting element that only a human brain can add to the mix. It’s like expecting your Roomba to win Dancing with the stars.
Sure, AI is useful and has its place, but it’s not about marginalizing humans in marketing and creative work. The best marketing provokes, inspires and influences – things that AI, for all its ones and zeros, can’t really understand. The work done by the AI may be technically impeccable, but it lacks warmth, humor and that little je ne sais quoi that makes it resonate.
However, while I don’t expect AI to replace marketers anytime soon, will those of us who adopt it eventually replace those who don’t? Let’s explore.
Decoding the role of AI in marketing
Despite its limitations, AI plays a vital role in modern marketing, automating repetitive tasks from data analysis to content creation. Here are some of the main uses of AI in marketing:
• Personalization: Personalize individual customer experiences to strengthen connections and drive loyalty and loyalty.
• Email Advertising: Help you create engaging content by understanding the behavior of your email list.
• Sales forecast : Predict marketing campaign results, helping you refine future strategies.
• SEO : Helping you learn your audience’s preferences, track your competitors, and improve your search engine rankings.
• Data analysis: Sift through tons of data and identify critical information for campaign strategies.
• Natural language processing: Imitate human language for content and customer service bots.
• Media purchases: Predict optimal ad placements to maximize return on investment.
• Automated decisions: Use data to recommend business growth and marketing strategies.
• Content generation: Creating long-form and short-form content, from web copy to video subtitles.
Wired, but not emotional
Even if AI progresses, mastery of chess and diagnose diseaseshe still stumbles on the complex labyrinth called human emotion. For what? Well, simply because AI doesn’t feel anything and human emotions are complex. Yes, AI can be trained to try to interpret human signals that express emotions, but real emotions remain foreign to it. Stuck on the outside looking in, the AI is the eternal observer, unable to fully understand what it feels like to be the person experiencing that emotion.
So despite all of AI’s technical packages, its emotional blind spot, inability to manage context appropriately, and reliance on predetermined models combine to make it ill-equipped to create truly compelling marketing strategies.
Success in marketing isn’t just about demonstrating the superiority of your product, it’s also about forging an emotional connection. A product can be the brightest star in the galaxy, but it’s not a success if your promotional work doesn’t resonate with your audience.
Analyzing data, without fully understanding or imagining
Then there’s the whole creativity puzzle. Original and innovative ideas are the secret to standing out, and AI, for all its data processing prowess, cannot come up with innovative ideas the way humans can.
And let’s not forget the cultural conundrum: AI doesn’t very well understand the intricacies and cultural contexts that are so important in content creation. We need human interventions to ensure content doesn’t trip over cultural sensitivities.
AI also faces considerable challenges in understanding the complexity of human languages. Nuances, idiomatic expressions, metaphors: they can be confusing for AI.
Compared to AI, we humans are simply better. We ensure that the content is not only grammatically correct but also engaging and meaningful.
Finally, we know how essential it is to maintain ethical standards in marketing. AI, unfortunately, cannot make decisions based on morality. Right now, an ethical mishap could ruin a brand faster than an iceberg sinks the Titanic.
Marketing by humans for humans
AI’s lack of authentic human intelligence can significantly affect marketing strategies. Here’s why: AI doesn’t feel emotions; this is simply not the case. Just like you can’t replace a real Picasso with a print, AI is still a few steps behind when it comes to developing content and marketing strategies.
But let’s be honest here. AI is a pretty awesome tool that helps us in our work, even in content creation. But does it really capture a marketer’s unique creative spark? I’m afraid not. AI handles numbers and trends brilliantly. But understanding the complex feelings of our customers? AI cannot replace human judgment and intuition. This is why marketers are and will continue to be the key to a brand’s success.
And the truth is, no matter how much data you feed it or how well you optimize its algorithms, AI simply can’t replicate the harmonious interplay of humor, humanity and knowledge that humans naturally bring. And if we start relying too much on AI, we’re also doing our job wrong.
That said, we must embrace technology and learn to harness its potential, otherwise we risk being left behind. AI promises to be a powerful marketing aid, much like how GPS helps us navigate our cars. Just remember the human driver behind the wheel. In its current state, we should view AI as an assistive tool rather than a complete replacement for real marketers.
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