Will AI take over copywriting?

With a new sunrise era of artificial intelligence, we have seen that marketing-related professions are on the list of specializations in jeopardy. Some experts predict marketing professions will be fully automated, but I believe in the nearest future there is absolutely no way to replace human marketers entirely. Back about 5 years when Google got started to implement optimization algorithms based on AI and big data, I remember SEM specialists were highly concerned that those algorithms would replace them in the nearest future. As we can see, it hasn’t happened.

AI has a significant impact on marketing chores, which makes me personally happy. It’s going to reduce monotonous and repetitive tasks, and it’ll be for the best. We will have more time to focus on strategic and creative aspects of our work. Humans and artificial intelligence can combine the best of each other and collaborate highly efficiently.

To date, there is no way for artificial intelligence to eliminate marketers with their experience, personal approaches and solutions, ability to read between the lines, and simple gut and intuition.

Marketing jobs are not only about technology but also about building relationships with partners, customers, colleagues, and stakeholders, which requires human attitude and communication. Even with chatbots with AI technologies for building customer relationships, it’s almost impossible to replace the personal touch.

No, I don’t believe AI will replace human marketers completely. Although currently AI is being leveraged across many marketing activities (analytics, content creation, social media etc.) removing the entire “human touch” isn’t feasible. Marketing activities will now, and in the near future, require the ability to assess the entirety of a brand’s digital touchpoints, stakeholders, market insights and so on.

As well, successful marketing relies on the collaboration across functional areas and disciplines and the input of creative teams. AI simply cannot provide that. All that said, I do believe that some functional areas could be in jeopardy; maybe not replaced entirely but modified. For example, those roles that already leverage automation in some capacity could be further reliant on AI such as digital advertising or certain marketing automation tools. Again though, someone (a human) still needs to provide the strategy for those activities.
AI is an exciting tool for marketers in that it replaces a lot of the manual practices we used to have to do. It also moves fast and provides far more insight across pertinent areas marketers need. Embracing AI and ensuring it’s part of your overall marketing activities is crucial to remaining competitive.

It’s a hot topic in the industry, and while AI has definitely made a big impact, the answer isn’t so simple. Sure, AI is great at analysing data and spotting patterns that humans might miss, but it can’t replace the creativity and intuition that comes from the human touch. One thing that sets human marketers apart is their ability to think outside the box and come up with fresh, innovative ideas that AI just can’t match. 

Plus, marketing is all about building relationships and connecting with people, and that requires a level of emotional intelligence that AI doesn’t have. At the end of the day, consumers want to feel like they’re being heard and understood, and that can only come from human interaction. 

So, while AI will continue to play a big role in marketing, there will always be a place for human creativity and expertise. By combining the strengths of AI with human creativity, we can create some seriously powerful marketing campaigns that really resonate with people. I truly believe the human touch will always be needed as AI still needs the correct input to give the desired outcome.

The short answer is no, at least not completely. But digital marketers must adapt, and they must adapt fast. The fact is, AI is an incredibly disruptive technology that will shake up many industries and digital marketing is positioned to be one of the industries to feel it the most.

While there seems to be a lot of fearmongering about the effect AI will have on the industry, the fact is, it will not completely eliminate our roles. Instead, I firmly believe that AI has the potential to greatly enhance our productivity and improve marketing campaigns—provided we embrace its capabilities.

AI brings automation and efficiency to various tasks in digital marketing, such as data mining, data analysis, content creation, chat bots, customer journey mapping and so much more.

However, it cannot replicate the creative thinking and problem-solving abilities of humans. We possess the ability to create unique content, form innovative strategies, and make critical decisions that AI cannot match. AI simply cannot replace the overall human expertise and intuition required in marketing.

When it comes to digital marketing in the tourism sector, we’re exploring opportunities to optimise our outputs with content creation across our websites, our social channels and even in automated responses for FAQs. Additionally, there is a growing range of applications for itinerary planning, hotel and resort bookings, and the generation of personalized tours, among other possibilities. The potential for innovation is endless.

However, we must acknowledge that we are entering uncharted territory, as AI advances at an increasingly rapid pace. As much as we like to think we can predict certain outcomes, it is inevitable that there will be far-reaching effects that we cannot fully comprehend.

That being said, human intuition and emotional connection are crucial in marketing, which AI simply cannot replicate. As with any disruptive technology in the history of mankind, we find ourselves at a critical juncture. We either adapt, or we fall behind. AI truly does offer us, as digital marketers, an incredible opportunity to completely innovate how we approach marketing.

AI can replace human marketers in several ways. One is through the use of predictive analytics to analyze customer data, identify patterns, and personalize marketing messages. 

Another is through chatbots, which can engage with customers in real time and provide personalized recommendations. AI-powered tools can also analyze consumer behavior and sentiment to optimize marketing campaigns and improve customer engagement. However, it’s important to note that AI should be used as a complement to human marketers, not a replacement. 

AI and human marketers are most effective when working together, with AI providing advanced analytics and insights, and human marketers providing the creativity, strategic thinking, and personal touch that are essential to effective marketing campaigns.

AI alarmists are trending today, but it will take a really long time for AI to completely replace human creativity, if that happens at all. Sound judgment and customization are still key for every AI-generated text or image before they get published. 

Intuition is still needed in every aspect of marketing, as it’s an ever-evolving industry. The AI-generated data will show which areas to focus on, but if there is a sudden market shift and the team is not intuitive enough to see it early on and create that much-needed pivot, then all the planning and execution will be for nothing. 

Marketing can be a thankless job under companies that put AI on a pedestal and never take their time to really understand the ins and outs of it. They will suffer greatly if they don’t value their employees’ talent and creativity first. 

More companies will learn the difference between a good, seasoned marketer to a new one by seeing how well they’re using AI and other relevant technology to their advantage.

Marketing’s essence lies in our human yearning to create, connect, and make a mark. We’ll always need humans in marketing, but as AI increasingly takes on data analysis, content creation, and decision-making, the landscape is changing. Our edge won’t lie in intuition or execution but in creative storytelling, strong leadership, soft skills, and creative branding.

Our intuition won’t set us apart when it comes to data-based decisions. 
When we trust our marketing gut, we’re only right about 52% of the time, on par with a coin flip (Jess Cook’s Marpipe study illustrates this). Our intuition, much like a personal AI, swiftly processes data but can falter due to past experiences, unconscious bias, and perceived patterns. AI often outperforms us here, so staying humble, grounded, and innovative will be essential.

There will be fewer execution-focused creative roles. 
The number of content creation roles will diminish as AI steps up. We might see smaller teams of Content Facilitators or Content Editors, guiding AI to produce large volumes of content.

Our human soft skills will be important.
With AI doing the data, strategy, and content grunt work, soft skills will matter more than ever. Leadership, teamwork, and emotional intelligence – these will be the differentiators. It’s not just about what data you have, but how you use it. Collaborative, visionary companies will lead the pack.

Creativity will be key in branding.
While AI has improved, it hasn’t quite mastered the art of brand storytelling. But given a detailed brief, it excels. Expect companies to invest more in branding essentials – voice, value props, founder’s stories, and company values. These assets can be fed to AI to create more compelling and impactful content generation.

In my opinion, the question of whether AI will completely replace human marketers in the near future is more rhetorical than practical. It is clear that certain aspects of marketers’ work are already being automated through technologies like Marketing Automation. The growth of data further drives the development of marketing automation.

Artificial Intelligence is undoubtedly a revolutionary technology with transformative effects on various aspects of our lives. However, the idea that it signals the end of human-oriented history, as mentioned in the podcast by Yuval Noah Harari, may be exaggerated. AI can create a seemingly intimate relationship with humans and even mimic human behavior, but it still lacks the complexity and capabilities of the human brain. 

I agree with the sentiment that the most effective approach is a combination of AI and human expertise. AI provides valuable insights, automation, and data-driven decision-making, while human marketers contribute strategic thinking, creativity, and the ability to connect with consumers on a deeper level. While AI may reduce certain demands in the field of marketing, it is more likely to augment and enhance the work of human marketers rather than replace them entirely. Marketers need to adapt and learn how to effectively collaborate with AI tools to leverage their capabilities and improve their marketing strategies. Human understanding of nuances in human behavior, empathy, and cultural context remains a critical aspect of marketing that AI still cannot fully replicate. I mean in a world where humans still need humans.

In conclusion, AI is a powerful tool in the hands of marketers, but human marketers will continue to play a crucial role in the field, especially in terms of creativity, strategic thinking, and building connections with consumers as well as building human relationships. At least in the near future.

AI is just a reflection of ourselves, so I don’t think it will ever replace human creativity and adaptability. Sure, AI tools can churn out some content that can get someone a good grade on a college essay. But marketers will be the ones teaching that college class.

AI is pushing marketers to be more original. AI doesn’t create; it only regurgitates. Based on this, I believe thought leadership will be the next big wave of content. For companies to stand out, they’ll need to take risks on having opinions. It won’t be enough for companies to follow suit; they’ll need to create content that is unique. For example, I recently worked with a biotech client who wanted me to create an ebook on the future of PCR assays. There wasn’t much information that existed about this specific angle. 

AI could have written a Wikipedia-esque summary about the limited information available. However, true marketing asks questions and offers answers. While this made content creation a bit difficult, I was also excited. This ebook was original, helpful content that cited recent studies, built on the company’s distinguishing branding, and offered executives’ insights over keyword stuffing—a marketing piece that AI could not do.

Definitely not and I’m really looking forward to expanded use cases of AI within the marketing function. I believe what we’ll see with AI is the arbitrage of low-value and mainly tactical work that many marketers have misconstrued as strategic and creative work until now. 

Especially in B2B! It’s why you see people freaking out about the potential for AI to replace jobs even now. Because there hasn’t been much strategic thought put into marketing at most B2B organizations for a while now. We’ve opted in for software dictating the strategy when it was only meant to enable it. That’s the human part that AI won’t be able to replace as easily. Content strategy is a great example of this. Marketers that rely solely on keyword research won’t last in the future job market. 

Meanwhile, marketers that use AI expedite their research into a business and its customers with the goal of creating findings and new ideas for content will have a place. Sure, we’ll see the bar rise for marketers. But the trade-off for less manual work and more time spent on the things that make marketing fun and creative is something I look forward to.

Ultimately, no, generative AI will not be replacing human marketers anytime soon. AI programs such as ChatGPT are very skilled at synthesizing pre-existing information and applying it to a new context – precisely the opposite of what is required of the modern-day digital marketer.

In marketing, we strive to deliver new information and apply it to a familiar context (same product, brand, etc.), especially in regard to copywriting. This presents a challenge for generative AI programs, which don’t possess the capacity for interpreting novel information from humanistic ideas such as emotion, value-based judgement, nostalgia, and the like.

If we were to rely solely on AI to write copy, for example, what we are left with is the most efficient and unoriginal copywriter on the planet. Relying on the dataset it was trained on, the AI copywriter can only regurgitate similar-sounding copy based on that dataset and imitate it in all forms of style, syntax, and language. Boring. If you were to write copy that simply imitated all of your competitors in the same manner, my hunch is that copy would not perform as well as it could be.

That being said, generative AI will be a tool to help human marketers achieve their marketing goals. What AI lacks in creative ability is made up for in its ability to reconfigure and optimize. I do believe AI will become a useful tool and disruptive force in the ever-changing marketing space like the Internet was – and much like the Internet, it will not replace the work of human marketers, but enhance it.

There’s too much strategy and unpredictability involved in marketing for AI to run it completely, and I think people like working with other people. No one wants to do a three-hour discovery session guided by a computer. I think marketers will be leveraging AI as a tool, and it’ll make some things easier and allow us to do more.

Once it becomes more accurate, it’ll replace writing or design mills, but not all writers and designers. I see it replacing mediocre content writers who churn out content and write for $.02 a word, or designers who promise you a new logo for $200. I don’t see it replacing high-quality marketing.

I think you have to look at the big picture and how people have engaged with technology so far in order to foretell the future. People yearn for authenticity. For example, people have figured out that most of the blogs that turn up in their searches for information are “biased,” in other words, written by a company that wants to promote their product or service, which means the info isn’t as helpful to them. That’s why many have turned to Reddit and TikTok to get the information, recommendations, and unbiased opinions they want.

The minute someone realizes an information source isn’t authentic, they search for another source. The same thing will happen with AI. Once people realize there’s another source with authentic content, they’ll abandon your AI-generated source for that, which is why humans will always have jobs in marketing.

As an expert in marketing with 14 years of experience, I am often asked the burning question: Will AI completely replace human marketers in the near future, or will there always be a need for human creativity and intuition in marketing?

In recent years, advancements in AI technology have undoubtedly made significant strides in revolutionising the marketing landscape. AI-driven tools such as chatbots, predictive analytics, and content generation have enhanced the efficiency and effectiveness of marketing campaigns. However, human creativity and intuition will always remain indispensable in the world of marketing.

Firstly, while AI is adept at analysing data and identifying patterns, it cannot genuinely empathise with customers. At its core, marketing is about human connection and understanding the nuanced emotions that drive consumer behaviour. Human marketers possess the unique ability to forge authentic customer relationships, an aspect that AI cannot replicate.

Secondly, creativity remains a human forte. Although AI can generate content and formulate optimised marketing strategies, it often relies on existing data and patterns. On the other hand, human marketers can think outside the box, developing innovative ideas and campaigns that captivate audiences and leave a lasting impression.

While AI will continue to play an increasingly prominent role in marketing, human creativity and intuition will remain indispensable. The ideal marketing landscape will involve a symbiotic relationship between AI and human marketers, with each complementing the other’s strengths to achieve unparalleled success.

AI technology enables marketers to plan, analyze, and execute campaigns with unprecedented speed and accuracy. But what about our feelings and desires – those sweet impulses that pull us like gravity toward action? 

AI may never fully replace such nuanced insights and beliefs that rise only from human emotions, but the AI–human symbiosis imperative is delivering powerful results for effective headlines and supporting marketers’ creation of unique, captivating campaigns. An example is Subject Line PRO, a cutting-edge tool now integrated with ChatGPT that gives us the ability to work fluidly with AI to create hundreds of effective email subject lines tailored to the needs of individual brands and unique voices. 

Inspiration comes from the unlikeliest of sources. In an age of disruptors and disruptions, we are lucky if the creative muse shows up to work each day. AI may be the well-rounded
inspiration we have needed all along. A muse for the rest of us.

What are the biggest challenges facing digital agencies today

By far the biggest 2 challenges facing agencies today (which are interrelated) is technology and saturation. The speed to market recently with AI & SAAS base products coupled with the ease of use means almost anyone can launch a digital agency or provide a service to a digital agency such as content production.

The problem is “it is only as good as the data and commands being input.” What I mean by that is unless a skilled marketer is leading the use of the technology, the output will be poor.

How can they adapt to the ever-evolving demands of the market

The key is education. As an example, far too often agencies outsource content to be written for SEO or PPC services (2 simple examples of many) that is below publication quality when returned to the client. The reason for this is technology cannot process emotion and behavioral insight (yet). 

On the flip side, if technology is introduced to an agency to speed up or improve output, the user must be trained by a seasoned marketer on the “what, where, how, and why” so as the input will produce output that is relevant and considers many left-field and strategic elements a typical response from AI or SAAS products would not.

The Future of Marketing: How AI Augments Human Creativity and Intuition for Success

Marketers face different challenges in today’s fast-paced digital landscape, from handling enormous data sets to personalizing customer experiences and optimizing campaigns for maximizing ROI. However, with the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI), marketers now have powerful tools at their disposal that can augment their capabilities and enable them to solve these obstacles, rather than replace them.

Leveraging Strategies with AI

Identifying deceitful activities in digital advertising can be a manual and time-consuming task. With the help of AI-powered predictive modeling and pattern analysis, marketers can analyze data on ad impressions, click-through rates, conversion rates, and other metrics to identify patterns that may indicate fraudulent activities such as click fraud, impression fraud, or ad stacking. Leveraging AI enables early detection and helps organizations mitigate risks and safeguard their marketing activities.

One such AI-driven fraud detection software for anti-corruption is KonaAI. Using predictive modeling, KonaAI can analyze large data sets to identify patterns of fraudulent activities and anomalies that may indicate corruption or fraudulent behavior. 

Automating Tasks and Increasing Efficiency with AI

AI automation tools, such as chatbots and recommendation engines, streamline workflows and save time for employees. For example, with KonaAI companies, can automate repetitive tasks in issues of investigation, so employees can focus on more strategic and creative aspects of their work, increasing productivity and efficiency. Similarly for marketers, AI can be a valuable asset to analyze large data sets at scale, providing valuable insights for optimizing campaigns, personalizing customer experiences, and making data-driven decisions. This automation and data analysis at scale allows marketers to stay ahead in the dynamic marketing landscape.

Embracing the Human Touch in Marketing and AI

While AI brings immense capabilities, it cannot replace the unique skills that marketers possess. Critical thinking, creativity, and emotional intelligence are crucial for crafting compelling brand stories and building authentic connections with customers. Marketers can embrace AI as a facilitator rather than a replacement, leveraging its capabilities to enhance their skills and influence their decision-making. By striking the right balance between AI and the human touch, marketers can unlock new opportunities and achieve greater success.

Among our team I’m probably the most “anti-AI” personality. In saying that, from an operational and productivity stand point, the possibilities are endless.

In theory, there are 2 core uses for AI: assistance, and production. Practically, the development in marketing assistance tools and features will be something that will help marketers increase ROI for our clients, which is the end goal, right?

We constantly see developments in multiple tools and resources, whether it be Google’s ad platform, Meta, or even assistance tools such as Semrush and Ahrefs. The development of these platforms, even in the last 12 months, has helped nurture not only an increase in team productivity, but also an improvement in client results. Yes ‘automated’ campaigns like Google’s performance max or Facebook’s advantage plus campaigns are very much in their infancy stage. It is exciting to imagine what the future could look like.

When we consider at a tool like Canva, for example, I believe we can take some inspiration of what the world of ‘marketing professionals’ will look like in the near future. Canva is an excellent tool, however what it has done is level the playing field for graphic designers. Essentially, it has equipped beginner graphic designers to be able to produce the work of an intermediate graphic designer. However it hasn’t necessarily enabled the graphic designers in the middle, produce work at a higher quality. Contrarily, the expert graphic designers, before the rise of Canva, have been able to produce their work quicker, and often better.

If we can take anything from the rise of AI already, we should be able to surmise the below:

• Creativity will always have a place in marketing. If we as marketers can retain our creativity and leverage the upcoming AI platforms, we should be able to see our work output be of a much higher quality. However, if we don’t prioritise creativity and ubiquity in our approaches, we’ll likely be left behind.
• AI can never replace human relationships. Relationships with our clients, our peers, and importantly our craft will always be valuable.

At the end of the day, who knows exactly what the entire workforce will look like in the future. We all have to pivot in ways. I’m looking forward to advancing our craft with all available technology, and getting great results for our clients, for as long as we can.