Three reasons to welcome our new AI overlords (on Generative AI in marketing)

The title references Kent Brockman’s freakout when interviewing Homer aboard his space shuttle (The Simpsons). “It's difficult to tell from this vantage point whether they will consume the captive Earthmen or merely enslave them…And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords,” he says.

AI is yet another thing that can provoke FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) for the working world in these odd post-covid, macroeconomically uncertain, globally challenging times. If your job involves creating content for a marketing team, for example, you might fear that Generative AI might put you out of work. 

However, not to worry (yet). Here’s three reasons that Generative AI can be a huge help to marketing teams:

Greater productivity to compete instantly:

Nielsen Norman Group found that Generative AI improved employee productivity by 66%. If you've ever used Bard or ChatGPT, you understand the power of quickly receiving detailed responses to any prompt. This represents a huge opportunity for marketing orgs to create content faster. Picture a 10-person startup competing against established market leaders. That company can instantly (as fast as humans enter prompts and AI generates results) create written content that emphasizes their unique value, and activate it across multiple channels. From blogposts to eBooks to best practices, to the emails and subject lines compelling an audience to view the new content, orgs can quickly fill their GTM funnel (TOFUs to BOFUs people!) and execute against a strategy. 

Deeper connection with an audience (through precision and authenticity): 

A marketing team's knowledge of its audience varies widely per industry and market. In B2B tech (and especially for more technical products), many marketers don't have a deep understanding of how their technical products work. For new and existing projects, from one-time webinars to large product launches, they rely on subject matter experts to supply detailed information on buyer and user personas. When SMEs are unavailable or slow to respond, work is delayed. The Harvard Business Review details how AI can write simulated responses, craft specific analogies, and convey meaning to specific audiences. The result is that everyone from technical product marketing managers to newly hired social leads can communicate with technical precision and authenticity to their audience.

Greater team and org efficiencies:

Done with careful consideration and execution, and Generative AI has the ability to free up more time for people and orgs. Forbes reports that AI can give us back around 40% of our time.  Imagine if you could devote time each quarter to aligning your team on strategy, planning the next quarter or six month period, or spend time developing your talent or actually measuring your org’s results.

Just as Brockman walks back his words after seeing the bigger picture, marketers can see Generative AI as a huge opportunity to work faster and more efficiently, with greater connection to their audience. As always, AI needs to be sharpened and driven by humans. At best, work Generative AI produces will make individual marketers more productive, compelling to their end readers, and efficient. I, for one, welcome these new advancements.

What do you think? I'd love to read your (or your chatbot's copy/paste) thoughts.