Meet the Marketing AI-gency of the Not-So-Distant Future

When I started my agency in the early 2000s, my vision of success was a big loft-style office filled with lots of talented professionals working on exciting projects.

I also wanted a powerful server, state of the art phone system, color photocopy machines, banks of computers and a large boardroom with a big glass table.

Fast forward to 2022. If I were starting a firm today, my vision would still include talented people and great clients. But pretty much everything else has changed.

Big office? Too much overhead.

A server? Why spend money on a machine that's out of date as soon as you boot it up. Better to use the cloud.

Phone system? Um ... I'll take smartphones and Zoom.

Computers? Tablets or laptops (and extra wide screens).

And then there's the matter of on-site attendance. Why make people work from one office all the time when they can be just as productive from home?

We all know how much the pandemic accelerated the digital transformation that's been happening for the last few years.

And now there's another wave coming right behind.

Are You Ready for the Next Marketing Transformation?

A few weeks ago, I wrote about strategies to help you prepare for the onslaught of creative AI assistants.

What I didn't mention was how quickly we'll need to adapt.

Especially since we're heading toward another big economic shift caused by inflation, higher interest rates and a possible recession.

If you remember, the last downturn decimated the traditional media industry and altered its trajectory. Some outlets like The New York Times saw the writing on the front page and adopted a digital-first approach. Others were too wedded to their lucrative business models that seemed to be written in disappearing ink.

And if marketing and communications departments are forced to make the type of cuts we've been seeing of late in Silicon Valley (I'm looking at you, Twitter), the industry will have to find new ways to become efficient and productive in order to survive.

The Next Reality Isn't Virtual But Does Rely on AI

The Institute for Public Relations published a recent post of mine on their LinkedIn page, where I took a trip to the metaverse (well, actually a Meta Horizon workroom) and imagined what the future of reading, writing and research might be.

And a few days ago, I was talking about this with my friend and colleague, Alex Sevigny, and we started sketching out what a human-AI workflow might be—not in a distant metaverse—but pretty darn soon.

Say you own a marketing agency, you don't need a VR headset to imagine this scenario. It's 10 am and your client emails a brief describing a challenging project. You have till the end of the day to put together your winning pitch.

And that's where you could turn to AI. Here's a quick sampling of what the AI can deliver right now (or will be able to soon):

• Target customer. Agency researcher types a sentence describing the brief into an AI research app that scans the existing client CRM and, based on past behavior, identifies and segments the ideal audience your client wants to reach.
• Big idea. Writer enters audience type and pastes a one-sentence summary of the brief from their POV into the AI writing app (currently available and not that costly). Within within seconds they get a long list of ideas. While many are junk, there are several nuggets that spark the writer's attention.
• Copy. Writer enters one or two unrefined concepts into the same writing app, asks for headlines and longer-form copy. Several rough but workable drafts are created within a minute or two.
• Editing and refining. This is where human talent comes in. Writer sifts through the various options, refines, edits and moves things around. In a much shorter timeframe than before there are at least two usable drafts.
• Design. Writer shows copy to designer who comes up with a description of a visual and feeds that into a text to visual app (again, currently available). After a couple of passes, the visual is created and refined by the designer.
• Video. The output is then fed into an AI video generator. Within minutes you have a short video that could be used on social media or as the mockup for the creative that will need to be shot. You can also bring it to life with pre-packaged music and an AI voiceover or record one of your own.
• Distribution. Writer inputs marketing goal and uploads creative options into an AI digital asset management platform. The platform then chooses the best creative combinations to match various audiences, as well as timing, frequency and channels and how to adjust based on real-time feedback.
• Report. A mock AI-generated report shows what an analysis of the targeting and campaign will look like, including which creative performed best and strategies to increase ROI.

Pitch done with plenty of time to spare.

How many marketers will be involved? You might be better off asking how many marketers does it take to change a lightbulb?

I can tell you this: it will be far fewer than what we have today. And that's a disheartening thought.

Take Stock and Adapt

Which is why I believe this is a good opportunity for marketers to be proactive, take an inventory of your talents and what you do in your current role. Then imagine some future scenarios and figure out what types of skills you might need to provide value and become indispensable in the soon-to-be-normal new frontier.

1. If you're in research, how can you provide additional insights based on an AI's recommendations?
2. For creatives, how good are you at spotting the gem of an idea in the rough and then polishing it till it shines?
3. How good are you at analysing patterns, developing strategy, editing/polishing copy and designs and providing an understanding of human behavior and why your campaign will achieve business goals?

You also need to educate yourself on what narrow AI is made for (hint: poring through reams of data to make statistical predictions) and how you might use your knowledge and creativity to take an AI output to the next level so your campaign dazzles the customers you're trying to reach.

Testing the Tools

One way to get started is by testing out tools that are currently available and figuring out how they can help you do your job.

Integrating AI into the creative workflow is the topic of this week's Digital Marketing Trends video. I talk about some of the tools available today, many of which offer a freemium model.

I think you'll be pretty, pretty amazed by how quickly you can go from a one-line prompt to a finished script, artwork and video.

Check it out the video and let me know what you think.

Connect With Martin

And now, if you'll excuse me, my AI assistant just reminded me it's time to hit publish on issue #66.

Have you had tried any of the AI writing or design tools? How would you rate them? And in what ways do you think they'll reshape marketing and PR? Please add your thoughts in the comments.

Be sure to reach out if you have questions about any of the videos in Digital Marketing Trends, or my other?LinkedIn Learning courses.

If you want to find me, follow me on?LinkedIn?or?Twitter.

Or visit?my?my website?and send a message or a question.

See you in a couple of weeks! At least I hope it will be me and not my replacement AI!