Why generative AI is not a replacement for marketers...whatever the cost-conscious CEO might think!

avatar
by Samuel Pordengerg Jun 1, 2023 News
Why generative AI is not a replacement for marketers...whatever the cost-conscious CEO might think!

There is a mixed reaction to the use of artificial intelligence. Some see it as a way to cut costs, while others see it as a way for marketers to spend more time on creativity. The answer leans towards the second option, but that doesn't mean it's finished for companies.

According to a recent survey by Norwest Venture Partners, marketers are using generative artificial intelligence. Lisa Ames discussed the results of the survey with me and her thoughts on the value of generative artificial intelligence.

Marketers are looking for answers

Ames used to work for B2B software as a service companies but now works with portfolio companies in the enterprise space at Norwest. She helps marketers with everything from strategy to hiring to playing a fractional role.

She decided to hold a marketing huddle with Barak Turovsky. They brought the community together to discuss generative artificial intelligence and created a talk track to show the CEO that it is not a replacement for marketing people.

During the huddle, it was only the CEO that was brought up. The marketers had a lot of questions on how to best use generative artificial intelligence and ended up trading ideas and becoming more open to the bigger opportunities it offers. Ames decided to conduct a survey with a larger group to get the answers they were looking for after they found it to be a great event.

Ames was asked if any of the marketers had the same mindset as the CEO. She said that no marketer wants to part with their staff. They don't think of a place to deploy people. She said that generative artificial intelligence was not a bad thing for marketers.

Marketers are excited about generative AI…

Ames said that the more you play with the tools, the more you think about how they can be used for marketing. She said that it helps marketers approach problems in a different way and can open their minds to new possibilities. She suggested that it could be related to sharing your work with a colleague.

And if someone can just give you something that gets you part of the way down the field, you can always apply your creativity, your editing skills, your expertise to refine it.

In the Norwest survey, 98% of marketers said they were using generative artificial intelligence, with 26% of them being active users. Nineteen percent of advanced users use it five days a week or more.

They are using it for something. There are lots of uses. Text generation was the most common usage in this survey. Video creation tools were used.

The majority of people said they saved time using generative artificial intelligence. Some people said it did not save them time. It could be that even though artificial intelligence is useful, it doesn't always speed up a process, instead shifting where the marketer focuses the most effort.

…but there are still concerns

According to the results of the survey, marketers are concerned about the quality of the content. They can save time by creating base content and doing more creative work with it, but they have to double-check it to make sure it's not sounding like what another competitor is saying.

Ames said that the concerns were about the copyrighted material in the huddle session. What percentage needs to be edited by the company to be considered work?

There are no company policies regarding generative artificial intelligence. Data privacy was a big issue for marketers at the event, according to Ames. She said people don't know enough to be afraid.

Ames was surprised that there weren't many policies in place. She admitted that marketers aren't responsible for policy development, and that many didn't know if there were plans in progress.

When policies affect how they work they should have a say in what's developed, making it their responsibility. Several marketers at a portfolio company said they had policies in place. Larger companies did.

There is a question of whether there is different thinking based on size. For most of the time, the themes were the same for everyone. There were differences between policy development and the ban on artificial intelligence. These were more of a reflection of larger companies.

Convincing the CEO of the best path forward

How do you convince the CEO that generative artificial intelligence isn't a replacement for people? Ames wanted to argue.

Show them the use cases. You know, how this is what you know, this is what I put in, this is what I got out from a prompt, and then this is what I put into it to get it over the finish line. And so I think the more people can see examples of how you're using it, what its limitations are, and what its opportunities are, then I think it grounds it a bit more it makes it more real.

Ames believes that while it can do many great things, it can't do everything.

My take

I wrote this article without using generative artificial intelligence. I used my faithful Grammarly to make sure my spelling was correct. I've tried a few generative tools. I think it's a good idea to use it to help with ideas and to create rough drafts of sections of text that I can improve on.

We can't ignore this technology. It brings benefits. It's important that marketers use it to improve productivity. Getting the right processes in place will help convince the CEO and the rest of the executive team that it's not a replacement for people, and Ames suggests showing them and even getting them to use it.