AI doesn't replace marketing; it raises the floor
Marketing should be judged by results; yet, marketing still wins accolades for a job well done. AI changes that.
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Marketing has always been about creativity and intuition mixed with data. The best marketers understand people and their needs and find a way to connect them to their products and services. While results should judge marketing, results are not always guaranteed or clear, yet marketing still wins accolades for a job well done.
I have discussed how it is incorrect to judge SEO by search engine ranking visibility alone, but SEO is not the only marketing channel where A’s are given for effort. Brand teams will be praised for efforts that lift awareness even if that awareness does not drive sales; creative teams will be awarded for creative copy even when it does not resonate with the audience, and media teams can achieve their targets of efficient spending even before the campaigns go live.
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Now that AI has entered the picture, many people wonder whether this is the end of marketing, while still others declare various marketing channels dead.
I don't think either of these sentiments is correct. If anything, AI doesn't replace marketing; it raises the bar for the basic marketing table stakes.
Overall, AI is a gift to good marketers
AI brings a ton of capabilities that will improve marketers' capabilities. It is incredibly good at analyzing numbers, spotting patterns, and processing mountains of data faster than any human could. This is apparent when finding obscure medical diagnoses and equally valuable when sifting through marketing data.
Segmentation of performance by demographic and geographic cohorts can be done in minutes, while granular A/B testing and performance analyses are suddenly possible. These aren't small achievements; they're tasks that used to take teams weeks or months to figure out if they could manage them at all. Now, it happens in hours, sometimes minutes.
While this is useful, it’s not marketing. That's the groundwork. That's what clears the deck so that real marketing can shine. Marketing isn't about data points or efficiency; it's about telling a story that makes people buy. It's about knowing why someone picks up their phone to search or what makes them pause on a social ad. AI can tell you what's happening but not why it matters. Not yet, and maybe not ever. That's where humans come in, and it's why AI isn't here to push marketers out; it's here to make them better.
The floor is raised, and the ceiling is just as far off
Before AI, the minimum bar for marketing was pretty low in some ways. You could get by with a decent ad and a catchy tagline and hope it would resonate with the right audience, but the reality is that most campaigns are launched on little more than a hunch. The results were hit-or-miss, and the misses were often dismissed with "Well, that's just how it goes." AI changes that. It lifts the floor.
Now, the baseline isn't a hunch; it's a data-backed starting point. Creative can’t just be something you slapped together on Canva; it needs to have realistic imagery and a storyline. Websites can’t just be what you wrote as the company launched; they need thorough content. And from my standpoint on SEO, the content can't just be keyword-driven drivel; it has to have an actual user in mind.
The minimum isn't an MVP anymore; it’s the actual attempt.
When everyone has access to the same AI tool, whether for research, analytics, design, or writing, the difference between good and great marketing becomes more pronounced.
Data might tell you that your audience loves video content, but it won't tell you what kind of story will make them laugh, cry, or, most importantly, share. AI can optimize your ad spend but can't dream up the idea that makes an ad viral. Every business in the same category can pump out the same baseline ads with just a few prompts.
User expectations will go up too
The increased baseline isn’t just a job performance expectation; users will require it, too. They will be less forgiving of poor copy or bad creative if they know they are easily accessible to every company.
Additionally, users will expect a more personalized Internet, given how prevalent it will become with AI. AI excels at this. It can customize emails, adjust website copy, and even change images based on who's looking. A few years ago, personalization was a luxury that big brands with deep pockets could manage if they had the technology and team. Users likely didn’t even notice it. Now, thanks to AI, it's expected.
A human touch is required
And that's where the tension exists. Some worry that AI's efficiency will make humans obsolete. I relate to that concern, but disagree. There's a risk, mainly if people rely too heavily on technology and forget what they bring. The truth is the opposite: AI doesn't diminish the need for creativity; it amplifies it.
When the grunt work is handled, and the baseline is higher, the requirement is to stand out in ways that fake humans personified by AI alone can't replicate. AI can produce a hundred decent ideas, but the marketer picks the magic one.
AI is only as good as the training set
AI is limited by what it's been fed: the average of all past data, ad campaigns, and existing trends. Marketing, at its best, isn't just about being average; it's about shaping the future.
Recall the commercials or ad campaigns that you have never forgotten. Those didn't come from analyzing numbers; they came from people who saw something deeper, something the data couldn't yet prove. AI can tell you what worked yesterday but can't invent tomorrow. That belongs to the creative marketers.
AI is a partner, not a replacement
AI raises the minimum, but it doesn't cap the maximum. It frees up more time for creativity because the baseline can be done in minutes. Marketers with skills and creativity are free to unleash the ideas, the emotions, and the connections that turn a brand into something people care about. The floor's higher, but the sky's still the limit.
For marketers, AI is not a threat but a bulldozer to clear out redundant marketing tasks. You can sit on the sidelines, bemoaning how things have changed, or jump in the driver's seat with AI as a newfound tool.
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I think the trend goes to super high quality buyer education and I‘m loving it.
Really sharp take. Marketing success is often judged by perceived momentum rather than actual movement — especially in brand, creative, and even paid channels. What I’ve been seeing in the UGC space is similar: creators are selected based on aesthetics or follower count, not content resonance or conversion potential.
It makes me wonder… how do we reward the marketers who build the invisible infrastructure (smart briefs, fast testing loops, clean creator ops) versus just the ones who ship what looks good?