[This post was first published as a LinkedIn article on my profile for distribution. Re-posting it here for record keeping]
People say AI is going to kill marketing.
Honestly? Some days, it kind of feels like it might.
Scroll through your newsfeed, and you’ll see the headlines: Mark Zuckerberg envisions a world where you hand Meta your product and credit card, and AI does the rest. Google’s latest I/O paints a future where AI guides users from complex query to seamless purchase, sometimes without ever landing on your website. It’s a compelling vision of efficiency, a strategic masterstroke for these platforms to become the ultimate tollgates of consumption.
And for marketers? It sounds terrifying. If the machines can generate creatives, pinpoint targets, navigate research, and even close the sale, what’s left for us? Is this the moment marketing as a profession becomes a quaint historical footnote?
My answer? Absolutely not.
While the fear is understandable, I believe these advancements aren’t a death knell. Instead, AI is poised to fuel a renaissance of great marketing. But to embrace it, we need to be honest about where we’ve been.
The Siren Song of Short-Term Wins
Let’s face it: for years, many of us got hooked on the dopamine rush of “performance marketing.” We chased easily-tracked conversions and short-term ROI. And why not? Measuring the long-term impact of brand equity is notoriously tricky. Public companies, especially in recent volatile years (barring 2024’s AI infrastructure gold rush), have faced immense pressure for immediate growth and high profitability, with little patience for investments that pay off down the line. An easy-to-measure, deterministic view of marketing is comfortable; it doesn’t demand deep strategic skill if you’re just counting clicks that were likely to happen anyway.
Because that’s the secret, isn’t it? Sophisticated marketers know there’s a world of difference between a transaction and an incremental transaction. Our digital lives leave a trail of breadcrumbs, and modern ad platforms are incredibly skilled at placing an ad just before a conversion that was already in motion. (No, your app isn’t listening to your conversations, no matter how eerily specific that ad feels!)
But is that great marketing? Or is it just efficient harvesting?
Great Marketing: The Unsung Hero of Growth
Great marketing isn’t about converting people who were going to buy anyway. Great marketing is about creating awareness, shifting perceptions, and driving behavior in people who were unlikely to consider you in the first place. That’s the engine of real business growth.
My own hunt for a new backpack offers a perfect illustration. I was initially drawn to one from a specific brand, but a quick look at their website confirmed my fear: it was more than I wanted to spend. This is where AI, like the algorithms powering Instagram, excels at ensuring a transaction. For days now, I’ve been presented with a relentless parade of alternative backpacks, a clear push to convert my demonstrated interest into a sale for someone. But here’s the critical point: this isn’t great marketing building loyalty or desire for that initial brand; it’s efficient, platform-centric consumerism. It solves the platform’s problem of conversion, not necessarily my problem of value or the original brand’s problem of persuasion.
The core issue with the backpack I first liked wasn’t discovery; it was its perceived “value for money.” I thought, “It’s not worth spending that much.” This is where great marketing steps in. It tells a compelling enough story about the brand, the craftsmanship, the experience, or the status that, suddenly, spending that money feels worth it.
You might argue this is also consumerism. Perhaps. But unless you’re exclusively buying absolute commodities or dire necessities, the things you choose are less about what they are and more about how they make you feel. This holds true whether it’s a B2C product or a B2B solution. It could be that expensive backpack promising durability on a remote adventure and a confident stride into a business meeting. Or it might be that B2B software that instills the confidence that it will truly support my business, alleviating the stress of making the wrong choice for my team.
Real marketing is about changing hearts and minds, not just facilitating a sale. It’s about telling a story that makes people feel a certain way.
Storytelling First, AI Second: The New Marketing Order
To thrive in this AI-driven age, we must rediscover our roles as master storytellers. We need to develop potent go-to-market strategies rooted in a unique positioning and a clear value proposition. We must deeply understand who we are talking to and what story will resonate with them.
Then, and only then, can we unleash the incredible power of AI to create a million creative iterations tailored for every micro-segment and sub-audience. But it always starts with the human insight: the who and the story.
This demands a new level of sophistication. We must become adept at measuring both short-term necessities AND long-term brand health. We need the business acumen to generate enough topline revenue at the right margin in the present to fund the brand-building narratives that set us apart for years to come. Remember, marketing is often an operational expenditure that behaves like a capital expenditure. Its true, enduring value unfolds over time. It’s the competitive moat around your business.
So, don’t for a second think that marketing is on the verge of full automation. Real marketing, great marketing, has always been a blend of art and science. We must use the most advanced tools available, harness all the data and insights. But ultimately, how you balance the immediate and the enduring, how you craft a story that cuts through the noise, how you build a brand that lasts, and how you connect with the fundamental human emotions that drive decisions… that’s the irreplaceable craft of a great marketer.
The machines are here to help us, to amplify our creativity and reach. But they can’t replace the heart, the strategy, or the story.
This is our renaissance. Let’s embrace it.