Can AI Technology Replace Digital Marketing Agencies?
Some industries fear their demise due to artificial intelligence, while others embrace it for their benefit. However, the change will occur regardless of how we view it. Artificial intelligence and technological advances are inevitable, but they might be beneficial in more ways than one.
What does this mean to digital marketing agencies?
Digital marketing is one profession that benefits from technology, and many of its sectors can be automated and quickly adapt to technological advances. Marketing professionals often use software and tools to automate tasks that consume most of their time.
Do we need to be afraid of AI taking over digital marketing jobs in the future? Instead, should we embrace AI and allow it to be part of our marketing efforts?
To reach these answers, first, we need to explain what AI stands for!
What Is Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) uses different technologies to perform and allow actions or tasks. AI is designed to process information like it has human-like intelligence. In addition, AI can perform more tasks because of machine learning and natural language processing technologies.
Although we know the meaning of AI, it is much more helpful to understand its workings. This technology is made up of two parts: data and algorithms. These machines can do complex calculations for many numbers. But their differences are based on their ability to understand more complex data and learn how to improve.
Artificial Intelligence can quickly and efficiently analyse multiple data sets to assist humans in making better business decisions. Furthermore, combining machine learning with extensive data analysis can provide clear insights into customer behaviour.
What Does AI Mean for Digital Marketing Agencies?
AI is an interesting player in the world of digital marketing agencies. Some see it as a potential threat, while others view it as a valuable ally. The truth is, AI isn’t here to replace digital marketing jobs—at least not yet. Instead, it has the potential to reshape and enhance the industry in several ways.
One of the positive impacts of AI in marketing is the creation of new job opportunities. While AI technology takes care of certain tasks, it opens up avenues for professionals to acquire new skills and take on specialised roles. For instance, companies may need coders or maintainers to oversee AI machines. So, rather than eliminating jobs, AI actually generates demand for additional expertise.
It’s important to note that AI cannot replace a marketing job if someone is resistant to change or unwilling to adapt. However, professionals who embrace AI-enabled skills can leverage them to enhance their knowledge and quickly adapt to evolving environments. This adaptability becomes a valuable asset in an industry that constantly evolves.
Simply put, AI cannot replace digital marketing agencies but can collaborate with them to make the marketing process a smoother experience. For example, copywriting and content writing departments can benefit from the machine writing capabilities of AI-based applications such as Jasper and Chat GPT.
Machines can be precise, calculating, rational, and cold. That’s expected as that is their nature, but humans know our decisions are influenced more by emotion than logic. This can be both good and bad. That’s why the future of AI in digital marketing will rely on a symbiosis between machine and human, but not with a machine-exclusive approach.
On their own, these tools will produce shallow content and will be downgraded by Google or other search engines for their machine-based nature. Still, when paired with a tech-savvy digital marketing agency, they can help a company increase their output and manage more clients.
What Can’t AI Do?
AI’s progress is still in its infancy. However, its benefits are already evident. Artificial intelligence can learn quickly to behave and act like humans if given enough data. AI is indeed capable of performing a wide range of tasks, but it has gained particular recognition for its effectiveness in image recognition, voice recognition, and robotics. However, AI cannot accomplish much independently without a human behind the curtain running the show.
Only Humans Have Creative Thinking
The human brain is complex and cannot be replicated by machines. AI cannot replace creative problem-solving professions. AI can’t create marketing campaigns based on client input. It cannot make music, paint landscapes and edit photos and videos using best practices.
Moreover, AI lacks the ability to invent something that possesses a personal touch and is tailored specifically to a particular audience based on unique human interaction. While AI excels at handling repetitive tasks and analysing data, it falls short when it comes to the aspects of creativity and human connection.
Let’s consider a hypothetical situation to illustrate the impact of algorithm suggestions. Imagine you search for “reading glasses” to help a friend or make a point in a discussion, even though you have perfect 20/20 vision. The algorithms powering AI systems might not have the contextual understanding to detect your intentions or your actual need for reading glasses.
As a result, the AI algorithms, designed to optimise recommendations based on search history and user data, might continue to provide suggestions and advertisements related to reading glasses. This can lead to a bombardment of targeted content that may not align with your actual preferences or requirements.
A Human Will Have a Final Decision
AI can be used to collect data and analyse it. However, AI cannot develop strategies and plans or perform tasks requiring critical thinking. They can assist, but they cannot make the final decision.
While machines can help us decide which path to take, only the decision-makers can make the final call after analysing the data.
This can be a great advantage, as we can measure the various scenarios more accurately and even counter the machines when we spot another opportunity that they missed.
Humans Created AI
Artificial intelligence machines and robots cannot operate by themselves. Programming an AI machine or robot for a particular task requires human knowledge and skills. In addition, humans can update and replace AI systems to make them more efficient in meeting the industry’s requirements.
Will AI Replace Digital Marketing Agencies?
The AI replacement concern has been answered in a concise but definitive way – Although AI can be helpful, digital marketers know that it is still a field that relies on creativity, innovation, and originality to better connect with customers.
Digital marketing still requires a human touch, and it probably always will. The human input involves storytelling, emotions, and personal experiences. For better or worse, AI technology cannot do this in the way needed for marketing to be effective today.
While human skills will always be required, digital marketing agencies must try to adapt to the changes and make the most of the technology on the market. Today’s goal for most marketing departments and companies is not to replace human resources but to harness the power of AI to improve their digital marketing strategies and increase their output with better campaigns, designs, or general products.
Instead of eliminating digital marketing jobs, AI will inspire digital marketing agencies to evolve by leveraging the AI value to create better digital experiences.
Final Words
It is unlikely that AI technology will completely replace digital marketing agencies. While AI can automate specific tasks and make them more efficient, it still needs to fully replicate the creativity and strategy that human marketers bring to the table.
Additionally, AI technology is constantly evolving and will likely continue to be used in conjunction with human marketers to enhance and augment their capabilities rather than replace them altogether.
As things stand now, AI can collaborate with digital marketing agencies. However, in terms of necessity, AI cannot operate independently, so digital marketing agencies will remain essential, even more so than before.
This is because technology can act as a catalyst to start the evolution of digital marketing, a perfect symbiosis between machine-generated content and human input that commands the machine to achieve a faster, better, and more optimised product for every type of client.
Grofuse is a digital growth marketing agency that delivers the best solutions to clients for their digital presence to achieve their growth goals. Grofuse keeps up with the technology trends in digital marketing and firmly believes that AI technology is suitable for modernising the digital marketing space.
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