ChatGPT (generative AI) is revolutionizing how people live and work, including marketers, requiring them to transition and find new and inventive ways to remain relevant and add value. According to a World Economic Forum report from October 2020, generative AI will render 85 million jobs redundant by 2023, offsetting this decline with 97 million new jobs. This means that content creation roles like email marketing, data sheets, press releases, blog posts, press articles, and social media posts are especially at risk of being automated away by GPT-4.
Given the potential impacts, marketers need to adopt a different approach and focus on developing their own personal brand and expertise in order to stand out in an increasingly automated work landscape. Crafting a successful brand should involve building customer value and business outcomes beyond simply using positioning and messaging campaigns. Additionally, marketers should focus on understanding their target customers and their motivations, effectively leveraging relationships with references customers, and delivering services and experiences, as opposed to product-based strategies.
Marketers should also aim to become more efficient by investing in digital and account-based marketing. This is necessary to maximize returns and ensure customers are being supported for retention and acquisition. Partnerships with product managers and sales teams should also be cultivated to better connect with the needs and goals of customers and prospects.
PR and marketing communication specialists should also focus on multimodal forms of communication. Video is increasingly becoming the primary form of communication, and by doing so, specialists should focus on developing relationships with the press and industry influencers to ensure their brand is seen.
Finally, CMOs have a unique opportunity to become industry leaders, strategists, and thinkers instead of simply managing people. Rather than focusing on product-driven strategies, CMOs should focus on delivering meaningful business outcomes through insights and customer success metrics that can no longer be automated. The “unicorn CMO” should prioritize cultivating relationships, leveraging insights, and focusing on thought leadership and change leadership.
Forbes Communications Council is an elite and invitation-only community open to executives in public relations, media strategy, creative, and advertising agencies. If you are interested, you can apply by providing your professional background and any experience you may have in the field. Once accepted, members will benefit from connections to peers in the industry, a variety of leadership resources and valuable guidance, as they strive to improve their brand and stand out from their competitors.
