Using AI to Build a Sustainable Web3 Marketing Career
Digital marketers are no strangers to keeping up with changing technologies, but with pacemakers like Web3 and AI setting today’s speed it can feel like a continual sprint just to stay in the same place.
Anyone working in Web3 will be well aware of the sheer volume of new technologies being leveraged, from blockchain and the metaverse, to edge computing, IoT, and increasingly AI. Of all of these technologies, however, AI is the one raising the most concerns as a job security threat, especiallty at a time when Big Tech companies are making deep cuts while pivoting to AI.
The first thing marketers should do is avoid feeding into the media-driven panic – yes, everyone wants to find their piece of these technologies and avoid getting left behind, but remember that extreme “doomer” narratives around AI sell papers and generate clicks. They also help the same Big Tech giants keep their skin in the game while blocking open-source competition in the name of regulation (The Economist).
Generative AI, which helps to produce multiple content forms including text, images, and videos, is expected to reach $126.5 billion by 2031 (Allied Market Research, 2023). It is already delivering ROI, increasing cost efficiencies, and speeding up creative cycles for 66% of marketers (Botco.ai, 2023). Meanwhile polls suggest that 25% of marketing work will be automated in the coming years (Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute) – this is not the same as saying that 25% of jobs will disappear, but rather that specialized skills that can be automated will be. Gaining more generalist skills, staying flexible, adapting quickly to change, and fine-tuning creative and problem-solving abilities will stand marketers in the best sted as their roles, and the technology, continue to evolve. In other words, the opportunity, and the results, are there: the biggest obstacle standing in the way of current marketing adoption is adequate training.
The second thing Web3 marketing professionals can therefore do is armor up with facts and knowledge: these are the strongest foundations to any sustainable career. That’s why we’ve teamed up with Malay A. Upadhyay and Pooja Chitnis Upadhyay, the authors of Modern Marketing Using AI and creators of The AI Job Calculator to find out more about how AI will impact marketing, what Web3 marketers can do to understand how their roles will be affected, and what steps to take today to prepare and adapt.
Automation is often seen as a threat to job security. What would you say to Web3 marketers who are worried about being replaced by AI technologies, and is there anything they should do now to become better prepared?
Malay:
Our society has been scared of every new tool throughout human history - from fire to bicycles to computers. It is natural to feel concerned about something we don't fully understand, but it doesn't have to be that way with AI. In a workplace, AI is most likely to become a way to execute tasks more efficiently, similar to how computers became a tool that we now use to do almost everything. Can we imagine a Marketer who doesn't know how to use a laptop? Any threat to our society from this technology is more likely due to bad actors misusing it. Whether it is to prepare for an evolving workplace or to ensure its responsible usage, what we need is to get better acquainted with AI. That doesn't mean we have to learn to code. After all, the end users, decision makers and investors in this technology are the non-technical business leaders and managers. The trick is to find relevant resources. This is why we authored the book AI for Managers, and created its equivalent certificate course to help professionals understand AI conceptually and in a practically useful way, in a short time.
How can the "The AI Job Calculator" help Web3 marketers assess how much of their roles can be automated by AI, and what’s the methodology behind this?
Malay:
The AI Job Risk Calculator is an objective assessment of AI's capabilities to do the tasks involved in any job. No two marketing managers in two different companies have exactly the same set of day-to-day responsibilities and tasks. And it is not entire roles but the tasks involved therein that AI automates. So the threat to any job from AI depends on the number of its tasks that the technology can accomplish without supervision. Instead of standardizing AI's abilities generically by any role, the calculator allows a marketer to assess how much AI can automate the unique requirements of his or her role.
The calculator's uniqueness is in its approach to risk assessment. It looks at four factors that best consolidate and summarize what makes any AI tool similar to humans in its ability. These are intuitiveness, criticality, standardization & predictability. Tasks that involve a greater use of intuition and business-critical decision making and are less standardized or dealing with unpredictable situations are more likely to require human intervention. Over time, as AI's ability to handle these improves, the calculator can be adjusted to reflect that reality.
Over the past decade we've seen a continual shift in advertising towards finding a more human face. Millennial-targeted marketing incorporated highly-polished influencers, and now Generation Z-targeted marketing has taken it a step further favoring more authentic and relatable user-generated content (UGC) creators. This creator economy is now rapidly growing in Web3 as UGC creators look for alternative platforms and models for monetizing. On the one hand younger generations are the first to experiment and gain competencies with AI, but on the other hand they are seeking out more humanity and authenticity, particularly from brands. Are these technological developments and consumer habits at odds with one another, or do you see them converging to reshape the future of marketing?
Pooja:
Marketing will see a convergence before newer variations appear. Consumers don't like to feel they can't trust a brand. So humanity and authenticity will remain of paramount importance, but their definitions will evolve for a generation growing up in this new normal.
We do not consider laptops as any less human and authentic than a paper and pen; we instead see them as a product of humanity that can be used to produce authentic and inauthentic content. Similarly, AI generated content will become commonplace because with AI's ability to produce creative content at speed, organizations and influencers will have no choice but to leverage it to keep their competitive strength. Generative AI is already creating faces, people, voices, images and videos that look very real. So as an example, an advertisement of Salvador Dalí promoting a smartwatch designed in his iconic style will be seen as creative and acceptable, and understood to not be coming from the late Dali himself.
We are currently at an inflection point where the rules are being gradually drawn and redrawn as consumers make better sense of the AI world. The better informed marketers are on how AI works, the better they will be able to outpace consumers and competitors in how they can leverage it.
Check out these useful resources for professionally leveraging AI:
Try the AI Job Calculator to see how much of your job AI can handle
Get the ‘AI for Managers’ book for a handy reference
About Malay and Pooja
Malay is the Chief Growth & Operations Officer at SalesChoice, an award-winning AI platform-as-a-service. He brings experiences spanning North America, Dubai, India and Italy, and is an expert in automating the revenue generation engine for organizations. An advisory board member for the University of Richmond’s Customer Experience program, he was recognized as a Top 10 pioneering business leader by Mirror Review. Malay is also the author of the AI Management book series, has published educational courses on the topic, trained 200+ managers on the responsible use of AI, and was part of the European AI Alliance that supported the High-Level Expert Group on advising the European Commission's AI policy. He holds an MBA from Queen’s University (Canada), an MSc in Marketing Management from Bocconi University (Italy), and Bachelor of Engineering from Manipal University (India).
Pooja Chitnis Upadhyay is an accomplished Marketing and Customer Success Strategist, recognized as one of the "20 Amazing Women in Tech in Canada." With a diverse industry experience across North America and India as a Google certified Digital Marketer, she helps brands connect with their target market and establish loyalty. Pooja actively contributes to the tech community, having served as an Expert Advisor for #StartupChats and as the Board Secretary for the Sara Kirke Caucus. She holds an MBA, Post Graduation in Marketing and Operations, and certifications in AI Management, Digital Marketing, and Copywriting. Pooja's commitment to continuous learning fuels her success in driving brand and customer growth.