The Future of AI and Marketing

Few technologies have experienced as much growth as Artificial Intelligence (AI). Valued at over $387 billion in 2022, the AI market is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 20.1%, reaching over $1.3 trillion by 2029. With this kind of market size and projected growth, AI is taking the world by storm.

From optimizing trends to increasing sales leads and automating business processes, AI is changing the nature of business as we know it. However, for many companies — and many consumers — it’s hard to determine whether or not AI will become a friend or foe. While many believe in AI’s power to transform business and create overall efficiencies, for others, implementing AI technologies conveys an almost dystopian image. The reality is that both possibilities are true — it just depends on how AI is used.

Here’s how businesses and marketing teams can successfully implement AI while ensuring it’s used responsibly, ethically, and effectively.

Understanding AI and HI

To effectively leverage AI technologies, it’s essential to understand that AI can’t exist without HI (Human Intelligence). Whereas AI typically resides within computer systems, HI lives in the hearts and minds of people. HI enables businesses to empathize with others, solve complex problems, and respond to changing demands in our social and business context. It’s what allows us to connect on a human level, imagine a better world, and collaborate with others to make that vision happen.

Why Companies Need Both

While many people think that AI and HI are separate, competing entities, the reality is that they are complementary and intertwined. Brands need both to be successful in today’s marketplace.

The idea behind AI is that it learns from patterns to create efficiencies and optimize trends. Therefore, it works best in a closed system, where changes are predictable, replicable, and controlled.

But the world around us isn’t always like that.

In today’s fast-paced, ever-changing marketplace, businesses and marketing teams often operate in open, dynamic, and multi-faceted systems. Many of today’s challenges are novel and unique, requiring solutions we have never seen before. In this type of environment, HI reigns supreme.

A Supplement, Not a Replacement

Not only is HI necessary because of our dynamic environment, but it’s also needed because business and marketing are sciences of human connection. Therefore, value creation comes in the form of building relationships and partnerships. Building connections requires HI before anything else — but this doesn’t mean AI can’t help optimize how those connections are cultivated.

In this sense, AI becomes a supplement to — not a replacement for — HI.

Practically speaking, companies need to continue prioritizing HI as the bedrock of marketing and business strategy. They must then supplement with AI to improve productivity and efficiency where it makes sense.

Implications for Marketing Teams

For marketing teams, this can take the form of relying on HI to brainstorm ideas, develop agile strategies, and cultivate authentic connections while relying on AI to gather analytics, generate content, and optimize trends. Simply put, marketing teams must leverage their relationships, empathy, and adaptability to create strategies that resonate while utilizing AI data to make campaigns more efficient and effective.

As with any new tool, however, companies must ensure that what they adopt is genuinely helpful instead of simply adding the newest and shiniest software. Additionally, businesses must implement HI as a quality check that ensures the implementation of AI technologies is responsible, ethical, and authentic to the brand’s core identity.

Adapting, Connecting, and Generating Value

As we enter a new era of AI technology, companies must understand that AI can never fully replace HI. In fact, in today’s rapidly-changing business environment, HI remains perhaps the most integral part of any business and marketing strategy. However, as AI grows in popularity and functionality, organizations will need to learn how to leverage its capabilities in ethical, authentic, and responsible ways.

To keep pace with a rapidly changing world while maintaining ethical, authentic, and valuable human connections, brands must prioritize HI as the bedrock of core functions and strategically supplement AI where it makes sense.

To learn more about how to leverage AI in your marketing functions, check out the latest from the Madison Taylor Marketing library.