MARKETING
Power of Human-Infused AI – Content Marketing Institute
I’m a lucky content creator.
Why? Well, for many reasons. One of the biggest involves working as part of a remarkable strategic content team that includes talented editors (content creators themselves) who improve the structure, clarity, and (on more than one occasion) my poetic words.
Most importantly, they push on my ideas.
They ask questions that challenge me to strengthen my argument. Frequently, they’ve saved me by pushing back on an idea to where I say, “Yeah, you’re right. That’s kind of dopey.”
The current generation of generative AI tools could never do that, and that’s already creating a new set of problems for content generation in marketing.
Meet the new boss; same as the old boss
I’ve talked to more than two dozen software companies for a research project and discussed with several clients the status of the integration of generative AI into their content strategy. Through that work, I’ve identified two distinct AI categories for marketers (and they may sound familiar to regular readers of my column.)
One category involves companies with a strategic content approach. They explore how to pull AI tools into the content creation lifecycle and seek to identify how AI can augment the existing ideation and planning process. These companies use AI frequently, but they rarely, if ever, use it to “create original content.”
The second category encompasses companies without a strategic content approach. They jump in to see how AI can increase the output of their content widgets. These are the same companies that view their content teams as vending machines of digital content assets. Now, they just use AI to automate the vending machine.
How companies use generative #AI shows how they view #content – like a vending machine or a strategic business approach, says @Robert_Rose via @CMIContent. Click To Tweet
AI can’t improve ideas if you don’t shape them first
Today’s generative AI tools can’t proactively suggest how the business should express itself. These tools dutifully comply with the prompt’s request – whether the idea is good, bad, or indifferent.
That can work for businesses that operate content in a self-centered way. In these scenarios, teams – sales, demand generation, C-suite, PR/comms, etc. – request (or create) the content they need without understanding the greater marketing and content strategy.
These content teams go right into editing words and formatting the requested asset – functioning like a vending machine. They are the human equivalent of ChatGPT, simply responding to prompts from the rest of the business, whether the request is good, bad, or indifferent. In this scenario, the argument for replacing humans with generative AI is strong.
Content creators who go right into the mode of editing words and formatting requested assets are the human equivalent of ChatGPT, says @Robert_Rose via @CMIContent. Click To Tweet
But a great human content team can push on ideas. They act strategically. Should you write about that? Can you build an SEO cluster around that content? Is that a gap in the thought leadership landscape? Is that thought differentiated? Is the idea even a good one? Are you sure you’re right about that industry-changing idea?
If the business takes a strategic approach to content – planning, prioritizing, and making fully visible what the business will and wants to say – then the argument for generative AI as an augmentation of talent is stronger.
AI’s most uninteresting and interesting values
Creating “original” content is the least interesting thing generative AI does. More interestingly, it can analyze, find patterns, provide insight, and help logically guide the ideation process to serve the business well. Pointing generative AI tools to a learning model and asking for clarity, ideas, and iterations – dare I say to “chat” about your content – can be a powerful trigger for more compelling ideas.
Chatting with a generative #AI tool about patterns and insight can improve the #content ideation process, says @Robert_Rose via @CMIContent. Click To Tweet
But the key is that humans push the ideas on AI, not the other way around. Businesses see the content creator’s value in pushing ideas, not just executing the words. Great content creators stretch ideas, recognize them, and ensure they are meaningful before moving them to a planned and prioritized state where someone can manage their creation.
Smart content marketers don’t need generative AI to fulfill content requests automatically. You need a process that involves AI tools for making deliberate choices about what content your business should create.
Differentiating your brand isn’t about writing the most intelligent white paper or having the most entertaining blog. Differentiation comes from having the awareness and a repeatable process to direct the business’ great ideas into the most meaningful communication and experiences.
Differentiation comes from your business’s ability to push ideas, not words.
It’s your story. Tell it well.
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
MARKETING
Trends in Content Localization – Moz
Multinational fast food chains are one of the best-known examples of recognizing that product menus may sometimes have to change significantly to serve distinct audiences. The above video is just a short run-through of the same business selling smokehouse burgers, kofta, paneer, and rice bowls in an effort to appeal to people in a variety of places. I can’t personally judge the validity of these representations, but what I can see is that, in such cases, you don’t merely localize your content but the products on which your content is founded.
Sometimes, even the branding of businesses is different around the world; what we call Burger King in America is Hungry Jack’s in Australia, Lays potato chips here are Sabritas in Mexico, and DiGiorno frozen pizza is familiar in the US, but Canada knows it as Delissio.
Tales of product tailoring failures often become famous, likely because some of them may seem humorous from a distance, but cultural sensitivity should always be taken seriously. If a brand you are marketing is on its way to becoming a large global seller, the best insurance against reputation damage and revenue loss as a result of cultural insensitivity is to employ regional and cultural experts whose first-hand and lived experiences can steward the organization in acting with awareness and respect.
MARKETING
How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy
MARKETING
More promotions and more layoffs
For martech professionals salaries are good and promotions are coming faster, unfortunately, layoffs are coming faster, too. That’s according to the just-released 2024 Martech Salary and Career Survey. Another very unfortunate finding: The median salary of women below the C-suite level is 35% less than what men earn.
The last year saw many different economic trends, some at odds with each other. Although unemployment remained very low overall and the economy grew, some businesses — especially those in technology and media — cut both jobs and spending. Reasons cited for the cuts include during the early years of the pandemic, higher interest rates and corporate greed.
Dig deeper: How to overcome marketing budget cuts and hiring freezes
Be that as it may, for the employed it remains a good time to be a martech professional. Salaries remain lucrative compared to many other professions, with an overall median salary of $128,643.
Here are the median salaries by role:
- Senior management $199,653
- Director $157,776
- Manager $99,510
- Staff $89,126
Senior managers make more than twice what staff make. Directors and up had a $163,395 median salary compared to manager/staff roles, where the median was $94,818.
One-third of those surveyed said they were promoted in the last 12 months, a finding that was nearly equal among director+ (32%) and managers and staff (30%).
Extend the time frame to two years, and nearly three-quarters of director+ respondents say they received a promotion, while the same can be said for two-thirds of manager and staff respondents.
Dig deeper: Skills-based hiring for modern marketing teams
Employee turnover
In 2023, we asked survey respondents if they noticed an increase in employee churn and whether they would classify that churn as a “moderate” or “significant” increase. For 2024, given the attention on cost reductions and layoffs, we asked if the churn they witnessed was “voluntary” (e.g., people leaving for another role) or “involuntary” (e.g., a layoff or dismissal). More than half of the marketing technology professionals said churn increased in the last year. Nearly one-third classified most of the churn as “involuntary.”
Men and Women
This year, instead of using average salary figures, we used the median figures to lessen the impact of outliers in the salary data. As a result, the gap between salaries for men and women is even more glaring than it was previously.
In last year’s report, men earned an average of 24% more than women. This year the median salary of men is 35% more than the median salary of women. That is until you get to the upper echelons. Women at director and up earned 5% more than men.
Methodology
The 2024 MarTech Salary and Career Survey is a joint project of MarTech.org and chiefmartec.com. We surveyed 305 marketers between December 2023 and February 2024; 297 of those provided salary information. Nearly 63% (191) of respondents live in North America; 16% (50) live in Western Europe. The conclusions in this report are limited to responses from those individuals only. Other regions were excluded due to the limited number of respondents.
Download your copy of the 2024 MarTech Salary and Career Survey here. No registration is required.
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