As the B2B marketplace moves towards artificial intelligence and machine learning, marketers must tap into their creative potential to differentiate themselves from the machines that (may) take content creation tasks off their plate.
During this year’s B2B Marketing Exchange, James Taylor will present a session titled Creativity: The New Marketing Imperative In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence, where he will explain how creativity is the most important skill to have content and messaging stand out in the most crowded channels. Taylor will also share best practices to make the most of their creativity and find a healthy balance between human and automated marketing.
Taylor is an international keynote speaker, author and consultant. His clients have included Apple, Yamaha, Sony, Bertelsmann and Johnson & Johnson.
Demand Gen Report: What new realities are B2B marketers facing, and how have you noticed it impact your vertical in particular?
James Taylor: One of the biggest [realities] is how disruptive technologies like Artificial Intelligence and automation are changing how we think about our role as marketers.
A recent study by the University of Oxford in the UK showed that nearly 50% of US jobs are currently at risk from automation, including jobs in marketing and content creation.
Meanwhile Gartner predicts that, by the end of this year, around 20% of all business content will be authored by machines. That’s email content, SMS messages, personalized white papers and reports and social media posts. So, I see technologies like AI having a pretty immediate impact on content.
DGR: How does your session topic impact the above realities, and what advice would you give marketers who are just beginning to learn more about it?
Taylor: The number one piece of advice that I give to marketers when thinking about how to adapt to this fourth industrial revolution is to focus on the most important competitive advantage they have as humans: their creativity. IBM recently conducted one-on-one interviews with 2,500 global CEO’s. According to these CEOs, creativity is now THE most important leadership quality for success in business. That’s because AI, robots and automation will do many of the non-creative tasks that we currently have to perform each day.
DGR: What real actionable takeaways can attendees expect from your session at B2BMX?
Taylor: There are four areas that I believe everyone must develop when it comes to creativity. I’ll be covering those in my session. I’ll also be sharing a lot of actionable takeaways so that attendees can develop their individual creative skills as well as those of their teams. Finally, I’ll be providing ideas and insights on Augmented Creativity and Centaur Marketing, which is human + machine collaboration.
What are you looking forward to the most about the event?
One of the things I love about speaking at and attending live events like B2BMX is the conversations you have and the connections you make. It’s very easy to become siloed in our own industry or organization. The best marketers I’ve ever worked with are good at thinking unconventionally, crossing boundaries and applying an idea from one field to another. By attending events like B2BMX you can’t help by get inspired by the great ideas and campaigns of other marketers and then this affecting your work. Sometimes you discover those insights by hearing a speaker on stage but often it’s in those offstage conversations.
