The future of B2B marketing is automated, and that’s a good thing

We all love listening to stories about a machine apocalypse. It starts with AI taking your job and ends in the devastation of humanity. It’s a fun story but we have to remember it’s science fiction. A recent report of ours found three in four office workers are actually quite excited about increased automation in the workplace.

We all know that people would prefer to work more flexibly, that most meetings are a waste of time and emails are an annoying but necessary evil. Imagine – not if, but when – we can automate all of that.

But as you’re a marketer, I’d wager I’m preaching to the converted. In fact, B2B marketing has led the way in understanding how automation can improve speed, agility, accuracy and ultimately, results. We will be the first to say that automation cannot replace the human touch. Indeed, the very human trait of creativity, while nebulous, is extremely important in our field and plays a vital part in clinching sales.

Humans and automation can live in harmony

We’ve also been able to show that, yes, humans and automation can peacefully co-exist. Automation gives us the freedom to be creative and to add nuance to our work in a way that only humans can.

I firmly believe that today’s B2B marketers represent the future of many industries. No longer do we hold our fingers in the air to test the industry’s changing winds as those in other sectors still do. We’ve accepted the importance and centrality of data in everything we do and I believe our scientific approach to affecting human decisions is taking off in B2C marketing, along with other sectors.

It’s encouraging that the wider world is finally catching on. Automation is allowing us to wave goodbye to the last days of the ‘one-size-fits-all’ type of marketing. It’s amazing that a 19th century model has lasted for this long.

Tomorrow will definitely be automated, but don’t let your mind wander too far into Terminator-style sci-fi. The future will see happier and more purposeful workers who know they are spending every minute of their day doing things that not only matter, but the things they are best at. That’s a future we all want. Together with a robot that brings you coffee in the morning, that is.

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