Automation is going to become one of the most prominent features of businesses in the 21st century, and not just physical outlets. What is occurring right now is known as the fourth industrial revolution, involving automation, AI, big data, and blockchain technology.

In marketing, automation is a powerful tool that can augment marketing efforts and give business owners a competitive edge. Small business market leaders have already seen the light and are leveraging this technology to boost their marketing efforts.

Bob Milliken

Streamlined Processes. Automation has the power to complete tasks on autopilot. This can already be observed in the digital marketing industry, where it has penetrated the furthest. But its scope is going to get wider as the software becomes more intelligent and more customizable. The eventual results are that the majority of tasks are going to be automated. Once this is done, human workers are going to become less prominent in their current fields of work. Translation -the businesses that automate the best will win out.

One Man Businesses. We have already come a long way in terms of a few people managing a whole online store with the help of automation tools. But this trend is going to continue such that massive websites are going to be run by one or two people. When bots become able to write content and manually place the best-selling ads and promotional tools on websites, it could be possible for a few people to really dominate. As it stands, it is still necessary to have a dedicated number of personnel to maintain online websites and to provide marketing, optimization, and content creation.

Creativity Will Become More Important. It is already the case that the most innovative and creative people are the ones that are able to spot trends and capitalize. This will become even more important when automation and AI can be used to do the majority of online tasks. While the technology itself won’t directly replace the marketer or thecreative individual working on projects, it will have an impact on those who perform repetitive tasks such as writing headlines.

The Future

Will humans become obsolete? Not likely as technological shifts typically create new jobs alongside them (such as the switch from agriculture to industrialization). Further, the productivity gains that are to be expected from online businesses will occur only if humans work with them.

It is likely that the rise of these technologies will actually create more opportunities for people to make their wealth online, potentially at the expense of established outlets such as social media and journalistic sites.

Is your business ready to embrace automation in your marketing? We are inbound marketing automation experts and we’d love to help you get started.

Bob Milliken is a master marketer specializing in helping businesses achieve outrageous levels of success. Bob can be reached by phone at 604.270.1730 or by email at thenaughtymarketer@rfmholdings.com