Everyone's a marketer

And soon, no one else will be.

Thanks DALL-E

I

I was fiddling with Typeform the other day when I noticed the evermore present Sparkles Emoji - ✨

"Huh," I thought "Typeform's implemented this too..."

I understand software like Jasper AI, and Copy AI to have Copy Shuffle features (✨) but page builders like Framer and Elementor? Why?

I suppose a better question is, why not?

We're in a Throw-Everything-And-The-Kitchen-Sink Era when it comes to the integration of AI in day-to-day applications. And seeing how what we now call "AI" is a Large Language Model, it follows that the first thing you'll get "assistance" with is, indeed, the language.

I suspect more and more apps will start throwing "Optimize text" features at you: email and other writing software, social media networks, dating apps, and so on...

Why go to the supermarket with a plain shopping list, when you can turn an otherwise boring task into a whimsical adventure:

Brave the chilling winds of the refrigerated labyrinth. Seek out the oldest of cheeses, the freshest of milk, and the yogurts imbued with probiotic powers. Beware the Siren's call of the ice cream – a tempting but dangerous detour.

II

The rules of marketing are changing. Fast.

Back when I was doing my bachelor's degree in marketing (over a decade ago) the need for market research was generally well understood.

We surveyed, we analyzed, we did focus groups, and we sketched out avatars and value propositions.

Back then, "consumerism" was used to describe consumer protection issues and not limitless consumption.

Back then, we had a broader understanding of market performance and its key indicators, not just CTR, CPL, and ROI.

The general rule of thumb was that, the better your understanding of your "avatar," the higher your chances for success.

So it should come as no surprise to learn that most of our effort went into understanding the customer, their problem, and how our solution would fit into their worldview.

I went to bed at night thinking about Anthony and his need to protect his family (personal security system) Maria and how she lost her self-esteem after childbirth (weight loss) and John with his love for cars and need for social affirmation.

From cradle to cane, I knew these avatars inside out.

The more acute the problem > the higher the demand > more money > faster iterations > better products > more demand > more supply > more satisfied customers > more money.

This was key to making capitalism and the free markets work, because it ensured that the best product prevailed.

Darwinian economics. It made perfect sense.

And as technology created different mediums, and we moved to a more digital experience, for the most part, the rules largely remained familiar:

TV ads were replicated into YouTube ads.
Print ads were re-imagined into banner ads and online advertorials.
And product demonstration shows, like QVC, transitioned into modern-day webinars.

Our moving away from print to online, direct mail to electronic mail, and radio to podcasts was a mere technicality that simply opened us up to more touch points.

The onus was still very much on understanding your audience and constructing a story that moves them down a "funnel."

Awareness > Interest > Consideration > Decision

III

If your understanding and experience with marketing goes beyond the digital space, then you know just how much the relationship between marketing and society has changed in the last decade alone.

Technology has not only dramatically lowered the barrier to entry for becoming both a product creator and a seller, but, perhaps more importantly, technology has diminished the accountability that operating in a local community used to provide.

If you created poor-quality products, word would go around and people would stop buying.

If you sold poor quality products, you either didn't do your research, or it proved you were unethical, word would go around and people would stop hiring.

For better or worse, there was a built-in system of checks and balances.

But now?

Now I see creators that are suspiciously young, talking about their "students" and "clients" and "strategies" that I'm pretty sure are illegal.

A few months ago I distinctively called out Oliver Brocato, the 21-year-old founder of "Tabs" - a "sex chocolate" e-commerce business. He allegedly made $11 million in 18 months, primarily through selling to kids on TikTok.

Oliver ended up on my naughty list when he went on the podcast of another 20-something-year-old to brag about the "chocolate melting insurance" they added to increase AOV (Average Order Value.) What Tabs failed to disclose on their checkout page is that they HAVE to replace your chocolate with or without the "melting insurance," that order bump is a misleading Call to Action, a cheap and possibly *illegal*, way to make money.

(I don't know if they've taken that out in the meantime, but here's a time marked YouTube video of him talking about it)

This is just one of the many examples I could give - and I'm considering creating a series on this in the future.

It's all fun and games until someone sues you.

At the end of the day, this is what online desensitization does, and it's only going to get worse. But more on that in a moment.

---

As marketers, we now find ourselves at a point in the history of humankind where selling has never been easier.

And it's not because of the added disposable income, it's not because of the many entry points we now have to reach and manipulate a person's mind, it's not because of interlinked devices and incessant tracking, it's not even because of the human and environmental abuse that lowered cost of production.

No. The answer is much simpler.

Modern culture works in our favor. People expect to have everything at their fingertips, conveniently and without delay.

From on-demand services to pre-determined experiences.

The emphasis is on minimizing effort and maximizing ease, to the point that passive consumption and convenience have become as deeply ingrained as an institutionalized value.

To the point that, we now believe that a life well lived, is not a life rich in experiences but a life rich in comforts.

To the point that, this convenience-driven culture influences how we buy and consume products, services, and even social interactions.

So yes, selling has never been easier because people have never been so primed to buy.

And it will continue to get easier because AI will further the distance between the creator, the marketer (same difference?), and the consumer.

You don't need to know who your audience is, what to say, how to say it, what they like or dislike. It's so easy, even a 3-year-old can do it. Just follow these simple steps:

1. Create a fake founder profile image with the help of MidJourney, sketch out a fake hero's journey using ChatGPT and write up synthetic sales copy using literally any software ever - just look for the sparkles emoji ✨

2. For added credibility, whip up some bogus books and hawk them online for that sweet touch of authority (just keep in mind that Amazon will want you to admit if the book was birthed by robots.) No audience to buy? Don't sweat it – you can always purchase glowing reviews and delete the nasty ones.

3. Fire up those ads without a clue on how to do it or who your customers might be. Thanks to the million data points we now hoard, AI can handle it all for you. Just be on the lookout for buzzwords like "highly targeted," "high intent," "optimizable," and "flexibility needed to adapt to evolving customer journeys."

Done? Once you've ticked all those boxes, use Jasper's "end-to-end AI copilot for superior marketing outcomes" to automatically dissect, fine-tune, and test your landing pages, hooks, designs, CTAs, and everything in between. You won't really have to make any decisions, just turn a few knobs, push a few dials and everything will be done for you.

Now, kick back, relax, and let the moolah flow your way $$$

Wash, rinse, and repeat as necessary.

Thanks to AI, you will never be a beginner who needs to fail and learn to appreciate the responsibility this type of work brings.

IV

My prediction is that the job of a marketer, as we know it today, will cease to exist within the next 5 or so years.

I suspect we're headed towards a personalized internet experience based on your data footprint, one where each click, search, and interaction meticulously shapes and tailors the digital landscape to align with individual preferences and behaviors.

This evolution will likely transform the internet from a vast, uniform ocean of information into a series of unique, user-specific rivers, each flowing with content, opportunities, and ads curated to match personal interests, past behaviors, and even predicted desires.

AI algorithms will become more sophisticated, delving deeper into the intricacies of personal data – from browsing history and shopping habits to social media interactions and even geographical movements.

The result will be an increasingly segmented and individualized online world, where the content you see, the ads that are served to you, and even the news that populates your feed are all in sync with your digital persona.

This isn't some sort of a dystopian imagination exercise, it's already starting to happen.

Meta, for example, is actively introducing features that incentivize advertisers to relinquish control and let their algorithm do the decision-making for you.

Getting insight from a machine is so much easier than trying to understand human behavior and build trust. It's convenient, it's easy, and it's becoming increasingly cheaper to use this technology.

You don't have to ask for opinions, or listen to feedback, just track and make deductions based on their online behavior.

You don't have to tell your client to improve (or scratch) their product. Just let AI tweak your copy and creatives, on a user-to-user basis, depending on their data footprint.

If Jane Doe has an anxious personality and is proven to click on headlines that do health-based fearmongering, what's the harm in creating a few more of those? So what if you're selling yarn for crocheting? Did you know yarn bought from brick-and-mortar stores is probably contaminated with flesh-eating bacteria?

Yours isn't of course, yours is made in China, but with love; shipped across the world for only 1/3 of the price. Don't worry, you won't have to verify those claims, just throw enough doubt to confuse, most people don't have the time, or care enough, to double-check. This strategy works particularly well on social media.

So, why worry? Why now? Why does any of this matter? If at all...

I worry that this technological mania prioritizes immediate results and growth at the expense of other considerations.

We're dealing with:

• a deified unfettered market that distracts from the finite nature of our world,

• overconsumption fueled by an obsession with constant novelties,

• byproducts from sourcing, producing and distributing at a global scale.

But most importantly, we're dealing with the apathy of the masses.

We've normalized the ecological harm that the mining of rare earth minerals for our phones does in Brazil. Because that new iPhone has to come out.

We've normalized the exploitation of Cambodian children working in clothing factories, driven by the demand for fast fashion.

We've normalized excessive packaging in the name of convenience, contributing to an UNFATHOMABLE amount of unnecessary waste each year.

The indirect message that these actions send is very sinister and scary in its mundanity. And unfortunately, the prevailing, westernized, business ethos only contributes to these problems.

Surely there comes a time when we realize something about our model of the world is wrong?

When we learn that...

• People are more than someone to sell to,

• The planet is more than a resource to extract from,

• Your product is not nearly as important as you're making it out to be.

And if my views on one of your sacred cows have triggered an emotional response, it likely means that more than just a difference of opinions is at stake.

Perhaps you disagree with me on whether or not marketers should take part of the blame.

Is it strictly an intellectual disagreement? What sort of judgments accompany it?

Do you perceive me as a gullible simpleton? Or a marketing gatekeeper? Maybe you think I am ignorant of the real benefits of AI? Is that truly the source of your irritation, or is it something deeper?

Maybe you feel the need to defend your choices by courtesy of Moloch: "Everyone else is doing it, why not me? I too have to make money somehow."

Maybe the Tragedy of the Commons can now extend to the destruction of human trust online.

Maybe I just see negatives where there are mostly positives.

Maybe my brother was right and I am, indeed, a party pooper.

Maybe I'm just naive.

You could say that one person cannot make a change. "If I recycle and no one else does, then it doesn't make a difference. If I choose not to sell drop-shipping products from China, then someone else will. If I choose not to use clickbait people will click on something else equally bad."

If, if, if...

I've heard this criticism not only in the voices of others but also with much greater frequency, from the voice inside my own head. After much consideration, and reading (recommendations in the PS,) I've reached one founding conclusion:

You can never fully know the results of your actions. But what you do know is your intention and motivation.

You could choose to sell in a non-manipulative way.
You could choose to educate in a non-divisive way.
You could choose to design for reparability, durability and reusability.
You could choose to protect your viewer's digital dignity and anonymity.
You could choose to protest the status quo.
You could choose to transcend the typical justification for natural preservation.
You could choose not to participate in the deception and misinformation.

You always have a choice, and this is a choice of compassion and higher ethical consciousness.

And before you deflect and cringe at my use of the word "consciousness" (how dare I bring such weak words in a self-respecting thought-piece) please remember that:

Two thousand years ago, the Romans, known for their empire-building, crucifixion practices, and reliance on slavery, were congratulating themselves on being civilized, because unlike "the barbarians" they had put an end to the practice of human sacrifice.

Barely 200 years ago, many European nations, deeply involved in the systematic enslavement and trade of human beings, considered themselves advanced and civilized.

And now I ask you. What sort of moral problems do you think future generations will look back at us on, and think "WOW! Those guys were barbarians?"

Advancement in technology DEMANDS an expansion of our moral and ethical circle.

What if Genghis Khan had nuclear weapons?
What if the Spanish Inquisition had access to modern surveillance technology?
What if the architects of the Atlantic slave trade had industrial-era transportation and logistics?
What if the European colonizers of the Americas had military drone technology?

How can we not consider ethics?

V

This is not to say we should abandon the technology that has helped advance our species. No, of course not.

This is to say, we should choose to use technology for good.

And before we start splitting hairs between what's good and what's evil. We know, for the most part, what good looks like.

We already know that giving 13-year-old girls Instagram filters will cause them to develop self-esteem issues. And we know that's not good. And we do it anyway because it's profitable.

We already know how to stop, or significantly lower the speed with which we're warming the planet. We don't do it because sustainability is not profitable.

But this isn't a question of knowledge, it's a question of willingness.

We already know that: Plastic is bad. Child labor is bad. Walks in nature are good.

I'm not saying "Don't walk," I'm saying "Look where you're going."

We've converted nature into products, citizens into consumers, relationships into services, communities into markets, landscapes into industrial zones, cultural practices into commercial opportunities, personal data into marketing tools, and human interactions into algorithmically driven exchanges.

And while a personalized internet based on your data footprint promises a more relevant and engaging online experience, it also challenges the very notions of privacy, diversity of thought, and personal autonomy in the digital age.

The balance between customization and generalization, between personal relevance and communal diversity, will define the trajectory of our online journey, and, in essence, our future.

Regardless if you're a business owner, a marketer, a creator or a consumer, we can no longer afford to be willfully ignorant of the workings of our system.

You don't have to agree with me. But if this piece has triggered even a slight doubt, I would challenge you, if you can, to sit with that contradiction for a while and see where it takes you. Don't be so quick to keep turning the flywheel.

When our beliefs change, so do our motivations and actions.