How Long Will Content and Marketing Careers Remain Viable?
I was doing my morning reading today, and I came across this question. The article’s author made the argument that AI is starting to eat away at duties handled by content pros – and even though jobs aren’t disappearing just yet, workers are seeing more layoffs, longer job hunts and heavier workloads. In sum, it’s not exactly a rousing endorsement of the strategic communications business.
Funny – I couldn’t disagree more. We’re entering a new phase, but content/marketing pros are as relevant as ever.
Recent statistics are showing that earned media is the primary tool used in AI search visibility. A whopping 85-90% of AI-generated search answers cite third-party, organic and authoritative content. Of course, good content is the primary engine of any earned media effort; you can’t have a successful media pitch if you don’t have a good story and quality owned pieces backing up the effort.
Sure, earned media work has evolved as much as anything has the last 10-20 years. Fewer companies see the mass media as a viable communications channel, and audience impressions have never mattered less. In today’s world, strong content in the right places makes all the difference. Quality beats quantity any day of the week.
Who’s going to produce messaging, content assets, etc. if not for professional strategic communicators? Others have tried, and it hasn’t gone well. It’s like hiring a career elementary school teacher as a college professor – it might not be a total gong show, but it’s far from a best practice.
Content careers will remain viable as long as people communicate and tell stories - two fundamentally human concepts. Even in a world of AI, I don’t see that changing in my lifetime.
