Thread by @jowyang

RED ALERT: Buyers, armed with AI Agents, disrupt Marketers, Search, & Ecommerce.

Here's my key slide from my speech:
"How Marketers Can Win when AI Leads Buyers"

As AI matures and guides human buying decisions, it's will disrupt search and e-commerce.

#AI #marketing

2/ Don't take my word from it, here's what Bill Gates said in spring 2023:

"Whoever wins the personal agent, that's the big thing, because you will never go to a search site again, you will never go to a productivity site, you'll never go to Amazon again"

3/ Awareness Stage: In the near future, people will ask their AI to understand their needs. Further down the line, AI could even take the initiative to educate users. For instance, an AI might propose a health-conscious meal plan based on your individual data.

4/ Engagement Stage: Soon, humans will request AI for in-depth information about solutions. Imagine a future where AI actively initiates conversations with users, suggesting items they might require, like organizing a travel itinerary for an upcoming holiday.

5/ Consideration Stage: People will task AI with product comparisons. As we advance, AI agents might handle shopping and auto-comparisons for us. Imagine an AI stating, "I've compared various headphones and found this model aligns best with your preferences."

6/ Purchase Stage: E-commerce transactions will shift to AI apps. In the not-so-distant future, an AI agent could handle purchases for you, notifying you with something like, "I've ordered a shirt that I suspect you'll love."

7/ The growing role of AI will have implications beyond just sales, impacting areas like customer loyalty, upselling, and marketing analytics. These significant changes, although not explored in this thread, warrant their own seperate thread.

8/ Different industries will adopt AI at varying paces. B2C sectors might feel the impacts more immediately, but longer B2B sales cycles will also evolve gradually over time, expect more human inputs to this longer cycle.

9/ The horizon signals the need for marketing software solutions that enable marketers to influence AI agents. With the reinvention of SEO to suit AI's learning processes. Example: Marketers use their own AI to influence buyer-side AI.

10/ Many marketers have started incorporating AI, using machine learning to analyze and predict customer behavior, and even experimenting with generative AI for content creation. However, the disruptive potential of AI Agents+buyers isn't fully recognized.

11/ As marketers, it's crucial to brace for this upcoming change. The goal now isn't only to influence humans but also to shape AI behaviors. The future of marketing is already unfolding, and our ability to adapt yet again is critical.

12/ Additional resources:

-@dberkowitz has a community of forward looking marketers, Serial Marketers

-@MattPRD has a monster post of Autonomous Agents (i'm referenced and an investor in his company OctaneAI)

Thanks @I_Am_GKennedy for feedback

mattprd.com/p/the-complete…

13/ I've posted this same thread on my blog to archive

web-strategist.com/blog/2023/06/1…

For those on LinkedIn, I also posted a similar post here.

linkedin.com/posts/jowyang_…?