Pat Shores’ Post

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Fractional CMO and Marketing Advisor for VC/PE-Backed Companies

WHAT I AM SEEING: AI AND GROWTH MARKETING ➡ Generative AI Gives Marketing Solopreneurs Super Powers My go-to’s: ChatGPT (and I suspect Anthropic Sonnet now), Canva, and AdCreative.ai. For creative: think versioning, resizing, image editing. I am actively helping marketers rethink workflows. For writing: minor copywriting and editing. Henley Wing Chiu analyzed 5M Upwork jobs and saw ~30% decrease mapped to ChatGPT's launch. (No code sites are also booming, but too much to get into here). ➡ Channels are About to Commoditize Rapidly. We Need to Focus on Consumer Changes to Keep Growing Influx of generative AI ads and content (Market.us est 30% for 2024 social ads). Volume won’t win. Everyone is so focused on the tech (me too), but we aren’t spending enough time on how people’s "intake" will change. We are on the verge of paid social, SEO, and potentially others going the way of display banners. Get ready for next gen Ad Blockers. Be cautious optimizing A/B tests into dead ends! ➡ Impersonation Marketing - Stewarding Our Industry Fake candidate images, voice impersonation. It's already happening in an election year. I think of us as an important "neighborhood watch". Yet we are also seeing people trying to use Voice replication for good (See the Change the Ref TheShotline campaign's calls to government officials trained on voices of shooting victims. It's hard to even write here). MARKETING HIRING: ➡ Cautionary Tales of AutoApply Tools LazyApply, Massive, Sonara, etc. there are many trying to help candidates for a fee (I don't want to disparage their intent. Take this with a grain of salt). But I see hundreds of applications to wrong roles, then candidates labeled “rejected” in company Tracking Systems. Please be careful. And recruiters need our support and recognition for navigating this. Aki Ito wrote a helpful overview in Business Insider. ➡ Marketing Hiring IS Happening: women’s sports, AI, and crypto/Web 3 Business of women’s sports is booming. AI roles still tend to be B2B SaaS or PR/Comms at this stage from what I see. Crypto is getting fresh energy from SEC approval of ETFs. ➡ Slower Marketing Hiring Overall Persists vs. Go Go Days Elizabeth "Beezer" Clarkson, Fred Wilson, Hunter Walk, Frank Rotman nail the phenom of knock on effects of LPs more cautious to invest in VCs and so on (Read them, better than me). Startups without cash flow positive business models are reaching end of runways... ➡ Equity Compensation is Coming Back for Contractors? When cash was plentiful, founders were more reluctant to give equity. I *think* I am starting to see it? (Just gut feeling). ................... That’s it for now. Just loose observations from what I see. I personally have been doing B2B2C biz dev work, mentoring founders or heads of marketing, and recruiting. (I always had to grow profitably or reach it, even in the go go days!). Grateful to help companies and full of optimism.

Shelley Scipione

Fractional CMO, Consumer Tech || Founder, On Demand Chiefs

4mo

@pat shores Great insights! As a marketing leader, I always had to grow profitably even in the "go go days" as well. While painful, it's important for businesses to figure out profitability sooner in their growth trajectories to solidify their business longevity. It can be tricky for CEOs to achieve this, if they are being pushed by VCs who are focusing on revenue growth or customer acquisition numbers at the expense of profitability. However, the economy is now a forcing-factor for stronger & more sustainable economics.

Ezra Fox, MFA

Founder, Creative Lead

4mo

Creative Contractor here! Equity comp is happening for me with some clients!

Rose Jia

Marketing & Growth Leader | Global Speaker | Author | Renaissance Marketer

4mo

Always so insightful! I love these!

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