Having founded Ninjapromo, one of the world's leading full-stack marketing agencies with subscription-based models, Paul Lipen and Slava Kasperovich are prominent players in the digital marketing space. Ninjapromo's rise to success has coincided with the advent of several technology trends, such as the dramatic rise of blockchain to mainstream, to which the agency had to adapt and react. Recently we have sat down and talked to Paul and Slava about navigating one of these trends – namely AI, and the potential implications it can have on digital marketing.

When did AI first get on your radar?

Paul: I got into the agency business when the current buzzword was blockchain, so it was around 2017 when we learned the ropes of the market, what worked and what did not, chose a few key services, scaled them and got great traction without the use of AI. That being said, it's hard to work with blockchain and tech companies without being aware of AI technology as well. I and my colleagues knew that one day it would disrupt the market and, being open to innovation, we still can't say that we tried it too early. It was around summer 2021, when everyone suddenly started talking about the various use-cases of ChatGPT, even though it was just a very limited public test release. 

Could you elaborate on specific use cases where Ninjapromo.io has embraced AI in its operations or services?

Slava: While we're super enthusiastic about the future of AI, and more than happy with what many AI-based services can already do, it's not like we have a centralized policy in the company that forces everyone to use AI. It's always up to our specialists and their departments to decide whether a certain AI tool improves their workflow or not. 

Just to give you some perspective – we actively employ the flagship of AI, ChatGPT when it comes to streamlining our content creation process, so our community managers, writers and creative specialists from the SMM department turn to it when they know what they want and want to do it quicker, or when they want a framework with a few suggestions for creative thinking.

One of our specializations is graphic design, and while our Midjourney subscription is totally paying off when it comes to slightly tweaking the end result or speeding up the ideation process, it has never come close to replacing an actual experienced designer. 

Would you say that as a marketing service provider it has affected the number of leads you have?

Paul: If you mean that businesses and startups will turn to agencies less often because of increased availability of AI-as-a-Service products, then this time is by no means close, and agencies such as ours, bringing wealth of experience to the table will be the last to suffer. We are seeing more business, if anything, because a lot of emergent AI solutions are competing against each other, while also getting a bit ahead of themselves, and struggling to find a market fit, and they need someone to bring them down to Earth a bit, delivering them feasible solutions and insights they can't get out of thin air without years of experience.

Slava: Most AI projects are simply not there yet in terms of sheer quality and capability, but more importantly, in cost-efficiency. I've read about an interesting research conducted by the MIT, and the conclusion is that most jobs are out of danger for now, both online and offline, because AI is targeting only some narrow, specific use-cases, which constitute but a few percent of actual job duties of a professional in any field.

Looking ahead, how do you envision the role of AI evolving in digital marketing agencies in the coming years?

Paul: It will impact our agency and our competitors alike in two ways:

• Understanding AI, its use cases, limitations and legal implications of its application will be in high demand just like experience, solid grasp and even advocacy of blockchain tech is important now. We will be challenged by our clients to dive deeper in it with them while delivering creative marketing campaigns that speak to people both on practical and emotional levels.
• In terms of equipping our experts with products powered by AI, we'll primarily look into analytical tools and writing. It will be about speeding up the processes that we already know how to do, so it's about making us more efficient. AI will never take responsibility for a task though, or decide what creative solution is a go, and what makes no sense. That I do not expect to change in the near future.

Overall, I agree with Vitalik Buterin here, it's worth treading carefully when deploying AI applications in high-value high-risk contexts, which many online and offline businesses and enterprise use-cases are.

About Ninjapromo

Ninjapromo.io is a top-ranking full-stack digital marketing agency dedicated to providing innovative solutions via a cost-efficient subscription model to startups and established businesses across many industries since 2017. Ninjapromo.io has executed impactful marketing campaigns and helped raise over $2bn for 200+ international clients, including Logitech, Samsung, Burger King, P&G.

For more info follow Ninjapromo.io on social media and do not hesitate to get in touch.

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