Every B2B marketer is asking the same questions when it comes to AI marketing: How should I incorporate AI into my strategy? What tools should I use? What tasks should I outsource? But all this focus on AI as the key to your success overlooks one core truth: AI’s abilities are limited to its inputs, which means it’s your abilities that will determine whether or not your AI marketing is successful.
Translation: The marketers who thrive in the next decade won’t be those who resist AI or those who become overly dependent on it. It will be those who understand that as AI democratizes creative production, human judgment, taste, and storytelling will become more valuable, not less. If you want to achieve both success and longevity, it’s important to nurture those key traits.
That’s one of the most interesting (and, frankly, comforting) takeaways from our conversations with Andrew Chen, creative leader at Hiive, who dropped by our Best Story Wins podcast to chat about how creative marketing is evolving. Andrew has an unconventional background—he started his design career in the hardcore music scene before leading creative teams at companies like Instacart and now Hiive, a FinTech building a secondary marketplace for private company stock. But his pragmatic and optimistic perspective should be a huge inspiration to creative marketers everywhere.
In our conversation, Andrew essentially offered a roadmap for B2B marketers who want to stay ahead of the curve in their careers—and outmaster the competition at every step.
The Real AI Divide in Creative Work
Most conversations about AI in creative work focus on job displacement, but Andrew sees a different dynamic emerging. He believes we’re heading toward a two-tier system that has less to do with human versus machine and more to do with how strategically professionals use these tools.
- Some companies will overleverage AI and try to use it for every single aspect of marketing. But Andrew says they’re delusional if they think they can just outsource the whole of brand-building to AI.
- Others will use AI strategically, leveraging it for efficiency while maintaining human oversight for the things that actually matter to audiences.
The difference between these two approaches will become increasingly obvious to consumers, even if they can’t explicitly articulate why one brand feels more authentic than another. Ultimately, it’s the human touch that makes the difference.
From Creator to Curator: Your New Competitive Advantage
With the proliferation of AI tools, Andrew says, “The world is gonna be filled with way too much stuff.” Therefore, the most significant shift Andrew predicts is the marketer evolution from creator to curator. As AI tools become capable of generating endless creative output, the real value will lie in knowing what to create and why.
The most successful marketers will provide value by organizing and surfacing the most interesting and relevant information, including a mix of thought leadership, data, industry trends, case studies, and other expert content that people crave. The key, of course, will be that curation. Because people are overwhelmed, Andrew says you need someone to organize that information in a way that people can actually digest and experience it.
So how do you become an expert curator?
How to Transition from Creator to Curator
If you want to position yourself well in the AI era, these are the key ways you need to adapt.
1. Develop your taste and judgment.
AI can generate dozens of logo concepts, but it can’t tell you which one will resonate with your audience in six months. It can write a million articles, but it can’t connect the dots for readers or write from first-hand experience. That’s where human input and judgment become invaluable.
Start positioning yourself as someone with exceptional judgment, not just exceptional execution skills. This means studying the keys to great marketing, understanding cultural context, and developing an intuitive sense for what will connect with audiences.
Tip: If you want to flex this muscle on LinkedIn, create a practice of analyzing and explaining why certain creative work succeeds or fails. Share your perspective on industry trends and start building a reputation as someone who can cut through noise to identify what actually matters.
2. Focus on context and purpose over aesthetics.
Andrew defines great work as happening “when the context and purpose click to create something distinct and memorable with that intended audience.” This human ability to understand context—cultural, business, and emotional—remains firmly in human territory. If those elements don’t align, it doesn’t matter how well-designed your content is. (Andrew likens good marketing to a great meal in a diner, where success depends on the who, what, when, where of the diner, patrons, and cook.)
Tip: Context is particularly relevant in B2B marketing, where you have multiple stakeholders, desires, and power dynamics, all of which influence the way you tailor your marketing. Before brainstorming any ideas, take a beat to think deeply about these dynamics. Who is this really for? What’s happening in their world right now? What cultural or business context might influence how they receive this work? AI can’t make these nuanced judgments, but you can.
3. Master the art of strategic integration.
The creative leaders who succeed won’t be those who avoid AI entirely, but those who understand when and how to integrate it strategically.
This requires developing a framework for decision-making around AI tools. Use them for tasks that benefit from speed and iteration: generating initial concepts, creating variations, handling production tasks, etc. But reserve human energy for strategy, refinement, and the nuanced decisions that determine whether work actually connects with audiences.
Tip: Developing usage guidelines around AI is helpful to streamline your workflow, implement best practices, preserve your brand, and protect your company against any risks. See our guide to craft strong AI guidelines.
4. Become a master storyteller.
At the core of Andrew’s philosophy is the belief that great creative work is really great storytelling. For marketers, that means you need to know what makes a good story.
This goes far beyond crafting narratives. It’s about understanding human psychology, cultural dynamics, and the subtle ways that context influences how people receive and interpret content. It’s about knowing not just what story to tell, but how, when, and where to tell it.
Tip: Look beyond your industry for creative storytelling inspiration. Study how other fields solve problems related to taste, curation, and human experience. (For example, Drew Hoffman of SentinelOne draws inspiration from film directors.) These sources can help you push the boundaries of B2B marketing and create content that really connects with your audience.
Your Next Steps to Master AI-Era Marketing
Put bluntly, the marketers who will win in this AI era will be those who understand not just what can be made, but what should be made. The more you can hone your own skills to see that distinction, the more successful you’ll be—and the more your brand will grow. To help make that happen:
- Diversify your content formats to showcase curation skills. Move beyond standard blog posts and social media to create content that demonstrates your ability to synthesize and organize information.
- Design systems that scale human creativity. Build processes that amplify your team’s best thinking rather than just churning out more content. Learn how to create scalable content operations that preserve quality while increasing output.
- Stay ahead of industry evolution. The AI landscape changes rapidly, so continuous learning is essential. Subscribe to our Best Story Wins podcast for the latest tips to win hearts, minds, and market share.
If you want to hear more about Andrew’s journey from the music scene to leading creative teams, check out our full conversation on the Best Story Wins podcast.
