Will AI replace marketing jobs? Not for marketers who learn the tools and stay close to outcomes, according to Andy Milligan. AI is changing how marketing work gets done, but the people most at risk are the ones who refuse to use it, not the experienced pros who put it to work for their clients.
In this short video, Andy, founder of MMG Design and the Columbus Marketing Organization, answers four questions marketers sent him about AI, job replacement, and where the industry is heading. This post pulls out his answers on AI and careers. For more practical guides on growing as a marketer, browse the Columbus Marketing playbooks.
Will AI replace marketing jobs? What the data says
Worry is common. In a Pew Research Center survey of 5,273 employed U.S. adults published in February 2025, 52% of workers said they were worried about the future impact of AI in the workplace, and 36% said they felt hopeful.
About a third, 32%, expected AI to lead to fewer job opportunities for them. Only 16% said at least some of their work was already done with AI.
The long-term outlook for marketing leadership is still steady. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment of advertising, promotions, and marketing managers to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 36,300 openings a year.
Andy's view matches that picture. "There will always be demand for people who will work hard, have proven results, and have deep career experience with AI in the picture," he says (1:31).
Why experienced marketers can come out ahead
The sharpest question came from someone whose friend is a freelance product photographer for makeup brands. She was losing work as companies and agencies used AI image generation to remix product shots into new scenes. What should she do?
Andy's first answer: some industries will not hand this work to AI. He points to "regulated industries like healthcare, finance, things like that," which "will always be looking for experts" (5:09).
His second answer flips the fear around. Because she has done the work by hand for years, has multiple clients, and is an authority in her space, she is in the best position to benefit as her cost of production drops. "If you're adopting these tools and not scared of them, you can be the prime beneficiary, not the ones who are using it to replace you," Andy says (6:11).
He covers the same question from a designer's angle in will AI replace graphic designers.
How to make yourself harder to replace
Andy's practical advice comes down to a few moves:
- Try to automate the technical side of your own job first. He calls this "the first exercise that every creative, every marketer should do." Find what the tools can do, so you decide how they get used.
- Pass the savings on to clients. Ask how your new speed can make you more valuable to the people paying you, instead of fearing they will replace you.
- Tie your work to outcomes, not process. Andy admits he would love to sit in Figma all day. But if his work "doesn't pass on value" to clients, he says, "then they shouldn't be paying me."
- Lean toward niches where replacement is slower, such as regulated industries that prize expert judgment.
For a deeper guide on using these tools well, read Andy's piece on AI in marketing.
Generalist or specialist in an AI job market?
A designer with 11 years of experience asked whether there is still room for generalists. Andy says yes, especially with experience behind you, but warns that a generalist mindset is hard to turn into a practical job search. His fix is to name the job titles that fit your skill set, such as multimedia specialist or creative specialist, and to let your past industries define your niche (2:02). His advice on building that path is in his guide to the marketing career he would recommend to his younger self.
What about chasing higher-paying markets?
Another marketer asked about targeting out-of-state remote roles for higher pay. Andy says companies in 2026 seem more likely to hire locally, and entry-level candidates will struggle without a warm introduction.
The gap is real: according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 estimates, the mean marketing manager wage is $177,770 nationally and $151,280 in the Columbus metro. For a fuller plan, see these job search strategies for marketers. He also touched on doing free work to get noticed by distant employers, a topic he covers in a separate post on spec work.
Stay close to your local community
AI changes the work, but jobs and clients still come through people. Columbus Marketing Organization is a peer community for marketers, freelancers, and service providers in Columbus, Ohio, founded by Andy Milligan. Members share leads, introductions, and job opportunities, including the weekly Columbus Marketing Jobs newsletter.
If you are searching right now, Columbus Marketing Jobs sends curated Columbus marketing roles every week.
Will AI replace marketing jobs? Andy's answer is that it will replace tasks, and the marketers who use the tools to deliver better outcomes will be the ones clients keep paying. Come compare notes with peers at an upcoming Columbus marketing event, or join the Columbus Marketing Organization community on Skool.
If you're adopting these tools and not scared of them, you can be the prime beneficiary, not the ones who are using it to replace you.
Frequently asked questions
Will AI replace marketing jobs?
AI is replacing marketing tasks faster than whole jobs. Andy Milligan expects continued demand for marketers who work hard, show proven results, and bring deep experience. BLS projects marketing manager employment to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035. The bigger risk is refusing to learn the tools that clients now expect.
Which marketing work is safest from AI?
Andy points to regulated industries such as healthcare and finance, which he says will always look for experts rather than replace that work with AI tools. Work tied to judgment, client relationships, and measurable outcomes is harder to replace than purely technical production tasks.
How can a creative freelancer compete with AI tools?
Use the tools before your clients do. Andy suggests trying to automate the technical side of your own job, then passing the time savings on to clients as more value. Experienced freelancers with existing clients and authority in their space are well placed to benefit as production costs fall.
Can a generalist marketer still get hired with AI changing the market?
Yes, especially with experience, but Andy says a generalist mindset is hard to turn into a job search. Name the specific titles that fit your skills, such as multimedia or creative specialist, and use your past industries as your niche when you reach out to hiring managers.
Read the video transcript
Kind: captions Language: en Is targeting out of state jobs a better strategy than focusing on local ones? A remote job in New York seems to have a higher salary and benefits than all my prospects here in Ohio. Targeting out of state jobs is kind of a mixed bag. Obviously, depending on what your priorities are, if you have the flexibility to move, what I've seen in 2026 is that companies are more likely to hire people that are local. It seems pretty elegant to want to play the inflation game. Obviously, the cost of living is much different depending on where you live. I grew up in a very traditional Midwestern family here in rural Ohio. And it was always very elegant to target clients in New York, Boston, out west, California, places like this. They do offer higher base rate salaries for similar marketing job titles. As a general rule, if you have more experience, you can play into this game a little bit, but if you are entry level, it's really going to be hard to find prospects there without a warm relationship or some kind of an introduction getting you on the floor. Even then, they're probably going to want you to move out there. But if you have a little bit of hustle and you want to play this game, you can do case studies and free work towards hirers in those areas. And that can be a way to get your foot in the door. Obviously, depending on what your situation is, you may not have the capacity to be able to do free work, but I have seen this work for people in the past. Hey Andy, I wanted to reach out to let you know I listened to your podcast episode on specifying and found it helpful. If I'm pursuing a salary position with a company, do you think that strategy still applies or is it more applicable to freelance? been in design and marketing for 11 years now and though specializing feels unintuitive to me, it is something I have heard repeatedly throughout my career. I've always enjoyed being a generalist designer and I'm curious to see if there's place for that in today's job market. First of all, there will always be demand for people who will work hard, have proven results, and have deep career experience with AI in the picture. Now, I have heard and seen, you know, anecdotal case studies of people hiring for more generalist roles. And if you have experience to add on top of that, that's going to make you a really appealing hire to companies. However, it is always hard to say I want to be a generalist and approach a practical job search strategy, especially in marketing with that mindset of being a generalist. Niching is always going to be helpful and effective. And the lens that you can take on this if you want to be a generalist is defining the specific job titles and roles that encompasses your generalist skill set. So, if you're a creative graphic designer, maybe like multimedia specialist or creative specialist, something like that where you can get a little bit more concrete with your efforts is going to be really helpful. And even under the umbrella of being a generalist designer, your experiences speak to your niche for you. Odds are very slim that you have experience using all tools and all industries. So you can do yourself a favor, look at your past experience, make connections with other people that are hiring within that same industry, and then on the third layer, narrow down to those job titles. Hey Andy, I'm employed and I'm looking to build my resume and transition to a business owner when the time is right. When do I know when the right time is? Oh boy. So I have to give the common disclaimer. I don't know your exact situation and the specific advice is going to be different to depending on who's asking the question, but one thing I do know is that the timing is rarely ever going to feel perfect. I was laid off for my first full-time design job when I had about $1,200 in revenue. Now, depending on what your situation is, obviously, if you have kids, if you have a mortgage, debt, and you need to make money quicker, it's going to be really hard to do that starting from net zero. I had the flexibility being 22, being able to be very selfish with my time. I had about 10k in savings, paying 1,200 bucks a month for mortgage. But I was able to really burn the candle at both ends and be very selfish with my time and use that to honestly brute force grow the business, doing outreach, attending networking events, and fixing my lack of experience by throwing my own time at it. But one thing I do know for certain is that life is a lot shorter than we all think it is. I've been in this constant process recently telling myself that I won't do this next thing until I reach this other thing. So like for example, I just got a house and there's a myriad of repairs that I need done. And I've told myself that I'm not going to involve myself in extracurriculars and any type of fun or things locally until I have this amount of repairs done because it's been stressing me out. Now obviously career is a totally different lens to take on things but I would really really encourage you to think okay how much time do I have left in my career. Do a full assessment of how much money you need to maintain your current lifestyle and how much going on your own actually excites you cuz it will always be a process of oh the timing will be right when or oh I don't have enough money saved yet to be able to make this happen for myself. While the advice is dependent on who's asking the question, going through a few of those exercises and calibrating through like the worst case scenario, if you were not to make any money for 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, and kind of playing out that worst case scenario, not that I think that will happen. Obviously, you're a high performer, but just knowing that in your back of your mind that you will be okay even if the worst case scenario happens is really helpful. Andy, my friend, is a freelance product photographer for makeup and is finding less work as companies and agencies use Agentic AI image generation to create the kinds of images she has been creating through her studio photography and using Photoshop. For example, shooting the product on white than remixing it with in different context with AI. What should she do? This is a really interesting one. And I've had different takes on AI replacing certain industries, especially in creative. And it's funny, I listened to an Alex Hormosi quip where he had a web design agency owner come up and say almost the exact same thing, like, "Hey, Alex, what should we do? Our industry is at significant risk of being interrupted by AI. How should we prepare for this?" And while Photoshop design and mockup design is obviously a different industry than web itself, you kind of take a step back out and view the market on its whole. There are certain industries in which they will never be using AI tools to replace the work that they hire agencies for. regulated industries like healthcare, finance, things like that. They will always be looking for experts and they would never consider taking that in-house no matter how significant the cost savings are. It's not even the same discussion or conversation. Secondly, if your friend is a freelance product photographer and has been doing this her way for a long time, she has multiple clients. She's kind of an authority in her space. When I read a question like this, I think, wow, she is the one at the prime beneficiary now that her cost of production has gone down so much. It's interesting for me to hear her lens on it that she's scared of these tools when in actuality I'm excited for her because all the first thing I think is wow her job just got so much easier. If you're in a position where you have done this for a long time manually, people will be coming to you and asking for your opinion on how they should be using the tools. You become the thought leader and if you're adopting these tools and not scared of them, you can be the prime beneficiary, not the ones who are using it to replace you. I've also found a lot of value in taking on the mindset that how can I use my new advantage of the tools and pass that along to my clients rather than fearing the fact that they'll replace me completely. How can you use them to make yourself so valuable that people will now pay more and view you as more valuable they ever could trying to replace you with the tools. That's like the first exercise that every creative, every marketer should do is okay, how can I actually try and replace myself out of the technical side of my job? This takes a lot of focus and it's hard, especially as a creative myself, having to marry myself with outcomes rather than process. Believe me, I would love to sit in Figma all day, be creative, and I would get really fulfilled by doing that. But at the end of the day, it doesn't pass on value to the economy, to our clients, and if I'm not using the tools in a way that passes value onto our clients, then they shouldn't be paying me. That's just the way the world works. So, a combination of gravitating towards niches where replacement is slower and using the tools, wielding the sword in a way that actually moves you forward is a great mindset to