Key Takeaways
- A new study has found that just 6% of marketers report that AI is impacting performance at their firms
- The problem certainly isn’t adoption, with 47% of marketing leaders saying that AI is a core capability for the industry
- Researchers note that, to become a marketing leader that actually sees an impact, you have to establish a centralized AI strategy that focuses on customer value
Marketers — like everyone — are still waiting for AI to make a significant impact, with a new study finding that most professionals haven’t seen a big improvement just yet.
The study from Bain noted that only 6% of marketing professionals say that AI has influenced performance in a significantly positive way, despite 47% of leaders noting that it is a “core capability” for the industry.
So, how are these 6% of professionals making a marketing difference? They focus on providing top-down, centralized AI strategy, rather than just throwing tools at employees and hoping for the best.
AI Isn’t Moving the Needle for Marketers
According to the study from Bain, titled AI in Marketing: How Leaders Achieve Double the Revenue Impact, research found that only 6% of marketing professionals say AI is having a significant impact on performance.
This lack of significant performance improvements points to a disconnected strategy, not a lack of adoption. The study also found that 47% of marketing leaders say that AI is a core capability for businesses in the industry.
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The report “surveyed 1,397 CMOs, chief financial officers, and senior marketing and finance executives across technology, consumer, retail, financial services, media, applications, education, landmark, and home consumer services.”
What Marketing Leaders Do Different
The study from Bain focused on marketing leaders — who are seeing 11%+ annual revenue growth — and marketing laggards — who record flat or declining revenue growth.
Marketing leaders had some very specific tendencies that separated them from laggards, generating AI results that positive impact their business.
They are 8.5 times more likely to experiment with AI, they are 1.5 times more likely to use AI to enhance customer personalization, and they are two times as likely to allocate more than 25% of budget to AI.
How Marketing Leaders Use AI
If you want to make sure that your business is in that 6%, we don’t blame you. After all, AI is expensive, and the last thing you want to do is waste resources on technology that isn’t moving the needle.
The study from Bain found that there are some specific steps that marketing leaders take to optimize their AI usage.
- Centralize AI strategy: Marketing leaders align all business priorities with AI, allowing the entire company to understand basic standards and protocols.
- Rebuild workflows and teams: Marketing leaders evaluate and reevaluate workflows in hopes of finding ways to improve them with AI.
- Focus on customer value: Marketing leaders know that the key to impact is produce customer value, so they align strategy with customers in mind.
Simply put, you can’t just inject AI into your business and pray that it has an impact. This technology is world change, which means you’ll need to change your world to get the most of it.
Check out our guide to AI training courses to learn more.
