7 Lessons We have Learned on AI in Marketing So far

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The new AI tools and especially LLMs, Generative AI and AI agents are drastically going to change the landscape of business. As per the McKinsey Report, AI’s greatest impact is on Sales and Marketing.

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Our team has spoken to several B2B and SaaS marketing experts over the last one year to understand how AI will impact the work of the marketers. 

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Lesson1: AI will Assist and Not Replace Marketers

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While the level of automation may have raised initial concerns, these tools will ultimately help us work faster and more efficiently, often at a lower cost. As the report highlights, "In time, generative AI will augment human creativity, not replace it."The tools may not replace the marketing teams yet completely.

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Source:https://prod.ucwe.capgemini.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/CRI_CMO_Playbook_Final-71223_WEB.pdf

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Lesson2: Generative Use Cases in Marketing Are Evolving

Content generation is the most prominent use case for tools like ChatGPT. However, marketers are getting incredibly creative with how they integrate AI into their workflows. From personalized email campaigns and targeted social media ads to predictive analytics and sentiment analysis, the list of AI-assisted activities is growing exponentially.

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Another data point shows that top 3 use cases are Personalization, Content Creation and Marketing segmentation

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Lesson3: AI will help marketing to be creative again!

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This talk by Jessica is wonderful to highlight how marketers strike balance between creativity and number crunching

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Many marketers like Mastercard CMO Raja Rajamannar say marketers lost a lot of their creativity beginning in the mid-1990s, when marketing pivoted from being a creative function that was centered on psychology, design, and aesthetics, and instead became very driven on technology and data analytics.

For B2B marketers, AI has the potential to reignite that creativity, allowing us to focus on consumer psychology, human touch, and other intangible insights that truly resonate with our audiences.

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Lesson4: CMOs are Excited but Not Allocating Enough Budgets

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While CMOs are undoubtedly excited about the potential of AI in marketing, many are still hesitant to allocate significant budgets towards AI initiatives. According to a recent survey, only 15% of CMOs have dedicated more than 10% of their marketing budgets to AI projects. This reluctance may stem from a lack of understanding or uncertainty about the return on investment (ROI) of AI solutions.

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Lesson5: Buyers are Looking for Services + Software

As the demand for AI in marketing grows, buyers are increasingly looking for more than just AI software or products. They want comprehensive AI-assisted marketing services that can help them achieve their goals more effectively. For instance , many marketing teams reach out to us asking for AI assisted SEO services and not just normal SEO services.

They want to know how to seamlessly integrate LLMs, generative AI, and other cutting-edge technologies into their marketing strategies.

The below chart shows the services-As-A-Software trend

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Lesson6: we're now witnessing the rise of "AI Marketing

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There is a new line item coming up in marketing budgets called AI Marketing. 15 to 20 years ago, marketers used to experiment with digital initiatives.

Now we are seeing the same trend with AI marketing. Budgets of AI enabled marketing initiatives range from 2-20% of marketing budgets.

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Lesson7: For Great Marketing, we need Great Products

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SaaS and B2B tech companies are revisiting their drawing boards, reworking their product value propositions to align with the new AI-driven landscape. The old school fundamentals are back again like Products need to be valuable, focus on User Experience (UX) and reliable. Reminds me of the great image of @Jon Miller 

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Welcome to a brave new wonderland of AI in marketing and we look forward to sharing our thoughts with you all often on this topic..

As we continue to navigate this exciting era, we look forward to sharing our thoughts and experiences with you, dear readers.
Stay tuned for more insights on how AI is transforming the marketing landscape and shaping the future of our industry.

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