If marketers aren’t already using AI, they soon will. Just 4% of marketers said they don’t plan to use AI, according to a new study by co-marketing cloud platform SOCi Inc.
AI or something else. Sixty-nine percent of marketers believe those who use AI will replace those who don’t. This leaves 31% who do not share this belief. But again, almost everyone is considering using it or is currently using some form of AI in their work.
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Top AI use cases. SOCi surveyed 317 digital marketers in the United States. About half (55%) were decision-makers. Here’s how they use AI.
“The diversity in the adoption of AI tools reflects the industry’s quest for more personalized, real-time and effective marketing strategies,” Monica Ho, SOCi’s chief marketing officer, said in a company statement. “Chatbots and ad targeting, in particular, are pioneering this change. »
Are you moving too fast? About a third (36%) of marketers believe that AI adoption in their business is proceeding at the right pace. Another third (32%) are positive about the pace of adoption, but prefer to slow down a bit. A quarter (25%) were neutral on pacing. And 7% said their company was not moving fast enough in implementing AI technology.
“It’s not just about technology; it’s about the evolution of the marketing profession itself,” said Ho. “Marketers who engage and understand the role AI will play will be better positioned than those who don’t . »
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Trusting AI for the job. Another new study, conducted by meeting and scheduling management platform Calendly, took a closer look at how AI is factored into the daily workflow of marketers and their colleagues.
Calendly found that among sales and marketing professionals, 57% have not yet used AI; 69% are at least moderately curious about integrating AI tools into their work.
This broader study – of 1,241 professionals split evenly between US and UK workers and across three segments of the workforce – showed that sales and marketing lagged slightly behind their HR colleagues regarding their trust in AI for certain key functions.
Why we care. Project management and content creation are key marketing functions where fewer than half of marketers currently trust AI, according to the Calendly survey. These include high-stakes tasks for marketers, like creating customer-facing messages and experiences. The desire to adopt AI tools is there (see the SOCi study). It could be that much of AI usage will spread through more widespread business functions such as meetings and AI-generated summaries.
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