In only a few short years, AI has become an important marketing tool. It has many uses and can help to streamline marketing tasks and strategies. But until an organization matches its AI investment with a readiness to accept AI into its approach, success will be harder to find. 

Data from Accenture showed that organizations can achieve a 2.5 times higher average revenue growth if they pair their AI investment with a transformed marketing approach with the tech investment. It’s not just the AI technology, it’s also the reinvention of the marketing approach that will lead to success.

So, how do you transform your team’s mindset to incorporate AI? Here’s some insight:

• Predict, don’t react. Marketing has always been reactive, basing decisions on past performance. But AI’s predictive intelligence allows marketers the insight to determine what happens next and how to shape their marketing efforts to advantage.
• New success metrics. Traditional metrics can underestimate performance where AI is utilized. One organization had success by integrating data functions directly into the marketing team and adding a Chief Data Officer. They are now able to more effectively balance immediate KPIs with brand-building strategies over the long term.
• Ditch silos. Integrated data flows and collaboration across functions are must-haves. Examples include:
  • One organization found that silos were the biggest barriers to AI implementation, not the AI technology itself. The marketing team was restructured to connect siloed data sources and create cross-functional teams, which lead a more rounded comprehension of customer behavior.
  • Another organization combined generative AI and across-the-board data intelligence to increase content creation at a 40x greater pace. The improved, personalized content helped to achieve a 6-9% growth in revenue.
• Leadership that is fluent with AI. This may sound like a no-brainer, but marketing leadership needs to have enough of a basic understanding of AI to guide strategy decisions without getting lost in the technical weeds.

In summary, organizations will need to change their notions about how the work gets done. By viewing AI as collaborative intelligence, teams can be assembled that can quickly incorporate machine insights, test existing processes and evolve marketing approaches on a continuous basis.