The majority of marketers know artificial intelligence is essential to their success this year. But, lack of education and training is holding the industry back, with 70 percent of respondents identifying it as a barrier to adoption of AI in their marketing.
This is just one of the key findings from the 2021 State of Marketing AI Report, released by Drift and Marketing AI Institute.
We teamed up with Drift in fall 2020 to gain unparalleled insights into the awareness, understanding and adoption of AI throughout the marketing industry.
Using Marketing AI Institute's AI Score for MarketersTM assessment, marketers had the opportunity to answer 13 survey questions, and rate the value of 49 sample marketing AI use cases. More than 400 marketers answered portions of the survey, and 235 completed all questions and use case ratings.
The report finds that forward-thinking organizations and marketers are using AI to accelerate revenue and reduce costs. In the process, building sustainable competitive advantages for their products and their people. Unfortunately, most marketers still lack the education, training and confidence needed to pilot and scale AI technologies.
Key findings from the report include:
- 52 percent say AI is very important (37 percent) or critically important (15 percent) to the success of their marketing over the next 12 months.
- 41 percent of marketers are achieving revenue acceleration with AI today.
- 50 percent classify their understanding of AI terminology and capabilities at the beginner level, while another 37 percent identify at the intermediate level.
- 56 percent believe AI will create more marketing jobs than it eliminates over the next decade.
- 80 percent believe they will be intelligently automating more than a quarter of their marketing tasks in the next five years.
The report is a must-read for marketers. It paints a picture of a marketing industry undergoing a once-in-a-generation transformative that will have a lasting impact on brands and careers.
By downloading the report, you'll be one of the first to understand this transformation—and take advantage of it.
Click below to get the report now.
Paul Roetzer
Paul Roetzer is founder and CEO of Marketing AI Institute. He is the author of Marketing Artificial Intelligence (Matt Holt Books, 2022) The Marketing Performance Blueprint (Wiley, 2014) and The Marketing Agency Blueprint (Wiley, 2012); and creator of the Marketing AI Conference (MAICON).