Leaders and Laggards
July 20, 2024
My favorite podcast, The Artificial Intelligence Show, led by Paul Roetzer and Mike Kaput just provided a preview into their upcoming "2024 State of Marketing AI Report," in partnership with Drift, a Salesloft company. There were more than “1800 marketers and business leaders sharing with us how they adopt and use AI.”
Knowing results of their prior "State of..." findings, there are two stats that really surprised me:
-> 67% of respondents cited lack of education and training as the top barrier to AI adoption in marketing.
-> Hard to believe but this is UP from last year. 🤔
-> 75% of organizations either offer no AI-focused education for their marketing teams (47%), have it in development (24%), or aren't sure if it exists (4%).
-> Significant risk or opportunity. ⚠️💡
I'm looking forward to hearing the full report. My perspective on above:
Yes, AI is an emerging tech and there is a lot of hype around it, but I don't think that should give you comfort that you can wait to get started.
AI is the most disruptive and exciting tech in my 30 years of advising brands. There is real momentum and a steady stream of case studies for how brands are augmenting and reinventing traditional marketing approaches with AI saving time, saving money, and creating new possibilities that were out of reach before. And the capabilities of what AI can do today are relatively narrow to what labs and leading AI companies are working toward.
If you're leading an agency, brand, or marketing department that is part of the 51% that either doesn’t offer any AI-focused education for your marketing teams or they don’t know if it exists, I would ask myself this:
Do we wait and risk being a Laggard or take steps now to give us a chance to be a Leader❓
AI can be a supercharger. If we embrace it as our partner not our competitor, it's a tool that possesses the potential to enable us to unleash our most Human of traits: Creativity, Intuition, Passion, and Innovation.
Not the org’s leader? AI is your opportunity to advance your career at a pace that’s hard to imagine, but it’s possible.
Please reach out if you are interested in learning more how we can help you by Transforming Uncertainty to UnbelievAIble™.
