Marketing in Transition: The Current State of the AI Revolution

AI is ushering in a new breed of marketer — one who is data savvy, strategic, and creative. But in Movable Ink’s survey of 150 B2C marketers to uncover how AI is shifting workflows, it became clear that we are still in the experimental phase of the AI-powered era. While a reduced administrative burden is creating new capacity for strategic thinking and creative storytelling, many companies aren't yet fully capitalizing on AI's potential—and risk getting left behind.

AI's Current Role in Marketing

The survey revealed how marketing teams are leveraging AI:

• 50% use it for email marketing.
• 49% use it for content creation.
• 32% use it for personalization.

These statistics showcase the potential for growth, particularly in building more relevant, deeper connections with consumers. 

More than 70% of customers expect personalized interactions, and nearly half of shoppers say they will switch to a business that provides customized offers. Brands recognize AI's potential in this space, as our flagship 2024 Audience of One report reflected: 98% of marketers agree that AI helps brands deliver more personalized experiences.  

In an ideal world, we would handcraft messages catering to every individual’s specific needs, preferences, and habits. Obviously, that is humanly impossible. Limited time and resources often force teams to rely on high-level segments determined by demographics and/or recent purchases, reducing the impact, relevance, and potential of messages. The time marketers spend on manual segmentation also detracts from their ability to craft memorable content, and growing customer audiences compound these problems. AI provides the solution. 

‍Movable Ink’s AI-powered solution, Da Vinci, scales personalized content for every individual customer. Rather than creating one generic send or a few segment-focused variations, marketers can rely on one send to deliver infinite experiences—from email content and subject lines to frequency and send time. To top it off, every send generates deeper insights and analytics to better inform the next campaign.

Da Vinci’s Creative IQ automatically analyzes customer data and a company's creative content assets, and selects the option most likely to boost engagement, clicks or conversions for a particular recipient. Messaging IQ tailors the delivery timing and frequency to further enhance the message's effectiveness, and Performance IQ helps marketers understand what content (creative, subject line) is most effective at driving financial performance. 

These emails go beyond suggesting the item category the customer has already viewed. Da Vinci takes email recipients on a journey of discovery designed to help brands achieve both short (conversions) and long-term business objectives (discovery, loyalty). With every email sent, Da Vinci gains a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the individual customer to track and anticipate both current and future needs.  

Enhanced messaging is not AI's only benefit. According to our survey, more than half of marketers said AI reduced time spent on repetitive tasks. Our own Da Vinci customers have increased productivity by 40%. 

Shifting Expectations for Marketers

About 35% of surveyed marketers say marketing roles are transitioning towards more strategic planning, a number likely to increase as teams optimize AI's contributions to workflow. 

So, what skills will future marketers need? Data analysis (32%) and AI tool proficiency (25%) topped the list in our survey. Interestingly, strategic thinking (18%) and creativity (10%) were less of a priority. At first glance, these numbers seem counterintuitive. If the focus is becoming more strategic, why isn't that a priority skill?

This discrepancy is likely a reflection of the current stage of AI adoption. Teams are still experimenting with this technology, and understanding its functionalities and limitations is more pressing right now. Once marketers successfully integrate and learn how to maximize AI's value, the critical nature of creativity and strategic thinking will become more apparent. 

With solutions like Da Vinci, say goodbye to decades-old tedious campaign processes and let human creativity and innovation become the primary differentiators in marketing. While every brand has access to data, the marketing teams that derive and execute meaningful, impactful data-driven strategies will set themselves apart from their competitors.

The State of the Industry

As our survey findings show, the marketing industry is still in the fledgling stages of AI-driven transformation. Currently, marketers are laser-focused on exploring the boundless capabilities of AI and learning how marketers’ uniquely human skills can work in tandem with the solution. But the ideal balance between marketer and machine is closer than you think. The possibilities are already there—all marketers need to do is be quick to step into this new era.

Learn more about the AI-powered marketing era by checking out our resources, signing up for our newsletter, or exploring what’s possible with Da Vinci.