It’s no secret that GenAI is on the rise. As its capabilities continue to expand, 97% of organizations are making GenAI integration one of their top five priorities. After all, it has been a helpful tool for campaign personalization and customer analysis. However, while GenAI has also made its mark in the marketing scene, some leaders are still having doubts. A recent survey from Gartner revealed that many CMOs don’t feel their AI investments have paid off, and 27% report that they are either not adopting GenAI or adopting it with limitations.
Despite the lack of perceived ROI, Gartner uses its survey of 418 professional marketers in leadership to show that success in GenAI implementation isn’t unattainable.
High Performers Lead the Way
The high-performers among marketing organizations continue to report gains from AI, and they were marked as being “1.3x more successful in overachieving year-on-year profit growth margins.” They also reported on meeting or exceeding goals within customer acquisition and revenue growth.
So, what are those high performers doing differently?
Gartner’s survey found that 48% of marketers adopted GenAI for strategic development, meanwhile 52% of high performers were using it for the same tasks.
Overall, nearly half (47%) of surveyed CMOs agree to experience large benefits after adopting GenAI into their marketing strategy.
Key Challenges in Marketing
While it makes sense at first to strategically apply GenAI the way high performers have been, the path to that goal isn’t always clear-cut, especially with finances playing a major role.
With 44.5% of the marketing budget being spent on campaigns, CMOs would expect to see a significantly high ROI. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Out of the respondents, 87% experienced problems with their campaigns over the last year, and 45% agree to sometimes cutting off their campaigns early because of poor management practices.
This isn’t to say that the fault is solely with the CMOs as many of them reported issues with other members within their organization’s C-suite. Although funding was identified as the leading factor in campaign failure at 31%, the influence of executive leadership followed closely behind at 26%.
Maximize GenAI for the Future
Now that we’ve covered the state of GenAI in marketing today, what can CMOs do moving forward to improve their results?
The first step is to address the conflict by fostering cross-functional collaboration with finance and executive leadership. This can involve developing strategies together that highlight both short-term and long-term benefits of GenAI, including cost savings and revenue growth. It also helps to use any performance data from previous projects to justify investment in GenAI’s potential.
Next, it’s time to evolve the way your marketing organization utilizes GenAI. Remember, its potential goes beyond managing the menial, repetitive tasks. Look into ways GenAI can help your marketing team enhance the way you reach customers, personalize campaigns, and engage in predictive analytics to gain better insights into what future campaigns will likely be successful.
Final Thoughts
As GenAI continues to reshape the marketing landscape, the divide between high-performing organizations and those struggling to see ROI highlights the importance of strategic adoption. Moving forward, CMOs must prioritize cross-functional collaboration, aligning with finance and executive leadership to secure buy-in and demonstrate ROI. Although challenges such as budget constraints and internal resistance remain, those who commit to evolving their use of GenAI will be well-positioned to outperform competitors and drive long-term success in an increasingly data-driven marketing environment.
View Gartner’s press release here.
