• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, January 2, 2024

Most marketers are using AI, to some degree, and many plan to spend more on it this year, according to Leveraging AI In Marketing: Strategies, Tactics & Trends, a study by Ascend2.  

But they face challenges, one of which is that some don’t yet know what they are doing.  

Of the companies polled, 15% are putting AI to extensive use in their marketing, and 51% are putting it to some use. Another 17% are not yet using it but plan to, and 17% have no such plans.

Moreover, 48% are somewhat likely to increase their investment over the next 12 months, and 29% are very likely to do so. 

But only 25% of users claim they are very successful at using AI, and 50% say they are somewhat successful. But 24% say they are unsuccessful at it.  

The top challenges are: 

• Lack of expertise — 45%
• Ethical and privacy concerns — 34%
• Budget constraints — 33% 
• Data quality and accessibility — 33%
• Measuring ROI and performance — 28%
• Resistance to change — 27%
• Integration issues — 25%
• Resistance from team members — 16%

The main use cases of AI?  

• Personalization — 38%
• Ad optimization — 34% 
• Chatbots — 33% 
• Social media listening — 32%
• Predictive analytics — 30% 
• Automated content creation — 28% 
• Recommendation engines — 22%
• Audience segmentation — 21%
• Lead scoring — 17%
• Dynamic pricing — 16% 
• None of these — 23%

Personalization is key: 34% strongly agree that AI can significantly help them personalize content and target individual customers. And 52% somewhat concur. 

That said, the main benefits to be gained from AI include:

• Increased efficiency — 57%
• Improved targeting — 46% 
• Automation of repetitive tasks — 40% 
• Better insights from data — 39% 
• Enhanced customer experience — 32% 
• Competitive advantage — 27%

The prevailing success metrics are: 

• Return on investment (ROI) — 44%
• Customer satisfaction — 43% 
• Improved customer engagement — 42%
• Cost savings — 32% 
• Key performance indicators (KPIs) — 33% 
• Enhanced personalization — 23%
• Business objectives alignment — 17%

Ascend2 surveyed 400 marketers in December 2023. Of these, 22% were in B2B, 45% in B2C and 33% in an equal mixture of both. Of the firms represented, 29% have more than 500 employees, 41% employ 50 to 500 and 30% fewer than 50.