A couple of weeks ago I attended the fourth annual Marketing AI Conference (MAICON) in Cleveland, and the insights and inspiration are still resonating. MAICON was created by the Marketing AI Institute to help marketing leaders and practitioners understand, pilot, and successfully scale the use of AI in their organizations. The conference fosters a uniquely collaborative community atmosphere, with highly engaged attendees. The event is notable for a shared spirit of generosity. Marketers openly share their experiences, learn from one another, and offer actionable advice that influences strategies long after the event.
Get Ready For An AI Future No One Can Predict
Marketers are steering through an unpredictable future. This became strikingly clear from the event’s opening keynote, which explored a timeline leading to artificial general intelligence (AGI), through the closing remarks, which coincided with the launch of OpenAI o1. Even with well-founded concerns about where the marketing profession is headed, MAICON offered enduring guidance to set marketers up for success. Here are three key lessons that caught my attention:
- The responsibility starts with you. Multiple sessions, including my own, covered how marketers can move from genAI pilots to organization-wide proficiency and adoption. Many sessions emphasized the personal initiative and leadership that’s needed. You don’t have to be an AI expert to lead. What most marketing organizations need is someone who will take action, whether that’s planning for AI literacy, conducting impact and readiness assessments, getting executive buy-in, or recognizing and rewarding achievements that fuel progress.
- Build alignment on the right outcomes for your organization. During early stages of genAI adoption, marketers mostly focused on productivity. But that was often about reducing time spent on one-off tasks or performing the same activities with only minor adjustments. It has become so common that many leaders expect use cases for cost savings and refinement. That’s building a faster team, not a more effective one. Instead, define the outcomes from genAI that makes things better for your organization in the context of your company’s vision. As a marketer, you have an important role in defining how your current organization uses genAI can be used to become the company it wants to be. Future enhancements or refinements should come only after applying genAI to the right processes.
- Hold on to the spirit of a pioneer who’s charting the unknown. Most marketers risk underestimating the potential for radical change. During the next few years, be willing to examine how marketing organizations and customer engagement will evolve. Think in terms of speed, scale, and scope. With more advanced AI capabilities, we’ll be able to respond to market changes, customer needs, and buyer behaviors more quickly. Smaller marketing organizations will not only punch above their weight, but exceed any classic expectations related to size or capacity. Additionally, AI will help us do things that are inconceivable right now. That will affect the nature of our daily work. Although there’s so much unknown, you’ll want to use AI to make better decisions. You’ll also have to plan for managing the cultural aspects of marketing’s organizational changes.
Develop Your AI Action Plan
No matter where you are in your career or in your organization’s AI adoption journey, these changes bring opportunity. We’re all preparing for a future beyond our imagination – but there are things we can do today that get us ready for whatever comes next. It may be that you’re the best expert to help your team document prompts and processes. Or you can be a leader who establishes an AI council to bring informed perspectives to future decision making. Spend time learning, whether it’s on your own or as part of company-provided training. Use your network to understand how other marketing organizations are approaching their AI roadmap. Lean on your vendors, agencies, and experts for advice, and be ready to reward team members who show curiosity, openness to learning, and adaptability.
Forrester can help you with your AI action plan. If you’re a Forrester client and would like help with any aspects of your AI action plan or getting a deeper dive into Forrester’s GenAI Marketing Adoption Framework, please reach out through your account team or schedule a guidance session.
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