UK marketers are fully embracing the opportunities afforded by generative AI. Over the following 12 months, 72% of marketers will prioritise spending on AI and two-thirds (67%) will put up to 30% of their marketing budgets towards the technology.
These findings are taken from the ‘AI & Composable Marketing Software Survey’ conducted by Sitecore, a worldwide leader in end-to-end digital experience software. Sitecore conducted the survey to each understand marketers’ use of generative AI and discover how the technology can improve the digital experiences offered by brands – ultimately leading to more personalised content.
Despite the eagerness to invest, there’s a priority from marketers that they’re not yet ready to fully profit from generative AI. Almost half (45%) don’t feel their marketing technology is currently equipped to leverage generative AI. Here, Sitecore’s findings highlight the importance of a versatile tech stack in order to reap the advantages of generative AI. In fact, 70% plan to move towards more composable software solutions.
The findings also highlight ongoing skills gaps that proceed to plague the marketing industry, with the Chartered Institute of Marketing previously pointing to a stagnation in digital skills in 2021. Fast-forward to today, two-out-of-five marketers (42%), surveyed by Sitecore, still feel their marketing team lacks technical skills. Interestingly, 92% think AI will actually plug skills gaps in their businesses and 70% think it should lead to recent jobs being created.
This lack of know-how hasn’t stopped marketers from experimenting with generative AI. That being said, Sitecore’s research does suggest the UK is lagging behind the US. In the UK, 63% have experimented and are searching for ways the technology, into their long-term strategy versus 80% in the US. Looking ahead, only 32% of UK marketers feel it is simply too soon to invest in generative AI, with 68% saying the other.
“The recent rate of innovation in marketing technology has been truly remarkable,” said Dave O’Flanagan, chief product officer of Sitecore. “Rather than becoming overwhelmed and exhausted by these advancements, we’ve found marketers to be daring and experimental in embracing technologies like ChatGPT. Unlike other tools which were tough to implement, generative AI shows promise in not only being relatively easy to incorporate into composable martech stacks but additionally quick to have a measurable impact on marketing campaigns.”
Generative AI tools, like ChatGPT have quickly captured and held the interest of marketers. Last 12 months, the metaverse had marketers scrambling to stake a claim in the virtual world. Today, nonetheless, it appears to be losing momentum. Sitecore’s 2022 Perceptions of the Metaverse report found that greater than half (56%) of marketers had invested in “metaverse-like technologies.” This recent survey found metaverse projects have fallen behind AI (72%) and digital experience software (68%) as a top priority, with just lower than 1 / 4 (24%) of respondents rating it as one in all the highest three most significant martech investments. Additionally, a 3rd (33%) reported reallocating budget from metaverse projects to support the deployment of AI.
AI will make marketers simpler
The overwhelming majority of marketers say that AI will make them a greater marketer (93%) and more competitive (91%). Importantly, three-quarters of marketers say AI will offer them the chance to catch up with to customers:
- 69% say it should allow them to create more personalised content
- 68% say it should allow them to higher understand customer needs
- 60% say it should provide a gradual stream of relevant content.
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