After a year of widespread AI adoption, marketers like what they see and plan to double down in 2025. Ninety-four percent of marketers say AI technologies positively impacted revenue in 2024, and 95% plan to increase AI investment in the year ahead, according to a new study of 600 U.S. and U.K. marketers by research firm Sago and conversation analytics software company Invoca.
Ninety percent of marketers, all at companies of 100 employees or more, said they have dedicated budgets for AI technology for 2025.
AI adoption. Marketing leaders are leading by example with AI adoption. Fifty-four percent of executives and directors say they are experts in using AI tools — the same level as last year, according to Invoca.
But now this enthusiasm has trickled down to the lower ranks. This year, 43% of managers said they’re experts in their familiarity with the technology, up from 32% in 2023.
Shifts in perception. AI adoption and upskilling in the last year is fueled by a positive shift in perception about the tools.
When asked how their perception has changed in the last year, marketers said:
- I am much more optimistic about AI (42%).
- I am somewhat more optimistic (50%).
- No change from last year (6%).
- Less optimistic (1%).
Also, 47% of marketers said they were much more interested in AI tech this year, 43% somewhat more interested. Eight percent said their level of interest hasn’t changed in the last year, and 1% are less interested.
AI skills. Marketers acknowledge the positive impact of AI tools on their organizations and have upskilled accordingly. The vast majority of marketers said they are expert or advanced at these emerging technologies.
Here’s the breakdown of how marketers’ rated their own AI skills:
- 47% said they were experts.
- 45% said they were advanced.
- 7% said they were novices.
None of the respondents said they were either beginners or non-users of AI technology.
Larger organizations are leading the charge for attracting and developing self-confirmed experts. Sixty percent of marketers at businesses with 1,000 or more employees say they’re experts, while 40% at companies with under 1,000 employees say the same.
Getting hired. Ninety-four percent of marketers said AI skills will be more important in the hiring process moving forward, according to the Invoca study.
- 52% said AI skills will be much more important for hiring in 2025.
- 42% said AI skills will be somewhat more important.
- 5% said they would be about the same level of importance for hiring.
Nobody said AI skills would be less important in the coming year, according to the study.
The full Invoca study can be found here.
Why we care. Getting acquainted with new AI tools seems to lead to a high degree of optimism among marketers. This follows the “test-and-learn” mindset marketers put into action when updating all kinds of strategies and methods. Half of the respondents in this study said experience with AI tools made them much more likely to increase their investment in AI. Another 44% said this experience makes them somewhat more likely to do so.
We’ll stay tuned to see if this concerted effort to figure out AI within the organization will translate into higher customer trust on the customer-facing side. Belief that AI tools are impacting revenue in a positive way certainly helps the cause.
Dig deeper: Consumers are underwhelmed by AI experiences