You’re Not Alone.

Marketing Technology has come a long way in a relatively short period of time. As the technology became more affordable and accessible, more companies started using it. Now Marketing Technology is almost as ubiquitous as discussions of Google’s cookie-less search.

As these apps are updated, artificial Intelligence is being added to them. With the addition of AI, they have become more valuable than ever for marketers, but expectations of ROI have increased as well. Unfortunately, many companies that adopted AI early on, did not understand its best use cases, and much of the earliest use was focused on reducing costs by eliminating manual labor. Additionally, many company leaders believe AI is straightforward, easy to use, and is guaranteed to save money. That’s not true, and their experience is proving it.

Some businesses are finding that they still cannot achieve the results they need, or improve their Return on Investment enough to justify the costs of continued use of MarTech in their program. With loans becoming less affordable and accessible, budgets are getting tighter, and as business units compete for available funds there is increasing pressure to demonstrate value quickly. This is a challenge for many marketing leaders.

Some are getting better results, but the numbers most CEOs want to hear about, increases in revenue, reductions in Cost Per Lead, Cost Per Acquisition, or Time to Revenue, are lagging metrics that take time to show the impact. CEOs are becoming impatient. They want to see results, especially as the costs mount, making the challenge of justifying continued use more difficult for marketing.

Too many companies started using AI enabled technology to reduce, or eliminate, the need for content writers and content strategists. Their introduction to AI use cases was mainly for Generative not Predictive AI. These leaders are quickly finding that Generative AI has many sharp edges and does not always reduce costs let alone increase ROI.

More highly skilled content creators are needed – people who know how to construct prompts to attain the goals set. Some GPTs have limited data sources to draw from, and getting access to the right data sources can add thousands of dollars to the cost. And while many agencies are offering AI generated content, some are using apps that are free or use the same data sources as every other app user, which can lead to intellectual property rights issues. I’ve even had clients that received cease and desist letters for copyright infringement.

To say that the promise of AI has disappointed some would be an understatement, but that may be entirely due to incorrect assumptions. Generative AI in the hands of skilled content creators can reduce costs and increase leads. But Predictive AI is where most of the ROI will be seen, and not many small and medium businesses have started using Predictive AI yet.

When you include other common errors, such as selection of the wrong tool, technical incompatibility or even lack of the level of technological skill needed, it’s no wonder many Chief Marketing Officers and Chief Operating Officers are ready to throw in the towel on AI. There is a light at the end of the tunnel though. This is especially true as Predictive AI is being incorporated into more of the marketing platforms and tools.

If you’re not getting the ROI you expected or need, you may want to reevaluate the tools you are using and the architecture of the platforms. Check out our AI Best Practices and ChatGPT Basics for Business Leaders blogs for more advice.