AI Training for Marketing Teams

Marketing Teams and AI

For every CMO that claims their company is embracing AI, many marketing teams are still trying to understand what that means in practice. While some are experimenting with pilots or ChatGPT subscriptions, many companies are struggling to implement effective AI strategies.

Greg Kihlström, host of "The Agile Brand" podcast and an instructor for the Association of National Advertisers’ AI programs, notes that while many companies are experimenting with AI, it's often in an ad-hoc way that provides little benefit and doesn't teach best practices. Internal communication about AI can also be challenging, with some leaders avoiding the topic due to concerns about job security or competitive secrets. Others may be hesitant due to a lack of progress. According to Kihlström, a common obstacle is the belief that AI cannot perform tasks as well as humans.

Jim Lecinski, a marketing professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, believes that this mindset is hindering marketing leaders. He says too many CMOs view AI as a tool for efficiency, missing its potential for real transformation. Lecinski uses the analogy of a "faster horse" versus a "Harrier jet," emphasizing the need to think bigger.

Examples of companies achieving transformative breakthroughs include Ikea, which uses generative AI to provide interior design tools, and John Deere, which licenses its proprietary AI tools to others, creating a new revenue stream.

Steps to AI Fluency

Lecinski, who has interviewed many companies about their AI adoption process, identifies a five-step progression toward AI fluency. He advises companies to start small and intentionally, emphasizing that it’s not too late to begin. He recommends training AI on zero- and first-party data, and leveraging AI-powered tools offered by vendors like Adobe, TikTok, Google, and HubSpot.

Lecinski also advises appointing an AI champion—someone fluent in both marketing and tech—to track pilots and experiments and build internal AI competency. Documenting ROI is crucial for securing funding and scaling AI initiatives.

Overcoming Organizational Bottlenecks

Kihlström notes that even with available tools, many teams are not ready for AI implementation at scale. CMOs tend to focus on efficiency rather than the transformative potential of personalization, and operational silos make it difficult to use AI across the customer journey. According to Kihlström, AI could enable a unified experience across email, SMS, and website channels, but most marketing organizations are not structured for this.

He suggests that federated models can help bridge this gap, allowing teams to retain autonomy while a central steering group coordinates company-wide AI integration. Kihlström concludes that the tools and tech are available, but the real transformation requires leadership.