When it comes to AI in marketing operations, there's a Grand Canyon-sized gap between the breathless headlines and what's actually happening in the trenches. After spending the last year testing various AI tools with clients across regulated industries, I've developed a pragmatic view of where we really are.
Let me save you some time: AI isn't replacing your marketing team anytime soon. But it absolutely can make them more effective if you approach it correctly.
Most marketing leaders I talk to fall into one of three camps:
All three positions are understandable. The hype is deafening, the options overwhelming, and the implementation rarely as seamless as vendors promise.
Here's what I've found that works: start small, focus on specific operational friction points, and build from there.
The best place to start isn't with the shiniest new tool. It's with your team's biggest time-wasters. In my consulting work, I've found that marketing teams typically have 3-5 recurring tasks that take significant time, are relatively low-value, follow predictable patterns, and don't require deep strategic thinking. In other words, the AI isn't going to pose an existential risk to your brand's credibility or production process if it goes off the rails.
For a recent client in a highly regulated services space, we identified content compliance reviews as a major bottleneck. Their team was spending 6-8 hours weekly reviewing marketing content against a complex regulatory framework.
We implemented a simple AI pre-review process that:
The result? Review time dropped by 60%, and the marketing team learned to write more compliant first drafts because they got immediate feedback.
The biggest hurdle I've seen isn't finding use cases - it's integrating AI tools into existing workflows without creating more work than they save. A common mistake is treating AI implementation as a pure technology project rather than a process change. You need both.
When working with a SaaS client targeting the healthcare sector, we found their initial AI implementation actually created more work. They had a sophisticated content generation tool, but it lived outside their normal content workflow. The extra steps to use it meant the team simply bypassed it.
The fix wasn't a better AI tool. It was embedding the existing one directly into their content management system where writers already worked. Usage jumped from 15% to 78% in three weeks.
Successful AI implementation requires what I call an "automation mindset" - constantly asking:
One marketing operations leader I work with created a simple process: every Friday, team members document one task they did more than twice that week. These become candidates for automation.
This approach led them to automate:
None of these are revolutionary, but together they freed up about 15 hours per week across the team. Sounds like a solid start for a junior AI resource!
The most successful implementations I've seen treat AI as a team member with very specific skills - not as a replacement for human judgment.
A financial services marketing team I advised created clear "swim lanes" for their AI tools:
- AI handles: data aggregation, first drafts, formatting, compliance checks
- People handle: strategy, final approval, relationship management, creative direction
This clarity prevented both over-reliance and under-utilization.
If you're looking to meaningfully integrate AI into your marketing operations, here's the framework I've found most effective:
Through trial and error (mostly error), I've identified these common AI implementation failures:
AI in marketing isn't a revolution - it's an evolution. The teams gaining the most advantage are taking measured, practical steps rather than making dramatic overhauls.
Start by asking: "What takes too much time but doesn't require uniquely human judgment?" That's your entry point.
In my experience, the marketing leaders who approach AI with curiosity rather than fear or blind enthusiasm are the ones seeing real operational improvements. They're building institutional knowledge about what works, creating competitive advantages that go beyond any single tool or technology.
The goal isn't to be on the bleeding edge. It's to systematically reduce operational friction so your team can focus on the strategic and creative work that actually moves the needle.
And that's something even the most sophisticated AI can't do - yet.
Have more questions or need some help getting started? Contact us to start your journey towards a more strategic and aligned marketing approach