Study: Artificial Intelligence, a boon for the sales industry

Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to conquer new territories, and in many cases, the profit is not far behind. The adoption of artificial intelligence has a positive impact on organizations, with six out of ten (60%) marketing directors stating that they have used this technology in their activities in the past year, according to the results of a specialized study. According to data analyzed by Deloitte in the latest edition of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Survey conducted by Duke University, with the use of AI, sales productivity improved by 6%, customer satisfaction by 7%, and indirect marketing costs decreased by 7%. At the same time, content personalization (53%) and content creation (49%) are the main areas where artificial intelligence is used in marketing activities, followed by improving the return on investment in digital marketing through content and schedule optimization (37%) and programmatic advertising and ad space acquisition (35%). In the content creation segment, blogs (65%), website content (62%), and social media (55%) are the main areas where organizations use AI-based tools. Additionally, nearly a quarter of marketing professionals (24%) who participated in the survey believe that their organizations are making integrated digital investments, compared to only 14% last year. Thirteen percent state that they use digital investment for marketing decision-making and evaluation, compared to 7% a year ago. The Deloitte report highlights a slight increase of 2% from last year in mobile marketing spending, which has reached 16% of the marketing budget and is estimated to exceed the pandemic peak of 23% in five years, reaching 27%. Furthermore, marketing directors continue to claim that mobile marketing actions have a weak contribution to the company's performance (2.9 on a scale of 1 to 7) due to the difficulty of tracking the consumer's journey across all digital touchpoints (40%), correlating mobile activities with the overall marketing strategy (38%), and insufficient expertise in this area (37%). Expenditures on social media activities represent 16% of the marketing budget, and the study estimates that they will remain constant in the next 12 months, registering a growth of only 3%. However, in the next five years, they will exceed the pandemic peak of 23%, reaching 24%.

Regarding the skills of future marketing specialists, the priority identified by respondents is the ability to quickly reassess their approach as new priorities arise, followed by creativity and the ability to innovate and navigate in an uncertain context. On the other hand, skills in the financial area are the least sought after.

Deloitte provides globally audit, tax, legal, consulting, financial advisory, and risk management services to approximately 90% of companies in the Fortune Global 500 and thousands of private sector companies.