How CMOs Can Utilize AI for Business Growth

“I’m proud to report that Marketing is leading the AI initiatives at our company,” said a CMO at a $400M SaaS firm. No one rolled their eyes. Heads nodded. This wasn’t bravado; it's just business as usual, at least in our community. But that’s not the story we typically hear, is it? In the broader narrative, AI is the wild west. CMOs are either “dabbling,” “overwhelmed,” or drowning in vendor pitches. Most exec teams are still in the what do "we do with this thing?" stage. And yet, in three separate Huddles this month, we saw something different: a quiet revolution in motion. CMOs weren’t just experimenting with GenAI. CMOs were orchestrating it. Driving it. Owning it. Here’s how... Start with a Strategy (and a Few Custom GPTs) Savvy CMOs aren’t chasing shiny objects. They’re setting clear priorities—starting with branded GPTs to unify team voice and content quality. These tools act as internal brand guardians, enabling everyone to write like the company should sound, drawing from the same trusted sources. Support Sales Like a Strategist Forget static battle cards. The frontrunners are building GPTs for the sales org—loaded with objection handling, persona insights, competitive intel, and CRO-style tone. When a rep says, “I’ve got a frustrated IT buyer at 2pm,” the AI spits out prep faster than you can say “closed-won.” Creative First Drafts? AI’s Got It 100% of the 40+ CMOs who joined June’s Peer Huddles are using GenAI for content creation. From Jasper to custom GPTs to MidJourney for visual exploration, AI handles messy first drafts while humans apply the polish. One team runs content through two GPTs; one for writing, one for scrubbing out buzzwords, emojis, and em dashes. Time-Saving Workflows (Built by CMOs) One CMO used Replit and HubSpot to build a one-click campaign generator that assembles emails, landing pages, and social posts in under five minutes. Another swapped three time-sucking workflows for AI-powered alternatives and asked the team to do the same. Digital Doubles & Strategic Smarts Here’s where it gets spicy. Some Huddlers are building digital twins of their CEO, CRO, and CFO; GPTs are trained in executive tone, past presentations, and Slack history. The goal? Sanity checks before board meetings and messaging alignment without the calendar chase. Listening at Scale = Synthetic Empathy Perhaps the most exciting: Using AI to mine thousands of customer conversations from Gong, support, and win/loss calls to build “customer truth engines.” These CMOs aren’t guessing what customers want; they hear it in stereo. The result across all these use cases? Not just faster work. Smarter teams. Better alignment. Sharper strategy. Most importantly, CMOs are earning a seat at the AI strategy table (often at the head). So yes, Marketing is leading AI. The only question is: Are you? I'll share much more from this month's Peer Huddles in the June Huddle Up newsletter. If you're not a subscriber, now's a good time 🐧 💜

  The New AI-Driven CMO: How I’m Interviewing in 2025 I’ve spent my career speaking with thousands of CMOs—from hyper-growth startups to the Fortune 500. But now, the conversation has changed. I’m meeting a new breed of marketing leaders—CMOs who aren’t just experimenting with AI; they are fully integrating it into every aspect of their strategy. They aren’t waiting for AI to prove itself—they’re making it a competitive edge. And CEOs? Their expectations have never been higher. Every conversation with a CEO today is laser-focused on three things: growth, efficiency, and differentiation—at speed. Here's the reality: AI is no longer optional. CEOs are pressing their marketing leaders to move beyond buzzwords and prove measurable business impact with AI. It’s not about the latest tools; it’s about strategic, quantifiable growth. So, how do I separate the true AI-driven CMOs from the rest? These are the 10 questions that matter in an AI-driven world—the ones I’m using to identify the next-generation CMOs—leaders who will set the pace for AI-powered marketing. 1. How have you applied AI to directly improve revenue growth? (CEOs don’t care about experiments—they want proof. Show me real results.) 2. What’s the most impactful AI-driven marketing initiative you’ve implemented? (And how did it improve conversion rates, CAC, pipeline velocity, or retention?) 3. How are you leveraging AI to personalize customer experiences at scale? (Generic content is dead. How are you using AI for hyper-targeted messaging and predictive engagement?) 4. How do you balance AI-driven automation with brand authenticity and storytelling? (AI can create, but it can’t connect emotionally—how are you keeping that human element?) 5. AI is moving fast. What’s your process for vetting, testing, and implementing AI tools efficiently? (Are you iterating at the speed of AI, or are you stuck in analysis paralysis?) 6. How are you using AI to optimize marketing spend and improve ROI? (What real cost efficiencies have you gained? Have you reduced CAC or increased LTV through AI?) 7. What’s your strategy for aligning marketing, sales, product, and finance using AI insights? (Marketing is no longer a silo. How are you influencing business decisions beyond demand gen?) 8. What AI-driven data insights have fundamentally changed how you market? (Not just more data—better, smarter decision-making.) 9. What role should AI play in creative marketing? Where do you draw the line? (AI can generate, but it can’t ideate like a human—where do you see the balance?) 10. What’s your vision for the future of AI in marketing? (The best CMOs aren’t just reacting to AI; they are shaping its role in the business.)   At the end of the day, it’s simple: the CMOs who lean in, adapt fast, and drive impact will win. Those who hesitate will watch from the sidelines. It’s not about who talks the loudest or tries the flashiest tools—it’s about delivering where it counts. #daversapartners #CMO #AI

We’ve entered a phase where most brands believe building an in-house AI team is the answer. I believe that’s the wrong first move. Because the real leap happens when your people become AI-enabled—not when you hand off the work to a “team of data scientists”. Here’s the shift I’m urging CMOs, VPs of Marketing & Growth leaders to embrace: 1/ Train your people first. Your marketers, creatives, analysts—give them AI fluency so they amplify their current skill-set. 2/ Studies show that staff who use AI as a collaborator produce ideas on par with full human teams, and get there faster. 3/ Audit your workflows, then retrofit AI. It’s not about plugging in a platform and expecting transformation. The magic happens when you redesign the workflow around human + AI. 4/ Stop viewing AI as a replacement. View it as a force multiplier. When brands invest heavily in tools but ignore upskilling staff, they face a talent mismatch and stalled transformation. 5/ Embed AI into your daily operations. When you shift from “let’s try AI” to “we do AI”, scale becomes possible. Hiring an AI team gets you technology. Training your team gets you leverage. If you lead such an organisation and feel like you’ve bought the AI ticket - but your team still runs at old speed - let’s talk. At ALTRD, we train your existing team to do 5× more in half the time, and weave AI into their workflow so performance shifts, not just the tech stack.

Hot take: The #1 role CMOs should hire next is a Marketing Operations Manager — AI/Agents. Why: Everything in marketing can be made faster, better, smarter with the right AI workflows. But asking already-stretched teams to “also do AI” produces marginal gains and additional tools. Real step-change impact comes from a dedicated owner who starts with the most important initiatives and rebuilds how the work gets done, end to end. What this role owns: - Prioritize the top 3–5 marketing initiatives (not tools) and redesign the workflow with automations and agents. - Integrate AI into existing systems (CRM/MAP/content/analytics) and team rituals—not side projects. - Establish quality guardrails: brand, compliance, human-in-the-loop reviews - Prove impact with hard metrics: cycle time, unit cost per asset, pipeline influence, lift in content performance Scale wins from pilot → playbook → standard operating procedure Where it sits: reporting to the CMO (or a strategic MOPS leader) with a clear mandate to drive transformation—one initiative at a time. If I were a sitting CMO today, I’d make this hire even if it meant trading off another role. The alternative is lots of demos and experiments… and not the wholesale shift marketing leaders need right now. Who’s staffed this already? What titles and success metrics are you using? #CMO #MarketingOperations #AI #Agents #Growth

What does agentic AI mean for the modern CMO today? Marketing is changing faster than ever, and the companies that treat AI as a proactive partner- rather than just a productivity tool- will shape the future of commerce. Agentic AI doesn't just "summarise"; it makes decisions, takes initiative, and acts toward goals. For CMOs, this opens a dual frontier: transforming how we work and, more importantly, redefining who our "customer" actually is. 1. The Rise of the Machine Customer We are entering the era of Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO). A recent Gartner report predicts that by the end of 2026, "Machine Customers" (AI agents) will conduct up to 20% of B2B research. Your next customer might not be a person; it might be an agent. When an AI agent researches suppliers for a buyer, it doesn't care about clever copy. It cares about structured, accurate, and machine-readable technical specs. As CMOs, our role is shifting from traditional storytelling to Information Engineering- ensuring our brand is the "trusted source" that the world’s LLMs and agents cite as the definitive answer. 2. Rethinking the Human Experience Beyond the machine, agentic AI allows us to anticipate what a human customer wants before they even realise it themselves. The opportunity here isn’t just automation- it’s rethinking experiences to create interactions that feel intuitive, relevant, and genuinely human at scale. It allows us to maintain nuance while operating at a global velocity. 3. The Engine: Data and Business Logic  Agentic AI is only as smart as the data it consumes and the logic it follows. High-value teams are often bogged down by manual operational tasks- pricing, promotions, inventory. By feeding agents high-integrity data and encoding our specific business logic, we move from passive "insights" to autonomous execution. This allows AI to test options and optimize in real-time within your strategic guardrails, giving your team the "creative oxygen" to focus on bold innovation and high-level strategy. 4. Redefining Value Ultimately, agentic AI changes the physics of commerce. It enables faster product launches and more adaptive campaigns that scale without losing their soul. Agentic AI isn’t just another tool in the martech stack; it’s a strategic teammate. It will redefine how we create value and delight customers. The question isn’t whether it will matter, it’s how quickly we, as leaders, work out how to lead with it. How are you preparing your brand for machine customers? Let's discuss in the comments!

One thing is clear: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a niche technology—it's the new electricity, shaping every facet of business. But here’s the question every CEO must ask: Who should lead your AI transformation? If you said the CTO, think again. A compelling article by Steven Wolfe Pereira argues that the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), not the CTO, should drive AI strategy. Here's why: 1. AI is About Customers, Not Just Tech: While CTOs understand the technical infrastructure, CMOs live and breathe customer insights. AI’s primary impact lies in enhancing customer experience—through personalization, chatbots, dynamic pricing, and more. These are domains where CMOs already excel. 2. The Business Case for CMO Leadership: Studies show 80% of AI projects fail because they’re treated as science experiments instead of solutions for real-world problems. A CMO-led approach focuses on aligning AI initiatives with customer needs, business outcomes, and brand trust. 3. A Symphonic Approach: Steven proposes a collaborative model: The CMO as the conductor, setting the strategic direction, while the tech team acts as enablers, ensuring seamless execution. Steps for CMOs to Lead AI Strategy Educate: Gain a deep understanding of AI use cases and best practices. Collaborate: Partner with CTOs/CIOs to assess data readiness and capabilities. Prioritize Customers: Develop a roadmap addressing ethical considerations and real customer needs. Measure: Define clear metrics to track the business impact of AI initiatives. Why This Matters In 2025, companies optimizing for technology instead of people risk falling behind. Fortune favors the brave—and in this case, the brave are CMOs who put customers first. As Steven rightly puts it: "Deploying AI isn’t just about tech—it’s about serving customers better. The CMO should be the master electrician, ensuring AI is everywhere, solving real problems." https://lnkd.in/gb62fiym

Many CMOs spend less time thinking about their marketing automation than their coffee machine. That's a mistake. AI is fundamentally shifting what marketing automation can do. We're going from basic email to systems that genuinely drive revenue growth. And CMOs who ignore their MAP will watch their teams burn out on complexity and manual work, while competitors pull ahead. THE "GOOD ENOUGH" TRAP CMOs often view their MAP as operational plumbing — something marketing ops handles, while the CMO focuses on strategy and messaging. It's seen as a hygiene function, not a revenue driver. One CMO stated she "didn't think much about marketing automation". Another said their MAP "is entirely in the hands of marketing ops" and just "sends out emails". They say, “If emails go out and leads come in, why worry about the mechanics?” But this mindset misses the hidden and known costs: 🅧 Wasting 30% of MOPs capacity on manual tasks that AI could handle 🅧 Missing pipeline and expansion deals because MAP can't understand buying groups 🅧 Burning hours debugging workflows and scale limitations (MOPs hides these from leadership) 🅧 Damaging buyer relationships with generic campaigns instead of personalized journeys 🅧 Spending precious budget on add-on tools that fill gaps, causing martech sprawl THE MIGRATION PARADOX I get why CMOs worry about change. Migrations used to be risky, complex endeavors with high disruption risk. One executive half-joked that CMOs who embark on MAP overhauls "never last as long as the implementation." But it doesn't need to be that way. Modern platforms are easier to use and have AI agents to streamline migration. I recently spoke with one company that did a complete migration in under a month. Meanwhile, clinging to outdated systems carries its own risk. While you're managing platform limitations, competitors will leverage tools that make their marketing more intelligent, responsive, and profitable. THE STRATEGIC SHIFT Modern CMOs are measured on revenue contribution, not email open rates. Your MAP choice will determine whether marketing operates as a cost center or a growth engine. Marketing leaders should treat their MAP selection with the same rigor they apply to hiring their VP of Sales — because in the AI era, your platform IS a revenue driver. AI makes this even more critical. McKinsey found that AI boosts marketing productivity by 5-15%. Early adopters are automatically standardizing customer data, building targeted segments from simple prompts, and creating dynamic journeys that adapt for each prospect and buying group. Your legacy system may send emails and capture leads. But can it automatically create 12 versions of your email to micro-target specific personas? Can it automatically clean and standardize your messy data? Can it shift channels and messaging based on real-time engagement? If not, you're missing revenue. Time to care about MAP. #MarketingAutomation #CMO #MarketingAI #B2BMarketing #MarTech

𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗠𝗢'𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁? AI is moving fast across professional services. Investment is everywhere. Impact is not. For CMOs, this is less about adopting new tools and more about confronting a harder truth. Most BD and Marketing functions are not designed for how firms actually win work today. In conversations with clients, the overall view is that too many teams are still structured around activity. Campaigns, pitches, content. All valuable but disconnected from the moments that drive growth. Applying AI here creates efficiency, not advantage. The real opportunity is to redesign around workflows that matter. Client targeting. Opportunity conversion. Client growth. End-to-end, not task by task. That shift changes everything. It changes the talent you need. Less execution, more judgment. The rise of the augmented strategist who can interpret markets, guide partners, and orchestrate AI-enabled delivery. This will mean a shift towards teams populated with more senior and experienced BD Managers who can coach, develop strategy and bring deep knowledge of sectors and markets. Not only will this change the structure, but it will also result in flatter teams, clearer ownership, and faster decisions. It will also change how success is measured. Moving from activity to outcomes. Pipeline, conversion and revenue. Finally, it changes the CMO's role. Less oversight, more strategy. Closer to clients, closer to growth. Professional services marketing has always sat at the intersection of service and strategy. AI will force a choice. Those who step into a growth role will become more valuable than ever. Those who do not will become more efficient at the same work and will eventually find themselves the subject of the leadership conversation that starts, "𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙤 𝙬𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧?" Katie Rosser GAICD Seldon Rosser

What Most Businesses Use AI For vs What They Should Be Using It For Let’s be real. Most businesses are using AI right now for small tasks: • Writing emails • Making social media posts • Summarizing meeting notes • Creating blog content • Answering basic customer questions That’s a start. But it’s just scratching the surface. If you want to grow, lead, and stay ahead, here’s what you should be using AI for: 1. Better Decision Making AI can help you look at data and find patterns. It can tell you what’s working, what’s not, and what to do next. Use AI to spot trends in customer behavior, marketing results, or sales performance. This saves time and leads to smarter choices. 2. Fixing Slow or Broken Systems Look at your day-to-day operations. What tasks take too long? What steps keep breaking? AI can help you speed things up, remove mistakes, and build stronger workflows. 3. Personalizing the Customer Experience People don’t want generic emails or messages. Use AI to understand what your customers really want and deliver it at the right time. That means better timing, better offers, and better service. 4. Helping Sales Teams Win AI can give your sales team the right words, answers, and ideas during calls and meetings. You can train AI with your best scripts and let it support your team with fast insights. It helps your team focus on people, not paperwork. 5. Creating New Ideas and Offers AI is great for brainstorming, testing new ideas, and helping you build faster. Want to try a new product or service? Use AI to explore the market, test messaging, and even build first drafts or prototypes. Here’s the real shift: Stop using AI just to get things done. Start using it to grow, lead, and innovate. AI is not here to replace you. It is here to help you think better, move faster, and focus on what matters. But it only works if you use it with intention. Play with it. Learn it. Break it. Improve it. Then bring it into your systems, your strategy, and your leadership. That’s how you win.

Let’s Use Generative AI to Build American Business, Not Tear It Down The same technology businesses have been using to disassemble their companies they could be using to expand and accelerate them. Generative AI, as it exists today, can almost always unsuccessfully, or it can be used to empower individuals and entire organizations to level up. When approached with imagination and courage, AI becomes an augmentation platform, a way to partner with people and make them infinitely greater at what they do. It’s not just about improving bottom-line efficiency. It’s about unlocking top-line growth by creating smarter, more adaptive, and more human-centered businesses. Here are 3 ways to build your business with GenAI: 1. Build Organizational Infrastructure for Augmentation Forget isolated AI pilots. Think integrated ecosystems where AI supports every function—marketing, sales, ops, HR, R&D, creating seamless cross-functional collaboration and strategic clarity. McKinsey found that companies using integrated AI strategies see *35% higher cross-functional productivity and 25% faster time-to-market.¹ 2. Level Up Human Brilliance Generative AI isn’t here to replace human intelligence, it’s here to multiply it. By augmenting creativity, decision-making, and knowledge-sharing, companies can unlock new ideas and solutions. BCG reports that AI-augmented teams achieve *3x faster innovation cycles and 20% higher revenue growth.² 3. Operationalize Ethics and Monetize Shared Values Embedding ethics into AI operations isn’t just a safeguard, it’s a strategic differentiator. Companies that align AI initiatives with shared values (including those of employees and customers) build trust and drive sustainable advantage. PwC found that organizations with strong AI governance outperform peers by *20% in long-term shareholder returns.³ The truth is, we don’t need more technology in American business. We need more imagination, and a belief that by working together, we can build a much stronger, more human-centered future. ******************************************************************************** The trick with technology is to avoid spreading darkness at the speed of light Stephen Klein is Founder & CEO of Curiouser.AI, the only Generative AI platform and advisory focused on augmenting human intelligence through strategic coaching, reflection, and values-based decision-making. He also teaches AI Ethics at UC Berkeley. Learn more at curiouser.ai or connect via Hubble https://lnkd.in/gphSPv_e Footnotes McKinsey & Company, "The State of AI in 2024" Boston Consulting Group, "AI as a Driver of Innovation" PwC, "AI Governance as a Business Advantage" Gartner, "AI-Driven Foresight in the Future Enterprise" Forrester Research, "AI and Employee Engagement"