AI feels like the new kid on the block. But, when it comes to delivering results and optimizing campaigns, the advertising industry figured out the value of AI in marketing more than a decade ago. So when people started talking about AI marketing tools in 2024, many were all too aware of what it could achieve for marketers.
Machine learning in marketing is ideal for making sense of the massive datasets generated by consumers interacting with ads. Using AI to determine which behaviors and audiences to target, and how much to bid, is the established norm - not a cutting-edge solution.
So why do marketers lack confidence when it comes to using AI to optimize their marketing? In our AI confidence curve report (a global survey of marketers in September 2025), we found that only 44% were fully confident in their teams’ ability to use AI to optimize performance against marketing KPIs. And they were only slightly more likely to be confident in their teams’ ability to use AI for cross-channel marketing (46%). This is despite the fact that almost every marketer in our sample was using at least one AI platform for media buying, the most common being Google’s Performance Max (55%).
Ultimately, too many marketers feel like their organization doesn’t understand how LLMs or AI work well enough (38%) - even when they feel like they personally have a good handle on it. And a further 38% feel like they haven’t received proper training on working with or using AI marketing tools. As a result, these marketers fall back on generalist tools like ChatGPT instead of the specialized AI tools on offer.
Finding the right goals
Some of the challenges that marketers are facing with AI are related to measurement. While 86% believe they’re tracking success against the right goals, only 44% agree strongly. And this is tied to the feeling that their organization has the correct measurement systems in place to track performance. With or without AI, marketing teams are going to optimize against the KPIs they’ve been given - even if they don’t believe they’re the best goals to aim for.
When it comes to optimization itself, actual goals don’t matter. Marketers in our study were just as likely to feel confident in their ability to optimize against outcomes, whatever they were measuring against. So the good news is that AI-based measurement gives marketers the confidence to focus on more difficult-to-measure metrics beyond what they’d have expressed years ago.
Marketers who felt confident in their ability to drive results aren’t necessarily more likely to be already using AI marketing platforms, but they are much more likely to ramp up their use of AI in digital marketing. 75% said they’d use AI much more in their role in the next 12 months. But despite upping their usage, they still see training as an issue.
Expert tools in expert hands
Keeping up with rapidly changing technology can sometimes feel like an uphill battle. But the best results come from putting powerful tools in the hands of the experts. MiQ Sigma drives superior performance for cross-channel marketing because it’s the result of cutting-edge AI marketing tools and the expertise of experienced traders.
Sigma delivers 66% additional value on client campaigns as a percentage of campaign budget spent. This is thanks to the market-leading SPO, advanced data-driven marketing, and AI-generated audiences combined with expert inventory and advanced strategies that are baked in.
66% of people currently use AI marketing tools on most or all of their projects, and 72% say they plan to use AI more in their roles over the next 12 months. But with uncertainty and a lack of confidence in the background, we can expect to see a difference between marketers ‘using AI right’ and those struggling to get value with it.
The winning marketers will be those who:
- Are actively able to incorporate and use client data in their models and tools
- Make the best use of resources when it comes to finding external partners for AI marketing tools
- Work with the right partners with specialized AI tools
- Work actively to educate internal teams on new developments in AI.
Making good use of AI in marketing doesn’t have to mean building your own solutions internally. The key to success is building confidence in the face of the shifting challenges that new tech presents. And MiQ is here to help you navigate them.
