Editorial
The Gist
- AI maturity replaces AI novelty. Marketing teams move past basic task automation and start using AI as a strategic thinking partner, focused on asking better questions and interpreting insights.
- Data readiness becomes the real differentiator. Centralized, clean and connected data enables AI to deliver meaningful guidance instead of fragmented, surface-level insights.
- AI begins shaping go-to-market strategy. With the right data and training, AI helps marketing leaders adjust campaigns, messaging and budgets in real time rather than after the fact.
AI is not a passing trend–and by now, that's clear. In 2025, we saw AI firmly establish itself inside day-to-day workflows. In marketing, specifically, teams used AI tools to help create and edit content faster, summarize campaign results, streamline reporting and manage increasingly complex workloads. In many ways, 2025 was the year AI became normalized.
As we move forward in 2026, the real test for marketing teams is not whether they use AI, but whether they know how to work with it strategically. The biggest shift ahead won't be the adoption of new AI tools, but how teams evolve AI beyond task support and into a strategic layer for planning, execution and optimization across marketing campaigns and tasks.
Here are three shifts that will define how marketing teams use AI in 2026:
Table of Contents
- 1. How Marketers Learn to Work With AI Matters More Than the Tools
- 2. Data Readiness Will Become a Competitive Advantage
- 3. AI Will Go From Supporting Go-to-Market Execution to Driving Its Strategy
1. How Marketers Learn to Work With AI Matters More Than the Tools
One of the biggest misconceptions about AI in marketing is that once teams are trained on the tools, the job is done. In reality, organizations spent 2025 teaching marketers how to use AI, but not how to think with it. As a result, many teams still rely on AI for surface-level tasks like drafting copy, summarizing meetings or double-checking work, rather than using it to inform strategic decisions.
The next phase of AI adoption, which we'll see in 2026, is about teaching marketers how to ask better questions. AI can give insights far beyond a general summary of performance. It can tell them the "why" behind lower conversion or higher engagement. Once teams learn to use AI to gather those essential insights, it goes from simply a productivity tool to a strategic work tool.
Doing this requires intentional training, not just on features but on critical thinking, experimentation and interpretation. The marketers who will get the most value from AI in 2026 will be the ones who know how to challenge outputs, refine inputs and connect insights directly to business outcomes.
Related Article: What 2025 Revealed About AI Readiness Across Marketing and CX
2. Data Readiness Will Become a Competitive Advantage
Even the best training can fall flat if the data behind AI is incomplete or disconnected. One of the biggest barriers to meaningful AI insights today is fragmented data spread across CRMs, analytics platforms, ad tools and content systems. When data lives in silos, AI can only deliver partial answers, which rarely leads to confident or correct decisions.
That's why 2026 will be the year data readiness becomes just as important as AI adoption. Marketing teams will need centralized, clean and continuously updated data so both AI and humans can see the full picture. When performance data, customer behavior and campaign metrics live in one place, AI can identify patterns, surface opportunities and connect insights across channels instead of reporting on them in isolation.
In practice, this means AI moves from reacting to dashboards to proactively guiding decisions, which will help marketers focus less on gathering data and more on acting on it. Organizations investing in customer data platforms will be better positioned to unify this information and unlock AI's full potential.
3. AI Will Go From Supporting Go-to-Market Execution to Driving Its Strategy
In 2026, AI will no longer just support go-to-market execution—it will help shape it. With centralized data and well-trained teams, AI can analyze which marketing campaigns are driving conversions, how well channels are performing and where budget shifts will have the greatest impact.
Instead of manually stitching together dashboards or waiting for post-campaign reports, marketing leaders can use AI to continuously evaluate performance and adjust strategy in real time. Leveraging predictive analytics allows teams to anticipate outcomes rather than simply react to them. AI can also help determine in real time factors essential to marketing strategy, such as the right target demographic or what the right tone is for messaging across the different channels.
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The marketing teams that do the best in 2026 won't be the ones chasing every new AI feature. Instead, they'll be the ones investing in their people, strengthening their data foundation and using AI to make faster, smarter and more confident go-to-market decisions. Staying current with marketing technology trends will help leaders identify where AI can deliver the greatest strategic value.
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