I spent last week’s UNBOUND conference interviewing marketers for this newsletter, and I got to see throughlines developing in real time — marketers’ favorite AI workflows, metrics they wish they could measure, what shifts are coming in the next 12 - 18 months. I’m really excited to share the results with y’all over the next few months!

Meanwhile, we’re plunging ahead with more original research. HubSpot’s State of AI report is live, and I dug through it to give you a sneak peek of what we learned from talking to 6,000 marketers, sales, and service professionals.

The State of AI in Marketing

• Marketers are using AI mostly for campaign performance insights and website lead capture. The percent reporting measurable outcomes was 83% for campaign performance insights and 80% for lead capture.

• Advanced AI adopters have shifted from using AI as a productivity tool to using it to increase KPIs.
• 72% of marketers say that AI has made hitting their MQL targets easier.
• Among GTM teams, ChatGPT is the AI tool of choice (57%), with Canva AI a distant second (35%). Claude, my tool of choice — and also the tool mentioned most by the marketers I interviewed at UNBOUND — is used by only 20% of GTM teams.

We talked to 6,000 marketers, sales, and service professionals and found that 60% of users were hitting their revenue goals with AI.

• The main barriers to using AI are trust, privacy, and security.

• Even though nearly all marketing teams (98%!) are using AI in some way, only 10% have achieved a transformational level, which we’re defining as “materially reshaping workflows, decisions, and business outcomes.”

There’s loads more insights in the report itself, including a section called “Employee AI anxiety,” which makes me feel very seen.