How B2B Marketers Are Using Generative AI Today

Few could have predicted the meteoric rise of generative AI this year, but that has not stopped marketers from putting it to work for them. Generative AI tools like ChatGPT have quickly become a staple of the B2B marketing playbook.

LinkedIn recently conducted a survey in partnership with Ipsos of nearly 2,000 marketing leaders worldwide for our report, the B2B Marketing Benchmark. Among the most striking findings is that 81% of respondents who currently use AI say they expect their use of generative AI to increase in the next year. Add to that a significant increase in the term “AI” being included in job descriptions on LinkedIn, and it’s clear that there is great–and growing–enthusiasm for generative AI.

Given generative AI’s growing place in B2B marketing, those who aren’t using it now will almost certainly be expected to start using it in the near future. But knowledge gaps may be preventing leaders from fully embracing and activating the technology. While two in five indicated they had a “somewhat good” understanding of how to use these tools, those who reported an “extremely good” understanding only accounted for about two in 10. 

As with any other new marketing tool, one of the best ways to get started using generative AI is to look at how other marketers are using it. The benchmark report shows there are five main ways B2B marketers are using generative AI, from planning to campaign optimization. 

How B2B Marketers are Using Generative AI

While it may still be a relatively new resource, B2B marketers across the world are already seeing success with generative AI. Here are the top five ways marketing leaders report deploying these tools now, and the impacts they are seeing.

1. Increase efficiency so I can focus on higher-value work (58%)
2. Generate more content in less time (57%)
3. Create optimized and engaging content that resonates with target audience (53%)
4. Build more creative campaigns (41%)
5. Gain competitive advantage (35%)

1. Increase efficiency—and value

Generative AI brings to marketers what other forms of AI have already brought to other functions like data science, finance, and software development: the ability to outsource tedious tasks to a machine so you can focus on higher value tasks. In fact, that’s how 58% of respondents told us they use generative AI—more than any other response. 

This use case touches all others in some way. After all, the less time you spend brainstorming, writing first drafts, testing campaigns, or qualifying your leads, the more time you’ll have for the higher value work of refining your copy, honing the creativity of your campaigns, and putting insights into action.

By doing much of the labor-intensive work that many marketers have always taken for granted, generative AI makes more room in your day for doing the stuff that brings real value to your job and your company. 

2. Generate content faster

With a little bit of practice, generative AI tools can dramatically cut down the time it takes to write blog posts, social media content, email newsletters, or even product descriptions. The B2B Marketing Benchmark showed 57% of marketers are already using generative AI to create more content in less time. 

We wouldn't generally recommend publishing AI-generated content directly, but it can serve many useful purposes, such as simplifying your understanding of a complex concept, or creating basic FAQ-type content that you could run with a bit of editing and fact-checking.

There are many other ways you can use generative AI to speed up content creation, including support on content ideation, outlining articles, or summarizing longform content for social messages. The better your team gets at prompting for very specific and nuanced outputs, the more value they will be able to get out of these groundbreaking tools.

With so many marketing leaders and teams being asked to do more with less from a content standpoint, generative AI feels like the perfect tool coming along at the perfect moment. As such, it’s not too surprising that while this answer ranks second (barely) in terms of current usage, respondents in the survey expect it to be the top use case for generative AI in B2B marketing next year.

"When properly integrated, generative AI empowers marketing and advertising teams to achieve near-perfect content and ideas with remarkable speed." - Arun Pattabhiraman, CMO at Sprinklr

3. Automate campaign optimization

Marketers might be very good at forming a hypothesis based on experience, insight, and intuition, but ultimately the only way to find out a campaign or piece of content is going to hit home is to ... actually find out. For this, techniques like testing and data-driven optimization are key.

The problem is that setting up these campaigns – coming up with variations and inputs that have a good chance to connect with a specific audience – can be very time-consuming. Marketers are turning to generative AI for a helping hand, as evidenced by 53% of respondents in the benchmark survey saying they use the technology to create optimized and engaging content that resonates with their target audience. 

For more information on using technologies like AI and machine learning for A/B testing, the LinkedIn community advice page on the topic offers some helpful guidance. 

“Generative AI enables data-driven decision-making, predictive analytics and faster A/B testing for our activation teams, leading to better marketing outcomes and resource optimization.” - Paul Cowin SVP Global Activation & Technology, Transmission

4. Plan and develop more creative campaigns 

Generative AI has a place at every stage of the marketing process – campaign planning is no exception. In the B2B Marketing Benchmark, Sprinklr CMO Arun Pattabhiraman says, “Its capabilities go beyond a mere generation or paraphrasing of copy; for instance, we can leverage generative AI to support the planning stages of the campaign lifecycle.”

Because they can analyze large volumes of data, including customer demographics, market trends, and historical campaign performance, generative AI models are able to uncover valuable insights that might be missed by human eyes, or would at least take exponentially longer to surface. 

Generative AI can assist in segmenting the target audience based on various criteria such as demographics, interests, and behaviors. By accurately identifying different audience segments, marketers can create tailored campaigns that speak directly to each group. Generative AI algorithms can analyze customer data and generate insights that guide the selection of appropriate messaging, channels, and offers for each segment.

Taken together, this information helps in identifying opportunities, understanding audience behavior, and shaping your campaign strategy accordingly. With technology providing a deeper understanding of customer preferences, behaviors, and market dynamics, marketers can make smarter human decisions in campaign planning.

5. Find a competitive edge

Gaining a competitive advantage was the fifth-most common generative AI usage in the report, although you can argue it overlaps with all four above. Simply using the technology is not itself much of an advantage or differentiator anymore, so the key will be in finding innovative and impactful ways to draw value from these tools.

For example, generative AI can contribute to a more efficient and effective lead generation and nurturing process, which looms large since lead generation broadly accounts for the highest share of marketing budget allocation according to marketing leaders. 

A recent article for McKinsey argues that generative AI’s automation and planning tools are not limited to campaign-based activities, but rather, “These actions can continue through the customer journey, with [generative] AI automating lead-nurturing campaigns based on evolving customer patterns.”

It does this by using customer data and predictive analytics to identify the most relevant content and touchpoints throughout the buyer's journey. This ensures prospects receive timely and personalized messaging.

Generate Success with AI 

Generative AI certainly has a lot to offer B2B marketers. This technology has matured enough that a majority of marketers are already using it. And it is imperative that marketing leaders learn how to use it for themselves, says Allyson Hugley, Director of Customer Insights at Linkedin. “Advances in technology, especially Generative AI, require that marketing professionals understand how to best apply innovation to understand more complex problems, unlock new opportunities, and meaningfully connect with more customers.”

To learn more about how marketers across the world are approaching the rise of generative AI, as well as the state of budget priorities, preferred campaign tactics, and more, download the the B2B Marketing Benchmark Report.