Is My Marketing Team Ready for AI?

This is the first question in my short series on AI & Marketing — and it’s one I keep hearing from marketing and business leaders alike.

There’s pressure to do something about AI — but what, exactly? Most of the smart leaders I talk to aren’t asking whether AI matters. They’re asking if they have the right people, skills, and setup to make the most of it.

And that’s the right question to ask.

Because AI doesn’t replace strategy or creativity — but it does reshape how we do both.

Start with the fundamentals

A colleague recently reminded me of something simple but powerful: “The real question is: what value do we bring, and how may AI enhance it?”

That’s the starting point.

The best marketing teams are clear on their strategic role. They know how they create value for customers and the business — and they use AI to do it better.

When I think back to the best marketing teams I’ve worked with…

They weren’t necessarily the ones with the biggest budgets or the most people.

What made them stand out was how quickly they could learn, adapt, and collaborate across silos.

That kind of mindset is even more important in the age of AI. The tech might be new, but the fundamentals of good marketing leadership — curiosity, clarity, and cross-functional thinking — remain the same.

What makes a marketing team AI-ready?

Here are five signals I look for:

1. They think in use cases

   Not tech for tech’s sake — but clear business goals. They’re asking: How could AI help us segment better? Create faster? Localise smarter?

2. They have a culture of experimentation

   From junior execs to CMOs, people are trying tools, testing workflows, and learning in public.

3. They don’t treat AI like an agency brief

   They’re not waiting for someone else to solve it for them. They’re building internal capability and asking better questions of partners.

4. They’re honest about their gaps

   They know where they need to upskill or rethink roles — and they’re not afraid to say so.

5. They’re starting to reshape roles

   They’re evolving job descriptions, carving out new responsibilities, and thinking about how AI changes what they hire for.

So what does this mean for your team?

It doesn’t mean gutting your marketing function or chasing flashy hires.

In fact, many of your best marketers today will still be your best marketers tomorrow — if they’re supported to adapt. AI can amplify their impact, not diminish it.

But it does mean taking a hard look at:

• Which roles still add value — and which ones don’t

• Where you need new skills (internally or via partners)

• How to create space for learning and collaboration

These are tough but necessary questions. And we’ll come back to them in more depth later in the series.

This post is part of my AI & Marketing series — practical questions and reflections for marketing leaders navigating this shift.

You can read the first post here: AI & Marketing: The Questions Leaders Can’t Afford to Ignore

Next up: How should we get started with AI in marketing—especially when the options (and opinions) feel overwhelming?

In the meantime — I’d love to hear from you:

What’s one thing you’ve changed (or plan to change) in your team because of AI? Drop a comment or message me directly.

Building AI-ready teams is a journey, not a leap. Like any good hike, it takes the right people, a clear direction, and the readiness to adapt along the way.