AI in marketing: The shift from novel to necessary

AI isn’t new. It’s 2026, and chances are good that even your mother is asking LLM platforms for recipe tips. With that in mind, marketers, it’s time to level up—because an entry-level understanding of AI simply won’t cut it anymore.

AI in marketing refers to the use of machine learning, generative AI, and automation tools to improve campaign efficiency, audience targeting, analytics, and personalization. Marketers use AI to reduce manual work, test creative variations faster, and deliver more relevant messaging at scale. It’s time to step into an expert state of mind and really get to know the biggest trends shaping the industry, from automation and reputation to search and more.

Let’s dive into this article. Here’s what we’ll cover:

• how AI automation can help marketers work more efficiently
• how AI serves as a tool for marketers, rather than a replacement for creative ideation
• how AI shifts the importance of showing up in search to being more reputable
• how marketers can personalize campaigns with AI tools

AI automation efficiency benefits

Starting out strong also means starting out simple. We live in what some refer to as the “agentic era,” where AI agents in marketing are systems that can autonomously execute tasks such as budget optimization, audience refinement, and campaign setup without continuous human input. These agents analyze performance data in real time and adjust campaigns based on predefined goals. Autonomous bidding strategies, audience targeting, and other tactics are here to stay. This is especially important as marketers increasingly feel like they’re being asked to do more with fewer resources and smaller teams.

The advantages here are pretty obvious. Less time doing menial tasks allows more time for strategic and creative work. It also speeds things up. For example, can tap into AI-powered optimization with LinkedIn Accelerate campaigns, which help you efficiently set up and launch campaigns tailored to your business and objectives. In fact, according to LinkedIn internal data from January 2025–May 2025, marketers who used LinkedIn Accelerate launched campaigns up to 8x faster than with traditional, manual workflows.

AI-powered analytics, human-powered strategy

You’ve heard it from CEOs, software engineers, career counselors, and now Marketing Brew: AI cannot replace you. In the same way the nail gun didn’t replace construction workers, AI doesn’t make marketers obsolete. AI is a means to help marketers move faster, test more ideas, and focus on the human aspects of marketing. Take analytic tools like Windsor.ai, for example. It does a great job of integrating with LinkedIn to consolidate all of your LinkedIn ads and page data into your preferred reporting or analytics platform. But that doesn’t mean it can (or should) replace human authenticity or creativity, which are the bedrocks for establishing trust with audiences.

The machines still have nothing on the human brain when it comes to creative concepting, but they can help sharpen your thinking. AI notetaking and summarization tools help reduce the noise around marketers, who can instead focus on what really matters to the campaign, like connecting to the right audience or fine-tuning messaging. All of these can be done by a human, but who wants to do it all? Monotony tires your creative muscles. By accepting a little help, you can reserve your energy for the creative thinking that excites audiences and makes marketers feel like marketers.

3rd-party voices boost trust in AI

Know thy audience, know thyself. This is truer than ever when it comes to utilizing AI. The shift to AI search ushers in an era where reputation can be more intentionally built, not just bought. And if we’re talking reputation, then it’s worth noting that LinkedIn is now a trusted platform for building these credibility signals. According to an October 2025 Semrush study, LinkedIn stands as the second-most-cited domain for LLMs, serving as a key source for expert opinions and professional engagement.

While LLMs leave fewer observable signals, they also expand visibility in a new way. Discoverability through AI is no longer dominated by SEO or ad spend but by the credibility signals a brand projects, like expert opinion, third-party media coverage, and authentic social commentary. Unlike traditional levers where the biggest spender wins, a credibility-driven strategy is something that small and mid-size brands can generate at scale, without needing massive budgets.

How to get started with AI In marketing

With reputational search on the rise, personalization is more important than ever for B2B marketers. Generative AI tools can help you add substantive personalized elements at scale. AI personalization in social advertising uses behavioral signals, audience data, and role-based insights to tailor creative, messaging, and targeting to specific buyer segments. In B2B marketing, this often means adapting campaign language for decision-makers such as CMOs, demand generation leaders, or procurement teams.

With tools like LinkedIn Accelerate campaigns, you can develop detailed personas within your audience. In marketing, audience targeting refers to the practice of identifying and segmenting users based on role, industry, behavior, or intent data. AI enhances audience targeting by analyzing patterns across engagement and campaign performance data to automatically refine who sees your ads. CMOs and demand gen managers would receive the same general message, with different framings oriented to their specific context.

Just share a URL for what you’re advertising, and generative AI creates a description and an ideal customer profile for your product, which are then used to tailor the campaign’s targeting and creative to your business. That kind of high-speed, highly specific campaign skips a lot of tedious steps and can deliver huge ROI.

A lot of AI tools are on the market right now, but there’s no need to suffer choice paralysis. LinkedIn has more details on which tools you can implement immediately to boost efficiency, speed, quality, and personalization. LinkedIn Ads allows B2B marketers to target audiences based on job title, company size, industry, seniority, and intent signals. Tools like LinkedIn Accelerate simplify the campaign process by generating recommended targeting, creative, and budget allocations based on a marketer’s business objectives. Professionals across industries already utilize this new technology, and LinkedIn Accelerate helps you put it to work.