Wait-and-See AI strategy could leave marketers behind
Financial services marketers who view artificial intelligence as an experimental add-on rather than a core business tool risk losing ground to competitors, according to the head of a digital marketing agency that has rebuilt much of its operation around AI.
The warning, from Gareth Hoyle, founder and managing director of Marketing Signals, comes as marketing teams face growing pressure to improve efficiency, produce more content and demonstrate measurable returns on investment, while adapting to a fast-changing search and media landscape increasingly shaped by AI.
"A lot of people, including many agency leaders, are still telling people to use AI carefully and see how it goes, or not at all," the agency chief said.
"But my honest view is that organisations treating it as an add-on will be outpaced very quickly, and those not embracing it will be left behind."
The executive said AI is now the starting point for most projects within the business, handling the first stage of activities ranging from keyword research and technical SEO analysis to reporting and campaign planning.
According to the agency, the technology has dramatically reduced the time required for routine marketing tasks. A technical SEO audit that previously took around two hours can now be completed in approximately 20 minutes, while reporting processes that once required four hours can be produced in half the time.
The firm's PR team has also reported significant productivity gains. By using an internally developed AI system to assess media opportunities and recommend relevant journalist requests to account teams, the business says it is responding to 85% more enquiries each month while spending substantially less time on administrative work.
However, the agency boss stressed that AI should augment expertise rather than replace it.
"We do still have people regularly checking anything produced by AI and doing the work that can't be replaced by AI," he said. "Every piece of content is edited and checked over by someone who knows the brand before it goes live."
The comments are likely to resonate with in-house marketing teams across financial services, where AI adoption is accelerating but concerns remain around governance, compliance, brand reputation and content quality.
The executive argued that successful AI implementation depends on providing systems with sufficient context, including brand guidelines, tone-of-voice documentation and examples of previously approved content.
He also called for greater transparency around AI use, suggesting marketers should be open about where automation is delivering efficiencies and how the resulting time savings are being reinvested.
"The time we save goes back to clients as more time spent in creative and strategy," he said. "If an agency is using AI, but not telling anyone, then clients are well within their rights to ask where the savings have gone."
As AI becomes more deeply embedded in marketing workflows, the debate may no longer be whether firms should adopt the technology, but whether they can afford not to.