AI saves marketers time but not strategy, survey says

Optimizely has published research suggesting artificial intelligence is saving marketers time without creating more room for strategic work. The survey covered 227 marketing professionals across B2B industries.

The findings point to a gap between the work respondents value and the tasks that fill most of their day. In the survey, 41.8% of marketers said their role is only "50/50 creative on a good day", while 37.9% said their work is mainly focused on coordination rather than creative or strategic output.

AI featured heavily in the results, but its effects on day-to-day work were mixed. While 61% of respondents said AI saves them time and 55% said it makes some tasks easier, only 36% said it meaningfully frees up space for strategy.

That distinction sits at the centre of the study's argument: efficiency gains do not necessarily lead to higher-value work. The research also found that 28% of marketers believe AI is increasing output expectations, while 13% said it is making workflows more complicated.

Workflow strain

The survey paints a picture of marketing teams spending more time managing processes, systems and internal demands than developing campaigns or shaping strategy. Marketers are increasingly navigating a wider mix of tools, channels and stakeholders, adding pressure to roles many entered for creative and commercial reasons.

The data also suggests marketers are not rejecting AI outright. Instead, respondents appeared to distinguish between AI that removes repetitive work and AI that simply adds another layer of expectation to already fragmented workflows.

More focused time, clearer priorities and fewer reactive demands were the changes most consistently identified as likely to improve effectiveness. Despite the pressure, most marketers were not looking to leave the profession, though some questioned whether the current pace and structure of work are sustainable.

Tara Corey, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Optimizely, commented on the findings.

"The issue isn't that marketers have lost their passion; they've simply lost the space to act on it. It isn't due to a lack of effort; it's due to complexity. More tools, more channels and more stakeholders are fragmenting the work. By connecting workflows, cutting down coordination and giving marketers more space for strategy and creativity, AI has the potential to bring more structure to how work gets done. But, if teams are only using AI to increase their output, they're just accelerating the chaos," Corey said.

Pressure paradox

The research describes this tension as a "passion-pressure paradox", with marketers still motivated by creative work and business impact but often spending their time elsewhere. It reflects a broader industry debate over whether AI is meaningfully changing the nature of knowledge work or simply compressing deadlines and raising volume expectations.

In this case, the numbers suggest AI's immediate value lies more in task efficiency than in reshaping how teams allocate their time. If that pattern holds, marketing leaders may face pressure to rethink operating models as much as software choices.

The survey sample was weighted towards experienced respondents: 72% were at manager level or above, and 83% had more than eight years of experience. That gives the results a strong tilt towards established professionals working in B2B settings.

That matters because senior marketers often sit closest to decisions on budgets, planning cycles and tool adoption. Their responses suggest concern not just about productivity, but about how work is organised when new technology is introduced into already busy teams.

For businesses investing in AI across marketing departments, the findings point to a practical challenge. Saving time on individual tasks may offer limited value if the recovered hours are absorbed by more approvals, more reporting or higher content output targets rather than planning, experimentation or creative development.

The study also adds to a growing body of industry research showing that enthusiasm for AI often coexists with scepticism about implementation. Marketers may welcome tools that reduce repetitive effort, but remain wary when those tools are introduced without changes to priorities, processes or team structures.

Optimizely's survey concludes that marketing performance may increasingly depend on how work is structured rather than on adding more tools alone. Among respondents, the strongest demand was not for more technology, but for more focused time and clearer priorities.