Where leaders are focusing their time, teams and tech:
In early October, we brought together a small group of senior automotive marketers for dinner at a rooftop restaurant in Leeds. With guests working across leasing, sales, finance and remarketing, the conversation focused on the trends and challenges currently shaping the sector and what they mean for marketers.
One thing that became clear from the discussion is that marketers across the industry are being asked to do far more with smaller teams and fewer resources.
I had deliberately tried to steer the evening away from the obvious topic of AI, but, inevitably, the group naturally returned to it on more than one occasion. What was interesting, however, was that nobody was talking about AI as a distant future trend, but instead they were open in how it’s already very much changing the way their teams analyse data, communicate with customers, build digital products and decide where best to spend their time.
This, and a few other key themes have stuck with me.
Doing More Also Means Being More Selective
Almost everyone sat around the table was facing their own version of the same challenge: expectations are ever-increasing whilst the teams and available resource are not.
One attendee described a situation in which they had grown a loan book whilst working with a team of around a third of the size they would have had access to five years or so ago in order to achieve the same goal.
Interestingly, the businesses that seemed to be making the most progress were the ones that had a clear understanding of the type of activity that was genuinely producing something valuable. They were also open about their approach when it came to resource and had stopped spreading their team too thinly, instead putting their time, people and budget behind the work that actually mattered.
Another attendee shared how – with the support of AI – they had mapped customer and sales data in order to identify higher-value segments, and then reached out to them with more relevant messaging. And, whilst it sounds simple, in a sector that is typically used to communicating with very large customer databases, making the decision to instead focus on a more concise and better understood audience can be a major change.
Ultimately, operating at speed is now a must and those adopting technology and tools to work faster are keeping a competitive advantage.
AI Works Best When It’s Built Into the Workflow
As we’ve touched on above, most businesses across any sector hold huge amounts of data, yet they regularly treat it as a single batch when this is often not the best approach.
The examples that stood out the most to me from the evening were not businesses simply experimenting with more and more AI tools, but instead, weaving said tools into specific parts of their day-to-day workload and using the insight it had surfaced to make better commercial decisions.
One marketer in particular described how they’d connected their existing Force24 platform with Claude to enable them to access stock performance, customer sales data, and buyer trends more easily. This was a task that might have previously required a significant investment of team time, requiring the support of IT and several system owners, but has now been completed with the help of AI in just a few hours.
The True Value of Social Media Goes Far Beyond the Immediate Sale
Another engaging discussion I heard on the night was around the challenges that came along with justifying social media spend when it doesn’t lead directly into an immediate transaction.
However, the general consensus around the table was that this does not mean that social media is an unimportant investment, especially given the role it plays in helping to build trust, familiarity and visibility, often long before somebody is ready to make a purchase, reach out to enquire or recommend the business to others.
This can be tricky to achieve, especially for those operating in polished corporate organisations. Guests felt that if a brand, even a large corporate, can find a way of coming across as authentic, and showcasing the people, expertise, and genuine character that go into making the business, they have a great chance of successfully leveraging these channels and standing out.
And, whilst this all sounds great in theory, a degree of realism must be taken into account here, as producing and editing high-quality video assets, and consistent social channels demand significant production time and dedicated personnel, as such, brands must balance effort against realistic business outcomes.
Customers Increasingly Have a “Lawyer in Their Pocket”
One clever phrase shared by one of our guests on the evening that has stayed with me ever since, was the concept that customers now have a “lawyer in their pocket”.
Gone are the days of being unable to understand lengthy contracts and the legal jargon that comes along with it. AI now does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to the consumer journey, with customers able to dig into contracts, query clauses and challenge decisions without having to read every single line for themselves. However, whilst that does mean that customers are now better informed of their rights, it can also cause friction, as an answer which has been simplified may actually lack the context or nuance of a specific case.
Understandably with this added layer of complexity, reputation is crucial and clarity matters for brands now more than ever before. Terms, policies and customer communications must be clear, concise, understandable and consistent. Teams should also recognise when winning a contractual argument may actually cause more damage than its worth in terms of protecting their reputation. One guest cited a dealership that was accepting an increase in returns to placate customers in a bid to avoid tarnishing their strong reputation.
Developing Future Industry Leaders in an Automated Environment
One final concern we touched upon was what leaner, increasingly automated teams meant in real terms for the next generation of marketers.
Many of the tasks we’re now opting to automate or happily hand over to AI as a means of speeding tasks along, reduce repetitiveness, and to help plug gaps in already stretched teams, were once the tasks given to more junior employees to help them learn. Those new to the role were previously able to observe more experienced co-workers, gain hands-on experience in lower-risk scenarios, and gradually build up the judgement and confidence they needed to take on bigger responsibilities.
The group noted that if those opportunities continue to disappear, businesses may solve today’s capacity problem whilst unintentionally creating a concerning future skills gap. Junior roles will therefore need to be deliberately redesigned around a more structured way of learning in order to be more engaging and not just centred on how to use software.
Connecting the Dots / The Connected Challenge
Overall, what I took from the evening was that these topics should not be treated as separate conversations. Better use of data guides teams into making more informed decisions around where to focus. Clearer priorities enable leaner teams to increase their effectiveness. And whilst AI can be used to help with capacity issues, human judgement is vital in protecting the customer experience and the reputation of the brand. None of this is sustainable unless businesses are proactive in future-proofing their teams by continuing to develop the people who will lead them in the coming years.
The challenge is no longer about deciding whether AI has a place in marketing, it’s in understanding where it adds meaningful value, how its outputs can best be used and which capabilities should remain distinctly human.
Thank you to the guests that joined us on the evening for contributing to a lively and entertaining discussion. We look forward to welcoming you to the next Shift dinner.
