<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <rss version="2.0"> <channel> <title>Marketing Remote Jobs | Find Remote Marketing Positions</title> <link>https://www.marketingremotejobs.app</link> <description>Discover top remote marketing jobs worldwide. Find remote positions in digital marketing, content, SEO, social media, and more. Apply to work-from-home marketing roles today.</description> <lastBuildDate>Sat, 31 Jan 2026 23:00:32 GMT</lastBuildDate> <docs>https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html</docs> <generator>https://github.com/jpmonette/feed</generator> <language>en</language> <image> <title>Marketing Remote Jobs | Find Remote Marketing Positions</title> <url>https://www.marketingremotejobs.app/images/logo-512.png</url> <link>https://www.marketingremotejobs.app</link> </image> <copyright>All rights reserved 2024, MarketingRemoteJobs.app</copyright> <category>Bitcoin News</category> <item> <title><![CDATA[YouGov Reveals 2026's Top Brands: Amazon, WhatsApp, and St. Jude Lead the Pack]]></title> <link>https://www.marketingremotejobs.app/article/yougov-reveals-2026s-top-brands-amazon-whatsapp-and-st-jude-lead-the-pack</link> <guid>yougov-reveals-2026s-top-brands-amazon-whatsapp-and-st-jude-lead-the-pack</guid> <pubDate>Sat, 31 Jan 2026 09:00:36 GMT</pubDate> <description><![CDATA[# YouGov's 2026 Best Brand Rankings: Key Insights for Marketers Market research giant YouGov has released its **Best Brand Rankings 2026**, highlighting the strongest brands in the U.S. and globally. The list is based on 6 million consumer surveys across 28 markets, scoring brands on metrics like **impression, quality, value, customer satisfaction, corporate reputation, and recommendations**. ## U.S. Top 10 Brands: Consistency and Everyday Relevance In the U.S., the top 10 brands are dominated by household names that have become part of daily life: 1. **Amazon** 2. Band-Aid 3. Dawn 4. Dove 5. Samsung 6. **St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital** 7. M&M’s 8. Amazon Prime 9. YouTube 10. Tylenol **Amazon** maintains its No. 1 spot, with consumers praising it for being **fast, easy, and comprehensive**, setting the standard for modern shopping. However, concerns about ethics, product quality, and authenticity were noted. **St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital** stands out as an outlier among tech and consumer brands, ranking highly in the advocacy and giving sector. YouGov tailors questions to measure value for charities by assessing whether they provide good value for the time or money invested by supporters. Ray Martin, CEO at YouGov America, emphasized: "In both the U.S. and globally, the strongest performers are brands that have become part of everyday life, consistently meeting consumer expectations around **quality, value, and experience**." ## Global Top 10 Brands: Tech and Athletic Dominance Globally, the top 10 features tech platforms and athletic brands: 1. **WhatsApp** 2. Samsung 3. YouTube 4. Google 5. Adidas 6. Nike 7. Netflix 8. Dettol 9. Colgate 10. Toyota Brandy Hecke, senior enterprise account director at YouGov, noted: "The strongest brands today aren’t necessarily the loudest. They are the most embedded. Many of these brands are at the top because they sit naturally in everyday routines." She added that **habit beats hype**, with platforms like YouTube and WhatsApp performing well because people return to them instinctively. ## Most Improved Brands in the U.S. The survey also highlights the most-improved brands based on year-over-year scores: 1. **Cheerios** 2. Reese’s 3. Skechers 4. General Mills 5. Lindt 6. Jersey Mike’s 7. Band-Aid 8. Johnson & Johnson 9. Dunkin’ 10. Tyson **Cheerios** boosted its visibility with a major campaign promoting its new higher protein cereal and brought back a limited-edition frosted lemon flavor, generating buzz and engagement. Ryan Gross, senior vice president at YouGov, explained: "Ongoing **product innovation and portfolio updates** keep a brand like Cheerios relevant while evolving consumer tastes change." Brands like **Skechers** and **Reese’s** capitalized on cultural moments, such as the Super Bowl, with campaigns that reinforced their identities. ## Key Takeaways for Marketers - **Value and trust** are critical for brand health in the U.S., as highlighted by YouGov executives. - Strong brands focus on **doing the right things repeatedly** in ways that fit into people’s lives, rather than just doing more. - **Consistency and delivery** build trust, as seen with brands like Samsung and Toyota. - Brands that perform well combine **scale with everyday relevance** and score high on quality and recommendations. The full list is available for download on YouGov's website.]]></description> <author>contact@marketingremotejobs.app (MarketingRemoteJobs.app)</author> <category>yougov</category> <category>brandrankings</category> <category>marketinginsights</category> <category>topbrands</category> <category>consumersurveys</category> <enclosure url="https://uploads.nationaljeweler.com/uploads/fe34b67f1bb89400a07d1e8d6198fa35.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg"/> </item> <item> <title><![CDATA[80 Vintage Ads That Show How Marketing Has Evolved (And What We Can Learn)]]></title> <link>https://www.marketingremotejobs.app/article/80-vintage-ads-that-show-how-marketing-has-evolved-and-what-we-can-learn</link> <guid>80-vintage-ads-that-show-how-marketing-has-evolved-and-what-we-can-learn</guid> <pubDate>Sat, 31 Jan 2026 17:00:25 GMT</pubDate> <description>< We might be exposed to more ads and commercials today than ever before in human history, but the idea of advertising itself is certainly not a new concept. According to Instapage, the first signs of advertisements actually appeared in ancient Egyptian steel carvings from 2000 BC. Meanwhile, the first printed ad was published in 1472, when William Caxton decided to advertise a book by posting flyers on church doors in England. Over 200 years later, the first newspaper ad in the United States was published in 1704. And by 1835, Americans were advertising on big billboards all across the country, with some of the first ads encouraging viewers to see the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey circus. Advertising through the mail, however, didn’t become popular until Sears started sending out postcards in 1892.  Advertising completely changed in the 20th Century when companies had the opportunity to reach their customers directly through the radio. In 1922, the cost of a 10-minute advertising slot on the radio cost $50, or what would be about $965 today. Then, in 1935, George Gallup started utilizing **market research**, which allowed companies to find out information about their consumers and determine the best ways to advertise to them. Advertising was also forever changed after companies were given the opportunity to start marketing via television. This began in 1941, and it became the main method of reaching customers for the next 70 years.  Of course, advertising through magazines was also extremely popular during the 20th Century, as most, if not all, of the ads in this article were featured in print. Many of these ads, especially the older ones, look quite foreign to us today because they have *so many words*. Nowadays, most of our attention spans have been ruined by social media and short-form content, so the idea of reading multiple paragraphs of an advertisement sounds like a huge waste of time. We can barely suffer through 15 seconds of ads on YouTube! But back in the day, when this was one of the only ways to reach customers, it worked brilliantly. By the mid 1990s, companies finally had the opportunity to reach consumers through their computers. And according to Okoone, even that has transformed drastically over the past few decades. It started out with simple banner ads, which soon turned into **search engine advertising**. And by 2005, digital advertising was a multi-billion dollar industry. Google was the first to utilize this kind of marketing to its full potential, but Yahoo and Microsoft were successful as well.  Once social media exploded in popularity, it absolutely changed the advertising game. The advantages that these platforms had, Okoone explains, is large amounts of **user-generated data**. This made it much easier to target consumers with ads for products and services that they would genuinely be interested in. And now, as we all know, if you start talking about a specific product or issue, Instagram will suspiciously start showing you ads for exactly what you were discussing. Just like any other industry, though, advertising is constantly changing. So Forbes notes that companies need to learn how to adapt if they want to keep up. Figuring out how to utilize popular platforms is a necessity. Nowadays, many companies need to create a TikTok account or use **influencer marketing** to get the word out about their products. It’s not easy to grab consumers’ attention anymore, so businesses can’t rely on the same strategies that yielded success five or ten years ago. It’s also crucial for companies to optimize efficiency if they want to remain competitive. “In December 2020, we teamed up with a well-known brand to produce a TV commercial through creator content filmed entirely remotely,” Corbett Drummey wrote for Forbes. “The brand quickly received 118 video assets from creators, reduced its production time by 50% and cut 30% of its traditional production cost. The success of this unique piece of content resulted from testing a new agile approach.”  Are you enjoying this list full of blasts from the past? Keep upvoting the ads that definitely would have caught your eye if you saw them in a magazine, and let us know in the comments below if you remember any other famous marketing campaigns from your youth.]]></description> <author>contact@marketingremotejobs.app (MarketingRemoteJobs.app)</author> <category>vintageads</category> <category>marketinghistory</category> <category>advertising</category> <category>digitalmarketing</category> <category>socialmedia</category> <enclosure url="https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/interesting-vintage-ads-collections-fb4.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg"/> </item> <item> <title><![CDATA[Surprise Media Shake-Up: Hotel Billionaire Buys Nine's Radio Stations in $50M Deal]]></title> <link>https://www.marketingremotejobs.app/article/surprise-media-shake-up-hotel-billionaire-buys-nines-radio-stations-in-50m-deal</link> <guid>surprise-media-shake-up-hotel-billionaire-buys-nines-radio-stations-in-50m-deal</guid> <pubDate>Fri, 30 Jan 2026 09:00:25 GMT</pubDate> <description>< **Arthur Laundy** owns more than 90 pubs, bars and hotels across NSW and is seen as the biggest competitor to Justin Hemmes’ Merivale. The family’s surprising move into media has been seen as not only a **smart business decision** but a **strong political move**. “In pure business terms, buying cash-generating assets for a fraction of their cost of just a few years ago, is the type of deal that explains why billionaires are billionaires. And for someone worth almost $2 billion, spending $50 million on something is hardly betting the farm,” continued Walton. “Given the well known political leanings in the family, this move may well be to help protect and grow **conservative voices in the media**. Radio stations 2GB and the *Sydney Morning Herald* were always odd bedfellows, so perhaps there is a desire to ‘free’ up the content (i.e. turn right). It could well help the networks strengthen their identity and link to their core audiences given they will emerge from under Nine’s corporate umbrella. But watch out for a new owner without hands-on media experience falling into the ‘everything is for sale’ trap, which will undermine the very listener relationships that this purchase may be aiming to strengthen.” **Virginia Hyland**, CEO of SQUAD M&A also saw the play as a political one. “The sale of the talk radio network to Laundy is not simply a financial transaction; it’s a **strategic repositioning of influence**. For a business leader like Laundy, radio offers more than commercial return — it provides a platform to participate in opinion, shape conversation and exert soft influence across civic, social and political discourse. In that context, Nine’s move sharpens its focus on scalable, commercially driven media infrastructure, while Laundy’s entry reflects a different motivation: one rooted in voice, advocacy and presence in public debate,” said Hyland.  However, **Darren Woolley**, founder and global CEO at Trinity P3 saw this move by the lord of the lager as strictly a **business opportunity**. “Is this an Australian-scale version of what happens in the US with all the billionaires buying media outlets?” he said. He wondered if this is an opportunity for the Laundys to promote their other businesses of running venues across the nation. “You may as well pay the money to yourself indirectly and, hopefully, get some sort of tax benefit at the same time,” he suggested. On the other side of the sale, Woolley said that the reshuffle of Nine’s portfolio was a **calculated play**. “This is a strategic investment for Nine, offloading the difficult radio network business, because they’ve never seemed to be able to fully integrated into the rest of the offering. And you would think that being a broadcast business primarily, with a publishing arm, that that they would have been able to do that, but it was always a struggle. Whereas QMS is a strong investment, because you’ve seen outdoor spending hold up pretty well over the last five years.”  **Paul Sinkinson**, managing director, Australia and Asia of Analytic Partners, thought the move was “surprising” even despite Nine’s efforts at “shaking things up”. “It’s encouraging to see a media company thinking differently, rather than doing more of the same,” he told *B&T*. “When you look at Nine’s own statements, the rationale starts to make sense: out-of-home is fairly resilient and it’s one of the few channels still experiencing sustained growth. In that context, the acquisition feels logical, particularly when you compare it to channels like radio, which haven’t seen the same momentum.”  But he did see this as an exciting opening for TVCs and billboards to be utilised in a more creative way. “There’s also an interesting opportunity around how this could evolve buying and targeting. Purely demographic-based buys are increasingly limiting – we’ve seen consistently stronger results when campaigns move beyond that approach. This acquisition potentially brings Nine closer to more sophisticated targeting, especially when you consider how out-of-home data and behavioural datasets have evolved in recent years,” said Sinkinson. “Where I’d really love to see this go is in creativity. For a long time, we’ve talked about how many out-of-home billboards are effectively just the end frame of a TVC. If planning and creative discussions are happening together earlier and more holistically, this could unlock a step-change in creative quality for out-of-home. That, for me, is one of the most exciting possibilities to come out of this move.” Meanwhile, **Taylor Fielding**, CEO of TFM Digital, had this to say: “Nine has historically been very broadcast-focused, so for many this is a surprising but understandable repositioning. For us, QMS has been a great digital OOH partner. They have some of the best placements for local campaigns, have remained very future-focused and we’ve been trading their amazing assets for a number of years. “This news is very relevant for our multi-location clients as it will support and supercharge connection to hyper-local audiences. It will make Nine’s ecosystem very competitive if Matt Stanton’s ‘Sofa to Street’ positioning delivers as promised.”]]></description> <author>contact@marketingremotejobs.app (MarketingRemoteJobs.app)</author> <category>media</category> <category>acquisition</category> <category>radio</category> <category>advertising</category> <category>industry</category> <enclosure url="https://www.bandt.com.au/information/uploads/2026/01/arthur-laundy-1.png" length="0" type="image/png"/> </item> <item> <title><![CDATA[From Marketing Manager to Director: Naomi Berwin's Career Leap at Hachette Children's Group]]></title> <link>https://www.marketingremotejobs.app/article/from-marketing-manager-to-director-naomi-berwins-career-leap-at-hachette-childrens-group</link> <guid>from-marketing-manager-to-director-naomi-berwins-career-leap-at-hachette-childrens-group</guid> <pubDate>Thu, 29 Jan 2026 17:00:54 GMT</pubDate> <description><![CDATA[## Naomi Berwin's Promotion at Hachette Children's Group **Hachette Children's Group** has announced the promotion of **Naomi Berwin** to the position of **marketing and brand director**. This move highlights the company's commitment to strengthening its marketing leadership and brand strategy in the competitive children's publishing industry. ### What This Promotion Means for Hachette Berwin's elevation to director level signals Hachette's focus on **integrated marketing approaches** that combine traditional book marketing with modern brand-building techniques. As marketing and brand director, she will likely oversee campaigns that span multiple channels and platforms, ensuring consistency and impact across Hachette's children's book portfolio. ### The Role of Marketing in Publishing In today's publishing landscape, **marketing directors** play crucial roles in connecting books with their target audiences. For children's books specifically, this involves not just promoting individual titles but building **lasting brand relationships** with parents, educators, and young readers themselves. Berwin's promotion suggests Hachette recognizes the importance of this strategic approach. ### Career Advancement in Publishing This promotion serves as an inspiring example of **career growth within the publishing industry**. Berwin's journey from her previous position to director demonstrates how professionals can advance by combining marketing expertise with brand vision. Such moves are particularly noteworthy in an industry where leadership roles often require both creative and business acumen. ### Looking Ahead While specific details about Berwin's new responsibilities weren't provided in the original announcement, her promotion typically involves overseeing **marketing strategy**, **brand development**, and potentially **team leadership** within Hachette Children's Group. This could influence how the publisher approaches everything from book launches to long-term brand positioning in the children's market.]]></description> <author>contact@marketingremotejobs.app (MarketingRemoteJobs.app)</author> <category>publishing</category> <category>career</category> <category>marketing</category> <category>promotion</category> <category>branding</category> <enclosure url="https://drsw10gc90t0z.cloudfront.net/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/634/Naomi-Berwin1.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg"/> </item> <item> <title><![CDATA[The Data Center PR War: How Tech Giants Are Spending Millions to Rebrand Unpopular Facilities]]></title> <link>https://www.marketingremotejobs.app/article/the-data-center-pr-war-how-tech-giants-are-spending-millions-to-rebrand-unpopular-facilities</link> <guid>the-data-center-pr-war-how-tech-giants-are-spending-millions-to-rebrand-unpopular-facilities</guid> <pubDate>Wed, 28 Jan 2026 17:00:30 GMT</pubDate> <description>< *Rural Michigan residents rally against the $7 billion Stargate data center planned on southeast Michigan farm land.* With community opposition growing, **data center backers are going on a full-scale public relations blitz**. Around Christmas in Virginia, which boasts the highest concentration of data centers in the country, one advertisement seemed to air nonstop. "Virginia’s data centers are…investing billions in clean energy," a voiceover intoned over sweeping shots of shiny solar panels. "Creating good-paying jobs"—cue men in yellow safety vests and hard hats—"and building a better energy future." The ad was sponsored by **Virginia Connects**, an industry-affiliated group that spent at least **$700,000 on digital marketing** in the state in fiscal year 2024. The spot emphasized that data centers are paying their own energy costs—framing this as a buffer that might help lower residential bills—and portrayed the facilities as engines of local job creation. > Meta says it has supported "400+ operational jobs" in Altoona. But the local casino employs nearly 1,000 residents. The reality is murkier. Although industry groups claim that each new data center creates "dozens to hundreds" of "high-wage, high-skill jobs," some researchers say data centers generate far fewer jobs than other industries, such as manufacturing and warehousing. Greg LeRoy, the founder of the research and advocacy group Good Jobs First, said that in his first major study of data center jobs nine years ago, he found that developers pocketed well over **$1 million in state subsidies for every permanent job they created**. With the rise of hyperscalers, LeRoy said, that number is "still very much in the ballpark." Other experts reflect that finding. A 2025 brief from University of Michigan researchers put it bluntly: "**Data centers do not bring high-paying tech jobs to local communities.**" A recent analysis from Food & Water Watch, a nonprofit tracking corporate overreach, found that in Virginia, the investment required to create a permanent data center job was **nearly 100 times higher** than what was required to create comparable jobs in other industries. "Data centers are the extreme of hyper-capital intensity in manufacturing," LeRoy said. "Once they’re built, the number of people monitoring them is really small." Contractors may be called in if something breaks, and equipment is replaced every few years. "But that’s not permanent labor," he said. Jon Hukill, a spokesperson for the Data Center Coalition, the industry lobbying group that established Virginia Connects in 2024, said that the industry "is committed to paying its full cost of service for the energy it uses" and is trying to "meet this moment in a way that supports both data center development and an affordable, reliable electricity grid for all customers." Nationally, Hukill said, the industry "supported 4.7 million jobs and contributed $162 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2023." Dozens of community groups across the country have mobilized against data center buildout, citing fears that the facilities will **drain water supplies, overwhelm electric grids, and pollute the air** around them. According to Data Center Watch, a project run by AI security company 10a Labs, nearly 200 community groups are currently active, and blocked or delayed 20 data center projects representing **$98 billion of potential investment** between April and June 2025 alone. The backlash has exposed a growing image problem for the AI industry. "Too often, we’re portrayed as energy-hungry, water-intensive, and environmentally damaging," data center marketer Steve Lim recently wrote. That narrative, he argued, "misrepresents our role in society and potentially hinders our ability to grow." In response, the industry is stepping up its messaging. > The data center ads reminded one activist of cigarette ads she saw decades ago touting the health benefits of smoking. Some developers, like Starwood Digital Ventures in Delaware, are turning to **Facebook ads** to appeal to residents. Its ads make the case that data center development might help keep property taxes low, bring jobs to Delaware, and protect the integrity of nearby wetlands. According to reporting from Spotlight Delaware, the company has also boasted that it will create three times as many jobs as it initially told local officials. Nationally, Meta has spent months running TV spots showcasing data center work as a viable replacement for lost industrial and farming jobs. One advertisement spotlights the small city of Altoona, Iowa. "I grew up in Altoona, and I wanted my kids to be able to do the same," a voice narrates over softly-lit scenes of small-town Americana: a Route 66 diner, a farm, and a water tower. "So, when work started to slow down, we looked for new opportunities…and we welcomed Meta, which opened a data center in our town. Now, we’re bringing jobs here—for us, and for our next generation." The advertisement ends with a promise superimposed over images of a football game: "Meta is investing $600 billion in American infrastructure and jobs." In reality, Altoona’s data center is a hulking, windowless, warehouse complex that broke ground in 2013, long before the current data center boom. Altoona is not quite the beleaguered farm town Meta’s advertisements portray, but a suburb of 19,000, roughly 16 minutes from downtown Des Moines, the most populous city in Iowa. Meta says it has supported "400+ operational jobs" in Altoona. In comparison, the local casino employs nearly 1,000 residents, according to the local economic development agency. Ultimately, those details may not matter much to the ad’s intended audience. As Politico reported, the advertisement may have been targeted at policymakers on the coasts more than the residents of towns like Altoona. Meta has spent **at least $5 million** airing the spot in places like Sacramento and Washington, DC. The community backlash has also made data centers a political flashpoint. In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger won November’s gubernatorial election in part on promises to regulate the industry and make developers pay their "fair share" of the electricity they use. State lawmakers also considered 30 bills attempting to regulate data centers. In response to concerns about rising electricity prices, Virginia regulators approved a new rate structure for AI data centers and other large electricity users. The changes, which will take effect in 2027, are designed to protect household customers from costs associated with data center expansion. These developments may only encourage companies to spend more on image-building. In Virginia’s Data Center Alley, the ads show no sign of stopping. Elena Schlossberg, an anti-data-center activist based in Prince William County, says her mailbox has been flooded with fliers from Virginia Connects for the past eight months. The promises of lower electric bills, good jobs, and climate responsibility, she said, remind her of cigarette ads she saw decades ago touting the health benefits of smoking. But Schlossberg isn’t sure the marketing is going to work. One recent poll showed that **73 percent of Virginians blame data centers for their rising electricity costs**. "There’s no putting the toothpaste back in the tube," she said. "People already know we’re still covering their costs. People know that."]]></description> <author>contact@marketingremotejobs.app (MarketingRemoteJobs.app)</author> <category>datacenters</category> <category>techindustry</category> <category>prcampaigns</category> <category>communitybacklash</category> <category>industryinsights</category> <enclosure url="https://www.motherjones.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/datacenter.png?w=1200&h=630&crop=1" length="0" type="image/png"/> </item> <item> <title><![CDATA[Beyond Time Saved: The 3 AI Metrics That Actually Convince CFOs to Increase Budgets]]></title> <link>https://www.marketingremotejobs.app/article/beyond-time-saved-the-3-ai-metrics-that-actually-convince-cfos-to-increase-budgets</link> <guid>beyond-time-saved-the-3-ai-metrics-that-actually-convince-cfos-to-increase-budgets</guid> <pubDate>Mon, 26 Jan 2026 17:00:26 GMT</pubDate> <description><![CDATA[Every AI vendor pitch follows the same script: “Our tool saves your team 40% of their time on X task.” The demo looks impressive. The return on investment (ROI) calculator backs it up, showing millions in labor cost savings. You get budget approval. You deploy. Six months later, your CFO asks: “Where’s the 40% productivity gain in our revenue?” You realize the saved time went to email and meetings, not strategic work that moves the business forward. This is the AI measurement crisis playing out in enterprises right now. According to Fortune’s December 2025 report, 61% of CEOs report increasing pressure to show returns on AI investments. Yet most organizations are measuring the wrong things. There’s a problem with how we’ve been tracking AI’s value. ## Why ‘Time Saved’ Is A Vanity Metric Time saved sounds compelling in a business case. It’s concrete, measurable, and easy to calculate. But time saved doesn’t equal value created. Anthropic’s November 2025 research analyzing 100,000 real AI conversations found that AI reduces task completion time by approximately 80%. Sounds transformative, right? What that stat doesn’t capture is the **Jevons Paradox of AI**. In economics, the Jevons Paradox occurs when technological progress increases the efficiency with which a resource is used, but the rate of consumption of that resource rises rather than falls. In the corporate world, this is the **Reallocation Fallacy**. Just because AI completes a task faster doesn’t mean your team is producing more value. It means they’re producing the same output in less time, but then filling that saved time with lower-value work. Think more meetings, longer email threads, and administrative drift. Google Cloud’s 2025 ROI of AI report, surveying 3,466 business leaders, found that 74% report seeing ROI within the first year, most commonly through productivity and efficiency gains rather than outcome improvements. But when you dig into what they’re measuring, it’s primarily efficiency gains, and not outcome improvements. CFOs understand this intuitively. That’s why “time saved” metrics don’t convince finance teams to increase AI budgets. What does convince them is measuring what AI enables you to do that you couldn’t do before. ## The Three Types Of AI Value Nobody’s Measuring Recent research from Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google reveals a pattern: The organizations seeing real AI ROI are measuring expansion. Three types of value actually matter: ### Type 1: Quality Lift AI can make work faster, and it makes good work better. A marketing team using AI for email campaigns can send emails quicker. And they also have time to A/B test multiple subject lines, personalize content by segment, and analyze results to improve the next campaign. The metric isn’t “time saved writing emails.” The metric is “15% higher email conversion rate.” OpenAI’s State of Enterprise AI report, based on 9,000 workers across almost 100 enterprises, found that 85% of marketing and product users report faster campaign execution. But the real value shows up in campaign performance, not campaign speed. **How to measure quality lift:** - Conversion rate improvements (not just task completion speed). - Customer satisfaction scores (not just response time). - Error reduction rates (not just throughput). - Revenue per campaign (not just campaigns launched). One B2B SaaS company I talked to deployed AI for content creation. - Their old metric was “blog posts published per month.” - Their new metric became “organic traffic from AI-assisted content vs. human-only content.” The AI-assisted content drove 23% more organic traffic because the team had time to optimize for search intent, not just word count. That’s quality lift. ### Type 2: Scope Expansion (The Shadow IT Advantage) This is the metric most organizations completely miss. Anthropic’s research on how their own engineers use Claude found that 27% of AI-assisted work wouldn’t have been done otherwise. More than a quarter of the value AI creates isn’t from doing existing work faster; it’s from doing work that was previously impossible within time and budget constraints. What does scope expansion look like? It often looks like positive Shadow IT. **The “papercuts” phenomenon:** Small bugs that never got prioritized finally get fixed. Technical debt gets addressed. Internal tools that were “someday” projects actually get built because a non-engineer could scaffold them with AI. **The capability unlock:** Marketing teams doing data analysis they couldn’t do before. Sales teams creating custom materials for each prospect instead of using generic decks. Customer success teams proactively reaching out instead of waiting for problems. Google Cloud’s data shows 70% of leaders report productivity gains, with 39% seeing ROI specifically from AI enabling work that wasn’t part of the original scope. **How to measure scope expansion:** - Track projects completed that weren’t in the original roadmap. - Ratio of backlog features cleared by non-engineers. - Measure customer requests fulfilled that would have been declined due to resource constraints. - Document internal tools built that were previously “someday” projects. One enterprise software company used this metric to justify its AI investment. It tracked: - 47 customer feature requests implemented that would have been declined. - 12 internal process improvements that had been on the backlog for over a year. - 8 competitive vulnerabilities addressed that were previously “known issues.” None of that shows up in “time saved” calculations. But it showed up clearly in customer retention rates and competitive win rates. ### Type 3: Capability Unlock (The Full-Stack Employee) We used to hire for deep specialization. AI is ushering in the era of the “Generalist-Specialist.” Anthropic’s internal research found that security teams are building data visualizations. Alignment researchers are shipping frontend code. Engineers are creating marketing materials. AI lowers the barrier to entry for hard skills. A marketing manager doesn’t need to know SQL to query a database anymore; she just needs to know what question to ask the AI. This goes well beyond speed or time saved to removing the dependency bottleneck. When a marketer can run their own analysis without waiting three weeks for the Data Science team, the velocity of the entire organization accelerates. The marketing generalist is now a front-end developer, a data analyst, and a copywriter all at once. OpenAI’s enterprise data shows 75% of users report being able to complete new tasks they previously couldn’t perform. Coding-related messages increased 36% for workers outside of technical functions. **How to measure capability unlock:** - Skills accessed (not skills owned). - Cross-functional work completed without handoffs. - Speed to execute on ideas that would have required hiring or outsourcing. - Projects launched without expanding headcount. A marketing leader at a mid-market B2B company told me her team can now handle routine reporting and standard analyses with AI support, work that previously required weeks on the analytics team’s queue. Their campaign optimization cycle accelerated 4x, leading to 31% higher campaign performance. The “time saved” metric would say: “AI saves two hours per analysis.” The capability unlock metric says: “We can now run 4x more tests per quarter, and our analytics team tackles deeper strategic work.” ## Building A Finance-Friendly AI ROI Framework CFOs care about three questions: - Is this increasing revenue? (Not just reducing cost.) - Is this creating competitive advantage? (Not just matching competitors.) - Is this sustainable? (Not just a short-term productivity bump.) **How to build an AI measurement framework that actually answers those questions:** ### Step 1: Baseline Your “Before AI” State Don’t skip this step, or else it will be impossible to prove AI impact later. Before deploying AI, document current throughput, quality metrics, and scope limitations. ### Step 2: Define Leading Vs. Lagging Indicators You need to track both efficiency and expansion, but you need to frame them correctly to Finance. - **Leading Indicator (Efficiency):** Time saved on existing tasks. This predicts potential capacity. - **Lagging Indicator (Expansion):** New work enabled and revenue impact. This proves the value was realized. ### Step 3: Track AI Impact On Revenue, Not Just Cost Connect AI metrics directly to business outcomes: - If AI helps customer success teams → Track retention rate changes. - If AI helps sales teams → Track win rate and deal velocity changes. - If AI helps marketing teams → Track pipeline contribution and conversion rate changes. - If AI helps product teams → Track feature adoption and customer satisfaction changes. ### Step 4: Measure The “Frontier” Gap OpenAI’s enterprise research revealed a widening gap between “frontier” workers and median workers. Frontier firms send 2x more messages per seat. This means identifying the teams extracting real value versus the teams just experimenting. ### Step 5: Build The Measurement Infrastructure First PwC’s 2026 AI predictions warn that measuring iterations instead of outcomes falls short when AI handles complex workflows. As PwC notes: “If an outcome that once took five days and two iterations now takes fifteen iterations but only two days, you’re ahead.” The infrastructure you need before you deploy AI involves baseline metrics, clear attribution models, and executive sponsorship to act on insights. ## The Measurement Paradox The organizations best positioned to measure AI ROI are the ones who already had good measurement infrastructure. According to Kyndryl’s 2025 Readiness Report, most firms aren’t positioned to prove AI ROI because they lack the foundational data discipline. Sound familiar? This connects directly to the data hygiene challenge I’ve written about previously. You can’t measure AI’s impact if your data is messy, conflicting, or siloed. ## The Bottom Line The AI productivity revolution is well underway. According to Anthropic’s research, current-generation AI could increase U.S. labor productivity growth by 1.8% annually over the next decade, roughly doubling recent rates. But capturing that value requires measuring the right things. Forget asking: “How much time does this save?” Instead, focus on: - “What quality improvements are we seeing in output?” - “What work is now possible that wasn’t before?” - “What capabilities can we access without expanding headcount?” These are the metrics that convince CFOs to increase AI budgets. These are the metrics that reveal whether AI is actually transforming your business or just making you busy faster. Time saved is a vanity metric. Expansion enabled is the real ROI. Measure accordingly.]]></description> <author>contact@marketingremotejobs.app (MarketingRemoteJobs.app)</author> <category>ai</category> <category>roi</category> <category>cfo</category> <category>marketingstrategy</category> <category>productivity</category> <enclosure url="https://cdn.searchenginejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/ai-budget-412.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpg"/> </item> </channel> </rss>