AI Doesn't Drive Revenue Today!

Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips

Eric Siu and Neil Patel

Careers, Business, Marketing

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2025

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode #3040, Eric and Neil discuss how businesses are using AI in marketing but struggling to see real revenue results, pointing out that most companies focus on flashy tools rather than KPI-driven outcomes. They stress the need to push AI experiments into production and spread AI fluency across organizations. The conversation also touches on major corporate layoffs linked to AI adoption, the weakening job market, and the broader economic implications of interest rate changes. TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES (00:00) AI in Marketing: Usage vs. Real ROI (07:28) Corporate Layoffs and AI’s Role in Job Cuts (14:54) Weakening Job Market and Interest Rate Implications To suggest a topic, go to https://www.marketingschool.io. For more content from Eric and Neil, check out Eric’s Leveling Up with Eric Siu YouTube channel and Neil’s Neil Patel YouTube channel. Connect with Us: Single Grain << Eric's ad agency NP Digital << Neil’s ad agency X @neilpatel, @ericosiu Instagram @neilpatel, @ericosiu Drop Us a Review If You Enjoyed the Episode!

Transcript

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0:00.0	So Eric and I are here in San Francisco at HubSpot's inbound event.
0:05.2	I don't know what year they're on, but they've been doing this for a while.
0:08.4	Usually in Boston, this time in San Francisco, which is actually more convenient for Eric and I.
0:14.5	But what was interesting at HubSpot and Eric and I have been coming to marketing events for a while,
0:24.6	this event typically has quite a few SMBs. And SMBs, when it comes to marketing, tend to adapt faster,
0:28.6	which I'm assuming you agree than Enterprise
0:31.6	because they don't have all this legacy and archaic stuff to deal with.
0:35.6	So during HubSpot, Eric and I asked the audience,
0:39.6	how many of you guys are using AI?
0:41.8	Almost everyone raised their hand, you know,
0:44.2	AI within their marketing.
0:45.2	And then we asked how many of you guys
0:49.2	actually saw a 5% increase in revenue
0:53.0	because of AI and usage in marketing. Very few people raise their
0:57.7	hand. Call it like 2, 3%. Then we asked how many of you guys saw, you know, any sort of increase
1:04.0	and pretty much it was similar, only a few percentage points. The point, you know, I'm making here is everyone's using AI in marketing,
1:13.6	but very few people are actually seeing results from it.
1:17.6	And when I say results, I'm not talking about time savings.
1:20.8	The purpose of marketing is to generate more leads, more sales, more revenue, and more profit.
1:26.2	So the real question is, is why do we think that people aren't generating more revenue
1:33.1	from AI?
1:34.1	Yeah.
	...

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