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Seer Interactive AI Lab

Building AI-First
Marketing Teams for 2026

Navigate the 21 elements of organizational AI readiness across 5 critical stages—from internal preparation to full operational transformation.

The 5 Stages of AI Readiness

1
Prior to Boarding
Internal Foundation
2
Parked at the Gate
Internal Strategy
3
Taxiing to Runway
Internal Execution
4
Taking Off
Internal Scale
5
Cruising Altitude
Internal Maturity
📚
Resources
Articles & Guides
Stage 1

Prior to Boarding

Establish your internal foundation before taking flight

Map Where Marketing Time & Budget Goes

Establish a current baseline for expected savings
+
  • Does your team track time?
  • Is your process documented?
  • How does your team's job descriptions map back to disruptable tasks?

Audit Team & Cultural Readiness

Is your team built to succeed in an AI-enabled environment?
+
  • Have you assessed individual AI readiness?
  • What do you do with low maturity teams?
  • What do you do with mixed maturity teams?

Appoint a Leader

If it's everyone's job, it's no one's job
+
  • If you have a leader, how much dedicated time do they have?
  • How does your executive team support your AI Leader?
  • Internal promotion or external hire?

Fund Alpha Testing

Lower the barrier of entry and see what happens
+
  • What should you expect from those with access to paid tools?
  • What tools should you test?
  • Who should be involved in testing?

Create Space for Sharing & Learning

Demonstrate & nurture the behaviors you want to see
+
  • What do you look for in a space for sharing?
  • What's the right balance of synchronous and asynchronous sharing?
Stage 2

Parked at the Gate

Build your internal strategy and governance framework

Establish Policy & Governance

Balance the need to innovate with safety & security
+
  • How do you create an AI policy?
  • How do you govern an AI policy?
  • How do you balance the need for security with the need to test & learn?
  • How do you ensure ethical use?

Map Where & How AI Will Help Most

Identify your highest likelihood bets
+
  • How do you conduct a disruption analysis?
  • How do you plan to disrupt work you don't personally understand?

Create Your AI Council

Unleash the change agents
+
  • Who should be invited?
  • How do you construct a productive RACI model?
  • How do you balance your leaders' autonomy with the council's charge?
  • What's the role of individual champions?

Set Your Goals

A measurement strategy is critical
+
  • How will success be measured?
  • Do we focus on the Micro or the Macro?
  • How do your internal processes need to change to capture critical data?
  • Do you have the right platforms in place?
Stage 3

Taxiing to the Runway

Execute your internal enablement and infrastructure

Launch Homegrown Training

Enable the behavior you want to see from the team
+
  • Who should be training the team?
  • What cadence of training should we pick?
  • How do we ensure we'll get engagement?
  • Can we do one training for an audience of cross-functional teams?

Capture (and Reward) Great Ideas

Once the gears start turning, ideas will start flowing
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  • How do we capture all the ideas the team has?
  • How do we avoid redundancies?
  • How do we incentivize and celebrate those who "get it?"

Choose Your Tech Stack

AI-enabled teams use paid tools
+
  • Which LLM should we choose?
  • Do we need to provide access to more than one?
  • What supplementary tools will the team need?

Establish a Communication Strategy

Signal the importance of the initiative with repetition
+
  • What existing meetings should include AI updates?
  • Who is responsible for keeping the team informed on relevant AI updates?
Stage 4

Taking Off

Scale your internal capabilities and investment

Invest in Certificate-Level Training

Outsource insurance of base-level education
+
  • How do you establish an acceptable minimal viable AI literacy?
  • Do you need paid training, or can free work?

Enable Roadmap Discovery

Chart the course through uncharted territory
+
  • Who should be responsible for identifying what will be possible in 3, 6, 12 months?
  • How do you build a roadmap on bets and hedges?
  • Who is a roadmap most critical for?

Incentivize Change

Acknowledge behaviors you like to see with rewards they like to receive
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  • Who should be considered for dedicated testing time, and how do you manage it?
  • Alignment between compensation and AI enablement?
  • How should you budget reward funds?

Rethink Your Resourcing

Get your arms around the gaps and weaknesses in your team
+
  • Based on your roadmap, are your biggest gaps in people, process, or technology?
  • What roles and needs may become automated or irrelevant in the near future?
  • How can you future proof your team's skills to set them up for success?
  • What new skills do you need to bring in with external support?

Equip Executive Side Bets

Enable your leaders to fund their own adventures
+
  • How do you balance the growing size and complexity of the roadmap with the desire to enable your leaders in making their ideas a reality?
Stage 5

Cruising at Your Desired Altitude

Achieve internal maturity and operational excellence

Organize Work Streams into Horizons

Balance your investment in today's margins with tomorrow's market share
+
  • What is the Horizons framework?
  • How should we think about resourcing initiatives across all horizons?
  • Who should be accountable for what?

Embed Change Management

Don't let great ideas die on the vine
+
  • Who should be responsible for change management?
  • What should be included in this team's purview?

Stay Ready to Pivot

Agility is critical while the landscape continues to shift
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  • How do we balance the need for a roadmap with the uncertainty of the future?
  • How do we ensure the burden of uncertainty lands on leadership more than the broader team?

Resources & Reading

Curated articles, guides, and tools to support your AI readiness journey

Stage 1: Prior to Boarding

Map Where Marketing Time & Budget Goes

Audit Team & Cultural Readiness

Fund Alpha Testing

  • Poe.com - Platform for testing multiple AI tools

Stage 2: Parked at the Gate

Establish Policy & Governance

Map Where & How AI Will Help Most

Stage 3: Taxiing to the Runway

Launch Homegrown Training

Capture (and Reward) Great Ideas

Stage 4: Taking Off

Invest in Certificate-Level Training

Enable Roadmap Discovery

Stage 5: Cruising at Your Desired Altitude

Organize Work Streams into Horizons

Ready to Build Your AI-First Team?

Let's work together to transform your marketing organization for the AI-powered future.

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