Nearly half of global marketers are not fully prepared for the upcoming data regulation changes including 54% in Australia, a new report has found.

Dotdigital's newly released 'Trends Disrupting the marketing landscape in 2024' report took a look into marketer readiness and views on a range of topics including AI, data and digital. It found one-third of global marketers view AI as a major challenge, while 28% cite a lack of AI knowledge as a top concern for their teams, according to a new survey.

In Australia, the main concerns are a lack of understanding of AI (33.2%), lack of personalisation (31.6%), and the cost and implementation challenges (31.6%). AI adoption in Australia is primarily happening in social media scheduling (32.4%), data analysis (31.6%), and video production (30%).

Globally, the least prepared industries for data regulation changes are education (62%), travel (61%), and commerce (59%). However, regulatory compliance (39.6%) is seen as the biggest opportunity to gain customer trust, while increasing competition (37.2%) is the top challenge for Australian marketers. Globally, respondents listed a lack of visibility and control of endpoints as a barrier to maintaining compliance with regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

In terms of areas of investment digitally, 30% of marketers globally say social media and email marketing yield the best ROI, and 43% are investing in automation software, while Australian investment priorities include email marketing (32.4%) and social media advertising (31.2%).

As to future trends, influencer marketing (37.6%) and AI integration (34.8%) are key areas for investment in the next two years for Aussie marketing teams.

Overall, key themes identified through the report include Adaptability, the AI divide, Engagement, and Innovation. Another finding was marketing teams increasingly assuming responsibility for managing customer experience (CX) - a growing number of marketers (32%) now consider CX a primary focus and essential duty.

"To engage modern consumers, marketers must balance innovation with authenticity, adapt to shifts in the marketing landscape, and invest in technologies that drive creative, tailored customer experiences. It's crucial to embrace these advancements while upholding data privacy and ethical standards to maintain customer trust," Dotdigital CMO Juliette Aiken said.

"Embracing technology without hesitation is vital to avoid being left behind. We encourage all marketers to be adaptive and resilient, innovate relentlessly, and craft unique campaigns to capture consumer attention in novel ways," Aiken said.

The Dotdigital report is based on a survey of 750 marketing professionals globally (mainly CMOs), including 250 from Australia.