How to sell to Heads of Marketing at AI & machine learning companies
Heads of Marketing in AI & machine learning companies are primarily measured by customer acquisition rate. They respond to outreach that clearly demonstrates an understanding of the unique challenges in integrating AI solutions into marketing strategies, such as the need for personalized customer experiences and the efficient use of data-driven insights to enhance campaign effectiveness.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 561 ai & machine learning company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- data integration issues
- personalization challenges
- campaign performance analytics
- resource allocation for AI tools
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent funding rounds
Filter your list for AI & machine learning companies that have recently closed funding rounds. These companies are often looking to expand their marketing efforts and are more likely to engage with new vendors that can help them scale their customer acquisition strategies.
- 02
Highlight AI-driven marketing challenges
Craft your outreach to address specific pain points like data integration issues or the need for advanced analytics in campaign performance. Use insights from industry reports to showcase your understanding of how AI impacts marketing effectiveness, making your message relevant and timely.
- 03
Reference specific AI initiatives
When reaching out, mention any recent AI initiatives or product launches by the targeted company. This shows you've done your homework and understand their current focus, making them more likely to respond positively to your outreach.
- 04
Leverage industry events and webinars
Engage with prospects by referencing their participation in industry events or webinars. Tailor your message to reflect insights or discussions from these events, demonstrating that you're in tune with the latest trends and challenges in the AI marketing landscape.
- 05
Set timely follow-up reminders
After your initial outreach, set follow-up reminders for one week later. If you haven't received a response, consider sending a follow-up that offers additional insights or resources related to their recent AI projects, reinforcing your value as a knowledgeable partner.
Can ai & machine learning companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 561 ai & machine learning companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.
Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.
The gap is the finding: 26.3% of 1–10-person companies against 86.2% of the largest — 60 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.
Where does your domain sit?
Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.
How this was measured
Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.
DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.
Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.
Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.
Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.
The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Subject lines that fit
- Funding round insights
- AI marketing challenges
- Optimizing customer acquisition
Questions
- Why do Heads of Marketing in AI companies ignore outreach about analytics tools?
- Heads of Marketing in AI companies often receive numerous outreach messages, making it easy for them to overlook those that don't directly address their specific challenges. If your message doesn't clearly connect your solution to their immediate pain points, it may be dismissed as irrelevant.
- What marketing trends are most relevant to AI & machine learning companies?
- Current trends include the rise of hyper-personalization, the use of predictive analytics, and the integration of AI-driven tools for customer engagement. Understanding these trends is crucial for tailoring your outreach to resonate with Heads of Marketing in this sector.
- How can I demonstrate value to a Head of Marketing in AI?
- Demonstrating value requires a clear understanding of their unique challenges, such as leveraging machine learning for better targeting or improving customer retention. Providing insights or case studies that showcase successful implementations in similar companies can also enhance your credibility.
- What objections might Heads of Marketing have about new AI tools?
- Common objections include concerns about integration with existing systems, the cost of implementation, and the learning curve for their teams. Addressing these objections in your outreach by providing solutions or testimonials can help mitigate their hesitations.
Or have it run itself
SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.
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