Will AI Replace Marketing Jobs in Belgium? Here’s What to Do in 2025

For Belgian marketers, AI in 2025 looks less like a cinematic job-stealer and more like a toolbox already on the desk: Cedefop finds 49% of Belgian workers use AI tools, yet only 12% say their daily tasks have been reshaped, and half of employees still expect little change to their jobs - a mix of opportunity and complacency that matters for marketing teams juggling creativity and data.

The ECB's overview of euro‑area workers shows users tend to be younger and better‑educated and feel more positive about AI, while local research from EY Belgium flags a big training gap and sector differences (finance and tech lead, public services and healthcare lag).

That means Belgian marketers should treat AI as a skill to learn, not a threat to fear; practical upskilling - such as the AI Essentials for Work bootcamp - can turn tools into competitive advantage rather than anxiety.

AI is already reshaping day‑to‑day marketing work across Belgium by automating routine tasks and surfacing sharper insights: Deloitte Belgium insights on AI in digital marketing (Deloitte Belgium insights on AI in digital marketing) highlight how AI powers audience analytics, predictive propensity scoring and automated content production so teams can focus more on strategy and customer experience, while generative systems can produce text, images and even video to keep omnichannel campaigns consistent.

At the same time, tools for research and insight - like the quantilope AI market research platforms (quantilope AI market research platforms) - speed time‑to‑insight without sacrificing quality, and the SAS primer on generative AI (SAS primer on generative AI and ethical considerations) explains the tech behind content generation and the ethical trade‑offs (bias, hallucinations) marketers must manage.

The result in Belgian teams: a new hybrid workflow where analytics, prompt‑driven copy and visual AI collaborate - picture a campaign brief, sentiment analysis and a social hero image converging in the same sprint - giving marketers more leverage but also new skills to master.

“The results of generative AI, at their core, are a reflection of us, humans. Consumers must continue to apply critical thinking whenever interacting with conversational AI and avoid automation bias.”

In Belgium, the immediate risk from AI falls most heavily on repeatable, data‑crunching tasks rather than whole jobs: OECD/EPR research flags that a share of roles face automation and PwC's analysis describes an “algorithm wave” already automating structured data analysis and simple digital tasks, which tends to put routine clerical or purely transactional marketing tasks at greatest risk; by contrast, the strong hiring activity for specialist roles - evident in hundreds of live LinkedIn openings for Marketing Automation and related digital roles - shows demand for people who build, interpret and govern these systems.

That means positions combining technical skills and strategy (marketing automation specialists, digital analysts, growth marketers and technical leads) look safer and are actively being recruited across Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels, while lower‑skilled, repetitive campaign assembly or manual list‑processing roles are likelier to change or shrink.

The practical takeaway for Belgian marketers: move toward skills that design, test and explain AI‑driven campaigns rather than only producing one‑off assets - imagine the difference between replacing a spreadsheet with a model and losing the person who understands why the model matters to customers.

“Our estimates are based primarily on the technical feasibility of automation, so in practice the actual extent of automation may be less due to a variety of economic, legal, regulatory and organisational constraints.”

Adoption in Belgium is uneven because three practical forces collide: data readiness in different sectors, tightening rules, and pragmatic business choices - companies in manufacturing and retail often deploy AI for marketing and sales where clean customer data and measurable KPIs make ROI obvious, while other sectors move cautiously; that explains why national adoption jumped from 13.81% in 2023 to 24.71% in 2024, yet many organisations still treat AI as a targeted experiment rather than a blanket change.

Regulation and guidance shape that risk calculus: the EU's risk‑based AI Act and Belgian authorities' focus on GDPR‑aligned transparency and bias monitoring mean marketers must plan human oversight, documentation and lawful bases before scaling campaigns.

Recent BDPA updates on direct marketing also widen what counts as profiling, so legal complexity - not just tech hype - explains why some Belgian teams sprint ahead while others pause to build guardrails first.

Practical steps for Belgian marketers in 2025 start small and stay local: begin with mandatory AI literacy and short, hands‑on courses (the EU AI Act and corporate programmes make this baseline training), then pick a practical path - bootcamps to build technical fluency, short workshops for promptcraft, and bespoke programmes for conversational or enterprise AI. Concrete moves: sign teams up for a focused AI literacy workshop (see eaQbe's two‑day, prompt‑engineering‑focused sessions at eaQbe AI literacy two-day workshop), shortlist bootcamps and retraining paths from the LeCercle roundup (for example, BeCode's 7‑month AI bootcamp or Le Wagon's 9‑week data science option at LeCercle roundup of best AI training courses in Belgium), and contract tailored, in‑company training for governance and rollout from providers like Bell Integration when scaling conversational agents or governed deployments (Bell Integration AI training and governance in Belgium).

Pair learning with three rapid experiments - one automation (email list hygiene), one creative (turn a webinar into a scroll‑stopping clip with Runway ML), and one governance check (document data sources and human oversight) - so skill building immediately improves campaigns and compliance; the result is measurable uplift instead of theoretical risk, and a single workshop can often turn fear into a practical checklist for safe, effective use.

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough. - Richard Feynman

Belgian companies should treat readiness as a three‑part program: fix the plumbing, train the people, and partner outward - start by building a strong technology and data foundation with an integrated AI tech stack (avoid siloed pilots) so models can scale across campaigns and channels, as PwC recommends; create a dedicated AI unit and a documented roadmap so marketing decisions become measurable (the 2025 AI Barometer finds most mature Belgian financial firms now run dedicated AI centres and validated roadmaps); and make hands‑on training the default, not an afterthought, with live workshops, on‑the‑job labs and HR analytics that surface skills gaps, as EY advises.

Add open innovation to that mix - work with AI‑savvy startups and consultancies to accelerate pilots into production - and pair every pilot with clear governance and an AI‑Act compliance checklist (audit systems, assign oversight, document data lineage).

The payoff is concrete: with the right stack, team and partners a two‑week pilot can be turned into an operational feature in months, giving marketers a living dashboard rather than a black box and turning AI from risk into repeatable advantage.

“The changing environment of AI, encompassing traditional AI and the nascent GenAI and agentic AI, will unequivocally reveal which organizations possess superior data and enterprise architecture. This architectural strength will become the decisive competitive advantage for deploying AI services with optimal speed to market.”

Real-world Belgian mini-profiles show AI adoption unfolding in distinctly local ways: FPS research finds 12.5% of Belgian SMEs were already using at least one AI technology by 2023 - well above the EU SME average - while large companies approach 47.9%, so expect both cautious pilots and rapid scale-ups depending on size and resources (FPS research on Belgian SMEs using AI).

In manufacturing and operations, PwC documents measurable gains - better decision‑making, productivity and sales - meaning marketing teams can tap cleaner operational signals for smarter campaigns (PwC report: AI in operations and business impact).

SME case studies reinforce a practical playbook: automate repetitive tasks, deploy chatbots for routine inquiries, and use AI to personalise ads and predict trends, turning modest pilots into real ROI; even creative workflows get a boost - turn a webinar into a scroll‑stopping clip with Runway ML to extend reach without hiring a video editor (Runway ML use case for marketing content repurposing).

These snapshots show Belgium's AI story as incremental but tangible: large firms building platform advantages while nimble SMEs capture quick, targeted wins that free marketers for higher‑value strategy.

“The larger the company, the more it invests in digital technology.”

Belgian marketers face tight legal and ethical guardrails: the BDPA's 2025 guidance dramatically widens what counts as “direct marketing” to include preparatory profiling, segmentation and even mixed‑content messages, and makes transparency non‑negotiable - simply saying “direct marketing” in a privacy notice won't cut it.

That means clearer legal bases, documented Legitimate Interest Assessments (LIAs) when relying on legitimate interest, shorter, context‑sensitive retention periods, and active due diligence on data brokers because contractual clauses won't absolve responsibility.

Ad tech is caught up too: recent Belgian case law around the TCF and TC Strings treats consent signals as personal data and expands joint‑controller risk for platforms and vendors, pushing advertisers to favour first‑party data, contextual targeting or documented consent flows.

Practically, prepare for stricter DSAR handling (even a one‑line request buried in an email can trigger a response), map data sources end‑to‑end, and bake human oversight into any AI‑driven profiling so campaigns are both effective and defensible under GDPR.

Belgian marketers plotting a career pivot in 2025 should aim where demand, AI and human judgment intersect: specialise in CX and digital niches that Ariad's Income & Insight report highlights as high‑growth areas, move into marketing‑automation and analytics roles that combine technical fluency with strategy, or become an AI‑forward strategist - there are active AI Strategist openings in Brussels that show employers are hiring for this mix of business sense and model literacy.

Upskilling matters: recruitment guidance from Generations Recruitment shows hiring processes themselves are becoming AI‑driven, so learning candidate‑matching analytics, promptcraft and ethical oversight pays off whether seeking an in‑house role or agency work.

For hands‑on wins that make the case to employers, master quick creative workflows too - turning a webinar into a scroll‑stopping clip is a vivid example of how a marketer can multiply reach without another hire, freeing time for strategy.

The practical pivot is less about abandoning marketing and more about leaning into specialties - AI strategy, automation, data storytelling and creative operations - that Belgian firms are actively seeking, and backing that move with short, measurable projects that prove ROI to local employers.

“We are in a good market where there is a high demand for domain experts.”

In short: marketing jobs in Belgium are not disappearing so much as mutating - demand remains solid (Manpower's Net Employment Outlook for Q1 2025 is +28%) and employers are hunting for people who pair marketing instincts with AI, CRM and data skills; those who upskill can capture tangible rewards (PwC finds AI-capable workers earn a wage premium of up to 25%).

With 57% of professionals open to new roles, the market is fluid, so practical moves matter: combine quick experiments that prove ROI with structured learning and use market intelligence to negotiate pay and target growth sectors.

Start with reliable labour-market insight (see the Generations Recruitment Job Market Trends 2025) and a focused, workplace-ready course - Nucamp's AI Essentials for Work bootcamp is one practical 15‑week option - to turn AI from a risk into a career lever.

The long view for Belgian marketers is clear: invest in AI fluency, document governance-ready workflows, and show measurable uplift - those who do will keep the strategic, high-value roles and the salary bump that comes with them.

“Businesses and governments must invest in skills for AI transformation; there is opportunity for those who invest in learning and applying AI.”