“German SMEs want to get back on the road to success with marketing and AI” – or strategic self-deception?

Wake-up call for SMEs: Competitiveness through smart AI strategies

The announcement by the German Association for Industrial Communication in Heilbronn sounds like a signal of a new beginning: German SMEs want to get back on the road to success with marketing and AI. Leading marketing experts discussed concrete strategies for consistently using artificial intelligence to enhance competitiveness. But behind the facade of innovation and pioneering spirit lies a fundamental misunderstanding that could lead German industrial communication into a dangerous strategic trap.

Strengthening the competitiveness of companies is a top priority for German SMEs. The call for greater courage and creativity united participants at the future workshop of the German Association for Industrial Communication (bvik) at the IPAI AI Innovation Park in Heilbronn. "Industrial communication in German SMEs is setting a new course in the age of AI," says Ramona Kaden, Managing Director of the bvik industry association. "This was demonstrated by the open and engaged discussions at the future workshop. It requires a willingness to innovate, a pioneering spirit, and the courage to change."

More about it here:

• bvi k : The "Trendbarometer Industrial Communication 2026" will be published in January. The survey is currently open.
• Hochrhein-Zeitung : German SMEs want to get back on the road to success with marketing and AI

The Illusion of Efficiency: Why German SMEs are Dancing on the Brink of Irrelevance

The greatest risk lies between AI euphoria and strategic self-deception.

However, what Xpert.Digital believes is missing from this discussion is an examination of a conceptual dilemma known in modern management research as organizational ambidexterity: the balance between exploitation and exploration. This is precisely where the greatest weakness of the current AI marketing debate in German SMEs becomes apparent. The approaches presented focus almost exclusively on exploitation, i.e., the optimization of existing processes, while exploration, the development of fundamentally new business models and markets, is largely neglected.

The structural dilemma: Optimization as a strategic dead end

The practical examples from the workshop in Heilbronn vividly illustrate this problem. Steffanie Rohr, Head of Marketing at Gretsch Unitas, a manufacturer of window, door, and security technology, emphasizes the role of AI as a catalyst for new business models. AI enables a much better understanding of customer needs, usage scenarios, and market potential, allowing for the development of ideas on how to offer additional services or solutions beyond the core product. Particularly in German industry, the focus is often heavily on technical product optimization. AI and creative, data-driven marketing can help broaden this perspective and find new ways to inspire customers in the long term and differentiate oneself from the competition.

Rainer Schopp, Director of Marketing at Harro Höfliger, a manufacturer of production and packaging systems, describes the practical advantages: AI tools improve the accuracy and efficiency of our campaigns. Thanks to generative AI, marketing can shorten the time from the initial campaign idea to rollout. Schopp advises colleagues to keep their antennas constantly up, to continuously test, and to find out which new tools actually make processes faster and more efficient.

Dominik Heigemeir, Director of Global Market Communication at Festo, puts it even more clearly: Ideally, customers should receive an offer they didn't even know they needed. Data provides the foundation for this tailored customer approach. At the same time, data collection is crucial for demonstrating the company's own success. The prerequisite is that every customer touchpoint is simultaneously a data measurement point. This allows for the consistent verification of campaign effectiveness.

All these statements describe classic exploitation strategies: improving existing campaigns, shortening process times, increasing efficiency, and precisely targeting customers. They optimize existing processes to perfection. But therein lies the problem.

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The exploitation trap: When efficiency becomes blindness

Exploitation in marketing focuses on optimizing existing campaigns, channels, and processes. It's about efficiency, short-term results, measurable conversions, and leveraging established customer relationships. This strategy is past-oriented, low-risk, and predictable. It's based on the assumption that tomorrow's markets will essentially resemble today's. It presupposes that the business models that worked yesterday will also work tomorrow, only more efficiently.

However, this assumption is becoming increasingly dangerous in a world of constant disruption. German SMEs are optimizing their marketing processes with AI at an impressive pace. Companies like Harro Höfliger are shortening their time-to-market for campaigns, Festo is improving data collection at every touchpoint, and Gretsch Unitas is developing additional services around existing products. These are all valuable improvements.

But while this optimization takes place, entirely new business models are emerging in parallel, based not on improving existing systems, but on fundamental redesigns. Digitalization enables platform business models that render traditional value chains obsolete. Artificial intelligence creates entirely new customer interactions that are no longer mediated by humans. Metaverse technologies open up immersive product experiences that could make physical showrooms redundant.

German SMEs face the risk of optimizing themselves into irrelevance. They improve existing products and services while new markets emerge around them, markets they don't even notice. This danger is exacerbated by the current AI hype, as AI is perfectly suited as a tool for exploitation. Generative AI creates content faster, predictive analytics improves forecasts, and marketing automation increases efficiency. All of this reinforces the exploitation orientation without addressing the exploration dimension.

The missing element: Exploration marketing as a strategic imperative

Exploration in marketing, on the other hand, actively seeks out new business models, unconventional channels, innovative customer approaches, and future-oriented technologies. It involves higher risks, requires an open culture of learning from mistakes, and focuses on long-term growth and breakthrough innovations. Exploration is not about improving what already exists, but about creating something fundamentally new.

The concept of organizational ambidexterity describes a company's ability to pursue both exploitation and exploration with equal priority. This ambidexterity is particularly crucial in marketing, as this department is traditionally considered the last to recognize impending changes. This is a fatal miscalculation that can have serious consequences.

Marketing is often perceived as a reactive rather than a proactive discipline. External service providers and internal teams rely on established processes, while business development, production, and logistics are already more agile in responding to market changes. This attitude leads to sales declines and market shifts being recognized late in marketing, even though this is precisely where the most effective levers for early detection and strategic realignment lie.

The problem lies in the conflicting interests: Established mechanisms such as revenue sharing and target agreements are geared towards short-term successes, while exploration requires long-term processes. Innovation teams are often ridiculed because they initially incur costs rather than generate revenue. This structural tension leads to exploration being systematically underfunded and deprioritized.

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Triosmarket as a conceptual framework for ambidextrous marketing

The Triosmarket concept combines three key marketing approaches, thus forming a framework for ambidextrous marketing. Inbound marketing attracts customers through valuable, relevant content. It is based on SEO optimization, content marketing, lead generation, and long-term relationship building. This approach optimizes existing customer relationships and established processes—classic exploitation.

Outbound marketing utilizes traditional and digital channels such as TV, radio, social media, and targeted outreach. It enables rapid reach and immediate market responses. Depending on its application, it can serve both to optimize existing markets and to tap into new target groups, thus striking a balance between exploitation and exploration.

Experimental marketing is the exploratory core of the Triosmarket model. It encompasses creative, unconventional campaigns, experience-oriented approaches, and the deliberate experimentation with new technologies. These once included the internet itself, SEO, social media, and currently the metaverse, AI-powered personalization, and immersive technologies. Experimental marketing is the area that is almost entirely absent from the current discussion among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

SMarketing seamlessly connects sales and marketing, ensuring the efficient transfer of leads, shared objectives, and a feedback loop between the two departments. This integration is crucial for the successful implementation of ambidextrous strategies because it prevents marketing and sales from working against each other.

The structural realignment: From fire brigade to innovation driver

Implementing an ambidextrous marketing organization requires a fundamental structural realignment. Based on the ambidexterity principle, two parallel structures must be established. The exploitation unit for the core business optimizes ongoing campaigns and channels, conducts performance marketing with clear KPIs, increases efficiency through automation and data analysis, and ties up approximately sixty to seventy percent of resources.

The exploration unit, acting as an innovation lab, experiments with new technologies such as AI, AR, VR, and the metaverse, tests unconventional channels and formats, develops new value propositions, and receives thirty to forty percent of the resources. This structural separation prevents day-to-day operations from stifling innovation, while simultaneously ensuring that innovations don't emerge in a vacuum.

Alongside structural ambidexterity, all employees must be empowered to develop exploratory skills. Training programs on new technologies and methods such as Design Thinking and Lean Startup, rotation systems where employees switch between exploitation and exploration projects, incentive systems that reward long-term innovation and not just short-term performance, and experimentation budgets that teams can use independently for testing are all necessary elements.

Success is measured on two levels. Exploitation metrics include ROI, conversion rates, customer lifetime value, and efficiency gains. Exploration metrics, on the other hand, measure the number of experiments conducted, insights gained through learning velocity, the development of new business areas, and time-to-market for innovations. Crucially, exploration projects are not measured by short-term revenue targets, but by their ability to create future competitive advantages.

The economic reality: Why exploitation alone is doomed to failure

The economic logic behind the ambidexterity concept is evident. Companies that focus exclusively on exploitation optimize themselves into a competency trap. They become increasingly better at what they already do, but lose the ability to develop new competencies. When markets then change and their existing competencies become obsolete, they lack the adaptability.

Conversely, an overemphasis on exploration leads to companies developing many innovative ideas but failing to bring any of them to market because they lack the necessary execution capabilities. They generate too many underdeveloped ideas without building specific expertise. The balance between these two extremes is crucial for long-term survival.

The current debate surrounding SMEs focuses almost exclusively on the exploitation aspect. The examples cited from the BVIK workshop all demonstrate how AI is used to improve existing processes: better targeting accuracy, shorter campaign cycles, precisely tailored customer communication, and increased efficiency through automation. These are all valuable improvements, but they do not address the fundamental challenge facing German SMEs.

This challenge is not primarily a question of efficiency, but of strategic relevance. German SMEs are not losing market share because their marketing campaigns are inefficient, but because the markets are fundamentally changing. New competitors with completely different business models are entering the market. Platforms are changing the logic of value creation. Direct customer relationships, built up over decades, are becoming obsolete due to digital intermediaries.

German SME figures: A look at the precarious reality

The figures on the current situation of German SMEs underscore the urgency. According to a survey by the German Association of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (BVMW), eighty percent of the companies surveyed expect the German economy to contract faster in 2025. A good fifty-eight percent of the SMEs surveyed anticipate an economic downturn. One in five SMEs is preparing for an economic depression.

In 2024, forty percent of medium-sized companies recorded revenue losses. Another forty percent indicated they planned to invest less in 2025 than in the previous year. These figures not only reflect an economic downturn but also a fundamental uncertainty about the future viability of existing business models.

The KfW SME Index shows a positive trend for May 2025 for the first time in two years. However, this slight recovery should not obscure the fact that structural problems remain unresolved. The gap between small and large companies is widening. While large corporations have been able to continuously increase their productivity since the 2008 economic and financial crisis, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are lagging behind. The gap is growing.

Digitalization and automation are the decisive factors. Many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have failed in recent years to adapt their business models and products to the digital economy. Processes, organizational structures, and cooperation networks too often still follow the rules of a bygone era. Company management must invest primarily in the knowledge of their employees, because survival in the digital economy depends on it. But it is precisely in this area of ​​knowledge capital that they lag behind companies in comparable countries.

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AI Implementation: Between Experimentation and Systematic Integration

A study commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action shows that 52 percent of the small and medium-sized enterprises surveyed are still in the experimental phase with AI applications. Only 12 percent have begun systematic implementation, while experts believe that no company has yet reached the stage of full operational integration.

These figures stand in stark contrast to the enormous potential that AI offers for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Studies show that the use of AI could increase productivity in the manufacturing sector by around eight percent, which corresponds to an additional fifty-six billion euros in added value. However, this potential remains untapped because AI implementation is predominantly focused on exploitation applications.

The AI ​​Index for SMEs shows that around a third of companies are already using AI, almost a quarter are currently testing or piloting corresponding solutions, and just over nine percent have fully implemented AI. Around 25 percent of companies plan to start or intensify their use of AI by the end of 2025. At the same time, around 43 percent still lack a concrete AI strategy.

The most important expected benefits lie in process efficiency, cost reduction, productivity gains, improved data analysis, and optimized customer experiences. These are all exploitation goals. The development of fundamentally new business models, the opening up of entirely new markets, the radical redesign of value creation – these exploration goals hardly play a role in the current debate surrounding small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Those surveyed identified a lack of knowledge about specific areas of application, a shortage of skilled workers, insufficient training opportunities, and legal uncertainties as the main obstacles. These obstacles are real and must be addressed. However, they only partially explain why German SMEs are lagging behind in this exploration. The more fundamental problem is conceptual in nature.

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The cultural dimension: Why "never change a running system" becomes a downfall.

The biggest hurdle for ambidextrous marketing is not technological, but cultural. In a world that is changing faster than ever before, many marketing departments are caught in a dangerous trap: they optimize existing processes to perfection while overlooking the next major market shift. The mantra "Never change a running system" may ensure stable returns in the short term, but leads to strategic irrelevance in the long run.

Marketing thus becomes a reactive fire brigade, instead of proactively shaping the company's future. This perception is particularly pronounced in German SMEs. Marketing is seen as a cost center, not a growth engine. Marketing budgets are cut when sales decline, even though strategic investments in new markets and business models are precisely what's needed at that time.

The culture of German SMEs is characterized by engineering-oriented thinking, technical excellence, and a product focus. These are enormous strengths that have made German SMEs successful for decades. However, in a world where business model innovation is becoming more important than product innovation, these strengths can turn into weaknesses. The focus on technical product optimization, as described by Steffanie Rohr of Gretsch Unitas, is characteristic of this mindset.

AI and creative, data-driven marketing can help broaden this perspective. But the expansion must be fundamental, not incremental. It's not enough to simply add extra services to existing products. It requires a willingness to radically question existing business models and explore entirely new avenues.

Resource allocation: The sixty-to-forty principle

The practical implementation of ambidextrous marketing requires a clear allocation of resources. Management research recommends allocating 60 to 70 percent of resources to exploitation and 30 to 40 percent to exploration. This distribution ensures that the core business is not neglected while simultaneously providing substantial resources for innovation.

In reality, however, the allocation of resources in German SMEs is typically ninety to ten or even ninety-five to five. Virtually all resources are channeled into optimizing existing processes. Experimental projects are financed from leftover budgets, if at all. Innovation teams are chronically understaffed and fight for every bit of funding. This distribution of resources makes exploration virtually impossible.

The reason for this misallocation lies in the evaluation logic. Exploitation projects deliver measurable, short-term results. They improve the conversion rate by three percent, shorten the campaign duration by two weeks, and increase the return on ad spend by fifteen percent. These results can be presented in quarterly reports and justify the investment.

Exploration projects, on the other hand, don't initially deliver measurable revenue results. They generate learnings, develop competencies, and open up potential future markets. Their value only becomes apparent after years, often only when market conditions have fundamentally changed. In a system that evaluates managers based on quarterly targets, such projects have no chance.

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Innovation competence: Learning velocity as a critical success factor

A key metric for exploration is learning velocity, the speed at which an organization learns. It doesn't measure how much revenue a project generates, but rather how many valuable insights it yields. An exploration project can fail financially and still be successful if it generates important learnings that will make future projects more successful.

This logic fundamentally contradicts the traditional evaluation culture in German SMEs. Failure is seen as a defeat, not a learning opportunity. Projects that do not generate revenue are perceived as a waste of resources. A culture of intelligent failing, which distinguishes between productive and unproductive errors, hardly exists.

Productive mistakes are those that generate valuable insights. An exploratory project that reveals a particular business model doesn't work is immensely valuable: it prevents significant future investment of resources in a dead end. An experiment that discovers a new technology is unsuitable for a company's target audience potentially saves millions in wasted investments.

Unproductive errors, on the other hand, are those resulting from inadequate preparation, lack of competence, or insufficient resources. They could have been avoided and generate no valuable learning. A culture of intelligent failing rewards productive errors and penalizes unproductive ones. In German SMEs, however, both categories are treated the same: as failure.

The Leadership Dilemma: Ambidextrous Leadership as a Core Competency

Successful implementation of ambidextrous marketing requires a new form of leadership. Leaders must communicate and embody a dual vision. They must simultaneously demand efficiency and enable experimentation. This requires the ability to combine different leadership styles.

Exploitation requires transactional leadership: clear goals, control, and rewards upon goal achievement. Managers must ensure that campaigns run efficiently, budgets are adhered to, and KPIs are met. This leadership style is well-established and mastered in German SMEs.

Exploration requires transformational leadership: vision, inspiration, trust, and tolerance for failure. Managers must encourage teams to take risks and try new things, even when the outcome is uncertain. They must accept failure as part of the learning process and protect teams from organizational sanctions. This leadership style is significantly less common in German SMEs.

Most leaders tend toward one of two extremes. Either they are controlling and efficiency-oriented, in which case they stifle innovation. Or they are visionary and experimental, in which case they neglect operational excellence. Ambidextrous leadership requires the ability to master both modes and apply them situationally. This is a core competency that must be systematically developed.

The role of associations: Between advocacy and innovation promotion

The German Association for Industrial Communication plays a critical role in this transformation. As an advocacy group, it can influence the framework within which small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operate. As a knowledge platform, it can disseminate best practices and empower companies. As a network, it can facilitate collaborations that would not be possible for individual companies.

The first results of the future workshop, including survey findings, will be published in a preview in December. The 2026 Industrial Communication Trend Barometer will be released in January. These publications have the potential to shape the debate and influence the strategic direction of thousands of medium-sized companies.

It is crucial that these publications not only address exploitation issues but also systematically examine the exploration dimension. They must demonstrate how companies can create the structural and cultural conditions for exploration. They must present examples of companies that have successfully built ambidextrous structures. They must propose metrics for measuring exploration success.

The BVIK Trend Barometer for Industrial Communication 2025 shows that industry is increasingly focusing on people in its customer communication. Conscious storytelling is seen as a key differentiator in B2B marketing, with 78 percent agreement. Individualized customer communication through hyper-personalization is expected to become standard practice by almost 70 percent of participants within the next three years. The targeted use of AI tools in marketing is already being promoted by almost two-thirds of the companies surveyed.

All of these are positive developments. However, they remain entirely in the realm of exploitation. Storytelling optimizes the communication of existing value propositions. Hyper-personalization improves the targeting of existing audiences. AI tools increase the efficiency of existing processes. The fundamental question of whether existing business models are even sustainable in the long term is not being asked.

The dynamics of competition: When traditional strengths become weaknesses

German SMEs no longer primarily compete with other SMEs, but with platforms that pursue entirely different value creation logics. Amazon began as an online bookseller and is now a global e-commerce and cloud computing empire. Its business model relies on economies of scale, data-driven processes, and a platform strategy that integrates external retailers.

These platforms don't just optimize more efficiently; they play a completely different game. They control customer access, collect data on purchasing behavior, use this data for predictive analytics, offer personalized recommendations, and create lock-in effects through ecosystems. The traditional mid-sized company that sells through dealers or direct sales cannot compete in this logic, no matter how efficiently it optimizes its marketing processes.

The solution is not to copy Amazon. The solution is to develop proprietary platform strategies that build on the specific strengths of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This can mean creating industry-specific B2B platforms that leverage market knowledge and customer relationships. It can mean investing in ecosystems that integrate complementary providers. It can mean developing data-driven services that extend beyond the physical product.

These are all exploration strategies. They require investment without any guarantee of success. They take years to become profitable. They demand skills that may not be present within the company. But without this exploration, German SMEs will be reduced to mere suppliers for platforms that control customer relationships and skim off the margins.

Practical Implementation: A Roadmap for Ambidextrous Marketing

Implementing ambidextrous marketing requires a systematic approach. The first three months focus on diagnosis and raising awareness. The existing marketing organization is analyzed, and the current situation is rigorously assessed. What percentage of resources are allocated to exploitation versus exploration? Are there dedicated teams for innovation and experimentation? Do employees have the freedom, around twenty percent of their working time, for exploratory projects? Do managers foster an open culture of learning from mistakes and a long-term vision?

Internally, the message is conveyed that marketing is not just the fire brigade for declining sales, but should be the company's early warning and innovation unit. This awareness-raising is critical because it lays the foundation for the organizational acceptance of the subsequent steps.

The structural realignment takes place in months four to six. Based on the ambidexterity principle, two parallel structures are established. The exploitation unit for the core business receives sixty to seventy percent of the resources and focuses on optimizing ongoing campaigns and channels, performance marketing with clear KPIs, and increasing efficiency through automation and data analysis.

The exploration unit, acting as an innovation lab, receives thirty to forty percent of the resources and experiments with new technologies such as AI, AR, VR, and the metaverse, tests unconventional channels and formats, and develops new value propositions. This structural separation is crucial because it prevents day-to-day operations from stifling innovation.

Piloting and scaling take place in months seven through twelve. The Exploration Lab launches with two to three pilot projects. In parallel, the exploitation processes are further optimized. Initial learnings are gathered and translated into adjustments. An internal communication campaign explains the new structure and its underlying logic. Successful experiments are expanded, SMarketing processes are integrated, external visibility is built through thought leadership, and initial customer projects with an exploration component are implemented.

The second year is a period of maturation. The ambidextrous structure establishes itself as the new normal. The company develops its own methodologies and tools, scales its customer acquisition business model, and measures the long-term impact on its market position. By this point, the organization should have developed the ability to continuously balance between exploitation and exploration.

The critical success factors: What needs to work

The successful implementation of ambidextrous exploration marketing requires several critical success factors. First, it requires ambidextrous leadership. Leaders must communicate and exemplify a dual vision, simultaneously demanding efficiency and enabling experimentation, and be able to combine different leadership styles: transactional for exploitation and transformational for exploration.

Secondly, separate but interconnected structures must be established. This structural ambidexterity must create flexibility without generating silos. Regular knowledge exchange between exploitation and exploration teams is essential to leverage synergies. The two units must not work against each other, but rather complement one another.

Thirdly, a long-term resource commitment is needed. Exploration takes time and patience. Management must be prepared to invest in projects that may not become profitable for years. This willingness is particularly challenging for German SMEs, where thinking often revolves around quarterly results.

Fourth, a culture of intelligent failing must be established. This is a culture of learning that distinguishes between productive and unproductive failures. Failure in exploratory projects must be viewed as an investment in learning, not as failure. This cultural transformation is perhaps the greatest challenge.

Fifth, external credibility is essential. As a business model, exploration marketing only works if the offering company is itself perceived as an innovator. "Walk the talk" is crucial. Companies that want to sell exploration marketing to their customers must themselves be exploratory.

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From prototype to mass production: Scaling methods for marketing innovations – Image: Xpert.Digital

The four key market attributes: speed, automation, flexibility, and scalability.

The Triosmarket model is based on four key market attributes that support the ambidextrous strategy. Speed ​​enables early positioning in new markets through exploration, before competitors react. Those who are the first to successfully utilize a new channel or technology build first-mover advantages that are difficult to overcome later.

Automation means that exploitation processes are largely automated to free up resources for exploration. The more efficiently routine processes run, the more capacity remains for innovation. AI plays a central role here because it enables automation on a completely new level.

Flexibility describes the ability to quickly switch between exploitation and exploration to adapt to changing market conditions. An organization that masters both modes can react opportunistically to opportunities. It can revert to exploitation during market turbulence and invest in exploration during stable periods.

Scalability means that successful experiments can be quickly transferred to the exploitation portfolio and scaled up. A technology that has been successfully tested in the Exploration Lab must be able to be rapidly deployed more broadly. This requires standardized processes and clear handover protocols between the two units.

These four attributes form the basis for sustainable competitive advantage in dynamic markets. They enable companies to be simultaneously stable and innovative, efficient and experimental, focused and open. This is the essence of ambidexterity.

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Positioning as an innovation leader: Show, don't tell

Companies that master exploration marketing position themselves as innovation leaders in their industry. This pioneering role operates on three levels. First, through proof by example. Potential customers are not convinced by presentations, but by concrete demonstrations. Immersive product presentations in the metaverse, AI-powered hyper-personalized customer journeys, innovative event formats through experimental marketing, and data-driven predictive marketing approaches. These visible innovations generate attention and differentiate the company from the competition.

Secondly, through a Blue Ocean strategy. The Triosmarket model is ideally suited for tapping into blue oceans—untapped market segments with low competition. While competitors in the red ocean of social media battle for attention with large budgets, experimental marketing and innovative channels open up new opportunities. Examples include B2B metaverse solutions for complex products, intralogistics visualization through AR technologies, and AI-driven lead qualification with greater precision.

Thirdly, through ambidextrous storytelling. Customer communication takes place on two levels. The exploitation message communicates security and efficiency: We optimize your existing marketing processes, deliver measurable ROI improvements in ninety days, and utilize proven methods and scalable solutions. The exploration message communicates innovation and the future: We position you as an innovation leader, providing access to technologies your competitors aren't yet using and securing a pioneering role before the market becomes saturated.

This dual approach appeals to different decision-making styles. Risk minimizers are addressed by the exploitation message, while visionaries are drawn to the exploration message. A well-structured offering encompasses both dimensions and empowers customers to choose their own path.

The dystopian alternative: What happens without exploration?

To illustrate the urgency, it's worth considering the dystopian alternative. What happens if German SMEs continue to focus primarily on exploitation and neglect exploration? The short-term effects are initially positive. Efficiency increases, campaigns become more precise, conversion rates improve, and ROI rises. Management is satisfied, and the quarterly reports look good.

But at the same time, market conditions are shifting. New competitors with digital business models are entering the market. Platforms are positioning themselves between manufacturers and customers. Direct customer relationships are eroding. Margins are falling because price transparency is increasing. Competition is shifting from product quality to system integration and data utilization.

The traditional mid-sized company initially doesn't notice these changes because all its metrics look positive. Its campaigns are running more efficiently than ever. Customer loyalty is high. Its market position seems stable. But the foundation of this position is gradually eroding. New customers are increasingly opting for digital alternatives. Existing customers remain loyal, but only out of habit, not conviction.

When the crisis hits, it comes suddenly and violently. A new competitor captures significant market share within months. A platform becomes the dominant sales channel and dictates the terms. A technological breakthrough renders existing products obsolete. By this point, it's too late for gradual adjustments. The company now needs exploration capabilities it never developed.

Attempts to develop these skills under time pressure usually fail. The organization lacks experience with exploratory approaches. The culture does not tolerate failure. Leadership doesn't know how to manage exploration projects. Employees are afraid of change. The company reacts with panic measures: it copies competitors, invests in technologies without a clear strategy, changes leadership, and cuts budgets.

The result is often a painful decline. Market share is lost, margins shrink, the best employees leave the company, and investors lose confidence. In the worst case, this leads to insolvency or a sale at rock-bottom prices. Even in the best case, it results in a lengthy restructuring with high social and economic costs.

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The opportunity of a lifetime: AI as a catalyst for ambidextrous marketing

The irony of the current situation is that AI can both exacerbate the problem and provide the solution. As a tool for exploitation, AI is perfectly suited. It automates routine processes, improves forecasting, personalizes customer communication, and optimizes budget allocation. All of this reinforces exploitation and makes it even more efficient.

However, AI can also serve as an enabler for exploration. Generative AI enables rapid prototyping of new communication formats. Machine learning can recognize patterns in data that indicate new market opportunities. Predictive analytics can anticipate future market developments and identify areas for action early on. Natural language processing opens up entirely new forms of customer interaction.

The crucial question is how AI is used. Is it primarily used to optimize existing processes or to unlock fundamentally new possibilities? The answer to this question will determine whether AI drives German SMEs into the exploitation trap or enables them to break free and explore.

The BVIK trend barometer shows that 63 percent of the surveyed companies are already pushing ahead with AI tools in marketing. That's encouraging. But the question is, what are these tools being used for? If they primarily serve to increase efficiency, they reinforce an exploitation-oriented approach. However, if they are also used for exploration, they can become a catalyst for transformation.

The authors of the study describe AI as a once-in-a-century opportunity for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It is indeed a once-in-a-century opportunity, but only if it is used strategically. AI alone is not a solution. However, AI within an ambidextrous framework can have a transformative effect.

The opportunity to shape the future: The BVIK as a change agent

The German Association for Industrial Communication (Bundesverband Industriekommunikation) has the opportunity to play a central role as a change agent in this transformation. Through the publication of its trend barometer, the organization of workshops, the development of guidelines, and the networking of best-practice examples, the association can shape the debate and guide its development.

Specifically, this means that future publications and events must systematically address the exploration dimension. It is not enough to simply present more examples of more efficient campaigns. We need examples of companies that have successfully developed new business models. We need methodologies for structuring exploration labs. We need metrics to measure exploration success.

The association should establish a working group on Exploration Marketing to systematically address this topic. This working group could develop a playbook to serve as a guideline for medium-sized businesses. It could initiate and scientifically evaluate pilot projects. It could create a community of practice where companies can exchange their experiences.

Developing metrics for exploration success is particularly important. As long as exploration is measured solely by revenue figures, it has no chance. Alternative evaluation dimensions are needed: learning velocity, time to market for innovations, number of successfully conducted experiments, development of new skills, and opening up new customer segments. These metrics must be defined, communicated, and integrated into evaluation systems.

The political dimension: framework conditions for innovation

The successful transformation of German SMEs is not only a matter of entrepreneurial initiative, but also of political framework conditions. The state can promote or hinder exploration. Currently, the framework conditions tend to be detrimental.

The tax treatment of research and development expenditures favors short-term exploitation over long-term exploration. Funding programs are often bureaucratic and risk-averse. Regulations create uncertainty, especially in the area of ​​new technologies such as AI. The shortage of skilled workers makes it difficult to build up exploration expertise.

Political measures could be implemented here. Tax incentives for research that also include exploratory projects in marketing. Simplified funding programs for innovation labs. Regulatory sandboxes where new technologies can be tested without legal uncertainty. Investments in education and training to build the necessary skills.

KfW has recognized that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are under pressure. Its publications on SMEs and competitiveness highlight the challenges. However, the proposed solutions need to be more concrete. Simply demanding more innovation in general is not enough. Specific instruments are needed to systematically promote exploration.

One possibility would be an exploration fund that specifically finances marketing innovation projects. This fund could operate according to venture capital principles: many small investments with the expectation that a few of them will be very successful. This would spread the risk and simultaneously enable a portfolio of exploration projects.

Another possibility would be innovation vouchers, which would allow medium-sized companies to purchase external expertise for exploration projects. Many medium-sized companies lack the internal resources for exploration but could benefit from collaborations with agencies, research institutions, or startups. Vouchers would facilitate these collaborations.

The future outlook: SMEs 2030

If the transformation succeeds, German SMEs could look fundamentally different in 2030. Companies would no longer primarily operate as product manufacturers, but as solution providers with data-driven services. Marketing would no longer be a cost center, but a growth engine and driver of innovation. Organizations would be structured more ambidextrously, with dedicated exploration and exploitation units.

The culture would have shifted from risk-averse to experimental. Failure would be seen as a learning opportunity, not as a failure. Leaders would be proficient in ambidextrous leadership. Employees would have the skills and freedom for exploration. Resource allocation would systematically take exploration into account.

The business models would be hybrid: The established core business would be operated with high efficiency, while new business areas would be developed in parallel. Platform strategies would be utilized, not opposed. The data economy would be understood and actively shaped. Ecosystem approaches would enable collaborations that would be impossible for individual companies.

German SMEs would no longer react defensively to market changes, but would proactively create new markets. They would no longer try to defend existing positions, but would actively seek new opportunities. They would no longer focus primarily on product excellence, but on business model innovation.

This vision is achievable, but it requires fundamental changes. It demands strategic courage, organizational adjustments, cultural transformation, and political support. Above all, it requires the understanding that exploitation alone is not enough, that exploration is not an option, but a necessity.

Suitable for:

• When innovation meets resistance: The structural dilemma of organizational ambidexterity

The crucial element: Time is running out

The greatest danger is delay. Every year that passes without substantial exploration investment is a lost year. Markets change exponentially, not linearly. What seems five years away today may be reality tomorrow. First-mover advantages are self-reinforcing. Those who are late to the game are punished by the market.

German SMEs still have a window of opportunity. Their strengths – technical excellence, customer relationships, and market knowledge – are valuable. But these strengths alone are no longer enough. They must be complemented by new competencies: digital business models, platform strategies, data economics, and ecosystem thinking.

The BVIK press release announces that industrial communication in German SMEs is resetting the course for the AI ​​age. This is the right direction. However, this resetting must be fundamental, not incremental. It is not enough to understand AI as a tool for increasing efficiency. AI must be understood as an enabler for strategic transformation.

The missing element in the current discussion is a systematic examination of the exploration-exploitation problem. Without this examination, AI transformation remains superficial. It optimizes what already exists without shaping the future. It prevents short-term decline, but does not guarantee long-term survival.

German SMEs need ambidextrous marketing. They need organizations that can simultaneously optimize and innovate. They need leaders who can lead with both hands. They need cultures that value efficiency and experimentation equally. They need structures that systematically combine exploitation and exploration.

The upcoming publications of the BVIK, the Industrial Communication Trend Barometer 2026, which will be published in January, and the preview in December, have the potential to shape this debate. They can lay the conceptual foundations, disseminate best practices, develop methodologies, and establish metrics. They can show German SMEs the way out of the exploitation trap and into an ambidextrous future.

Whether this opportunity is seized will determine the future viability of the entire economic structure. Germany's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the German economy. Their success or failure impacts millions of jobs, thousands of communities, and hundreds of industries. The responsibility is immense. The time to act is now.

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Konrad Wolfenstein

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