AI-Powered Marketing: How to Actually Benefit from It (Not Just Play With It)

I’ve spent the past year deep in the AI marketing world, watching the hype cycle unfold. And I’ve noticed something frustrating – most of the advice about AI in marketing is remarkably shallow.

The typical guidance you hear is “go play with ChatGPT” – about as helpful as telling someone who wants to learn graphic design to “go play with Photoshop.” Not exactly a winning strategy!

The Real Problem with AI Content

The AI content landscape is filled with what I call “junk food content”:

• Endless cheat sheets that get tons of engagement but rarely deliver actual value
• Lists of “20 AI prompts to try” that don’t connect to real business outcomes
• Tools that solve ultra-specific problems but lack practical application

What’s desperately missing is content that shows how to achieve actual business goals with AI – like using it throughout an entire marketing campaign process from research to execution.

What Actually Works With AI

After experimenting extensively, I’ve found two approaches that deliver genuine value:

1. Process-driven demonstrations

Recording step-by-step videos showing how to accomplish specific marketing tasks using AI tools from start to finish

2. Conversational framework guides

Creating comprehensive guides that walk through entire workflows with chain prompting – showing not just WHAT to prompt but WHY each step matters

The key is teaching people both the mechanics of the tools AND the strategic thinking behind them.

Why Most Companies Struggle with AI

There are two types of businesses approaching AI:

1. The Directionless Enthusiasts: Companies without solid marketing processes in place wanting to “start with AI” (these almost always fail)

2. The Process-Ready Adopters: Organizations with documented systems looking to enhance specific steps with AI (these tend to succeed)

The second group succeeds because they’re not trying to use AI to fix fundamental business problems – they’re using it to enhance processes that already work.

The Massive Opportunity: Custom GPTs

Custom GPTs represent perhaps the biggest untapped opportunity for marketers right now. By taking your existing step-by-step processes and turning them into customized AI assistants, you can:

• Transform 2-hour tasks into 5-minute ones
• Create consistent outputs that match your brand guidelines
• Build intellectual property that gives you a competitive edge

The brilliant part: these don’t require coding skills – just the ability to document your process and feed it to the AI as instructions.

What Marketing Leaders Should Do

If you’re leading a marketing team, here’s what you need to know:

1. This isn’t optional: Your competitors are already using AI to reduce costs and increase output
2. Get hands-on: You don’t need to be an expert, but you do need personal experience
3. Treat it like MarTech: Create accountability systems, measure ROI, and have a proper rollout plan
4. Consider your ops team: Your marketing operations people are perfectly positioned to lead this initiative

Will AI Help or Hurt Content Creators?

The answer depends entirely on your approach:

• If you’re creating average, undifferentiated content, AI makes your job harder because everyone can now produce decent content at scale
• If you have a unique perspective and voice, AI becomes a multiplier that helps you produce more high-quality work

In other words – AI rewards those with something to say and punishes those who are just making noise.

The Bottom Line

The marketers who will thrive in the AI era aren’t just playing with new toys – they’re systematically applying AI to well-defined processes with clear business outcomes in mind.

That’s where the true competitive advantage lies – not in knowing the latest AI hack, but in applying these technologies strategically to your marketing operations.

Want to learn more about how to implement AI marketing in your business? I’d love to connect and share more insights.