# AI marketing workflow worksheet

Dan Sanchez · AI-Driven Marketer · September 9, 2026
https://danchez.com/ai-marketing-workflow-worksheet/

Use this alongside the four-step framework: analyze, optimize, standardize, mechanize.
Source episode: https://danchez.com/four-step-system-ai-workflows/

## 1. Analyze the current process

Workflow and owner:
Audience or business outcome this supports:
What starts the task:
Inputs and approved source materials:
Current steps and decisions:
Where work waits or gets redone:
Current time, cost, and quality (record actual measurements):

## 2. Optimize before automating

One bottleneck to address:
Steps to remove, combine, or move earlier:
Information needed before work starts:
Person who decides whether the output is useful:

## 3. Standardize a manual pilot

Example of acceptable output:
Repeatable steps:
Pilot date and actual result:
What changed after the pilot:

## 4. Mechanize one proven step

When [input or condition]:
Do [action and expected output]:
Ask [review question or approval before continuing]:
Approved examples, templates, and context:
Human review checkpoint:
What happens if an input is missing or the output fails:

## 5. Check the result

Compare the same task before and after, including review and correction time.
Before: time / cost / useful output:
After: time / cost / useful output:
Errors or rework:
Audience response, if measured:
Keep, revise, or stop:
Next review date:

A faster production process is not proof of audience growth. Track actual
subscribers, listening, return visits, or useful replies separately.

## Worked example (illustrative, not a measured result)

Task: turn an approved podcast transcript into an email draft.
Analyze: gather the transcript, choose one lesson, draft, review, send.
Optimize: choose the reader and lesson before drafting.
Standardize: write one email manually and use it as the approved example.
Mechanize: when the approved transcript and lesson are supplied, draft an email
using only those sources. Ask the editor to verify claims and approve the draft.
If a claim has no source, flag it instead of filling in the gap.
Measure drafting plus review time. Compare actual engagement after publication;
never assume more drafts means more subscribers.