How to Use AI in Marketing
Updated: Sep 15
(Without Losing Focus on What Actually Works)
AI won’t fix your marketing. It will expose it.
AI can be incredibly valuable when used well. But it’s no substitute for clear thinking, strong foundations, or a defined strategy.
Right now, it feels like AI is being positioned as the answer to almost everything, especially in business and marketing.
More content. Faster campaigns. Better personalisation. Smarter decisions.
On the surface, it appears to deliver. But there’s a problem.
AI is powerful. But it doesn’t solve the real issue.
AI can speed things up, generate ideas, and increase output. But it doesn't solve one of the biggest problems growing businesses face:
Without clear priorities, structure and direction, AI doesn't necessarily improve your marketing. It simply helps you do more of it. And if you’re just scaling something that isn’t working, you won’t get better results. You just get more activity, faster.
For example, a business may use AI to rapidly produce large volumes of content across multiple channels, but if the messaging, audience targeting, or proposition are unclear, the result is usually more noise rather than better performance.
This is where things start to break down. AI makes it easier than ever to create content, launch campaigns, test variations, stay “active”. But activity isn’t the same as effectiveness.
"Activity is not the goal. If it's not driving results, it's just noise."
More content doesn’t mean more customers.
More traffic doesn’t mean more revenue.
More automation doesn’t mean better outcomes.
If the underlying system isn’t working, AI won’t fix it. It will just help you do more of it.
Garbage in, garbage out
There’s an old principle in computing: Garbage In, Garbage Out (GIGO).
If the inputs are poor, the outputs will be too.
If your inputs — your strategy, audience understanding, and objectives — aren’t clear, AI won’t fix them. It will just produce more output based on flawed foundations.
Unclear audience → more irrelevant messaging
Weak proposition → more content that doesn’t resonate
No measurement → more activity with no learning
AI responds to prompts. Which means the quality of what you get depends entirely on the clarity of what you give it. It is also built to be helpful, which often means it leans towards polished answers, agreeable recommendations and safe ideas.
And that's another danger. When ideas are almost unlimited, the ability to prioritise becomes even more important. Marketing shouldn't be driven by the next idea. It should be driven by the next priority.
A simple example
You notice competitors using TikTok and ask AI how your business could get started.
Within minutes, you've got content ideas, a posting schedule, equipment recommendations and even draft scripts.
The problem is that you've skipped the most important question:
Why TikTok?
What business objective is it supporting? Is your audience there? What role would it play alongside everything else you're already doing? And is it a better use of your limited time than the other things you could be doing?
AI has made it incredibly easy to turn an idea into a plan. But that doesn't mean it was the right idea to pursue.
The result? It looks like progress, but nothing really improves.
AI can help with the thinking, but it shouldn't replace it.
AI can be extremely useful when developing a strategy. It can challenge assumptions, organise research, explore options, interrogate data and help you articulate your thinking.
But it doesn't carry the commercial context you do. And it isn't accountable for the decision.
Ultimately, someone still has to decide what you are trying to achieve, what are you going to prioritise, and what aren't we going to do?
So what should you do? (A practical starting point)
You don’t need to overhaul everything. You just need to get clear on a few key things before layering in AI.
1. Start with the business goal.
Before deciding what marketing should do, start with what the business actually needs to achieve.
What are we trying to achieve as a business?
What needs to change from where we are now?
What would meaningful progress look like over the next 6–12 months?
Marketing should support the direction of the business, not operate as a separate list of activities.
2. Define marketing's job
Once you know where the business is going, work out what marketing needs to contribute.
What do marketing activities need to achieve to support the business goal?
What needs to change as a result of our marketing?
What would tell us that marketing is making a meaningful contribution?
This gives your marketing a job to do, rather than simply keeping you busy.
3. Understand the customer
Before deciding what activities to use, get clear on who you're trying to influence and what matters to them.
Who are we trying to reach?
What are they trying to achieve or solve?
What might stop them from taking the next step?
The better you understand the people you're trying to reach, the easier it is to make better decisions about your message, proposition and activity.
4. Prioritise the activities
There will always be more marketing activities you could be doing than you have the time, budget or capacity to do well.
Which activities are most likely to help us achieve our objectives?
What is already working that we could build on?
What are we deliberately choosing not to do?
Good strategy isn't just about deciding what to do. It's also about being comfortable deprioritising the things that don't deserve your attention right now.
5. Decide how you'll measure progress
Finally, decide how you'll know whether your strategy is actually working.
What business result are we ultimately trying to influence?
What marketing measures will show we're making progress towards it?
What activity measures will help us understand what's contributing?
You don't need to measure everything. You need enough information to understand whether your marketing is moving you in the right direction — and to make better decisions about what happens next.
Final thought
Effective marketing isn’t always obvious. Sometimes the right answer is ‘stop doing this’ or ‘this isn’t your real problem’.
AI is powerful. But it’s not a shortcut to effective marketing. It’s a multiplier. And what it multiplies depends entirely on what’s already in place.
If your foundations are strong, AI will help you grow faster. If they’re not, it will just help you go wrong more efficiently.
Not sure where to start?
Most businesses have no shortage of things they could be doing. The difficult part is knowing which of those things actually deserves your time.
If your marketing has become reactive, you're doing plenty but aren't sure what's working, or you've got a nagging feeling you should be doing more, the Marketing Effectiveness Assessment can help you identify where the gaps are and what deserves attention next.
Already know you need support? Get in touch.
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