What AI is good at, and what it is not
AI assistants are fast, tireless and good with language. That makes them useful for first drafts, variations, summaries, research and repetitive jobs.
They do not know your customers, they cannot check what is true about your business, and they can state things confidently that are wrong. Treat AI as a quick junior assistant: helpful, but in need of a brief and a review.
Seven practical ways to use AI in marketing
- Research your market. Ask for an overview of your sector, the questions customers ask and how competitors describe themselves. Check anything important against a real source.
- Understand your customers. Paste in reviews or enquiry emails with personal details removed, and ask for the common themes, worries and phrases people use.
- Write first drafts. Adverts, emails, social posts and product descriptions. Give it your tone and an example, then edit.
- Create variations to test. Ask for ten headlines, each with a different angle. Testing more versions is where AI saves the most time.
- Repurpose content. Turn one article or video script into posts, emails and short captions.
- Make sense of results. Paste in a report and ask what changed, what stands out and what to check next.
- Automate repetitive jobs. Enquiry replies, follow-ups and weekly summaries can be drafted automatically for a person to approve.
How to write a good prompt
The quality of the answer depends on the brief. Include five things: who you are, who the customer is, the task, the format you want, and an example of your tone.
We are an independent hair salon. Our customers are women aged 25 to 45 who have had a bad experience colouring their hair at home. Write five advert headlines, under eight words each, with a dry sense of humour. Here is one we like: "Break up with your box dye."
Then ask for changes as you would with a colleague: shorter, warmer, less salesy, more specific.
Rules that keep you safe
- Check the facts. Prices, claims, dates and statistics must come from you, not the AI.
- Protect private data. Do not paste customer details or confidential information into a tool until you have checked its data settings.
- Keep your voice. Edit until it sounds like you. Unedited AI copy reads the same as everyone else's.
- Stay honest. Never use AI to invent reviews, testimonials or results.
- A person signs off. Nothing goes public without someone reading it.
Where to start this week
- Pick the one marketing task you put off most.
- Write a proper brief for it using the five points above.
- Ask for several options, edit the best one and publish it. Then note what you would brief differently next time.
Questions answered
Which AI tool should I use for marketing?
Start with one general assistant, such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. Most have a free version. Learning one tool well matters more than which one you pick.
Is AI-written content bad for SEO?
Not in itself. Search engines say they reward helpful, original content however it is produced. Thin, unedited AI content that says nothing new tends to perform poorly.
Do I need to tell customers I use AI?
For everyday drafting that a person checks and edits, most businesses do not. Be open where it matters, never use AI to fake reviews or testimonials, and check the rules of any platform or regulator that applies to you.
Can AI run my marketing for me?
Not well. AI can speed up most tasks, but someone still needs to set the strategy, know the customer and judge the result. That is the part an agency or an in-house marketer provides.