How I’m Actually Using AI in Marketing Today (And What It Will Never Replace)

When I first started experimenting with AI in my work, I wasn’t worried about it being a gimmick. I was wrestling with a different question:

What does AI mean for a business where my judgment and thought leadership are part of what clients are paying for?

I didn’t want to outsource my brain. I also didn’t want to ignore a set of tools that might help me serve clients better.

Fast forward to now, and AI is absolutely part of my default toolkit at Wilder Marketing Group. I honestly can’t imagine running my firm without it. Not because it’s flashy, but because of something more practical:

What AI does is it lets me compress my time. It reduces the friction of tasks I don’t enjoy doing and it keeps me focused on higher-level judgment and strategic thinking instead of execution.”

If AI disappeared tomorrow, my thinking wouldn’t—but my work would take longer, cost more, and I wouldn’t be able to go as far or as fast for my clients.

Recently, I co-hosted a webinar with Anna Stoesz and the SIVO Insights team on how we’re using AI in marketing and research right now. Since the replay isn’t public, I wanted to capture a few of the ideas I shared that others might find useful.

Three Places AI Lives in My Day-to-Day Work

When I started with AI, I looked for repeatable workstreams—things I do over and over that were ripe for compression rather than reinvention. Today, there are three big areas where AI consistently shows up in my work :

1. Strategy & Planning

I use AI to help me:

• Build first-pass structures for marketing plans or strategies

• Explore multiple options and angles

• Identify patterns across messy inputs (notes, briefs, prior decks, transcripts)

AI isn’t making decisions on strategy and planning. It’s making sure I don’t have to start from scratch.” 

AI gets me to a structured draft faster, so I can spend my energy on what the draft means—not on wrestling with a blank page.

2. Client Development (This One Surprised Me)

One of the most useful (and unexpected) places AI helps is turning discovery conversations into draft scopes of work.

I’ve trained a private Wilder GPT on my:

• Frameworks

• Services

• Typical proposal structures

After a discovery call, I can upload the transcript and have AI generate a first-pass outline of what an engagement might look like. The next steps are human-led:

I edit it heavily. It’s pressure tested. I get to decide what makes sense. The value isn’t speed alone—it’s compression of everything I’m doing, so I can get back to clients faster with more thoughtful recommendations.

AI doesn’t decide what I’ll propose. It gives me a better starting point.

3. Thought Leadership & Content

I do a lot of speaking and writing. AI helps me:

• Refine and clarify what I already know I want to say

• Turn raw ideas or transcripts into organized outlines

• Get past “staring at a blinking cursor” on a blank screen

It’s not outsourcing my point of view to AI. It’s helping me actually get there faster.

The ideas, voice, and final decisions are still mine. AI just accelerates the messy middle.

The Mental Model: Humans on the Edges, AI in the Messy Middle

One of the frameworks I shared in the webinar was how I think about where AI fits in the work:

• At the beginning: Clarifying the question, understanding context, navigating politics, aligning on goals—this is deeply human work. AI can inform, but it doesn’t lead.

• In the middle (the “messy middle”): Exploring the landscape, scanning inputs, synthesizing, generating options—this is where AI shines.

• At the end: Deciding, committing, taking accountability, and telling the story—this comes back to humans.

When it comes time to decide and act, choosing a direction and taking accountability, that responsibility comes right back to the human.

Thinking about AI as a powerful middle-of-the-work assistant helps calm a lot of anxiety. It’s not here to replace your judgment; it’s here to give your judgment more—and better—raw material to work with.

What AI Will Not Do for Me

Anna and I spent time naming the things we will not hand over to AI. On my list:

• Final strategic judgment

• Sensitive or political decisions

• Anything with significant emotional, ethical, or reputational risk

Those are places where human experience, empathy, and context matter too much to delegate. As I said in the session:

AI can free humans to do the things humans do best. But it doesn’t remove the need for critical thinking, synthesis, or good old-fashioned storytelling.

 Those skills are still the job—and, if anything, they become more important as AI takes on more of the mechanical work.

A Note for Emerging Marketers (and Those Who Lead Them)

One question that came up was: 

What about people who are just starting out? 

If more experienced leaders are bringing their hard-earned judgment into an AI-enabled world, how do we help newer professionals build those muscles?

My answer is the same one I’d give even without AI:

It’s still about coaching and mentoring. When I was a junior assistant marketing manager, people with more wisdom looked at my output, gave me comments, and helped me grow. That’s still going to be the case.

 AI can assist, but it doesn’t replace the need for feedback, context, and “learning the why” behind decisions.

If You’re Wondering Where to Start

If you’re leading a team or organization and you’re simply 

 about where AI might responsibly support your marketing work (without replacing the human parts that matter most), you’re not alone.

The leaders I talk to are usually not asking, “Will AI replace us?”

They’re asking:

• “Where does it actually help?”

• “What’s safe to try now?”

• “How do we use this without losing our voice, our ethics, or our edge?”

Those are the right questions.

If you’d like to explore how AI could support your marketing strategy, planning, or team capacity in a way that amplifies your people instead of replacing them, I’m always happy to compare notes and share what I’m seeing in the field.