Make AI Your Biggest Ally

By Jason Shafton, Founder & CEO of Winston Francois, a growth marketing firm.

Imagine if someone suggested a few years ago that the job descriptions of a design whizz, creative consultant, skilled wordsmith, and agile executive assistant could be rolled into one, making your organization more efficient, effective and scalable.

The worlds of business and growth marketing would likely have scoffed. Yet that once far-fetched reality is now here in the shape of artificial intelligence. Or as it is commonly known—AI.

Many of us might already be playing around with it, quietly impressed. Others might be in denial, caught somewhere between its opportunities and complexities. But here’s the futuristic truth: You’d be smart to make it the newest addition to your team. And fast.

As disruptive technology, it is already beyond a mere trend. Evolving at warp speed, it’s transforming the working landscape. While it cannot replace human creativity and strategic thinking, it does promise to change everything about the way we work. So, understanding AI and developing the necessary skills is crucial for modern marketers with a growth mindset who want to stay ahead of the game.

The collective challenge is how best to leverage this innovation to create systems and processes for you and your teams. Below, I break down how to turn AI into your biggest ally, what two skills first need to be mastered, and how to fail fast as an AI native.

Used intelligently, AI can make your job easier by freeing the human brain to focus on the tasks machine learning cannot tackle. It can conjure so much already—compelling copy, first-rate imagery/animation and data insights—but it isn’t sentient. It hasn’t crossed that chasm. Yet. It remains a tool, the same way Gmail and Slack are tools. But it’s the smartest, sharpest tool out there. And two specific skills require our attention first and foremost.

Prompt The Conversation

We all need to become familiar with “prompt engineering,” which means “writing intelligently in a way that the machine can learn what you’re asking it to do.” Put another way: Garbage in, garbage out.

Knowing how to prompt AI—inputting the right guidance/instructions—will be key to AI’s effectiveness at your company. When you’re clear about what you want the desired outcome to be, and specific about the way you frame the ask, it can produce incredible outputs.

You will always need to edit, refine and polish what it churns out, the same way a master jeweler has to cut and polish a rough diamond. But the more you learn to craft a well-designed prompt, the more you will see AI deliver new gems each and every time.

This will set you apart as a growth marketer because it will ensure quality outputs and more efficiency; it will allow you to optimize results to fit a specific context or tone; and it will facilitate smooth collaboration between you and your AI counterpart.

Approach each input as if it’s a conversation with a human colleague. Seriously, go talk with AI. As ever, the right questions extract the right information. Ask it to riff on your business and key objectives. Feed it data and context so it can unearth hidden insights. One single prompt isn’t going to miraculously grow your company overnight. This is more about a continual collaboration with your AI helper to give you the ideas, guidance and insight you need to succeed.

Implement An AI Strategy

AI has many strong points, but it’s no strategist. It lacks the nuances and contextual awareness. It can brainstorm until the cows come home, but creating a holistic marketing strategy—involving a deep understanding of your business goals, target audience, industry dynamics, and brand positioning—remains the human domain. But you still need to develop an AI strategy.

It’s why many companies are hiring a CAI—Chief of AI. With that in mind, make this an area of your expertise. Regardless of your current title, become the specialist—the go-to AI evangelist at your organization who has the knowledge and the know-how.

Become the eager student. Read up on all the expert articles and tips. Seek out the experts. Then, armed with a treasure trove of newfound knowledge, ask yourself: How can I tailor AI with existing systems to shape our goals? How can it facilitate cross-functional collaboration? Quite simply, what are the AI tools that can help me do my best work? Go, learn and iterate, embracing all the inevitable trial and error along the way.

Failing Fast

Trial and error is going to be your teacher. You will learn on the job from practical application and experimentation. Start with small projects. Ask it to analyze some data or execute a simple task. Maybe throw a spreadsheet its way and ask it to find an error. Use an AI image generator for a social media post. Invite it to write a 300-word blog post.

Don’t be afraid of making mistakes in new territory. AI is a co-operative friend, not a judgmental critic. Personally, AI hasn’t become second nature to me yet. I’m still not fully engaged with AI delegation. However, we all need to become AI-natives and fail fast, and keep failing. It’s how we’ll get better and keep pace with all the change.

As we step into this new, exciting frontier, our crafted prompts, AI strategy and willingness to fail fast are going to make the difference between those who stay ahead and those who are left behind. Find your unity with AI. Fuse human with machine. You might well be surprised at how much you unlock new levels of innovation and efficiency.

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