8-11 Sept 2025 | ICC SYDNEY, DARLING HARBOUR
Whether you’re a new start-up, or you’ve been in business for several years, most of us are in a similar position when it comes to exploring the power of AI. There’s no denying that this is a revolution that’s only just begun to pick up momentum, with “73% [of marketers] saying AI plays a role in creating personalised customer experiences” (SurveyMonkey).
One thing that hasn’t changed is the reality that the majority of small-to-medium-sized business owners having to wear many ‘hats’ within their day-to-day role. One of the tasks that budget often won’t cover, especially in then early years, is marketing. What’s particularly exciting about the AI movement, is that it can actually take a lot of the hard work out of the marketing process – you just need to get on board.
But getting started can be daunting. Research suggests that around “39% of marketers aren’t sure how to safely use generative AI”, and further still, “43% said they don’t know how to get the most value out of it” (Salesforce).
When deciding which AI tool is right for you and your business, it’s worth bearing in mind that, even with this revolution still in its infancy, there are already a variety of options available. Don’t be frightened off by this, rather get excited, do you research and have a play, many are still free to use.
“Marketers have more exciting tools at their fingertips than ever before, allowing the tiniest startup to compete for global success alongside the most established brands” (Marketer Milk)
One of the first steps is to work out which areas of your marketing strategy could be enhanced with the help of AI, them put in the research and try each tool out to see which would be the best fit.
Of course, it helps to have an experienced industry professional at hand to offer some advice – luckily we’ve ticked this box for you! Meet Jenn Donovan. With over 15 years industry experience, Jenn really knows how to use marketing as an effective tool to help a business to grow. Jenn is a successful author and podcaster, as well as an experienced keynote speaker.
Jenn runs workshops and one-to-one coaching sessions, spending time with small and medium-size business owners to develop successful marketing strategies. She uses AI tools regularly in her daily schedule. Now she wouldn’t want to work without them, and she’s keen to inspire the rest of us to jump on this train and not get left behind.
Welcome Jenn!
The way I see it, AI is making our business life simpler – especially when it comes to producing content for websites, socials, newsletters and so on. I probably use it at least three or four times a day, depending on what I’m doing. I podcast every week, which I’ll record it and then have it transcribed by an AI program. Then I might use AI to turn that transcript into a blog. So then all of a sudden I’ve got a blog to on my website as well.
When using it for marketing, make sure to set the right tone before you get your AI tool to start feeding you inspiration on content. Take a step back before you begin, and get your message clear in your mind: What is my branding? What is my tone? Who is my target audience? It’s those really key marketing questions you need to answer first, because if you don’t know, be sure that AI won’t get it right either.
I call it my enhancer. I had a situation going back a couple of months ago now, where I had to write an email to a client who had made a mistake on something. I needed to point that out to them because it was an important part of their business journey, but I had to be sensitive. I just couldn’t get the tone or language right, and I just couldn’t bring myself to send it. Finally, I just threw it into Chat GPT (there are many alternatives to try) telling it, “I have to send this email. This is what I’ve written. Can you enhance it for me?” Simple as that, and oh, what it came up with was great!
Make learning about a topic really simple. Complicated documents, contracts, anything like that, just feed it into a tool such as Chat GPT and ask it “Can you summarise that for me?” You’ll find that in a matter of seconds an AI tool can complete that task. Think of it like this expert friend who you bounce ideas off like you would a colleague perhaps.
Think of AI as a virtual assistant who you can just shoot the breeze with. I’ve been podcasting for nearly seven years and when it comes to thinking up new topics to discuss, I’m sometimes a bit exhausted for ideas! So, these days I throw it over to AI and ask it to come up with something new, and often it comes up with some great ideas. It’s creating a habit, becoming your next port of call, maybe after asking a friend or a business partner or something.
Imagine you’re creating a headline for an email or social media; you want it to be a bit of a scroll stopper. You feel like you haven’t quite nailed it with what you’ve come up with. So, you ask AI: “Can you give me a subject line that will make people open that email?” You won’t always get the right one first time, so don’t be afraid to say, “Give me 10 more, give me 10 more, give me ten more,” you’re not going to offend it!
Keep feeding information and asking the question again, and remember, like with ingredients for a good recipe, if you put something in that’s really good then you’ll get something that’s pretty good coming out as well.
AI is as bad as it’s going to get – it’s only going to get better from here. Just in the last two years that I’ve been using it, the change has been rapid. Now you can do deep research, where you can ask it to go and search the Internet for things. So, it’s got a sort of inbuilt search engine now. But remember to allow for AI to be a work in progress. All research needs to be checked and double-checked!
There was an example of a lawsuit where an AI tool has been used for research of precedents, it came up with the most magnificent precedent, but no one checked it. Turns out the precedent didn’t exist, and the AI tool had made up the whole thing! Don’t take anything at face value. If you find a great quote, make sure to check that person actually said it.
Have a go! Just start with a dabble, perhaps taking a look at the content you’ve already got – blogs you wrote five years ago that you could update for the current year, product descriptions that need some enhancing or updating. I’m the ‘repurposing queen!’ I think that repurposing content is such an important and undervalued marketing strategy. Throw it over to AI and ask it to re-write it for you with a tone or structure, you’ll
Got an idea swirling around in your head and you just need someone to bounce ideas off? Maybe you don’t want to tell people because it’s a concept not quite ready for the world to know. Think of AI as that secret collaborator, available and ready to assist anytime you need.
Jenn has many more tips to share, and you can catch up with her latest blogs and podcasts on her website.
