How AI Fits Into Your Marketing

If you believed everything you read online, you’d think AI was about to do your marketing for you.

It’ll write your copy, design your assets, plan your campaigns, all while you sit back with a coffee and watch the leads roll in.

Except anyone who’s ever actually done this job knows it doesn’t work like that.

We’ve all seen the headlines. “AI will replace marketers.” “AI will replace designers.” Maybe even “AI will replace agencies.”

But the real question isn’t whether AI can do your marketing. It’s how it should fit into the process and where it really shouldn’t.

Because here’s the thing: AI can be powerful. It can make your marketing faster, easier, even smarter. But it can’t replace clear thinking, creativity, or the human insight that makes your brand feel like your brand.

Here’s where we see the difference.

AI is brilliant at the busywork

…but it’s not your strategist

There are parts of marketing that AI is genuinely good at. The bits that take time but don’t need your best thinking.

Think:

• Sifting through audience data to spot patterns
• Generating keyword variations for SEO or PPC
• Drafting the first round of ad headlines (so you can ditch most of them and keep the decent ones)
• Sketching out a blog outline when the blank page feels a bit too blank
• Spitting out twenty ways to phrase a social post (before you land on the one that actually works)

Used well, AI can help you move faster, especially when you’re testing ideas or playing with messaging. Sometimes it throws out something useful. More often, it gives you a nudge in the right direction.

But it doesn’t know what feels right for your audience. It doesn’t know when to lean in, when to hold back, or when to break your own rules.

It can get words on a page. But that’s not the same as having a strategy.

Good marketing isn’t just about content

AI can help speed up production whether that’s campaign structure, performance insights, keyword ideas, or ad lines. But it can’t tell you what actually matters. Or why it matters now.

It won’t know which idea deserves your focus. It won’t spot the message your audience actually needs to hear right now. It might suggest keywords, but it can’t say which ones will really make a difference.

Because marketing isn’t just about creating more stuff. It’s about planning, prioritising, and making smart decisions that move the needle:

• Where to show up
• What to say (and what not to)
• Who you’re talking to
• How to say it in a way that actually resonates

Strategy is all about making choices. And choices still need people.

Your brand? Not something you can automate

This is where things start to fall apart for AI.

Because your brand isn’t just your logo, your fonts, or a list of keywords. It’s the feeling people get when they come across your business. It’s how your team talks about what they do when they’re genuinely excited. It’s the story your customers tell about you when you’re not in the room.

AI can give you lines. But the lines that land, the ones that sound like you and no one else, those come from listening, understanding, and experience.

They come from knowing what you stand for. What your audience actually cares about. Where your competitors fall flat. And how to show up in a way that feels effortless, not accidental.

Because brand isn’t just what you say. It’s how you make people feel.

And a brand that feels like it could come from anyone? That won’t stick.

The robots can help. They’re just not driving the bus

There’s also a growing role for AI in marketing process automation. Think email workflows, lead scoring rules, and content scheduling that runs quietly in the background. These kinds of flows don’t replace creative thinking but they do help keep the machine moving once you’ve set the strategy. We’ll explore more of that in another post.

This isn’t an anti-AI post. But it’s definitely a keep-it-in-its-place post.

AI plays a supporting role. It helps with the heavy lifting so you can focus on the work that actually moves the needle.

Here’s where we let AI pitch in, the practical bits that save time without losing quality:

• Quick ad variations for PPC to get things started
• Early-stage keyword research and competitor checks
• Blog outlines when we’re weighing up different angles
• Breaking the blank page barrier when the ideas are there but the words are stuck

And here’s where we keep the human hands on the wheel:

• Brand strategy
• Tone of voice development
• Core messaging
• Creative direction
• Final copy for your brand

The polish, the point of view, the thinking behind it all, that’s human work.

Because AI might help you move faster. But it doesn’t know how to make the right calls. It doesn’t know what your audience actually cares about. And it definitely doesn’t know what makes your brand yours.

Not sure where to start?

The biggest risk? Thinking faster is the same as smarter.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of using AI just because you can.

We’ve seen brands lose their voice trying to keep up. Messaging that ticks boxes but falls flat. Content that’s technically right but emotionally… off.

The result? Everything sounds a bit AI. Safe. Generic. Easy to ignore.

Your audience doesn’t need another blog post. They need a reason to care.

And that comes from making the right choices, not just the fastest ones.

A few questions to ask before you automate:

Are we making choices, or just making content?

Does this need speed, or does it need strategy?

Are we filling a gap, or saying something that matters?

Could this sound like anyone, or does it sound like us?