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Hello marketing leaders, strategists, and innovators! 👋 Thank you for dropping by to learn practical AI applications and gain strategic insights to help you grow your business, elevate your and your team’s strategic value as marketers, use business as a force for good, and help advance your career.

Prefer to Listen? Try the AI-Generated Podcast

For those who prefer to consume information through audio, I’ve used Google’s NotebookLM to transform this newsletter into a short podcast episode, featuring a natural conversation between two AI hosts. Although the hosts refer to me LIE-za instead of LEE-zuh :-), the podcast captures the insights in an engaging and relatable way, making the content more inclusive for different learning styles. You can listen to it here.

Disclaimer: This podcast was generated by AI based on this written newsletter and reviewed by me to ensure ethical and responsible AI use. It’s designed to provide an efficient, more inclusive way to consume information.

As we head into strategy and planning season, there’s one critical question we need to ask: how solid is your product-market fit (PMF) in today’s AI-driven world? Findings from CMO Huddles‘ “Underground Recession: The Hidden Strain on B2B CMOs,” uncover hard truths like budget cuts and longer deal cycles.

Product-Market Fit and Defensibility Matter Now

Most B2B companies face two core challenges: ensuring PMF and building customer trust. Here’s why it’s urgent now:

• Profitability Shift – The transition from “growth at all costs” to sustainable profitability requires a fresh look at PMF and choosing a select few top market segments (https://lnkd.in/gm_iJsbd). Many are still struggling with this shift after two years.

• AI’s Role – AI brings both opportunities and challenges, particularly around data privacy, which requires buy-in from across the company.

• Evolving Buyer Behaviors – Customer needs and behaviors are shifting from how they search online (https://lnkd.in/gY-EUmpD) to preference towards known entities and peer recommendations.

• Upmarket Expansion – Companies looking to move into enterprise markets face significant risks if their PMF isn’t rock solid.

• Product-Led Growth (PLG) – PLG changes how products are built and marketed, and without a strong PMF, companies will have difficulty adapting to this model.

Remember, as marketers: just as we can’t out-exercise a bad diet, we can’t out-campaign a bad product-market fit. No company is immune to these challenges – even tech giants are reassessing their PMF.

Take Google, for example. It’s tackling the innovator’s dilemma head-on by fully integrating AI into search. It’s not about to let OpenAI, Microsoft, Perplexity, or others redefine the space. This shows why C-suite leaders must rally behind marketing to address PMF and trust-building directly.

To help navigate this process, I’m sharing with you the Competitive Defensibility Analyzer, an AI-powered tool that helps assess and strengthen your product’s market position.

The AI-Powered PMF Approach

AI is a powerful amplifier of everything, the good and the bad. It can optimize and scale your strategies, but if your product misses the mark, you’re essentially optimizing the path to failure.

• Bad product fit + smart AI = a faster path to failure.

• Good product fit + smart AI = rocket fuel for growth.

That said, especially in the era of AI, it’s not enough to have AI as your only differentiator—particularly if you’re building on top of foundational models like OpenAI’s, Google’s, Meta’s, or Anthropic’s. As AI continues to advance, how quickly could those advances outpace your differentiation?

People refer to these as “AI wrappers” that may not be sustainable long term. Instead, things like deep knowledge of a segment to deliver personalized experiences, unique industry data and insights, a robust partner ecosystem, and a strong brand are generally more defensible.

Nailing down your Product-Market Fit (PMF) is absolutely critical, regardless of your company’s stage, whether you’re a startup, scaling up, or a well-established business. It requires full alignment with your executive team and a keen awareness of how AI, evolving buyer expectations, and shifting economic factors are changing your market.

The Competitive Defensibility Analyzer GPT: Your Powerful AI Assistant

For years, I’ve relied on a powerful framework developed by strategic thinkers, Russ McGuire and Christine / Chris Heckart, to assess product-market fit and competitive defensibility.

“Building defensibility isn’t just a strategic option; it’s a necessity. Focus on creating value that can’t be easily replicated by competitors. Use this framework to identify where your product excels and where you need to reinforce your position before gaps turn into vulnerabilities. And always remember to be different, not just better.”

This framework has helped me identify whether a company has the potential to lead its category or if it’s simply building a better version of an existing product. It’s stood the test of time, from the rise of the internet to AI.

To make this accessible to more teams, I built the Competitive Defensibility Analyzer GPT. This AI tool, based on that same framework, helps you assess your product’s market position in a clear and structured way.

What’s exciting about this GPT is that it democratizes strategic thinking. You and your team can now use the same approach I’ve relied on to evaluate your market position and pinpoint where you need to improve.

The custom GPT is available on the GPT Store for free and you can find it when you type Competitive Defensibility Analyzer in the search field. Here’s the direct link to the GPT. Reminder that you’ll need a paid version of ChatGPT, Plus, Team, or Enterprise, to build, access, and use GPTs.

How to Use the Competitive Defensibility Analyzer

Here’s a step-by-step breakdown (as illustrated in the screenshots) of how the Competitive Defensibility Analyzer works, allowing you to assess where your product stands in the market:

Step 1 – Define Your Market Category

Start by selecting your product’s market category. This will shape the entire analysis, whether it’s a broad sector like “Employee Experience Solutions” or a more niche category. (Image 1)

Step 2: Assess Your Value Proposition

Next, evaluate how much value your product provides compared to competitors. Choose from:

• Same as others

• Incremental improvement (used in our example)

• Order of magnitude or more

This will help you understand where you stand in the competitive landscape. (Image 1)

Step 3: Identify Your Core Differentiators

Then, pick up to three top differentiators that set your product apart. In our example, we selected: (Image 1)

• Innovative technology

• Partner ecosystem

• End-to-end workflows

These differentiators are essential for assessing how defensible your market position is. As Bill Hobbib notes:

“This tool forces you to take a hard look at your product’s strengths and weaknesses. Use the insights to make immediate adjustments, close strategic gaps, and refine your market approach so your product can lead, not follow.”

Bill shared his thoughts about this tool on LinkedIn when I previewed it to a group of CMOs a few months ago.

Step 4: Assign Weights to Your Differentiators

Now, assign a weight to each differentiator based on its impact on your strategy. In the example, we used:

• 30% for end-to-end workflows

• 40% for the partner ecosystem

• 30% for technology

These weights will be key in calculating your overall defensibility score. (Image 2)

Step 5: Evaluate Defensibility

Next, rate how difficult it would be for competitors to replicate each differentiator. Options include:

• Easy

• Moderate

• Hard

In our example, workflows and technology were rated as “Easy” to replicate, while the partner ecosystem was “Moderate.” (Image 2)

Step 6: Calculate Your Defensibility Score

The GPT will then calculate your defensibility score based on your inputs. This score provides a clear view of how defensible your product is in the market.

In our example, we scored 1.4, placing the product in the Next Release category, indicating incremental improvements with moderate defensibility. (Image 2)

Step 7: Map Your Market Position

Finally, the Analyzer maps your defensibility score against your value score to show where your product stands today. This visual snapshot highlights where you’re positioned and what strategic moves you need to make to improve. (Image 3)

In our example, landing in the Next Release category means our product has incremental improvements in value with moderate defensibility. While it indicates potential for market impact, it also highlights the areas where further differentiation could increase our market standing.

This process gives you more than just a snapshot, it helps you pinpoint the strategic moves necessary to ensure your product not only competes but leads. Carilu Dietrich highlights the power of AI in navigating today’s fast-moving markets:

“AI can fundamentally change the way marketers work – far beyond content and image creation. This approach for analyzing and improving product and company strategy can give you a huge advantage in making faster, more informed decisions. Liza’s actionable frameworks help marketers analyze complex markets, prioritize strategy efforts, and take action. I’m so impressed by what she’s building.”

A Note on GPT Drift:

Like all AI models, GPTs can experience “GPT Drift”—where responses deviate over time due to learned patterns. This can affect multi-step processes like the Competitive Defensibility Analyzer.

However, the new ChatGPT-o1 Mini and o1 Preview models offer improved reasoning and calculation capabilities, which should reduce drift and increase accuracy. Until these models are available for custom GPTs, consider the Analyzer’s output as a starting point and manually verify key steps for precision.

PMF Checklist for Your Next Strategy Session

Ask these key questions to assess your product-market fit before your next strategy meeting:

• Are we losing customers despite high conversion rates?

• Is it hard to grow beyond early adopters?

• Does our product fail to meet market needs or preferences?

• Are we seeing high churn or low customer lifetime value?

• Are competitors gaining ground with similar messaging?

If you answered “yes” to any of these, it’s time to revisit your PMF. AI tools like the Competitive Defensibility Analyzer can simplify this process and provide clear insights into where your product stands and what needs to change.

Product-market fit isn’t a one-time goal, it’s an ongoing process. As markets shift, so should your understanding of how well your product fits. AI tools like the Competitive Defensibility Analyzer make continuous PMF assessment easier and more impactful.

I’d love to hear how you’re using AI in your strategy and what challenges you’re facing. Let’s connect to explore how we can leverage AI to drive your initiatives and ensure your product leads the market, not just competes.

The Practical AI in Marketing newsletter is designed to share practical learnings and insights in using AI responsibly for strategic, product, digital, brand, demand, and growth marketing. Subscribe today and lets learn together on this AI journey!

Also check out this team transformation case study and step-by playbook of how we helped transform a lean GTM team into a human-AI powerhouse with human and AI teammates.

Or, if audio-visual content is your style, here are virtual and in-person speaking events where I’ve covered a variety of AI topics. I’ve also keynoted at many organization and corporate-wide events. Whether through the newsletter, multimedia content, or in-person events, I hope to connect with you soon.

Hello marketing leaders, strategists, and innovators! 👋 Thank you for dropping by to learn practical AI applications and gain strategic insights to help you grow your business, elevate your and your team’s strategic value as marketers, use business as a force for good, and help advance your career.

Prefer to Listen? Try the AI-Generated Podcast

For those who prefer to consume information through audio, I’ve used Google’s NotebookLM to transform this newsletter into a short podcast episode, featuring a natural conversation between two AI hosts. Although the hosts refer to me LIE-za instead of LEE-zuh :-), the podcast captures the insights in an engaging and relatable way, making the content more inclusive for different learning styles. You can listen to it here.

Disclaimer: This podcast was generated by AI based on this written newsletter and reviewed by me to ensure ethical and responsible AI use. It’s designed to provide an efficient, more inclusive way to consume information.

Let’s reimagine your marketing team for the AI era and explore the evolution of Marketing Teams 2.0!

The Vision: AI as Your New Team Member

Picture an org chart where AI tools sit alongside your human talent, not as replacements, but as powerful allies. See sample in Figure 1 below. It’s happening now, and the results are inspiring.

These AI assistants are enhancing our capabilities, handling repetitive tasks, uncovering insights, assisting with decision making, and freeing us to focus on strategy, creativity, and relationships. They’re a combination of AI-enhanced martech platforms, AI agents, and custom GPTs (Generative Pre-trained Transformers). Let’s briefly define these:

1. AI-enhanced martech platforms – Existing marketing technology tools that have integrated AI capabilities.

2. AI agents: Autonomous AI systems that can perform tasks or make decisions on behalf of marketers.

3. Custom GPTs – AI tools that we can build, train, and manage with our expertise, knowledge, and data to do specific tasks.

All of these AI assistants are trained and guided by humans to align with our marketing goals and ethical standards.

In the example above, let’s break down how these AI teammates can support different marketing functions:

1. Product Marketing – Imagine an “Ewok GPT” or AI-driven market analysis platform that analyzes market trends and competitor moves, providing real-time insights for your positioning strategy.

2. Brand & Content – Picture “R2-D2 GPT” or an AI-powered content management system generating on-brand content ideas and ensuring consistency across all your communications.

3. Demand Generation – Envision “Chewie GPT” or an AI agent autonomously optimizing your campaign performance by analyzing data and making real-time adjustments.

4. Digital Marketing – Think of “Darth GPT” or an AI-driven conversion rate optimization platform fine-tuning your landing pages for better conversion rates.

The possibilities are endless, and they’re changing how we approach marketing challenges.

A number of AI-forward CMOs and marketing leaders are big proponents of this approach, including Amy Heidersbach.

“Viewing custom GPTs, AI-driven martech platforms, and AI agents as specialized AI teammates–ones we train and guide–on an org chart unlocks our understanding of how it can support our work. This perspective allows us to envision even greater benefits as we expand AI’s role from individual tasks to entire workflows, implementing it cross-functionally and company-wide.”

Here’s a playbook for how a real 25-human and 20 AI-team was built in 6 months and results.

Early Results: Faster, Better, Different

Early AI adopters in marketing are seeing impressive, measurable results. Here’s a snapshot of how the journey unfolds in three stages: Faster, Better, and Different.

Faster: Accelerating Processes

• New Product Pitch Deck – AI save a full week in creating a pitch deck for target persona.

• Competitive Analysis – Accelerates narrative production from 1 day to 2 hours.

• Localization & Translation – Reduces adaptation from days to minutes, saving thousands.

Better: Improving Quality and Efficiency

• Content Generation – Improves output by 10%, reduces SEO optimization from hours to 30 minutes.

• Program & Project Management – Teams reclaim 18-20 hours monthly (8% of total time).

• ABM Account Identification – AI pinpoints high-propensity prospects and at-risk clients.

Different: Innovating New Approaches

• Persona Research – AI creates comprehensive personas by integrating diverse data sources.

• Lead Nurturing Automation – Streamlines lead handoff, accelerating the early-stage customer journey.

As an example of doing things differently, in a previous edition of this newsletter, I shared how AI can evaluate market segments and align executive teams. Building on that, I’ve created a Business Prioritization Assistant GPT designed to streamline this process and assist with other prioritization tasks, from strategy to campaigns. Here’s a screenshot of the GPT’s sample output with prioritized market segments based on a set of evaluation criteria.

From Vision to Reality: Starting Small, Thinking Big

Moderna has deployed over 750 GPTs, achieving 80% internal adoption and enhancing efficiency across their organization. While not every company is at this level, it shows what’s possible. We all have to start somewhere.

We’ve led AI workshops for many teams, showcasing real-life use cases (see Figure 3 for a small sample) to inspire what’s possible. This often sparks new ideas, broadens perspectives, and jumpstarts meaningful AI adoption.

To get started, identify high-impact tasks where AI can make a difference. Figure 4 shows a framework to categorize and implement AI tools.

Paul Mosenson, a seasoned marketer who has built hundreds of custom GPTs, advises:

“Start with a clear plan when building custom GPTs. Define the specific outcome—whether it’s ad copy, improving conversions, or crafting targeted messaging. The more specific the goal, the better the GPT can be tailored.

Always think about output first, rather than input. Designing GPTs around the final output ensures the generated content is exactly what’s needed, reducing time spent on revisions.

Lastly, maintain a flexible approach. Custom GPTs require regular optimization based on real-world performance. Track metrics, identify what’s working, and adjust the prompts accordingly.”

The Human Side: Navigating Change with Heart

The technology isn’t the hardest part—change management is. Here are five ways to bring a human touch to the AI transition, backed by data:

1. Show Understanding – Emphasize that AI adoption is about working smarter, not harder. It’s an investment in their careers and your collective AI literacy. While 77% of employees initially report that AI has added to their workload, those who use AI regularly see significant benefits [1].

2. Listen to Your Team – There’s often a gap between leaders and employees on AI readiness. While 68% of executives say their organization has a timeline for implementing AI, only 39% of individual contributors agree [2]. Use 1:1s, team discussions, or surveys to understand where your people are at with AI.

3. Offer the Right Support – Only 26% of organizations offer AI-focused education and training for their marketing teams [3]. We can do better. Create learning programs that show how AI can help in specific roles.

4. Make Time for Learning – Carve out time for AI training. 56% of workers are learning about AI through personal experimentation [2]. Support this initiative by prioritizing AI learning in the workday.

5. Set an Example -Get hands-on with AI yourself. 84% of executives who use AI weekly report productivity gains, compared to 74% of individual contributors [2]. Your engagement can inspire your team.

Remember, being a good human comes before being a good marketer. By focusing on our people, we can use AI responsibly and effectively.

[1] Burnout to Balance: AI-Enhanced Work Models, 2024, Upwork

[2] 2024 State of AI at Work, Asana Work Innovation Lab and Anthropic

[3] 2024 State of Marketing AI Report, Marketing AI Institute

The Evolving Role of Marketers

As AI becomes integrated, our roles are evolving:

1. AI Trainers and Guides – Train AI on brand voice, industry knowledge, and marketing strategies.

2. Strategic Thinkers – Focus more on strategic initiatives and creative problem-solving.

3. Data Interpreters – Make informed decisions based on AI-generated insights.

4. Ethical Guardians – Ensure responsible AI use, considering privacy and transparency.

5. Continuous Learners – Stay updated with AI advancements to leverage new opportunities.

AI will inevitably change how we work, automating some tasks, but it’s more about empowering us to do better, more strategic work. With AI handling routine tasks, we can focus on what truly requires our creativity, insight, and human touch—maximizing impact even with limited resources.

Tahnee Perry, AI Advisor with deep expertise in the martech stack, regularly shares her wisdom and practical advice related to AI tools for marketers in her weekly newsletter Zero to Unicorn. Tahnee reminds us:

“A lot of marketers feel pressure to invest in the latest AI tools just to keep up. But in most cases, they already have solutions in their martech stack with the functionality they need.

For teams using enterprise platforms, take a deeper dive into what’s available. Review the product roadmap and connect with the account team to make sure you’re leveraging all the features. Why chase a new tool if the one you have can do the job?

For example, Salesforce AI Agents can automate customer service, Sprout Social’s analysis helps create higher-engagement content, and SEMRush assists in creating SEO-optimized content without extensive keyword research.”

Practical Steps to Get Started

1. Assess Your AI Readiness – Evaluate your team’s current capabilities and martech tools.

2. Identify Quick Wins – Choose 3-5 high-impact, low-complexity tasks for AI improvement.

3. Build a Pilot Team – Select enthusiastic team members to lead initial AI projects.

4. Develop an AI Learning Program -Create resources and allocate time for AI learning.

5. Start Small, Measure Results – Implement your first AI projects and track their impact rigorously. Best to align these AI projects with your strategic initiatives as these initiatives are prioritized, have a set of goals and KPIs, resources, budget, timeline, and visibility in the org. We’ll have a better shot of driving success.

Wrapping Up: Your AI Journey Starts Now

Our roles as marketers are arguably more challenging, but richer in the AI era. We’re balancing efficiency with empathy, convenience with privacy, and innovation with ethics. It’s an opportunity to become better leaders and more human marketers.

This journey progresses from faster to better to different. Start small, celebrate wins, and keep your team at the heart of your AI strategy. Together, we can build Marketing Teams 2.0 that are more capable, innovative, and human than ever before.

How are you inspiring teams with what’s possible with AI and ensuring responsible use? How are you getting some early successes under your team’s belt to build momentum? What’s your next step in this AI evolution? Share your thoughts and let’s learn together in this exciting new world of marketing!

The Practical AI in Marketing newsletter is designed to share practical learnings and insights in using AI responsibly for strategic, product, digital, brand, demand, and growth marketing. Subscribe today and lets learn together on this AI journey!

Also check out this team transformation case study and step-by playbook of how we helped transform a lean GTM team into a human-AI powerhouse with human and AI teammates.

Or, if audio-visual content is your style, here are virtual and in-person speaking events where I’ve covered a variety of AI topics. I’ve also keynoted at many organization and corporate-wide events. Whether through the newsletter, multimedia content, or in-person events, I hope to connect with you soon.

Hello marketing leaders, strategists, and innovators! 👋 Thank you for dropping by to learn practical AI applications and gain strategic insights to help you grow your business, elevate your and your team’s strategic value as marketers, use business as a force for good, and help advance your career.

Prefer to Listen? Try the AI-Generated Podcast

For those who prefer to consume information through audio, I’ve used Google’s NotebookLM to transform this newsletter into a short podcast episode, featuring a natural conversation between two AI hosts. Although the hosts refer to me LIE-za instead of LEE-zuh :-), the podcast captures the insights in an engaging and relatable way, making the content more inclusive for different learning styles. You can listen to it here.

Disclaimer: This podcast was generated by AI based on this written newsletter and reviewed by me to ensure ethical and responsible AI use. It’s designed to provide an efficient, more inclusive way to consume information.

The Shift from “Growth at All Costs” to “Sustained Profitability”

In a world that has shifted from “growth at all costs” to “sustained profitability,” are you feeling the pressure to expand into new segments? upmarket into new enterprise verticals? internationally into more countries? Hold that thought.

In fact, narrowing your focus, not broadening it, is a key to success to achieving your goals in the era of AI. It’s now about choosing the select few segments that we can serve best and defend, and do so profitably. It’s about improving retention, increasing lifetime value, and building trust and loyalty.

Today, we’re diving into one of the most strategic and impactful uses of AI in marketing: using AI to evaluate, identify, and align on top target segments. This isn’t just another marketing tactic – it’s a strategy that will elevate your role, align your entire organization, and pave the way for sustained profitability.

The Challenge: Resisting the Expansion Urge

When times are tough or growth goals are high, many companies try to do more by chasing new markets or customers. It seems like a good idea, but it can backfire. Spreading yourself too thin often means you can’t give your best to any one area, and you end up with poor results.

Picture this all-too-common scenario, as an example:

• The CEO is championing Healthcare, enamored by its large market size and big brand potential customers.

• The CFO is pushing for Financial Services, citing impressive market growth rates and weaker competitors.

• The CPO is advocating for Professional Services, noting the best fit with the product roadmap in meeting the needs of top accounts.

Each executive is right—but only from one or two dimensions. This is where you, as a marketing leader, armed with data and AI-driven customer and market insights, can guide the conversation towards a holistic, strategic view.

The AI-Powered Segmentation Process

Here’s how you can use the power of AI to drive strategic segmentation and alignment in your organization.

You can listen to me explain the process in this video (from 30:47-40:05) and/or read through the steps below, including conversations with ChatGPT. You’ll need ChatGPT Plus, Teams, or Enterprise for this use case and not the free version.

Given his work with many CMOs and Heads of Marketing, I asked Drew Neisser his thoughts on how CMOs are getting more value out of AI.

“Believe the hype. AI is rapidly changing every aspect of marketing. Savvy B2B CMOs are using AI as strategic sparring partners–to challenge their thinking, examine segmentation options, and inspire creativity. And yes, they use AI for more than creating pithier, more persuasive content faster.”

1. Marketing’s Important Prep Work

As a marketing leader, your role is to set the stage for strategic decision-making:

a) Set the Stage

• Articulate the need to transition from “growth at all costs” to “sustained profitability”

• Explain why narrowing the focus is critical in the current business climate

b) Use the Framework

• Identify key criteria for segment evaluation (e.g., market size, growth rate, competitive intensity, fit with product)

• Identify the segments you want to assess. The segments could be industry verticals, regions of the world, applications, or use cases. For the purposes of this example, we will use industry verticals.

Figure 1 below shows the screenshot of the output from ChatGPT only as a reference for the framework. The next steps discuss how to prompt ChatGPT to get the output.

c) Prepare and Protect Your Data

• Gather relevant data from various sources (market research, CRM, financial reports, etc.)

• Cleanse, curate, and structure the data for AI analysis. This is one of the hardest steps as data tends to be messy, coming from different sources in different formats and plagued with missing or inaccurate data. You’ll also need to remove, redact, and anonymize sensitive data prior to sharing it with AI.

Here are 10 strategies for protecting sensitive data when using AI.

While this can be challenging, several AI solutions now offer built-in data protection features. These range from private, on-premise systems to enterprise platforms with advanced security measures.

Always scrutinize the privacy safeguards of any AI tool you consider. Protecting your data maintains customer trust and preserves your competitive edge.

See Figure 2 to see an example of the types of inputs and sources for the various evaluation criteria.

d) AI-Assisted Analysis

• Leverage AI to analyze segments across all criteria

• Use AI for force ranking segments based on each criterion

The following screenshots in Figures 3, 4, and 5 depict the AI conversation (prompts and responses) to analyze the data for market size and growth evaluation criteria. Note that you can instruct ChatGPT to do the forced ranking and build the heat map.

You’ll need to repeat this process for each of the other criteria. Note that some criteria may require a qualitative rather than a quantitative assessment like fit with roadmap. In those cases, you’ll need to feed AI with the forced ranking based on your unique insights, experience, expertise, and data.

• Finally, instruct AI to output the full table, adding the forced rankings for each segment to determine the top ones. You can also vary the weights of the criteria to see how weights impact the results.

Reminder to always check AI’s work as we, as human, are ultimately responsible for the final outcomes and impact.

2. The Executive Debate

This is where the magic happens. Your role is to facilitate a productive discussion using AI-generated insights as a starting point:

a) Present AI Findings

• Share the AI-generated segment rankings and analysis

• Explain the methodology and criteria used

b) Facilitate Discussion

• Encourage executives to share their perspectives

• Use AI insights to challenge assumptions and broaden the conversation

c) Refine the Model

• Adjust rankings based on executive input

• Use AI to simulate different scenarios in real-time

For your convenience, you can use this custom GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) called Business Prioritization Assistant. A GPT is an AI built to do a specific task. My team and I develop the custom GPT to help you more easily conduct what-if scenarios by changing forced rankings and weights to determine segment prioritization.

Russ McGuire, one of the best business and market strategists I know has conducted numerous executive strategy workshops using this framework. I couldn’t talk about this approach to segment prioritization without including some insights from him.

“Getting data on the page allows the team to focus on what’s real and not just talk past each other based on their favorites. It also keeps the discussion or debate from being dominated by the loudest or most powerful voice.” 

d) Build Consensus

• Guide the team towards alignment on top segments to validate (not pursue yet). There may not be agreement on every single debate but there needs to be consensus on the reasons why the team chose the specific top segments.

• Ensure all perspectives are heard and considered.

Remember, the goal here isn’t to let AI make the decision, but to use it as a tool to enhance human collaboration and strategic thinking.

3. Validation: The Reality Check

Now that you have alignment on potential top segments, it’s time to validate these choices in the real world:

• Market Pulse – Quick customer, partner, and stakeholder interviews, surveys, and research to validate assumptions for top segments.

• AI Analysis – Process validation data to highlight discrepancies between assumptions and feedback.

• Refinement – Adjust segment profiles based on findings, updating rankings if necessary.

4. The Final Decision

Armed with AI-driven insights and real-world validation, it’s time to make the final call:

• Executive Meeting – Present findings and facilitate discussion on data-driven insights, strategic fit, and capabilities.

• Consensus Building – Guide team to agree on top segments, ensuring understanding and support for the rationale.

• Action Plan – Develop strategy for chosen segments, including objectives, resources, timeline, and communication plan.

The Power of AI in Strategic Focus

Using AI to identify and align on top target segments is a game-changing strategy that benefits the entire organization. This is one of the most important and strategic initiatives that you and your marketing team can drive, leveraging both your market knowledge and AI to propel business success.

In the era of AI, focusing on a select few most valuable segments is crucial. AI allows you to personalize content and experiences at scale, helping you earn trust, better engage customers, and build loyalty within these key segments. This targeted approach, when everyone from the CEO to frontline employees aligns on it, gives the organization clear focus and purpose.

This alignment leads to:

• Precise goal-setting and resource allocation for key segments

• Focused competitive strategy and clearer decision-making

• Enhanced collaboration and execution across departments

The result is a culture of alignment where everyone works towards shared goals, improving both business performance and employee satisfaction. This AI-powered approach to segmentation drives better ROI by focusing efforts on the most promising areas, enabling sustained profitability in a competitive market.

In today’s AI era, success comes from strategic focus, not trying to do everything. When used responsibly, AI is an invaluable tool to guide this process, helping you navigate the path to sustained success.

How are you approaching segment selection? What challenges do you face? Share your insights as we explore this intersection of AI and strategic marketing together.

The Practical AI in Marketing newsletter is designed to share practical learnings and insights in using AI responsibly for go-to-market strategy, product, brand, demand, content, and digital, and growth marketing. Subscribe today and let’s learn together on this AI journey!

For those who prefer more interactive learning, explore our applied AI workshops, designed to inspire teams with real-life use cases tailored to specific marketing functions.

Also check out this team transformation case study and step-by playbook of how we helped transform a lean GTM team into a human-AI powerhouse with human and AI teammates.

Or, if audio-visual content is your style, here are virtual and in-person speaking events where I’ve covered a variety of AI topics. I’ve also keynoted at many organization and corporate-wide events. Whether through the newsletter, multimedia content, or in-person events, I hope to connect with you soon.

Hello marketing leaders, strategists, and innovators! 👋 Thank you for dropping by to learn practical AI applications and gain strategic insights to help you grow your business, elevate your and your team’s strategic value as marketers, use business as a force for good, and help advance your career.

Prefer to Listen? Try the AI-Generated Podcast

For those who prefer to consume information through audio, I’ve used Google’s NotebookLM to transform this newsletter into a short podcast episode, featuring a natural conversation between two AI hosts. Although the hosts refer to me LIE-za instead of LEE-zuh :-), the podcast captures the insights in an engaging and relatable way, making the content more inclusive for different learning styles. You can listen to it here.

Disclaimer: This podcast was generated by AI based on this written newsletter and reviewed by me to ensure ethical and responsible AI use. It’s designed to provide an efficient, more inclusive way to consume information.

The AI Search Shift: What’s on the Horizon

AI has the potential to disrupt online search, changing both results and user behavior. While the full impact is yet to be realized, forward-thinking marketers should be aware of these possible changes:

► Zero-click searches may become more common, where users get answers directly on the results page without visiting websites.

► Tools like Google’s AI Overview, ChatGPT, and Perplexity could speed up this trend.

► Voice AI might make natural language searches more prevalent.

The potential impact could be significant:

► Gartner predicts a 25% drop in traditional search volume by 2026 as people rely more on AI.

► Insight Partners forecasts that organic search traffic will decline by 15-25% due to AI search.

Balancing AI Preparation with Human-Centric Marketing

As we consider these potential changes, remember that true marketing connects with people, not machines.

Our primary focus should always be on understanding our customers, meeting their needs, and upholding ethical practices.

Andy Crestodina notes some potential benefits of AI-powered searches:

► You don’t see ads (for now.)

► You don’t see pop-ups.

► You don’t accept/decline cookies.

► You don’t decline notifications.

► You don’t have to scroll through SEO copy/paste.

► You don’t get retargeted.

He demonstrated this in his search for a guacamole recipe using traditional search on the left and AI search on the right.

However, these changes bring new challenges for marketers. AI search results often reference their sources, making discoverability important.

If AI systems don’t mention your content, you’re less likely to get visitors. But when they do, and users click through, those visitors are often more valuable because your content specifically answered their question.

A Reminder of What Really Matters in Marketing

As AI reshapes search and marketing, let’s not lose sight of our core purpose. This shift goes beyond SEO, potentially changing how users find information. While being discoverable in AI-assisted searches is important, our true success lies in creating genuine value for real people.

As we adapt, remember:

► Deeply understand your customers

► Meet their needs effectively

► Market where they actually pay attention

AI search is significant, but it’s not everything. The market will likely reward those who balance AI’s potential with preserving human values. After all, we’re still in the business of connecting with real people and addressing their needs.

5 Key Strategies for AI Search Success

Here are some key areas you need to focus on:

1) Optimize for intent, not just keywords – Prioritize creating content that addresses your audiences questions and intent at different funnel stages, using natural language. Make your content so relevant that AI search can’t ignore it and must serve it up or cite it in responses.

2) Invest in PR (Public Relations) – With AI search relying on trusted publications, local media, influencers, and review sites, having a strong presence in these areas is crucial. For those who think PR is a cost center, it’s time to rethink its strategic value in building credibility.

3) Create Content in Various Formats – Don’t limit yourself to text-based content. AI search will be able to understand and showcase content in multiple formats. Video, for example, is ideal for how-to, reviews, entertainment, and before-and-after searches.

4) Deliver Exceptional Website Experiences – If you earn a citation or attract a visitor, don’t lose them due to poor UX. Personalize the experience and deliver what they want. Your traffic will be more qualified, so make it count.

5) Diversify Your Watering Holes (Where Your Customers Hang Out) – As search and ads become more competitive, costs could rise. Don’t rely mostly on search. Explore channels like social media, communities, and marketplaces to connect with your audience.

We’ll dig into the first strategy today.

Stay tuned for deeper dives into the others in future newsletters. Now, let’s get practical.

Here’s how to make sure that you have a better shot at your brand, products, and content showing up in AI search results:

Step 1: Identify Top Questions by Persona

► List questions that customers would ask for each stage of the buyer’s journey.

► Think about different personas: decision-makers, influencers, ratifiers, users, and champions.

► Use the exact language your customers would use.

► Consider analyzing customer surveys, call scripts, reviews, and interview customer-facing groups to identify the questions and language.

You can also use AI to help. For example, customer reviews on online review platforms like G2, Capterra, TrustRadius, and Gartner Peer Insights are excellent places to start. The AI conversation (prompt and response) below shows how I used customer reviews from an online review platform to infer user search inquiries.

Step 2: Complete the Question-Response Sheet

► Fill out the question-response sheets to track the responses from traditional Google search and AI search like Googles AI Overview, Perplexity, ChatGPT, and more.

Here’s a search question-response template that you can use and modify as needed.

► For each question by persona, record the following for the different search methods:

– Search response to the question

– Whether your brand, product, or content was cited/ranked

– Competitors cited/ranked

– Media, communities, and influencers referenced

It can be time consuming to complete the template. One way to make it go faster is to use ChatHub (https://chathub.gg) Big thanks to Isar Meitis for suggesting it.

ChatHub allows you to see responses for up to six AI assistants. So it cuts down the time in research. And it’s cool to see the responses from each one.

Note that neither Isar nor I am affiliated with ChatHub.

Below are screenshots showing the responses for sample inquiries at the top, middle, and bottom of the funnel.

Make sure that you check the responses for inaccuracies or hallucinations like ensuring that the cited sources are legitimate.

Step 3: Analyze the Sheet

► Trend Spotting – Identify which AI platforms frequently reference your brand. It highlights the strengths of your current SEO and content strategy.

► Fill the Gaps – Pinpoint areas where your brand isn’t mentioned. These represent opportunities for targeted content creation.

► Competitor Insights – Observe which competitors are mentioned most and understand their strategies. Use this knowledge to differentiate your brand.

► Source Analysis – Identify trusted key media, communities, and influencers cited by AI. These are your potential content partners.

► Adjust to AI Preferences – Learn which content types or websites AI tools prefer, hopefully aligned to user preferences. Refine your strategy accordingly.

Know that you can use AI to help you analyze the sheets, identify key insights and takeaways, and suggest recommendations for key actions to consider.

Step 4: Take Action

► Optimize Content Strategy – Align your content plan with how people naturally ask questions. Update existing pieces and create new ones to fill gaps in your customers journey, using their words and intent.

As Andy Crestodina said:

Content marketing lets you connect with an audience even before they are looking for your services. It builds awareness and trust very early in the journey. And since a lot of AI prompting is about just finding answers, content marketing will be key to appearing in AI responses.

► Leverage Trusted Source – Team up with respected influencers and media to boost your brand’s credibility in AI search results. Create content that AI is likely to use as a source.

► Enhance Website Experience – Improve your site’s speed, ease of use, and content quality for both AI and human visitors. Use clear structure and make sure it works well on mobile.

► Monitor AI Search Performance – Regularly check how your brand shows up in AI search results. Use what you learn to improve your content and SEO tactics.

► Expand Digital Presence – Stay active on online platforms that your customers trust beyond your website. This helps customers and AI see your brand as more visible and credible.

Remember: While you’re adapting to AI, your main goal is still to connect with real people.

Now that you have a few ideas to optimize for AI search, I’m eager to hear what you think. What do the AI assistants say about your brand? What surprised you? How do you stack up against competitors? How are you planning to better use PR?

Share your thoughts and let’s learn from each other.

The Practical AI in Marketing newsletter is designed to share practical learnings and insights in using AI responsibly for go-to-market strategy, product, brand, demand, content, and digital, and growth marketing. Subscribe today and let’s learn together on this AI journey!

For those who prefer more interactive learning, explore our applied AI workshops, designed to inspire teams with real-life use cases tailored to specific marketing functions.

Also check out this team transformation case study and step-by playbook of how we helped transform a lean GTM team into a human-AI powerhouse with human and AI teammates.

Or, if audio-visual content is your style, here are virtual and in-person speaking events where I’ve covered a variety of AI topics. I’ve also keynoted at many organization and corporate-wide events. Whether through the newsletter, multimedia content, or in-person events, I hope to connect with you soon.

This past summer, I joined 15 of my girlfriends from the Bay Area, Denver, and New York on an adventure travel vacation in Africa. Many of them are former colleagues of mine who are strong leaders and amazing human beings.

It turned out to be a trip of a lifetime that I experienced with people I admire, trust, enjoy, and from whom I continue to learn. We got to know the locals and visited the endangered mountain gorillas in the Virunga Mountains in Rwanda. And we saw the Big Five (lion, elephant, leopard, buffalo, and rhino) in MalaMala, the largest private game reserve in South Africa.

As I reflected on our trip over the past few months, I noted powerful similarities between my work in the technology industry and adventure travel. At a minimum, technology and adventure travel both:

• Unleash potential

• Empower change

• Activate human achievement

Another commonality is storytelling. It humanizes technology and adventure travel and makes them magical because “the human mind is a story processor, not a logic processor.” Storytelling is the new marketing and it’s critical in how we engage and connect with buyers. As Seth Godin said, “People do not buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories, and magic.”

Storytelling, particularly to humanize technology as technology needs less from humans, has been fundamental to my marketing work. Likewise, I feel compelled to share our African adventure because this quote from a world explorer rings true, “Traveling–it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.”

In this article, I’ll share with you a story about our African experience and tips for storytelling in the business world inspired by our adventure.

A Brush with Fate with Endangered Mountain Gorillas

Picture this. Empower Field at Mile High stadium where the Denver Broncos play can seat over 76,000 people. The small ski town of Vail, Colorado has a population of 5,450. It’s hard to believe that there are only ~1,000 mountain gorillas in the world and there are 7.7 billion of us!

Before we began our trek up the mountain, our guide, Francis, instructed us to be respectful of the gorillas–crouch down, don’t look at them directly in the eyes, and don’t run. Indeed, our respect for the gorillas was rewarded with an incredible, magical experience. They shared a bit of their lives and jungle home at ~10K ft as they played, ran around, ate in their giant salad bowl, catnapped, swung on vines, and beat their chests.

We tracked the Umubano family which has 13 gorillas, including a lead silverback named Charles. The gorillas allowed us to get close to them. They even brushed against and touched some of us (including me!) as we followed them through the thick terrain and dodged sharp nettles. Our one hour with the gorillas went by fast, but it was all the time we needed to get to know them, understand their plight, and feel a special bond. I don’t have a video of our trek but this video of another group’s experience is similar to ours.

Francis’ words at the end of our visit made an indelible imprint in my mind. He said, “The gorillas welcomed you into their home. On their behalf, I thank you for coming and for your support. 90 percent of the cost you paid will go towards protecting them and 10 percent for the surrounding communities. Now, it’s on you to amplify their voice. Share with the world the gorillas’ story and be ambassadors for them.”

The Rwandans and gorillas have an interesting tense yet co-dependent relationship. The gorillas face threats from diseases, poaching, and loss of habitat caused by farming and charcoal harvesting. But people need the gorillas because they are the country’s biggest attraction and a tourism cash cow. Likewise, the gorillas need the conservation funds, resources, and efforts.

For me, the experience was life changing. I came as an adventurer and I left as an ambassador. It’s tough to imagine a world without them. Visit the mountain gorillas in Rwanda or learn about them online and be part of the conservation efforts that help both the people and the gorillas. 

The Magic of MalaMala with the Big Five

MalaMala covers 33,000 acres and shares a border with Kruger National Park. It pioneered the transition from hunting to photographic safaris using habituation techniques. It is also the only game reserve in the region where the benefits of tourism directly support adjacent communities. MalaMala is renowned internationally for the quality of its game viewing, the Big Five and more.

Our experience in MalaMala was equally as incredible as in Rwanda, enjoying wildlife in their natural habitat up close, in a respectful way. In our open air safari jeeps, we found ourselves surrounded by a herd of 40 to 50 elephants, including a female elephant with her one-week old newborn trailing behind. We won a stalemate situation with a bull elephant going in the opposite direction as us on a path at night. With a couple of mock charges and one that felt more serious, our skillful ranger, Bens (aka. wildlife whisperer), revved the engine and the bull made way. Otherwise, we, in our 5,000 lb vehicle, would’ve definitely lost against the 12,000 lb bull.

We hightailed it to the Sand River to witness a pride of 17 lions (aka Kambula pride) come down to drink from the river. We watched the cubs drink from ~15 feet away and a few of them walked up against our Land Rover. A lion and lioness showed us their pre-mating ritual with the lion roaring for her from a kilometer away and the lioness sunbathing on the sand, being coy by ignoring him.

We barreled down trees and thorny branches to follow a pack of endangered and elusive African wild dogs, found the hyena pups alone in their den, ogled over a rare ostrich pair sighting, saw hippos grazing near our cottages, witnessed impalas fighting, oohed and aahed over the beautiful lilac-breasted rollers, and so much more.

We learned a lot from our knowledgeable rangers: animal behaviors, the most vulnerable species and the work to protect them, the dynamics of co-existence, the changing climate, and other interesting facts. Did you know that the impala has a natural ability to control its cortisol levels to manage stress? Otherwise, imagine being at the bottom of the food chain and living amongst predators. The impala would live in fear constantly!

The African People

I remember many of the experiences, sights, and sounds of Africa, but nothing is more vivid in my mind as the stories relayed to us by the locals.

One of our drivers told us a gut-wrenching story about his and his family’s struggle with oppression, death, survival, and rebuilding from the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Most of his family was hacked to death when he was a child. He and his younger sister survived but he didn’t know where she was taken. He later on found out that she ended up in the Congo and they reunited years later. I’ve shared a highly abbreviated and much less moving version of his story here. Although I don’t remember exactly what he said and how he said it, I still remember how his story made me feel.

At Virunga Lodge, the villagers entertained us with local songs and a dance called Intore. It is a warrior dance that tells a story of the army’s elite royal soldiers that protect the king and the kingdom’s borders. We became part of the story as they invited us to dance with them. Given the language barrier, it was a unique and memorable interaction mostly through dance and smiles. The photo below epitomizes what Rwanda is also known as–the land of a thousand hills and a million smiles.

In MalaMala, we reveled in the incredible hospitality of our hosts treating us to cocktails at sunset, preparing delicious home-cooked meals, teaching us Xitsonga (the local language), or simply chatting with us on the verandah. They even convinced us to participate in a dried impala poop spitting contest. We never felt like strangers.

There are those we know for years and those we know for just a few seconds. We should strive to make our presence, no matter how fleeting, always purposeful.

I will always be in awe of our unforgettable African adventure. I also marvel at how 16 of us came together to make this happen despite our busy lives and other priorities, just like most people.

Sometimes freeing ourselves of the many excuses not to is all it takes to start a life-changing journey.

To my fellow African Queens, we’ve created special memories together that I will always cherish. I’m grateful for you and for these memories. Where to next?

Storytelling Tips for Businesses

My solo travels in Africa almost two decades ago and this recent African adventure reminded me of why my work in tech has long been grounded in human-centric marketing and storytelling. There isn’t a stronger connection between people than storytelling. Businesses aren’t B2B or B2C, they are H2H (human to human). In our interrupt-driven and distracted society, stories allow us to catch attention, stand out, help others understand complicated topics, become more relatable and memorable, and be more human. Here are some storytelling tips we can apply in our marketing efforts.

1. Go Beyond Conveying What We Make to What We Make Possible.

Let’s pause a bit to think about adventure travel companies that “make” these itineraries. They offer single and multi-day treks, flights and transfers, all-inclusive packages, different levels of accommodations, optional cultural tours, etc. However, absent conveying what the products “make possible,” it falls short of connecting emotionally with potential buyers.

In tech, for example, a product can help teams collaborate more efficiently, build a more dynamic workforce, improve employee engagement, and foster innovation. At a higher level, technology can help find cures for diseases, create new ways of learning, secure our communities, progress careers, improve the way we work and live, and more. The story should also convey how to make it a reality and our role in it.

2. Make the Customer the Hero and Us, the Guide.

People don’t buy what they want. They buy what they want to be. People want to be someone who can make a difference–innovator, game changer, generous leader, mentor, dedicated parent, etc. Let’s market people’s potential, how we can help them achieve it, and the people they can become.

Customers are the heroes and we are the guides in the stories. We encourage, enable, and empower. We are Yoda to Luke Skywalker or Dumbledore to Harry Potter, much like our trekking guide appealed to us with our potential to become ambassadors for the mountain gorillas.

3. Educate, Entertain, Amaze, and Inspire Action.

It’s not enough to educate and entertain (e.g., use humor, daily life analogies, interactions, photos, celebrities, etc.) with our stories. We also need to amaze and inspire action. Amaze our audience by describing the starting point or problem, the journey, challenges and overcoming them, and the ultimate impact or outcome. Highlight how others have been successful with our guidance.

Inspire people to act (i.e., act on their vision and make us a part of making it real) by allowing them to see themselves in a story about a topic they’re passionate about or they place a high level of importance and urgency. Let’s deeply understand our audience, find their passion or what’s most important/urgent, and make it personal. This is critical as we engage to create demand, especially with empowered buyers.

To provide some inspiration, here’s a list compiled by a marketing agency of its top picks of brands that tell great stories. I like Salesforce and Kickstarter from this list. One that’s not on the list that I believe belongs is Smartsheet. The company puts the spotlight on its customers’ human achievements and can-doers. Another good example is Encompass Technologies. The company tells a vision of digitally connecting the food and beverage supply chain to reduce empty shelves and product waste. It’s able to do this by being the innovation engine that powers how its customers and partners make human connections possible with food and drinks, much like sports, music, and the arts bring people together around the world. In the consumer world, think Google’s 2020 Super Bowl ad or the classic Kodak Carousel scene in Mad Men.

I believe that it’s less about what we saw, heard, did, or felt when we travel. It’s more about what we learned, shared, or did for others as a result.

My hope in writing this article is to do a little bit of that. If you found this article helpful, please feel free to share it or click the thumbs up icon below and let me know. Share in the comments section your thoughts and ideas.