Marketing Hacks for the AI Era: Tips, Tricks, and Prompts for Smarter Digital Marketing

Did you know that 61% of marketers already use AI in their strategies? Yep. Facts. (Human-verified facts!) And according to Statista, 44% of those marketers say AI has saved them time on repetitive tasks.

The truth is, if you’re still avoiding AI tools in your marketing game plan, you are working harder, not smarter.

But there’s good news! You don’t need to be a tech wizard or have custom AI software or robots named Bob in your office to thrive. (Although a robot office dog would be nice!)

In this guide, we’ve gathered helpful marketing hacks and real expert tips to help you to better leverage AI for digital marketing. These are actual use cases, daily cheats, and pieces of advice from our exiting class of seasoned Convince & Convert digital strategists.

From generating better content to sharper audience targeting and even crafting scroll-stopping social captions (like the one that probably led you here?), this is definitely an article you’ll want to bookmark.

Ready for some modern-day AI marketing hacks? Let’s gooooo.

Sunny’s Expert AI Marketing POV:

“When a brand or company needs to move faster, one of the easiest ways to pressure-test thinking is by using AI tools as a thought partner. It’s not about asking for answers, having the tool do the thinking for you, or even cutting people out of the work. It’s about using AI tools to challenge assumptions, clean up messy ideas, and ask better questions. Most teams aren’t short on ideas. They just need a faster way to figure out which ones are worth pursuing.” – Sunny is a former C&C Senior Strategist and current CEO of Hunt Interaction.

Why AI is a Game-Changer for Smarter Digital Marketers

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, you already know that AI is not just for Silicon Valley nerds or sci-fi movies. It has very real applications in digital marketing (and really, all marketing disciplines.) According to recent research:

• 75% of business leaders believe AI makes their job easier (Source: HP)
• 72% of business leaders believe AI will improve employee productivity (Source: Insight)
• Experts anticipate 50% time savings spent on content creation, i.e., up to 60 hours saved a month, thanks to AI tools (Source: McKinsey and Emplifi via Business Wire).

(TLDR: Think of AI as your slightly unreliable but uber-helpful cyber assistant, supporting you in crafting awesome content, discovering what your audience really wants, and automating the boring stuff. Translation: Less grunt work, more strategy, more fun, and maybe even time for lunch away from your desk.)

However, the huge, huge, HUGE caveat here is that it needs to be fact-checked, double-checked, and used as a springboard, not a replacement. In fact, 39% of business leaders are also concerned that AI will lead to an over-reliance on technology by employees.

That’s a very real risk, but it’s one that’s really, really easy to avoid.

Jennifer’s Expert AI Marketing POV:

“Of all the pieces of advice floating around the interwebs about AI for digital marketing, the best tip I can give you is: never, ever (ever!) use AI output as a copy-and-paste deliverable. AI is a tool to supplement your brain and your team members’ efforts. It’s not a replacement. I recently interviewed Chris Hackney of Meltwater for an episode of Social Pros and he put this so well: Think of AI as a toddler. They’re creative, they’re bright, they’re excited, they’re intuitive, they’re full of insights…but you wouldn’t let them drive the car. They’re not “there yet.” AI is super powerful, smart, and kind of magical. But it’s not fully matured, it’s not perfect, and it’s not a crutch to blindly lean on. It’s a supplemental tool to take as a springboard or starting point and then edit, enhance, and optimize as the human expert you are! Net net: Don’t use AI without infusing and adding a layer of your non-robot smarts.

– Jennifer formerly served as Editorial Director and Senior Strategist for C&C and currently freelances in alllllll things digital, social, and content marketing via Content Unicorn.

Top AI Marketing Hacks You Can Use Right Now

1. Automate Content Generation (Without Sounding Like a Robot)

AI tools like ChatGPT, Jasper, and Copy.ai can create blogs, emails, product descriptions—even video scripts. But here’s the hack: don’t let them run wild, i.e. do not copy-and-paste as is (as noted above!) Always add human editing and your unique brand voice on top.

This especially comes in handy when creating large volumes of content variations.

Zontee’s Expert AI Marketing POV:

“Most teams, even at larger enterprises, don’t have the time and budget to test all of their content, copy, and messaging before it goes out into the field. By using an AI persona that is trained on the real data and knowledge of your customers, you can have a fast and effective way to gut-check your content for relevance to your audience.” – Zontee is the author of Data-Driven Personalization and president of Media Volery, a digital marketing agency in New York City.

2. AI for Smarter Audience Targeting

AI can segment your audience better than any human spreadsheet wizard. Tools like Adobe Sensei or Meta’s Advantage+ can crunch user behavior data in real time, showing you who’s ready to click “buy now” and who needs more warming up. (Just make sure you run AI-powered lookalike audiences based on top converters, not just generic followers.)

Zontee’s Expert AI Marketing POV:

Use AI to centralize your knowledge about your key customer segments, including personas, research, data, and insights. Upload all of your insights and then have it answer questions as the customer segment or indicating what matters to that customer segment. This will help you to better understand your audience; you can even have your LLM model provide feedback on marketing creative in the guise of each customer segment.” – Zontee is the author of Data-Driven Personalization and president of Media Volery, a digital marketing agency in New York City.

3. Personalization at Scale with AI

Want every email to feel like you wrote it just for them? AI-driven tools (like Persado or Klaviyo AI) customize subject lines, body copy, and even send times based on user preferences. The ROI for subscriptions and access may be well worth the investments. Personalized email subject lines powered by AI boost open rates by 26% (Source: Experian via Campaign Monitor)

Jason’s Expert AI Marketing POV:

“When using AI for creative tasks, iteration is often a missing piece. The AI tool you are using might know a lot about your creative needs, especially if you’ve saved resources like your Brand Guide, Brand Voice, and Audience Personas into the memory settings. But that only goes so far.  AI might still miss the mark when it comes the creative nuance needed for a project. That’s where iteration comes in. When I use a feedback loop method with clients, it lets the AI take creative chances while I act as the director picking the winners. Over multiple rounds, you’re shaping results that feel more “you,” whether that’s coming up with a new product name, ad messaging, or content ideas. Creativity thrives on feedback. This builds it in from the start.” – Jason is the author of  The Case for More Bad Ideas and co-founder of creative strategy agency Social Fresh.

4. AI-Powered Data & Analytics: Your New Best Friend

Stop guessing which content works. AI analytics tools (like Google Analytics 4 and HubSpot’s AI insights) highlight which campaigns, posts, or pages are actually driving conversions. Use AI-powered sentiment analysis to measure customer mood on social media. You’ll spot rising issues, or viral sensations, more quickly than traditional methods to then swiftly make data-driven decisions with organized insights.

Zontee’s Expert AI Marketing POV:

“AI doesn’t get tired or bored the way people do, so use it to help run audits (both internal, as well as competitive audits) against a specific rubric or set of criteria. You can see where content stacks up, where the gaps are, where the themes are, and where the opportunities are.” – Zontee is the author of Data-Driven Personalization and president of Media Volery, a digital marketing agency in New York City.

5. Use Prompts to Unlock Writer’s Blocks and Other Everyday Digital Marketing Tasks

I say this all the time, but it bears repeating: Junk in will equal junk out. That 100% goes for AI prompts for digital marketing.

Feed AI smart, strategic, humanized prompts — full of detail, direction, and nuance— and you’ll get valuable output back. And don’t forget: you can attach full-blown documents, such as your Brand style guide, to help finesse style, voice, and tone results.

Lean on AI when you find yourself with writer’s block, when you’re unsure where to take your project next, or when you’re just plain ole’ not feeling it. Keep a list of tasks and prompts and continue to iterate, customize, and evolve them over time. Don’t be afraid to experiment and use trial-and-error to see what prompts yield better (or worse) output.

Sunny’s Expert AI Marketing POV:

“I use AI tools as a thought partner more than anything else, as a sounding board that helps sharpen my thinking. When working through a tricky client problem or untangling a strategy question, I’ll drop my messy notes and early thinking into a prompt to help organize my thoughts around the problem. I’ll also use voice-to-text on my phone or computer to talk through the challenge I’m trying to solve, outline what I think needs to happen to solve it, and ask the tool to help clean everything up. My brain tends to move faster than my fingers, so talking through the problem helps capture my thoughts without much self-editing or forgetting small, important details. I specifically ask for pushback and clarifying questions, so there’s a lot of back and forth (and honestly, about 50% of the time, I don’t like the ideas that come back, but it’s still helpful to think through them).” – Sunny is a former C&C Senior Strategist and current CEO of Hunt Interaction.

The Future of Marketing & AI

Like it or not, the AI train has left the station. Marketers are either riding in first class or running behind. A report from Gartner predicts that by 2027, 80% of marketers will rely on AI to create content and execute campaigns.

That doesn’t mean your creativity or strategic skills are obsolete. Quite the opposite: AI gives you time to be more creative, experimental, and human. The real hack of the AI era? Knowing when to let the robots work and when to make it personal.

So, play, test, tweak, and let AI make your marketing life easier (and your boss happier).

Want even more? Hear from our strategists on Instagram.

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