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Breaking Through the AI Buzz: Practical Tips for Marketers

Writer's picture: Stanton WillinsStanton Willins

The buzz around AI comes with many mixed emotions and polarizing opinions. While some think it’s cutting-edge and will improve the world, others are terrified and think it may take over the world!

Image of a person with a smartphone standing in projection of zeros and ones

Industry experts and software vendors tout the benefits, but adopting new technology can be complex and varies from organization to organization. Just because an AI feature is right for one company, doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone. Take AI image generation for example. This may be great for a real estate firm that’s looking to show what an empty room may look like furnished, but if you are a luxury brand, actual product photos are essential to maintain authenticity.


The good news is that after helping dozens of companies adopt new MarTech over the past decade of consulting, we’ve learned a few things that will make your foray into AI easier. Here’s how we approach it.


Start in a Measured Way

Like with any new toy, the first thing you want to do is tear open the package and push all the buttons. For marketers this sense of urgency can come from leadership’s desire to be ‘visionaries’, a sense that you’re behind the competition, or even a desire to revolutionize stale marketing. But don’t let ignorance, fear, or blind ambition drive your decision making. The most successful organizations take a measured, evolutionary approach.

PRO TIP: Begin your MarTech AI journey with a clearly defined pilot project.

Find Your Use Case

Start by examining your marketing goals. Does your MarTech platform have an AI feature that aligns with those objectives? For instance, Braze has a substantial (and growing) library of AI features to help their users. It’s worth noting that some of Braze’s AI tools are aimed at improving customer experience, while others look to empower marketers in the creation of their marketing assets. Ultimately, identifying the best use case depends on if your company’s AI goals are more focused on increasing conversions or improving efficiencies.

PRO TIP: Consider internal resource availability when choosing your pilot project use case; sometimes the most practical choice isn’t necessarily your first choice.

Get Inspired

Sometimes knowing how and where to start is the most daunting part of embracing something new. Here are two simple AI examples to illustrate how marketers can leverage some new platform features, like those offered by Braze.


  • Customer Experience – Knowing when to send your emails can be tricky since everyone has different email reading habits. Some are early birds, others night owls, and then there's every type in between. Enter Braze’s Intelligent Timing feature. This feature leverages user data to send out messages based on each individual’s previous interactions ensuring they receive your content when they are most likely to engage. Check out this video to see how simple it is to set up.


  • Practitioner Efficiency - Writing copy can be a chore and usually takes more time than you think (or planned for!). Imagine you need to come up with a creative and fun push notification message for an upcoming sale on backpacks. With the Braze AI Copywriting Assistant you can come up with several options in seconds, simply by providing an idea or prompt. And.. if you want to go a step further, you can train the AI to learn your specific brand personality and guidelines. Wondering how to cache in on this feature? Watch this video to learn more.


Test and Learn

After completing a pilot project, evaluate your results and gather your learnings. With your hard earned experience, you can now tackle more AI features – maybe even a more robust one!


Looking for your next opportunity? Here are a few more cool things Braze AI offers:


  • Intelligence AI – Uses historical and real-time data to establish optimal message timing, channel, and copy variations.

  • Predictive AI – Forecasts future behaviors from past interactions to increase engagement and revenue, including things like propensity modeling as well as next best offer/product recommendations.

  • Creation AI – Assists marketers in creating assets such as: generating marketing copy and images, Liquid coding for personalization, campaign QA assistance, image generation, and more.


If AI is something you’ve got your eye on, check out our monthly Braze Updates where we share the latest features and updates, many focused on this very topic!

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