More AI Tools Won’t Save You. Better Workflows Will.

I live in a bubble, a bubble of super innovative and tech-savvy professionals who have been experimenting with AI for years. I’m continually surprised when I read stats or work with teams who aren’t using generative AI for strategy work. And if that’s you, you’re not alone.

It’s still the exception, not the rule, to bring your AI partners upstream into the planning phase. Most marketers are still using AI to crank out content faster, and while that may feel productive, it’s actually a huge waste of AI’s true power.

Read on to learn how to design smarter workflows that turn AI into a true strategic partner.

🔥 This Week's Hot Takes: AI Marketing Edition

3 AI Applications My Students Are Using That Most Marketing Teams Miss (Forbes) – While most organizations use AI for marketing, many focus on downstream content production. The transformational applications are upstream: AI personas for 24/7 customer research, AI-powered competitive intelligence that turns weeks into minutes, and AI ideation that generates 100+ concepts instantly – amplifying human judgment rather than replacing it.

AI Agents Are Rewriting the Marketing Playbook (McKinsey) – Agentic AI is expected to power over 60% of AI's value in marketing and sales. Some large enterprises report dramatically faster campaign creation times when using coordinated AI agents.

The Marketing Landscape Gets an AI Reality Check (McKinsey Re:think) – Human-AI partnerships are the future of creativity, with AI handling the heavy lifting while humans provide judgment. In five years, marketing organizations will look fundamentally different, with structures and workflows completely reimagined around AI collaboration.

Search Is Breaking Up With Its Past (Search Engine Land) – AI assistants will handle 25% of global search queries by 2026, with traffic from LLMs climbing at hockey-stick pace. Companies are seeing 3-8x higher conversion rates from AI search traffic, as the traditional funnel collapses and "search everywhere optimization" becomes the new SEO.

Consumers and Marketers Finally Warming to GenAI (eMarketer) – 68% of consumers and 75% of senior marketers are increasingly positive about generative AI. Nearly 1 in 5 active GenAI users now consider it their preferred source for purchase recommendations, with 45% of Gen Z using it weekly or daily.

Google Takes AI Infrastructure to Literal New Heights (Google Research) – Project Suncatcher envisions solar-powered satellite constellations carrying TPUs connected by optical links. In the right orbit, solar panels can be 8x more productive than on Earth, potentially making space the best place to scale AI compute by the mid-2030s.

Marketers Plan Major Shifts for 2026 (Social Media Today) – A majority of marketers report using AI tools in some capacity. Marketers expect increased investment in influencer partnerships in 2026, with Instagram and LinkedIn among top priorities

🧪 The Alchemist's Lab: Tools I've Been Testing

Google NotebookLM Video Overviews with Nano Banana (Google Blog)

• Function: Transforms documents and notes into narrated whiteboard-style videos using Gemini's image generation

• Marketing Application: Perfect for turning dense reports, strategies, or product docs into digestible video content for internal training or client presentations

• Pricing: Rolling out to Pro users this week, all users in coming weeks

💼 Industry Moves & Grooves

Upstream Strategy Beats Downstream Tactics: Forbes reports that while 51% of teams use AI for content optimization, the teams seeing breakthrough results master three upstream applications: AI personas, AI research, and AI ideation – transforming strategic thinking rather than just automating tasks. (Source)

  🎓AI Marketing Master Class Moment

AI Can't Do Your Job. So Why Are Companies Laying Off Employees? This video explores the paradox of AI adoption versus workforce reduction, examining what AI can and cannot actually replace in the workplace. Watch here

The practical takeaway? Understanding AI's actual capabilities versus the hype helps you position yourself as someone who orchestrates AI tools rather than being replaced by them. Focus on the judgment, creativity, and strategic thinking that AI still can't replicate.

🤖 AI Whispers (That You'll Want to Shout About)

The shift from tool-based to workflow-based AI thinking is revolutionary. We're moving from "What can this AI do?" to "What outcomes can I deliver with it?" Agentic AI isn't just automating tasks – it's redesigning entire marketing functions. When European insurers are seeing conversion rates triple and airlines are achieving HUGE satisfaction improvements, we're witnessing the birth of a new marketing operating system, not just better tools.

🏆 My Take: What This Means for Your Marketing

Here's the ONE insight that matters: Stop treating AI as a content assistant and start thinking of it as an orchestration platform. The leaders pulling ahead aren't using more AI tools – they're redesigning their workflows around AI agents that work together. Your immediate action? Map one critical workflow (like lead nurturing or campaign optimization) and identify where agents could handle handoffs between teams. That's where the 15x speed improvements are hiding.

🥊 Battle of the Week: Add-On Tools vs. Workflow Redesign

The old way says bolt AI onto existing processes – use it to write faster, analyze quicker, optimize better. The new way says redesign the entire workflow around AI agents. McKinsey's data is clear: companies achieving real impact aren't improving tasks, they're eliminating handoffs and reimagining end-to-end processes. My verdict? If you're still thinking in terms of AI tools rather than AI workflows, you're already behind. The future belongs to those brave enough to tear down silos and rebuild around agent orchestration.

Before You Go: Hit reply and tell me - what's your biggest AI marketing challenge right now? I read every response and it helps shape future newsletters!

That's a wrap on this week's AI marketing alchemy! Keep experimenting, keep transforming, and remember - true magic happens when we blend AI efficiency with human creativity.

Crafted with passion (and a dash of AI alchemy) by Lisa Peyton | AI Marketer, Professor, and Innovator
Let's connect in the digital realm: https://linktr.ee/lisapeyton

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