How We Use AI Marketing to Improve Strategy, Creativity & Results
(Not Replace the Human Touch)
I was in a strategy meeting the other day. Someone asked a question that many people have raised lately. “So, are you guys using AI marketing to replace people?”
The short answer? Absolutely not. But are we using AI for marketing to make our work better, faster, and more insightful for our clients? You bet.
Here’s the thing about AI and marketing—it’s not some magic wand that suddenly makes everything perfect. More like having a brilliant research assistant who never sleeps and can crunch numbers faster than anyone on the team. The key is knowing when to use AI marketing tools and, more importantly, when human judgment still rules the day.
Digital: Where Marketing AI Really Shines
On the digital side, AI has become our secret weapon at KELLYBRADY for things that used to be time consuming. Take keyword research, for example.
We used to spend hours digging through search data and analyzing competitors. Now, marketing AI helps us identify opportunities and trends in minutes. So we can spend more time on the strategy part—figuring out what those insights actually mean for your business.
For paid search campaigns, Google’s Smart Bidding uses AI to optimize bids in real time. It evaluates thousands of signals in every auction to prioritize the searches most likely to convert. This allows campaigns to adapt continuously as user behavior changes.
What AI can’t do is understand why a campaign exists. It doesn’t know that a Q4 push requires a different message, urgency, and tone than a spring launch. It doesn’t take into account how your business goals shift throughout the year.
That strategic context comes from our team. We guide the technology with the right structure, messaging, and intent.
We also use AI-powered tools to optimize websites. These tools can highlight patterns in user behavior. Do visitors leave a contact form halfway through? Or engage with call-to-action buttons almost instantly?
But technology alone can’t fix the problem. Our team interprets these insights and applies human judgment to redesign the user journey. We figure out why and how to optimize the user journey in a way that makes sense for your brand and actually drives results.
Creative: The Balance Between Innovation and Intuition
Creative is where people get nervous about AI, and I get it. Creative work feels deeply human, and it should be. But AI isn’t replacing our creative process—it’s one marketing tool among many that helps us explore faster.
Our process starts with collaborative brainstorming—throwing ideas around, challenging assumptions, and finding unexpected angles. Then we layer in what we know. This includes audience insights and previous campaign performance.
Additionally, we incorporate your knowledge about what resonates with your users. Our strategy shapes creativity into something that actually works.
Once we have a solid concept, we move into visual exploration. Sometimes that means sketching, creating mood boards, or using tools like Adobe Firefly to visualize concepts quickly.
But here’s the critical part: we vet everything. Does it look right? Does it feel right for your brand? Does it connect emotionally with your audience?
The final creative decisions—the ones about tone, brand voice, and emotional impact—those are still 100% human. AI doesn’t understand that your audience needs to feel confident, not just informed. It doesn’t know that your brand personality is more “wise mentor” than “enthusiastic cheerleader.”
What makes KELLYBRADY’s creative approach work is that we’re not just designers executing a brief. We think about how creative fits into your bigger goals, how it performs across channels, and how it evolves. We balance fresh ideas with strategic discipline, and that balance is where the real magic happens.
Media: Smarter Targeting, Better Results
Media planning and buying is probably where AI marketing platforms make the most significant difference day-to-day. Our team utilizes them to analyze audience behavior across platforms. They can predict optimal placement times and forecast budget allocation for maximum impact.
AI helps us identify lookalike audiences and predict which demographics are most likely to convert for your specific goals. It can process millions of data points about user behavior, seasonal trends, and market conditions. This data allows us to recommend the best media mix. It still takes human expertise to know that your B2B software campaign needs an entirely different approach than your local restaurant’s weekend promotion.
We’re also using AI for real-time campaign optimization. It can automatically adjust budgets between platforms based on performance, pause underperforming ads, and scale up what’s working. So your media dollars are working harder, even when we’re not actively managing every single placement.
For traditional media like radio or OTT, AI helps us analyze listener data and viewing patterns to find the best spots for your message. But understanding your brand’s story and how it fits into someone’s daily routine? That’s still all about human insight.
Reporting: From Data Overload to Clear Insights
Reporting and Analytics is where AI has become a game-changer for our clients. Instead of sending you spreadsheets full of numbers, we’re using AI to identify the patterns and insights that matter for your business goals.
AI helps us spot trends you might miss or that certain keywords perform differently at times of year. It can correlate data across multiple platforms and campaigns to show you the bigger picture of what’s driving results.
But here’s what makes the difference – our KELLYBRADY team interprets those insights and translates them into actionable recommendations. AI can tell us what happened, but it takes human experience to understand why it happened and what we should do about it.
The Bottom Line: Better Together
The way we see it, AI isn’t changing what we do, it’s helping us do it better. It handles the heavy lifting on data analysis and optimization. That leaves time for our team to focus on strategy, creativity, and building relationships with our clients.
At the end of the day, marketing is about connecting people with solutions they need. AI marketing helps us be more precise and efficient in that process. But the human elements—understanding your business, knowing your customers, and crafting messages that resonate—are what make the difference.
We don’t use AI to replace judgment, creativity, or relationships. We use it to amplify them.
These tools enable us to achieve better results. We focus on what matters most: supporting your business’s growth. We aim for growth that is both authentic and sustainable.
As we look to the future of marketing, we see AI as a powerful ally. It unlocks company potential and streamlines marketing workflows. From marketing automation to programmatic advertising, these technologies are reshaping how we approach campaigns.
But it’s the combination of AI marketing trends and human expertise that truly drives innovation.
Want to see how this approach could work for your next campaign? Let’s chat about it. No robots, just honest conversation about real results.
Scott Stucker is the Art Director at KELLYBRADY. He brings over 13 years of creative experience to every project. With a focus on thoughtful design and user-centered solutions, he combines curiosity, strategy, and visual storytelling to help brands remain relevant and impactful. Scott stays up to date on the latest AI marketing trends to ensure KELLYBRADY remains at the forefront of AI-powered marketing strategies.