This episode is a bit of a real-talk session about all the AI tools being thrown at us and the pressure to find that “one magical solution” for marketing. I’m sharing a handful of tools I’ve been testing out, including the ones I genuinely love and use in my business—and a few that I’m still exploring. If you’re curious about which tools might actually make your life easier, this one’s for you.
Resources
- SEO Power-up Plan
- Brand Blueprint for ChatGPT – Created by Authentic AI® for Entrepreneurs, this is a detailed, centralized document to organize your brand’s strategy, audience, offers, and messaging.
- Brand Storytelling Bot – Also by Authentic AI® for Entrepreneurs, it helps turn personal stories into brand-aligned content (great for captions, social posts, etc.).
- Instant Blog Planner™ – A tool created by you! It helps generate a 6-month blog content calendar using your website data and keyword research, AI-assisted.
- Marketing Against The Grain Podcast – Hosted by HubSpot, it offers tactical insights on AI and marketing. Includes mentions of:
- AI Grader Tool
- Agent.ai platform (AI agents with 100 free credits + 50 more using promo code MATGROCKS)
Listen on Spotify
Listen on Apple
The sheer volume of AI tools popping up everywhere can feel overwhelming, especially for us small business owners juggling our own SEO and website marketing. Every tool seems to promise it’s the one that will solve all your problems. And we know there’s no magic silver bullet. And even if there were, putting all your digital eggs in one basket probably isn’t the smartest move.
My mission is to help simplify website marketing for you, focusing on sustainable, long-term strategies, not just quick fixes. So, in that spirit, I wanted to share some AI tools I’ve been experimenting with lately – the good, the quirks, and the ones worth considering – so you can make informed choices for your business.
My (Stingy) Approach to AI Tools
I’ll admit it… I’m pretty cautious about tool subscriptions. I get the business model, but it drives me nuts when companies hike prices for features I didn’t or will need. And don’t get me started on “lifetime deals” that suddenly aren’t lifetime anymore because the tool “changed.” Been there, got burned.
So, when I look at AI tools, they need to be really good and genuinely solve a problem before I commit budget to them.
Tools Making the Cut (or Intriguing Me)
- Brand Blueprint for ChatGPT (Authentic AI® for Entrepreneurs)
This isn’t exactly a tool, but more like a genius manual created by Kinsey Soderberg at Authentic AI® for Entrepreneurs. Seriously, follow her! This Brand Blueprint document is incredible. It centralizes all your company info – mission, vision, values, audience struggles, services, everything – into one place. Before this, my brand info was scattered everywhere. Now, I use it constantly for brainstorming, social posts, and research. It keeps my marketing messages laser-focused and ensures AI outputs are truly aligned with my brand. Highly recommend. - Brand Storytelling Bot (Authentic AI® for Entrepreneurs)
Another gem from Authentic AI®. I recently had this adorable conversation with my 4th-grade great-niece about work. She confidently told me I should just work for an hour and then “live my life” for the other 23. It was too cute! I took this story, plugged it into the bot along with my Brand Blueprint details, and it generated a fantastic social media caption draft. I still tweaked it (perfectionist tendencies!), but it brilliantly wove the story into my message in a way that felt natural and saved me writing time (which I loathe). A total no-brainer if writing isn’t your favorite thing. - Instant Blog Planner™ (Compass Digital Strategies)
Okay, this one’s mine! I created it because planning blog content – what to write, keywords, scheduling – was taking forever. This AI-assisted planner uses your own data (from Google Search Console, which I show you how to get) and combines it with keyword research insights (and ideally, your Brand Blueprint!) to generate a 6-month blog content calendar (usually one post per month, but adjustable). It even helps create blog briefs for each topic, so you (or your writer, or even an AI writer) know exactly what to cover. It streamlines the whole process. - Marketing Against The Grain Podcast (HubSpot)
This podcast is packed with tactical AI info. Some episodes are a bit advanced, but many offer fantastic insights. They also created the “AI Grader” tool – you plug in your website, and it supposedly grades your AI search readiness. It didn’t work for my site (too small, maybe?), but it’s interesting to see what’s possible. Worth a listen! - ChatGPT for Custom HTML Code
Did you know you can ask ChatGPT to write code? It’s pretty cool for creating simple interactive elements on your website (WordPress users, think custom HTML blocks). For example, I asked it for “20 examples of interactive tools… that would help service-based business owners engage with my digital marketing website” (swap out the audience/site type for yours!). It gave me ideas. Then, I picked one, described what I wanted it to do/look like (uploading my Brand Blueprint helped here ), and it generated the HTML code. I pasted this onto a test page (my “Barb’s Playground” page that isn’t public) to see how it looked. You can then go back and forth with ChatGPT in the same chat, asking it to tweak things (“make the button red,” “change the text”) until it’s right. Fun way to add engagement! - AI Agents (e.g., Agent.ai by HubSpot)
This area is blowing my mind. AI agents aren’t just chatbots; they’re like specialized AI tools that can talk to each other and perform multi-step tasks. Imagine an agent doing keyword research, passing the keyword to a research agent, which sends info to a writing agent, then to a social media caption agent, and finally to a publishing agent – potentially automating a whole workflow! It’s powerful, though ethically, we need to stay involved and add our own perspective. HubSpot’s Agent.ai platform offers 100 free credits to try (careful, clicking “Go” uses a credit!). Secret Tip: Use promo code MATGROCKS (from the Marketing Against The Grain podcast) for an extra 50 credits – it still worked when I tried it! - Traditional Keyword Research Tools
Yes, you still need them! AI tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity scrape the web; they don’t usually have access to the specific search volume data that dedicated keyword tools pull from databases. So, keep using your preferred traditional tool for reliable keyword data. - A Cautionary Tale Using an AI Internal Linking Tool
I tried a tool that promised to automatically add internal links from old blog posts to new ones. Sounds great for SEO, right? The catch… it only added the links on the front end after the page loaded. Google usually crawls the backend code, so these links offered zero SEO benefit. Plus, if I stopped using the tool, all those links would disappear. Lesson learned… do your internal linking properly within your content. And always ask: if I stop paying for this tool, does the benefit go away?
Your Turn!
This AI landscape is evolving fast! It’s about finding practical tools that genuinely help you save time and achieve your goals, allowing you more freedom to focus on your clients and your life.
I’d love to hear about your AI journey. What tools are you finding helpful? What challenges are you facing? Send me a DM on Instagram (@compassdigitalstrategies) or drop me a note below.
