5 Easy Ways for Marketers to Use AI Right Now

The problem with most “AI for Marketing” advice is that it’s too theoretical. You don’t need to know how Large Language Models work; you just need to get your newsletter out by 5:00 PM.

If you are feeling overwhelmed by the AI hype train, you are not alone. But the truth is, the best AI tools aren’t the complex ones; they are the invisible assistants that handle the boring stuff so you can get back to being creative.

Here are five methods to start using AI today that are low-effort, high-impact, and genuinely easy to use. Please note that for all of the tools mentioned below, there are many alternatives you can choose from instead.

1. The “Blank page” killer: instant first drafts

The hardest part of writing ad copy, emails, or blogs is starting. AI is mediocre at finishing a polished piece of writing, but it is world-class at starting one.

The easy win: ChatGPT (or Claude, Gemini, Copilot..)

Don’t ask it to “write a blog post.” Instead, treat it like a junior intern. Give it messy notes and ask for a structure.

Try a prompt like this: “I need to write a LinkedIn post about [Topic]. Here are 5 random thoughts I have on it: [Thought A, B, C…]. Please organize these into a coherent outline and suggest 3 catchy hooks to start the post.”

The pro upgrade: Jasper

Why upgrade? While ChatGPT is a generalist, Jasper is built specifically for marketers. It allows you to upload your company’s “Brand Voice” guide so the AI doesn’t sound like a robot—it sounds like you. It also includes pre-built templates for specific formats, such as Facebook Ads and Amazon product descriptions.

2. The viral video maker: repurposing long content

Video is essential, but editing is time-consuming. If you have existing webinars, Zoom interviews, or podcasts, you are sitting on a goldmine of social media content.

The easy win: OpusClip

This is arguably the most “magic” tool on this list right now. You simply drop in a YouTube link (or upload a video file), and it analyzes the footage.

What it does: It automatically finds the most “viral” hooks, cuts them into vertical short-form videos (for TikTok/Reels), adds captions, and gives them a virality score. You can turn one 30-minute interview into 10 social clips in roughly 5 minutes.

The pro upgrade: Descript

Why upgrade? Descript is a full video editor that works like a Word doc. It transcribes your video, and if you want to cut a scene, you just delete the text from the transcript, and it cuts the video for you. It gives you much more control than OpusClip’s automated approach.

3. The designer’s assistant: creating custom visuals

Stock photos are dying. AI lets you create specific imagery that matches your campaign without a photoshoot or hours spent searching stock sites. These days, the results AI gives are quite impressive, even compared to a year ago.

The easy win: Canva Magic Studio

You likely already use or have used Canva. They have integrated AI directly into the interface.

How to use it: Go to “Magic Media” in the sidebar. Type “A futuristic coffee shop with neon blue lighting,” and it will generate the image on your canvas. You can also use “Magic Expand” to fix images that are the wrong size for Instagram stories by letting AI fill in the borders.

The pro upgrade: Midjourney

Why upgrade? Midjourney produces the highest-quality AI images on the market, often indistinguishable from professional photography. The downside? It is slightly harder to use (currently operated through Discord), but for high-end campaign visuals, the quality difference is massive.

4. The meeting amnesia cure: automated notes

Marketers spend half their lives in meetings. Trying to facilitate a brainstorm while taking notes usually means you do both poorly. There are boatloads of services and apps that do automated note-taking, each performing better than the last. The trick here is to find a tool that does the one thing you want well.

The easy win: Otter.ai (or Zoom AI Companion)

These tools join your meetings as a silent participant.

What it does: It records the audio, transcribes it in real-time, and most importantly, emails you a summary of “Key Takeaways” and “Action Items” immediately after the call. You will never have to ask, “Wait, who was supposed to send that email?” again.

The pro ppgrade: Fireflies.ai

Why upgrade? Fireflies integrates deeper into your tech stack. It can automatically log the meeting notes under the specific client’s profile in your CRM (like HubSpot or Salesforce), and analyze the call’s sentiment to tell you whether the client seemed happy or annoyed.

5. The deck builder: presentations in seconds

Building slide decks is often 10% thinking and 90% fighting with formatting boxes. AI flips that ratio.

The easy win: Gamma

Gamma is a presentation tool that creates instant pitch decks and presentations in seconds.

How to use it: You simply type a topic (e.g., “Q4 Marketing Strategy for a Coffee Brand”), and it generates a full slide deck with layouts, images, and text. You can then chat with it to make edits: “Make the images more professional” or “Add a slide about our budget.”

The pro upgrade: Beautiful.ai

Why upgrade? Beautiful.ai is more restrictive, but for a reason. It uses “Smart Slide” technology that forces your slides to stay beautiful. If you add more text or an extra chart, the slide intelligently re-formats itself so nothing ever looks cluttered or broken. It’s perfect for teams that need to stay strictly on-brand.

The next step

Don’t try to adopt everything at once. That is a recipe for burnout.

Pick the one task you hate the most. Is it writing the first draft? Is it editing video clips? Is it taking meeting notes? Choose that one pain point, sign up for the “Easy win” tool mentioned above, and try it just once this week. It’s then easy to add more tools to your stack when needed. Also, keep exploring for options and new technologies, because with AI, nothing is stagnant right now.