Marketing has undergone a dramatic shift with the emergence of powerful AI tools, revolutionizing everything from content creation to customer analysis. Yet, many companies still struggle to separate the hype from practical applications that deliver real impact. Sheera Eby, who has spent years leading marketing transformations across industries, is now focused on leveraging AI to drive measurable pipeline growth. Her hands on experiments with these technologies reveal “both immediate opportunities and surprising long-term potential.”
Unlocking AI’s Potential Beyond the Buzzword
While AI has become a staple in marketing conversations, Sheera Eby has taken a more grounded approach, focusing on real world applications rather than riding the hype. “AI is a pretty big buzzword in the industry, and marketers are trying to figure out how to unlock its power,” she says. “One of the most common use cases has been content creation. I’ve been experimenting with a couple of the models and really understanding voice of the customer.”
What’s remarkable isn’t just what AI can do, it’s how fast it can do it. Tasks like customer research, which once took months, can now be completed in minutes. This speed empowers marketing teams to create customer-focused hypothesis significantly improving speed to market. “One of the greatest parts of AI is the ability to dissect pain points and needs for audiences and then immediately leverage that to think about what kind of content answers those issues,” Sheera explains.
Three Practical Applications of AI for Pipeline Growth
When asked about specific ways teams can use AI to drive qualified leads, Sheera outlined three approaches that actually work:
Personalized Content Creation
One of the most immediate benefits of AI in marketing is its ability to dramatically improve content versioning. Marketing teams can now tailor materials to specific customer segments, without a proportional increase in effort or resources. “For sure, one of the first areas would be more content,” Sheera notes. “It’s really understanding voice of the customer and being able to develop content that’s going to be meaningful.” For example, AI can analyze a customer’s past interactions, customer reviews, and browse behavior to generate hyper-personalized email subject lines, ad copy, and even blog post topics that resonate directly with their individual needs and interests.
Building Personal Brands More Efficiently
AI tools help founders and entrepreneurs build personal connections with customers, especially useful for early stage companies. “AI is allowing people to create personal brands much more quickly than they could have in the past,” says Sheera. “Entrepreneurs and their origin stories matter to people. People want to know founders, what motivated them, what was their passion.” For entrepreneurs and small business owners, this means showcasing your personal brand and story. “AI is allowing people to create personal brands much more quickly than they could have in the past,” says Sheera. “Entrepreneurs and their origin stories matter to people. People want to know founders, what motivated them, what was their passion.” AI tools can help you capture your unique voice and personality, then generate a steady stream of content—whether it’s heartfelt social media updates, insightful blog posts, or compelling video outlines. This allows you to build genuine connections with your audience and amplify your authentic story, even with limited resources and time.
Streamlining Workflow Management
A third key application of AI is improving operational efficiency, streamlining marketing processes and reducing manual effort. “AI is really changing things in terms of workflow management,” Sheera explains. “We might see things like copywriters and SEO kind of come together as one role.” This shift doesn’t mean job losses, but rather transformation. “I think we’re going to start to see some role consolidation in areas where we’ll get more efficiency out of AI. But then I also think we’ll end up creating new roles where people can do different things.” For an entrepreneur or small business owner, this means AI can act as a force multiplier for a lean team. Imagine an AI assistant that handles the tedious tasks of keyword research for your blog, drafts initial ad copy for your social media campaigns based on the blogs, and even analyzes your website’s SEO performance to suggest improvements. This frees up the limited time of a small business owner or their small team to focus on strategic growth, customer relationships, and the core aspects of their business that truly require a human touch.
The Future of AI-Driven Marketing
Sheera believes we’re only at the beginning of AI’s impact on marketing. “Right now, there’s a little bit of a first movers advantage,” she observes. “Marketers are fantastic at taking new technology and overusing it. I would suspect that in 18 to 24 months we’re going to start to see some plateaus.” These initial plateaus, however, won’t signify stagnation. Instead, Sheera envisions them as crucial periods of stabilization and integration, where best practices solidify and the industry collectively levels up its understanding and application of AI. “What will be great though, is this will lift the entire industry to another level. We’ll kind of stabilize and then it’ll lift it again.” This suggests a cyclical evolution, where bursts of innovation are followed by phases of refinement, setting the stage for subsequent leaps forward. We can anticipate AI moving beyond content generation and workflow optimization into more sophisticated areas like predictive analytics for lead scoring, hyper-targeted ad placement, and even autonomous campaign management, where AI systems can make real-time decisions to optimize performance.
One critical concern on the horizon is trust, as AI-generated content becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish from human work. “We’re going to need some governance in AI,” Sheera cautions. “This reminds me quite a bit of when digital first started. We ended up with CAN-SPAM… we had to govern it. AI is the same way. We have to figure out how to govern it so that we understand the difference between reality and AI.” This will likely involve the development of new industry standards, ethical guidelines, and perhaps even technological solutions for content provenance and authentication. Building trust in AI-generated content will be paramount to its continued adoption and effectiveness.
For small businesses and entrepreneurs, AI offers a truly unique edge, the ability to compete with much larger teams. “You now can feel like you have a much bigger team than you actually have,” she points out. “People who have a very clear vision and know how to harness the technology will have opportunities to break ahead and have successes where slower-to-adopt folks may not.” As she sums it up: “I think that’s where a lot of people can get great gains, especially entrepreneurs, small business owners and people who have small teams.” This democratizing effect of AI means that even with limited resources, a clear strategy for leveraging these tools can unlock significant growth and market advantage.
Recommendations for Leveraging AI in Your Marketing Strategy
- Solve Your Biggest Time Sucks First: Don’t try to do everything at once. Identify the one or two most time-consuming or repetitive marketing tasks that bog you down – maybe it’s writing social media posts, responding to customer reviews, or drafting website copy. Start by using AI to automate those specific tasks to immediately free up your valuable time.
- Focus on Direct Impact, Not Just Hype: As a small business, every dollar and hour counts. When considering AI tools, ask: “How will this directly help me get more leads, close more sales, or improve my customer relationships?” Prioritize applications that clearly contribute to your bottom line, not just shiny new tech.
- Be a Learner, Not a Pro: You don’t need to be an AI expert. Dedicate a small amount of time each week to exploring how AI tools work, watching tutorials, or even just experimenting with different prompts. The more comfortable you become, the more effectively you can put AI to work for your business.
- Maintain Your Authentic Voice: AI is a powerful assistant, but your unique voice and story are your brand’s superpower. Always review and refine AI-generated content to ensure it sounds like you and accurately reflects your business’s values. Transparency with your audience about your use of AI can also build trust.
Want to learn more from Sheera Eby? Connect with her on LinkedIn to follow her latest insights in AI and marketing.
