AI is changing our growth marketing agency in ways we couldn’t have imagined a decade ago. But while it can be your best friend, it’s not a miracle worker. Think of AI as the “assistant that never sleeps”, always ready with an idea, a recommendation, or a data point, but it still needs you to steer the ship. Let’s dive into how our team at The Growth Agency used AI in 2024 to streamline work while avoiding the usual challenges! 

AI for content ideation and SEO: the creative jumpstart in our growth marketing agency

Ever sit down to write and feel like your brain hit the “loading” screen? Husain gets it. He uses AI to kickstart the content process, and it’s like having a brainstorming partner who never runs out of energy.

“AI is a great tool for content ideation and SEO. It helps with generating titles, summaries, and meta descriptions, taking care of 70-80% of the heavy lifting. It saves hours of thinking and research time.” — Husain Mustansir

But, as with most things, it’s not perfect. AI can spark ideas, but it’s still up to you to finesse the details. Like a chef tasting a dish, you need to add the final seasoning.

Céline shares her story of using AI when she was struggling to come up with SEO-friendly headlines for a client.

“I’ve used AI to rework SEO titles and headlines, and it’s a lifesaver when you’re stuck. But remember, it’s just a foundation. You still have to tweak it to make sure it works for your brand.” — Céline Ameel

AI can get you started, but ultimately, it’s still your job to refine the content and make it align with your brand voice and SEO goals.

AI for visual design: let it handle the basics, our growth agency focus on magic

Farah, our creative guru, treats AI like her personal intern in the design space. Whether she’s generating images or editing layouts, AI gets the basics done so she can focus on the creative magic.

“AI is like having a junior designer take care of the technical stuff, leaving me to focus on the bigger picture. But I always go back to Adobe for fine-tuning details.” — Farah Maulida

For her, it’s about speeding up the grunt work so she can dive deep into what really matters : the creative direction. By letting AI handle the repetitive tasks, you get more time to focus on creativity, but the artistry remains in your hands.

Her best advice to turn any creative concept into converting designs ? Use AI plugins to improve your image generation prompts ! This is what she successfully did for our AI summer campaign ads visuals, using the Midjourney plugin. 

Finally, X (formerly Twitter), is your best friend for new AI design tools updates and trends. That’s how Farah makes sure to not miss any opportunity !

AI in data analysis & performance marketing : double-edged sword

AI can make sense of the numbers for you, but as Husain learned the hard way in data analysis, it can sometimes get a little confused.

“I tried AI for data analysis with ChatGPT and Claude. While it can do simple tasks, it tends to hallucinate when things get complex. Trust me, when it comes to comparisons or predictions, it can lead you down the wrong path.” — Husain Mustansir

Pierre, on the other hand, has been blown away by how AI is changing performance marketing. His experience with Pmax AI-driven Google campaigns showed him just how powerful these tools can be.

“AI-driven ad placement and bidding strategies have transformed how we reach prospects. But with great power comes great responsibility. You still have to keep an eye on things and make adjustments.” — Pierre Moncamp

While AI can handle many aspects of data analysis and performance marketing, it’s essential to maintain oversight to guide it toward the best results.

Data privacy and security in AI : here is how our growth marketing agency handles it with care

Husain has a firm rule when it comes to GDPR compliant marketing : don’t share anything sensitive with AI. 

“When you share data with AI, it becomes part of its training pool. Never use AI for insights or suggestions on sensitive business data.” — Husain Mustansir

Being cautious about the data you input is crucial, as once shared, it’s out of your control. Always avoid putting sensitive information into AI systems, even for seemingly straightforward tasks.

Trust but verify – That’s how our growth marketing agency works with AI

Hayden, our performance marketer, is one of those people who sees AI as the ultimate brainstorm partner. He gets tons of keywords ideas from it but never, ever takes its suggestions at face value.

“AI is like a coworker who has lots of ideas, but you wouldn’t take their rough drafts and call it done. I always edit and improve AI content to make it sound more human and professional.” — Hayden Cogswell

Céline, our growth marketer, learned this lesson the hard way when she trusted AI a little too much on a project.

“I thought AI would handle some easy tasks, but then it started giving me titles and headers over the character limits I was asking for ! It was a wake-up call. Always double-check, because AI can get it wrong and hallucinate without you noticing.” — Céline Ameel

While AI can be a valuable collaborator, it’s crucial to review its work, ensuring it meets the necessary standards before using it.

Managing expectations: AI is not a superhero

If you’ve ever had a client with sky-high expectations of AI, Celine has been there. She worked on a project where the client thought AI would whip up videos from a blog article in five minutes. Spoiler alert: it didn’t.

“The client expected AI to create a full, detailed video from an article in no time. But AI tools aren’t there yet. It takes a lot of back-and-forth, and you end up editing a lot.” — Céline Ameel

Managing expectations, both yours and your clients’, is key. AI is a powerful tool for our growth marketing agency, but it’s not magic. Just like any other tool, it performs best when it’s used for the right tasks with the right expectations.

The art of prompting: the better the input, the better the output

Think of AI as a mirror : what you put into it, you get back. Hayden learned this while working on ad copy and keywords.

“If you give AI a half-baked prompt, you’ll get a half-baked answer. You’ve got to be specific and take time to structure your prompts if you want anything useful in return.” — Hayden Cogswell

Céline found this out when tweaking prompts to get more natural-sounding SEO results.

“It’s all about testing prompts. You can’t stop at the first one. You need to experiment to get the best output.” — Céline Ameel

Your results with AI will only be as good as the instructions you give it. Spending time on well-crafted prompts is essential to get meaningful and valuable responses.

Cost VS benefit: AI isn’t free

Husain also brings up a point that can sneak up on you : AI isn’t as cheap as it looks. Testing a few ideas might seem low-cost, but when you start scaling, the bills can pile up.

“Running an AI is still costly. While testing a few prompts is cheap, incorporating AI into your daily workflow can increase costs quickly.” — Husain Mustansir

Though AI can save you time and effort, it’s essential to monitor the costs as you scale its usage and ensure that it provides a positive return on investment.

AI as your growth marketing teammate, not as a replacement

AI isn’t coming to replace you. It’s here to help. Pierre sums it up perfectly:

“AI is like an assistant for every employee in our growth marketing agency. It’s not about replacing humans but giving our team another pair of “hands”  that make us more efficient.” — Pierre Moncamp

AI works best when viewed as a collaborative tool. It can enhance your marketing processes, streamline workflows, and spark creativity, but it’s your experience, insight, and judgment that bring everything together. When used thoughtfully, AI can make your work not only faster but smarter.

Want to see how AI can optimize your creative process, save time and increase marketing budget efficiency? Our founder, Eveline Smet, gives a 5-week hands-on AI training course designed for corporate marketers ready to lead the charge in the AI revolution.