Why You Need to Fix Your Marketing Foundations Before Turning to AI

Everywhere you look these days, there’s another headline promising that generative AI will transform the way we work. From supercharging the workplace to erasing middle management, we’re being bombarded by headlines that evoke a mixture of emotions: excitement, confusion, and even fear. When you zoom into Marketing, the impact of gen AI on the way we work feels even more intensified. Hyper-personalized campaigns, predictive insights, content creation all at the click of a button. If you believe the buzz, it sounds like gen AI is the answer to all our marketing challenges, and a surefire way to work ourselves right out of our jobs.

But here’s the reality no one seems to be mentioning (at least not on my news feeds): AI isn’t a magic wand. Even though gen AI ‘creates’ things, from images and content to strategic plans,  it doesn't actually “think” the way people do. It predicts what comes next based on probability. It learns patterns based on massive amounts of preexisting data, and says the next "best" idea based on those patterns. And it generates these predictions in milliseconds, which is why ‘efficiency’ is so often associated with genAI. In short, it makes what’s already there louder and faster. So, what if ‘what’s already there’, is garbage?

Take a moment to let that sink in. If your strategy is nonexistent, your messaging is fuzzy, customer data is a mess, or if your content is scattershot, adding AI into the mix won’t solve those problems. It will just speed them up, push them further into the world, and make the gaps in your foundation even more obvious. The best way I've found to explain it is this: AI is like a microphone. If you whisper into it, it amplifies a whisper. If you ramble or mumble, it just makes the rambling louder. It doesn't fix the way you speak; it just makes sure more people hear you. 

So, yes. When you have strong brand foundations with clear messaging, a smart strategy, and clean data, AI can help you move faster, reach the right audiences, and operate at an impressive scale. Efficiency and productivity are maximized, and we can take longer lunch breaks knowing our marketing machine is humming. But when those foundations are shaky (or aren’t being referenced correctly), AI acts like a jet engine strapped to a car without a steering wheel. You might move quickly, but you have no idea where you're headed. And it’s a mess. 

And the truth is, as a marketing leader, I already see this happening all the time.

Just the other day, someone on my team sent over a draft of a new video script. Structurally, it was really well done. You could tell a lot of thought had gone into it. The pacing, the transitions, the calls to action seemed strong. But as I read through it, the tone of voice felt off. The persona didn't match our audience. The whole narrative leaned into themes that didn't quite align with our brand story. It was clear our foundational knowledge (e.g. templates, brand guidelines, core messaging strategy) hadn’t been leveraged. 

In order for gen AI to ‘work for you’, it’s important that you have a solid foundation and share this information with any gen AI tools you use. If not, outputs might look nice, but there’s a mess lurking under the surface: unclear value proposition, no target audience, mismatched tone, disconnected customer journey. 

What I’ve Learned: Before You Layer on Gen AI, Fix These First

If you’re even thinking about weaving AI into your marketing programs (and you should be thinking about it!), start by taking a hard look at your fundamentals. Here’s where it usually goes wrong:

First, messaging and positioning. Ask yourself: Can every single person on your marketing team tell you, in plain language, who you are, who you serve, and why it matters? If not, tools like AI content generators or ad optimizers aren’t going to magically fill in the blanks. You’ll just end up with more content. And most of it will be unclear or misaligned with your corporate narrative.

Second, data. AI feeds on data. If your CRM is messy, if your segmentation is based on gut feeling instead of facts, or if your analytics are a patchwork of half-set-up dashboards, AI is going to happily pull from that confusion and amplify it. The old adage ‘garbage in, garbage out’ rings especially true here, and is amplified with gen AI. 

Third, strategy. AI can crank out content faster than any human, but if you don’t have a strong plan for who you’re talking to, what you want to say, and where you want to show up, you’re just filling the internet with more noise. Yes, there are some incredible tools, like Claude.ai, that can put together campaign plans for you. And other tools like Jasper.ai that can create complete stacks of content for you. But you still have to guide it, providing inputs and guardrails, to ensure the output actually drives the results you want. Quantity without strategy just burns time and money.

And finally, understanding your customer journey. If you can't map out how your buyers discover you, engage with you, and stick around, how are you going to automate or personalize their experiences? AI needs a clear roadmap to follow, and right now, for many companies, that map is more like a sketch on the back of a napkin. On the bright side, tools like Perplexity.ai can help with this research. Pairing it with customer, partner and analyst insights can make your strategy very robust. 

Here’s the encouraging part: fixing these fundamentals doesn’t have to be about fancy technology. It’s about rolling up your sleeves. It’s about slowing down just enough to lay the right foundation (and ensuring your team is all up to speed), so that when you press down on the accelerator later, with AI, with automation, with whatever comes next, you’re scaling something that's truly worth scaling. The companies that are getting real, measurable wins with AI aren't the ones who threw a bunch of tools into the mix and crossed their fingers. They’re the ones who first built clear, consistent messaging. Who invested in clean, usable data. Who crafted thoughtful strategies. And who aligned their teams around what they were actually trying to achieve.

The real ‘magic’ doesn’t come from the tools. It comes from the people, the processes, and the principles you put in place long before the first AI model ever spins up a campaign.