In this week’s episode of the Futurecraft Marketing podcast, hosts Ken Roden and Erin Mills interview guest Lara Shackelford, a prominent AI strategist and thought leader, about moving beyond use case frenzy and getting strategic with AI-first and focused strategies. Throughout the discussion, they explore the nuances of implementing AI in marketing beyond basic use cases.

00:00 Introduction and Podcast Disclaimer

00:27 Meet Your Hosts: Ken and Erin

00:52 Exploring AI in Marketing

03:14 Guest Introduction: Lara Shackelford

03:42 Diving into AI Strategies with Lara

07:54 The Future of AI in Marketing

16:29 Frameworks for AI Integration

22:39 Creating Effective Focus Groups with AI

23:26 Hyper-Personalization in Customer Experience

24:18 Challenges and Innovations in Telecom Marketing

28:16 Global Economic Trends and AI Strategies

30:52 The Future of Work: Project-Based Engagements

35:01 Measuring ROI in AI-Driven Marketing

41:44 Practical AI Tips and Tools for Marketers

46:21 Reviewing Canva's AI-Powered Features

48:52 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

• AI Integration Strategy: Lara Shackelford emphasizes the significance of AI literacy across all organizational levels and the dual exploratory and exploitative approach to integrating AI in business processes.
• Customer Experience: Hyper-personalization through AI-driven contextual marketing can significantly enhance customer experience, moving beyond ‘creepy’ personalization to more welcomed and relevant interactions.
• AI-First vs. AI-Enabled: The nuanced differences between AI-first and AI-enabled go-to-market strategies and their implications for crafting robust marketing plans are the subject of a pivotal discussion.
• Dynamic Project-Based Work: The potential shift towards project-based engagements and dynamic work structures facilitated by AI could redefine traditional employer-employee relationships, offering more flexibility and efficiency.
• Future AI Trends: Lara forecasts further advancements in real-time, dynamically adjusting marketing messages and the pivotal role of sophisticated data utilizalization

Lara Shackelford is an influential thought leader and executive in AI and marketing. Currently heading Fieri AI, a company that emphasizes building trust between businesses and customers through AI, Lara has a diverse professional background with roles at major tech companies such as Intel, Oracle, and Microsoft. She has also contributed significantly to startups like Datastax and Looker. Recognized as a LinkedIn top voice in AI, Lara strongly advocates diversity in tech and has been lauded for her innovative approach to integrating AI into marketing strategies to boost customer satisfaction and operational excellence.

• “One of the biggest parts is focus groups. We spent a couple hundred thousand dollars on focus groups that took months... In the end, GenAI comes out and I just posed the question... and it gave me back the term we chose.” - Lara Shackelford
• “We can be more responsive to markets today and look at things like dynamic pricing and offers... AI can feed into our sales process, our proposal creation, and more.” - Lara Shackelford
• “If you can change and adjust your message in real-time, and that can then dynamically change the message on your website... marketing is going to get the real lift.” - Lara Shackelford
• “Companies are demonstrating already... with layoffs showing an emerging gig economy where scaling up and down is becoming normalized.” - Lara Shackelford

• LinkedIn - Lara Shackelford
• Fieri AI Website
• Paul Roetzer
• Ethan Mollick

Stay tuned for more insightful episodes from the Futurecraft Marketing podcast, where we continue to explore the evolving intersection of AI and marketing. Take advantage of the full episode for in-depth discussions and much more!

To listen to the full episode and stay updated on future episodes, visit the FutureCraft Marketing Podcast website.

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered advice. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are our own and do not represent those of any company or business we currently work for/with or have worked for/with in the past.

Music: Far Away - MK2