AI Marketing

Mark Fidelman and Eugene Vyborov discuss the differences between traditional automation and agentic AI in marketing. Eugene, founder of Ability AI, explains that agentic AI can make decisions and execute them, unlike traditional automation, which is rule-based.

Ability AI's media buying agent simulates a media buyer's work, understanding audiences, creating value propositions, and launching campaigns on Facebook. Eugene highlights that agentic AI is a paradigm shift, with potential for significant efficiency gains.

He advises marketers to learn about AI to stay competitive and suggests testing AI for competitive intelligence. Ability AI's media buying agent is in beta, with general availability soon.

Introduction and Guest Introduction

• Mark Fidelman introduces the topic of the discussion, focusing on the differences between traditional automation and agentic AI in marketing.
• Mark Fidelman introduces Eugene Vyborov, a serial entrepreneur and founder of Ability AI, who is currently in Portugal.
• Eugene Vyborov provides a brief introduction about himself and his company, Ability AI, which focuses on AI automation for marketing, particularly media buying with Facebook.
• Eugene Vyborov explains his interest in agentic AI and entrepreneurship, highlighting his expertise in this area.

Differences Between Traditional Automation and Agentic Automation

• Eugene Vyborov explains that traditional automation is rule-based and lacks intelligence, while agentic automation can make decisions and execute them.
• Agentic automation can analyze information, make judgments, and take actions to achieve better results.
• Eugene Vyborov emphasizes the importance of content creation in marketing and how agentic automation can create content at scale.
• Mark Fidelman asks for clarification on the term "agentic," and Eugene explains that an agent can be proactive or follow instructions, depending on the business use case.

Paradigm Shift in Marketing Automation

• Eugene Vyborov believes that agentic automation represents a full paradigm shift, larger than the introduction of the internet.
• Mark Fidelman shares a statistic from a previous episode where only 10% of marketers were using ChatGPT a year ago.
• Mark Fidelman and Eugene discuss how agentic automation can make marketing more relevant and directed to individuals in real-time.
• Eugene Vyborov provides examples of how agentic automation is already being used in media buying, SEO, and cold emailing.

Case Studies and Practical Examples

• Eugene shares that his own marketing for Ability AI is run by their agent, which books demos at a decent cost.
• Mark Fidelman provides an example of how agentic automation could personalize emails in real-time based on information found on the internet.
• Eugene discusses how agentic automation can create SEO-optimized content at scale, leading to significant traffic for websites.
• Eugene explains how their media buying agent works, from understanding the audience to launching and optimizing campaigns on Facebook.

Autonomy and Trust in AI Agents

• Mark Fidelman asks about the level of autonomy marketers should allow their AI agents to have.
• Eugene explains that currently, the level of autonomy is relatively low due to the need for trust and the risk of mistakes.
• Eugene believes that over time, agents will become more autonomous and take over more decision-making responsibilities.
• Mark Fidelman and Eugene discuss the performance metrics and KPIs used to judge agentic automation, such as return on ad spend and CPC.

Technical Stack and Market Trends

• Eugene  explains that there is no single tech stack for agentic automation, with various solutions available.
• Eugene  mentions generic solutions like Make and Natin that can help build agentic workflows.
• Mark Fidelman asks about the biggest objections or misconceptions marketers have about agentic automation.
• Eugene  identifies mistrust, desire to control, and fear of replacement as major concerns among marketers.

Future of Marketing with Agentic Automation

• Eugene  believes that agentic automation will introduce more opportunities than it will take away, leading to a fragmented market with more solopreneurs and small teams.
• Mark Fidelman and Eugene discuss the potential impact of AGI on marketing and the importance of marketers learning to work with AI.
• Mark Fidelman suggests a use case for marketers to test: having an agent constantly scour the internet for competitive moves.
• Eugene advises marketers to spend time learning about and working with agentic systems to stay ahead of the curve.

Rapid Fire Questions and Closing Remarks

• Eugene  identifies ChatGPT as the most overhyped AI tool, as it may limit exploration of other AI capabilities.
• Eugene Vibraf suggests that the role of go-to-market engineer will become more important in the future.
• Eugene believes that while AI can handle basic strategy, humans will still be needed to approve and commit to the strategy.
• Eugene  expresses concern about the uncertainty and potential misuse of agentic AI, emphasizing the need for control.

Contact Information and Final Thoughts

• Eugene  provides information about Ability AI and their media buying agent for Meta.
• Mark Fidelman shares his contact information and encourages listeners to reach out to Eugene and test Ability AI's products.
• Mark Fidelman concludes by emphasizing the importance of agentic automation in marketing and the potential it has to revolutionize the industry.

Mark Fidelman and Chris Andrew discuss the shift from traditional SEO to AI-driven search. Chris, co-founder and CEO of Scrunch AI, emphasizes that AI search is becoming more prevalent, offering personalized and less biased answers.

He highlights the importance of optimizing for AI models by focusing on text-based content and understanding customer personas. Chris notes that AI search is driving significant conversion rates, often outperforming traditional SEO.

Scrunch AI helps businesses monitor and improve their AI search presence, with an average 40% growth in AI referral traffic. They also discuss the potential for AI to introduce new ad formats and the need for marketers to adapt to these changes.

Introduction and Participant Backgrounds

• Mark Fidelman introduces the topic of AI marketing and expresses his preference for AI search over traditional SEO.
• Chris Andrew introduces himself as the co-founder and CEO of Scrunch AI, emphasizing the shift towards AI-first customer journeys.
• Mark Fidelman shares his personal experience of using AI for searches, noting the custom and direct answers provided by AI.
• Chris Andrew mentions his favorite AI tools for marketing and sales, including Google's LM product, Granola note-taking app, and various GPT models.

The Shift from Traditional Search to AI Search

• Chris Andrew explains why he believes search will be replaced by AI, highlighting the simplicity and personalization AI offers.
• He discusses the limitations of traditional browsing and the advantages of AI in providing direct answers and understanding user intent.
• Chris Andrew shares his personal experience of relying on AI for research and how it has changed his customer journey.
• He emphasizes that AI is better for humans as it provides less biased and more accurate information.

Impact of AI on SEO and Customer Journey

• Chris Andrew clarifies that SEO is not dead but has evolved with AI, which now evaluates content based on human intent.
• He explains the importance of text-based content like FAQs, knowledge bases, and glossaries for optimizing AI models.
• Chris Andrew discusses the role of large language models in evaluating content and the need for organizations to bring new data sets online.
• He highlights the importance of understanding customer personas and how AI can provide personalized results based on user background and sophistication.

Optimizing for AI Models and Privacy Considerations

• Chris Andrew explains how AI models rely on traditional search indices to determine credibility and relevance.
• He discusses the role of Google's index and the introduction of OpenAI's own index in the AI search landscape.
• Chris Andrew emphasizes the need for organizations to bring up-to-date and relevant data sets online to improve their AI presence.
• He addresses privacy concerns by focusing on non-confidential internal data sets that can enrich AI models' understanding of brands and products.

The Role of AI in Customer Journey Mapping

• Chris Andrew discusses the importance of understanding customer personas and how AI can provide personalized results based on user background.
• He shares examples of how AI models can cater to different user needs, such as high-end fashion shoppers versus budget-conscious consumers.
• Chris Andrew highlights the potential for AI to create deeply personalized experiences and the need for organizations to map their customer journeys accordingly.
• He mentions his participation in a panel on neurodiversity in AI, which explores how models can help people with different thinking styles.

Marketing Strategies for AI-First Customer Journeys

• Chris Andrew advises marketers to monitor and understand AI search trends, including the frequency of AI agent visits to their websites.
• He emphasizes the importance of tracking referral visits, conversion rates, and citations in AI search results.
• Chris Andrew suggests that marketers should focus on providing content that aligns with AI models' language-based processing.
• He highlights the need for organizations to adapt their content strategies to cater to AI models and improve their AI presence.

Introduction of Scrunch AI and Its Value Proposition

• Chris Andrew introduces Scrunch AI, a platform that helps organizations optimize for AI-first customer journeys.
• He explains how Scrunch AI provides deep monitoring, insights, and recommendations to improve AI presence.
• Chris Andrew shares that Scrunch AI's average customer sees a 40% growth in AI referral traffic and a 3-4x improvement in overall AI presence.
• He encourages marketers to book a meeting with Scrunch AI to understand their AI search performance and receive actionable recommendations.

Final Thoughts and Future Trends

• Mark Fidelman and Chris Andrew discuss the potential for AI models to introduce ads and the importance of maintaining neutrality.
• Chris Andrew shares his thoughts on the future of AI search, including the potential for micro-transactions for referral visits.
• Mark Fidelman emphasizes the need for marketers to start thinking about AI optimization and the potential impact on customer journeys.
• Chris Andrew concludes by expressing his excitement about the future of AI in marketing and the importance of understanding and adapting to AI search trends.