Our recommended free online tools for understanding your customers, competitors and campaign, and how you should use them - across 8 marketing analysis activities
I've found that when running training courses, the tools I recommend to help marketers are always popular content, especially free tools...
There's a diverse mix of free tools available, particularly to support marketers gain insight to plan their campaigns, one of the enjoyable aspects of working in digital marketing today.
I originally created this list in 2012, but have kept it updated since it's popular and new tools are released, and some features become paid... Revisiting it, shows that many of the tools are well established, despite the many lists of essential Generative AI tools.
In this article, I'll cover 8 marketing analysis activities that hands-on digital marketers need to follow to optimize their reach activities, kicking off their RACE marketing strategy. There are 25+ links to alternative tools in…
Audit your marketing technology stack with the 6Cs to refine its capabilities and prove its return on investment
Do you know The Stackies? They're an informal contest arranged by Scott Brinker, creator of the Marketing Technology Vendor Landscape Supergraphic, where different companies visualize their marketing stacks in alternative ways to share their approaches. In 2025, Scott shared the latest MarTech stack entries, of which three are featured here, on LinkedIn.
They provide a quick, simple way to visualize the use of MarTech in your company to other businesses and get ideas on improvements. With the universal adoption of AI in businesses, the latest entries are interesting since they show alternative approaches to integrating AI into businesses, as shown in this example:
For me, part of the beauty of The Stackies, is that businesses have a free rein to present them in vastly, different ways…
Using GenAI RAG techniques to support marketing strategy development
Since I’ve been involved in digital marketing from when we used to call it Internet Marketing, I’ve always been keen to help businesses use a more strategic approach. I believe it’s essential since digital marketing is complex, and it’s vital that it’s aligned with marketing strategy and not just treated as tactical, as it often is. So, in my consulting, training, books and on Smart Insights, how to use a strategic approach to digital marketing has always been a big part of my recommendations.
The recent growth in adoption of GenAI has been fascinating for me, since although it can be used in a tactical way to support copywriting for digital channels, it has also been enthusiastically adopted for marketing and digital marketing strategy and planning as our research on digital marketing trends shows.
46% reported that they had already used AI for…
6 Trends and the latest practical innovations which will change marketing in the year(s) ahead
We all now know that Generative AI (Gen AI) has already made a huge impact on marketing and the wider world. Yet it will grow dramatically more in the future since, as we will see, many businesses have been surprisingly slow in adapting and adopting it. Plus there are some amazing innovations as we move towards AGI - Artificial General Intelligence where AI will possess the ability to understand, learn, and complete tasks at a level comparable to or exceeding that of a human being.
In this post, I'll cover trends covering both AI strategy and how the GenAI tools are developing.
Those of use who have enthusiastically adopted AI in our marketing have become used to the incredible ability of GenAI to create compelling copy, visuals and code when provided with sufficiently detailed prompts. However, we’re also…
From the obvious tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini to the less obvious like Perplexity, Pi, Poe and more!
As you'll know, 'GenAI' rose to prominence with the launch of ChatGPT from OpenAI in late 2022. Since then, many other less well-known tools have been released that have some advantages over ChatGPT, so should be considered by any 'AI-assisted marketer'.
In this article, I will recommend 10 plus tools to consider, looking in particular at how marketers can use them for writing marketing plans, such as annual marketing plans or campaign plans. We will also look at how many marketers are using generative AI for writing plans and caution against being overly dependant on AI for planning. To be the 'devil's advocate', I will ask should we be using these tools at all?!
How widely is generative AI and ChatGPT used in marketing?
ChatGPT has been widely adopted…
What are the most popular free and paid marketing writing assistant tools using generative AI for creating content?
2023 was a rare year in marketing, where the latest martech innovations we discuss crossed over into the mainstream. Of course, this has been prompted by the huge interest in ChatGPT, not only for marketing, but in many other applications.
For 'hands-on' marketers seeking to take advantage of the latest AI-based tools for generating content and copywriting, there are now quite a few options which I'll recommend at the end of the post.
In previous posts, I have reviewed how to use the free version of ChatGPT for marketing and covered the latest updates to ChatGPT relevant for marketers.
Smart Insights Business Members can also read more about how to start use ChatGPT collaboratively in our new Quick Win: How to use ChatGPT for marketing, covering AI marketing planning, strengths and weaknesses of…
Why agreeing on a policy for how AI is used in marketing is an essential part of the future marketing playbook for all businesses
ChatGPT has thrust Generative AI into prominence for marketers and many others whose activities involve content creation. Many have been ‘wowed’ by the power of this and similar tools for the speed of generating copy and content to save time. Yet time to produce content is only one part of effective content marketing. Without a policy for managing how AI is used by marketers within a business, we'll see that there are many risks that need to be controlled.
It reminds me of a similar situation to fifteen plus years ago when social media marketing was first widely adopted. As its use evolved, it was often used on an ad hoc basis in different parts of a business and often by junior marketers or interns without the oversight…
What AI-based tools and digital marketing techniques should businesses from small to large be considering?
I’ve been fortunate to be involved in digital marketing for over 25 years now. The opportunities presented by AI recently are the most exciting developments that I have seen in this time, since the early days, where everything from organic search, a website and email marketing seemed a similarly huge opportunity.
This range of projections of advancement in AI presented at Technology for Marketing by Implement AI highlights that we are at a relatively early stage of adoption of AI, with the biggest advancements yet to come recently hinted by the rapid adoption of ChatGPT.
In this post, I’ll summarize trends in real-world applications of AI and tools to consider in each of these categories of AI that are open to any business from small to large. Some of the…
Maximizing the potential of AI in email marketing with our human expertise
Picking a path through the ever-growing AI maze in email marketing is a challenge for today's digital marketers. While AI tools offer efficiency and support, relying solely on them risks producing mediocre results. In this blog I delve into the fascinating intersection of AI and email marketing, emphasizing the crucial role of human expertise in crafting engaging campaigns.
AI really helps, but your strategic thinking and long-term subscriber care remain vital to achieving email success. Let’s unlock the true potential of AI while maintaining the art and personal touch of effective email marketing.
How to use AI for marketing?
There is no doubt that using AI for email marketing will make the task more efficient. However, for all the same reasons that sending great emails is not easy, simply copying and pasting outputs is not the…
