Issue #43: AI tutorials, best AI for research, insane “human-like” voice, easy data analysis

Good morning.

“At what point does a novice who is willing to use AI start to overtake an expert who resists?”

I’ve heard this question a million times (and read it online maybe ten more million times).

Everyone’s wondering how AI will displace or replace what they’re doing. Some lean into fear and claim your job is toast in months. Others say it’s more likely that people using AI will replace you. And so on.

New research from Harvard Business School suggests the gap between novices and experts may be closing faster than anyone expected—all thanks to AI.

The study found that even lower-performing individuals saw major boosts in quality and speed when integrating AI into their workflow.

We just might be reaching a tipping point where novices armed with the right tools could rapidly catch up to, and even surpass, seasoned veterans.

Who knows? Does it matter? I’m not sure it does.

You should just focus on your work and how AI can be a perfect assistant for everything you’re doing.

So, let's explore the practical AI-powered resources that can help you become an expert in your field, faster than ever before.

From AI research assistants to data storytelling platforms, we'll uncover the tools to turn you into a marketing genius—no matter your current skill level.

So strap in, because the novice-to-expert pipeline is about to get a whole lot shorter.

Let’s get into it.

—Sam

IN TODAY’S ISSUE 👨‍🚀 

• Consensus: ​​Creative Breakthroughs with AI-Powered Research 

• Practical AI Hacks: Streamline Your Workflow, Boost Productivity

• Bland AI: Elevate Customer Conversations with Human-Like Dialogue

• Narrative BI: Translate Your Data Into Useful Insights

Let’s dive in.

Consensus: Fill Your Knowledge Gap, Quickly

Remember last week's issue where we discussed research tools to shorten the knowledge curve? 

Here's another one I’ve used for a while: Consensus.

This AI-driven research tool doesn’t just cite quality sources. It can help you uncover unexpected connections and perspectives.

Let's take a dense topic like memetic analysis and see what it can do.

I prompted Consensus with "how to use memetic analysis in marketing" and here's what it produced:

Not only did it give me a relevant summary of the four academic papers it analyzed, but it also provided a succinct narrative showing how this research directly applies to my specific query. 

That's the kind of contextual insight that can spark new ideas.

But Consensus didn’t stop there. It even suggested ways to improve my search, prompting me to try "Can memetic analysis enhance marketing strategies?"

So I did:

This time, Consensus provided contextually relevant ways to apply this research in specific areas of marketing. It's like having a research assistant who not only finds information but also helps you connect the dots.

Why does this matter? 

When you apply creativity and sound judgment to play in the AI sandbox, it can create instant ROI for you. 

We've seen how AI-powered research tools like Consensus can help fill knowledge gaps and uncover new creative angles. 

The true test, however, is how you apply those insights in your day-to-day work.

That's where resources like Ben's Bites come in handy. They bridge the gap between high-level concepts and practical execution, giving you actionable ways to leverage these AI insights.

Practical AI Hacks: Streamline Your Workflow, Boost Productivity

The difficulty in leveraging AI technology isn't about availability, it's about operationalization. 

You can find an AI tool to do nearly anything, especially in marketing, there's a stack for everything.

But are you going to use it?

Will it be easy for your team to implement?

Do you possess the willingness to add these things to your workflow and actually practice them to see if they move the needle for you?

That's the real difference between reading about yet another AI tool and putting it into play on the gameboard.

Ben's Bites has some practical tutorials that might help you put AI to work in your content creation process.

No fluff, no hype—just actionable steps to streamline your digital presence:

Scaling Content Creation with AI: Here, Ben shows you how to transform your team into a well-oiled content machine, leveraging AI to generate first drafts, optimize headlines, and even produce social media copy - all while freeing up your time to focus on higher-level strategy.

How to Build an AI Sales Assistant with Google Sheets & Slack: By combining the power of large language models with the tools you already use, Ben demonstrates how to create a virtual sales rep that can autonomously handle lead qualification, schedule meetings, and even draft personalized outreach - saving your team countless hours.

Easy and Effective Ways to Repurpose Content with AI: Ben reveals clever hacks for using AI to transform blog posts into videos, update old articles, and even generate new ideas from your past work.

Enjoy!

BLAND AI: Elevating the Art of Conversation

While many AI chatbots still feel like soulless automatons, Bland.ai is raising the bar for conversational AI.

From what I’ve seen, its capabilities are anything but bland.

I've encountered my fair share of "revolutionary" chatbots, but Bland’s demo really is a must-watch.

This isn't your average chatbot- it's a full-fledged dialogue engine that can engage in nuanced, human-like exchanges.

Bland leverages advanced natural language processing to have genuine conversations, not just parrot pre-written replies.

What sets Bland apart:

• It can truly understand context and intent, rather than simply matching keywords to pre-programmed responses

• It leverages advanced natural language processing to have genuine conversations

• It's not just parroting responses, but engaging in conversations that feel genuinely warm and human

The result is an AI assistant that feels warm, natural, and decidedly un-robotic.

For marketers, this opens up a world of possibilities:

• Scaling customer outreach and support without sacrificing the personal touch

• Elevating phone-based interactions, from lead generation to post-purchase follow-ups, with a conversational AI that actually understands the subtext of the exchange

The true test will be how it performs in real-world business scenarios.

If Bland can consistently deliver on its conversational prowess, it may just redefine what we expect from AI-powered customer engagement.

Uncover the Story in Your Data with Narrative BI

How many times have you stared at a spreadsheet, trying to divine some hidden meaning from the map of data points that define your business? 

With Narrative BI, those days are over.

It's like having a translator for the language of data.

And let's be real—in marketing, if you're not speaking data, you're not in the conversation.

Narrative BI is a tool I've been following and using for several months now, and it’s really good.

Narrative BI is like having a team of data scientists, business analysts, and oracles all rolled into one.

It takes your raw data—the stuff that usually makes your eyes glaze over—and turns it into actionable insights faster than you can say "ROI".

I log in to my account and see “data narratives” like these: 

You can either stare at charts and graphs (which is useful) and figure this out, one by one.

Or you can have Narrative formulate these “data narratives” for you, which brings instant context and insight into what’s happening.

Plus, you can “chat with your data” via their AI bot—and get help with deeper analysis.

This is one of the better AI data tools I’ve used, and I’ve tried thousands at this point.

It doesn't just tell you what happened. It tells you why it happened, what's likely to happen next, and what you should do about it.

It's like having a crystal ball, but one that's powered by cold, hard facts instead of feelings and intuition.

When you’re a founder, C-Suite executive, or anyone else in a decision-making role, insights are nothing unless you can take action on them to drive ROI. Narrative BI is an amazing thought partner in this regard.

The three most important heuristics around AI tools that I can give you right now are: 

1. What you gain in convenience, you lose in control.

The more you rely on 3rd party SaaS, apps, and tools to have work done for you, the less control you have over input (like prompts) and output. 

This is not a bad thing. It just means you must take into account how much control you need to get the job done. 

2. Your output is as good as the CONTEXT you provide.

Context are things like examples of what you’re looking for, knowledge files, criteria, information about your business, products/services, your avatar/persona, etc. 

You can have the simplest prompt in the world (“Write 10 new LinkedIn posts for me, based on the examples I’m giving you”) produce excellent output—only because you’ve provided good examples.

3. All AI tools are sequences of prompts and tasks. 

By all tools, I mean any Saas or Apps available, Bots, GTPs, Gems, AI Agents, AutoGPTs, Zapier, N8N, Make, and so on. 

All they do is execute a series of tasks, handled by prompts, in sequence.

Which means:

If you can describe and outline your job, you can automate it with AI.

Think about that for a minute. 

And then consider the implications.

Talk soon,
Sam Woods
The Editor