Working a advertising and marketing company used to imply juggling a small military of freelancers, risking neglected points in time, and spending extra time managing other people than developing content material and development methods.
That’s how Barbara Jovanovic of Startup Cookie used to function.
She’s now constructed a streamlined operation that generates six figures yearly with a tech stack that prices not up to one grand a 12 months. There’s no staff in the back of her — simply Jovanovic, her AI gear, and a procedure that turns one hour-long dialog into weeks of top quality content material.
Here is precisely how she did it — and the way you’ll reflect her good fortune, whether or not you’re an aspiring solopreneur or simply need concepts on streamlining your workflows with AI.
Desk of Contents
- 6 Pointers for Working a Advertising Company with AI Equipment
- The way to Maximize Your Sources with AI
- 8 Most sensible Startup AI Equipment for Content material Advent
6 Pointers for Working a Advertising Company with AI Equipment
1. By no means get started with a clean web page — context is the entirety.
“We by no means get started with simply prompting AI on its own to do anything else, even the most simple social media submit. We at all times have one thing first of all,” says Jovanovic.
In her view, the largest mistake other people make after they use AI for content material introduction is looking it to jot down about a subject from scratch.
Jovanovic’s secret weapon? She begins with human interactions.
That may imply feeding the AI transcripts from webinar transcripts or podcast recordings. Her co-founder, Sam Claassen, does hour-long interviews with founders, and the ones transcripts additionally get fed to the AI.
In an international the place authenticity is paramount to your advertising and marketing methods, giving AI one thing human to paintings with can set you up for good fortune.
2. Communicate in your AI, do not sort.
I hate speaking to AI as a result of I have a tendency to ramble — however Jovanovic says that might in fact paintings to my merit.
She hardly sorts activates into ChatGPT, as an alternative the usage of an AI-powered voice-to-text software referred to as Tremendous Whisper. Talking naturally provides context and nuance that quick, typed activates leave out. And Jovanovic says that the consequences are “infinitely higher.”
If you end up speaking, you naturally supply extra background, clarify your pondering — or in my case, over clarify — and provides the AI the wealthy context it wishes to provide top quality effects.
3. Use tasks to scale your individual emblem voice.
ChatGPT‘s Tasks characteristic isn’t only a neat group software — additionally it is Jovanovic’s scaling secret. For every consumer, she creates tasks loaded with:
- Writing taste samples from their favourite authors
- Corporate data and product main points
- Logo voice pointers
- Examples of licensed content material
This implies each and every piece of content material has the correct tone and context, with no need to re-explain the logo with each and every unmarried suggested.
I examined this myself by means of asking ChatGPT to jot down a weblog submit about advertising and marketing marketing campaign methods the usage of cat puns. Right here’s an excerpt:
Then I created an abbreviated model of a customized GPT for an imaginary corporate owned by means of my cat, Teddy Crumpets. I used this very article for instance of licensed content material, gave it some details about this fictional corporate, and inspired it to make use of cat-related puns and wordplay.
As a result of I simplest gave it one licensed piece of content material, it borrowed lovely closely from it, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a long way higher than the generic instance — it’s extra explicit, has a greater voice, or even the cat puns are higher.
It additionally picked up on the truth that HubSpot taste is to position areas round em-dashes; within the generic instance above, there are not any areas round them.
4. Be imply in your AI (it may possibly take care of it).
You could have heard exhortations to be well mannered to AI by means of at all times the usage of “please” and “thanks.”
Jovanovic’s recommendation doesn’t essentially contradict that, however she cautions in opposition to being too well mannered. Her activates come with “DON’T BE CRINGE” and “DON’T BE CLICHÉ” — and sure, she places them in all caps — and he or she offers the AI a working listing of banned phrases (like “ensure that,” a phrase I may additionally stand to prohibit from my writing, if we’re being truthful).
This bluntness and specificity separates the wheat from the chaff. If you happen to’ve ever used AI for content material introduction, you could have been pissed off on the quantity of generic corporatespeak it spat out.
“Be extra explicit” is one of the most very best writing recommendation I give human writers, and it stands to explanation why that it will additionally beef up AI writing.
5. Extract first, create 2nd.
Jovanovic’s workflow is methodical: First, she asks AI to extract all insightful subjects from a dialog; say, a founder interview.
Then she critiques that listing seriously — would she in fact learn this content material? Most effective after figuring out insights that make her need to click on does she transfer to introduction mode.
“You must be provide and suppose seriously. Does this sound fascinating? If now not, let’s transfer directly to the following one,” she says.
6. Automate your marketplace intelligence.
As an alternative of doomscrolling X or LinkedIn for business information, Jovnanovic arrange ChatGPT duties that ship morning briefings on fintech and healthtech trends.
Those briefings stay her knowledgeable with out the psychological well being price of social media dependancy.
That’s nice recommendation basically, whether or not you’re working a zero-employee advertising and marketing company or simply seeking to steer clear of mattress rotting.
The way to Maximize Your Sources with AI
A $100K+ Startup Workforce
The listing of contractors Jovanovic would wish to rent is not insignificant for a small startup:
- 5 content material writers
- search engine optimization copywriter
- Video editor
- Audio editor
- Advertising clothier
- Knowledge analyst
- Undertaking supervisor (herself)
General annual price: Over $100,000, plus time spent on administrative duties like managing contracts and coordinating deliverables.
The Sub-$1K AI Stack She Makes use of
Her complete operation now runs on:
- ChatGPT (loose, $20, and $200/month choices) and Claude (loose, $17, and $100/month choices) for content material introduction
- Granola for assembly transcripts and chat (loose and $18/month choices)
- Riverside for video recording (loose, $15, and $24/month choices)
- Midjourney for design (plan choices vary from $10 to $120/month)
- Descript for video enhancing ($16, $24, or $50/month)
- Tremendous Whisper for voice-to-text (loose and $8.49/month choices)
- OpenAI API get entry to (varies, the usage of a token-based machine)
General annual price: Lower than $1,000.
The Potency Multiplier
The true win isn‘t simply price — it’s pace and iteration. Sooner than AI, checking out a brand new content material channel intended a two-month lag between concept and execution. Now Jovanovic can pass from inspiration to revealed content material in hours, now not weeks.
“You get that power, you get an concept, and also you‘re like, ‘Oh my God, let’s see how that plays.’ After which whilst you in fact delegate, it is two months after that you are in fact checking out it.”
8 Most sensible Startup AI Equipment for Content material Advent
1. ChatGPT Tasks
The root of Jovanovic’s scaling technique. Create separate tasks for every consumer or content material sort, load them with context paperwork, and handle constant emblem voice throughout all outputs.
2. Tremendous Whisper (voice-to-text)
Jovanovic’s secret for higher activates. Talking naturally to AI supplies richer context than typing, resulting in much better effects.
3. Granola (assembly intelligence)
Data and transcribes conferences, then means that you can chat with the transcript. Best possible for extracting insights from consumer calls or founder interviews with out guide note-taking.
4. Claude (AI writing assistant)
Jovanovic cross-references her ChatGPT outputs with Claude for high quality keep an eye on and to get other views at the similar content material.
5. Riverside (video recording)
High quality video recording for the ones an important founder interviews that develop into the supply subject material for weeks of content material.
6. Midjourney (visible design)
Handles all graphic design wishes with out hiring designers or finding out complicated instrument.
7. Descript (video/audio enhancing)
Simplifies video and audio enhancing with AI-powered options, making it obtainable for non-technical customers.
8. OpenAI API (complicated integration)
For customized workflows and integration with different gear — like the information visualization software certainly one of Jovanovic’s shoppers constructed that shall we non-technical customers question datasets conversationally.
The Backside Line
If you happen to’re desirous about beginning your personal low cost advertising and marketing company, weigh the desire for human contractors in opposition to AI’s present functions. (And naturally, you at all times need to double-check any AI’s paintings to stop mistakes and hallucinations.)
Or when you’re simply new to AI and need to understand how it may possibly lend a hand streamline your advertising and marketing workflows, take a web page from Jovanovic’s e-book — I do know that much more of my AI activates are going to incorporate “DON’T BE CRINGE.”
