The time for the curious and practical marketer

They're the ones who are both practical and curious. That combination is where real impact lives.

Practicality is the new productivity

Generative AI can write, create images, and videos; translate, summarise, animate, repurpose, suggest, and localise. But using it effectively isn't just about knowing the tools. It's about thinking and doing things practically:

• What work do we no longer need to do manually?
• What can we automate now to improve quality today?
• How can we restructure our approach to utilise time more effectively and enhance the quality of our outcomes?

A practical marketer isn't caught up in hype—they're focused on outcomes. They don't adopt tools for their own sake. They experiment fast, cut what doesn't work, and double down on what does.

For example:

• Instead of waiting for a designer, they mock up ads in minutes using AI.
• Instead of pushing the content calendar uphill, they let AI draft a first version and focused their energy on sharpening the message.
• Instead of waiting for a workshop summary, they use AI to pull insights immediately and start acting on them.

Curiosity turns tools into ideas

Practicality is what keeps things moving. Curiosity is what keeps things evolving.

Curious marketers ask different questions:

• What's a better way to explain this?
• What would our customers find helpful here?
• How far can we stretch this campaign idea?

They explore AI not as a shortcut but as a playground. They experiment with prompts, reimagine formats, and envision possibilities beyond limitations. Perhaps most importantly, they remain uncomfortable in a good way because they know that today's best practices might become tomorrow's bottlenecks.

How does it show up in real work?

Curious and practical marketers don't talk endlessly about strategy—they ship. Here's what that looks like:

• A marketer at a B2B company utilises AI to transform a single case study into 12 pieces of high-quality content, each tailored for sales, social media, and SEO, within a couple of hours.
• A product marketing team at a B2B company uses voice cloning and AI-generated visuals to test video formats without booking a studio, saving weeks.
• A global marketing team creates a localisation workflow, where AI drafts the content in multiple languages and local teams review and refine it, increasing speed and quality.

These aren't future-state ideas. They're happening now.

So, where should you start?

If you're leading a marketing team, hiring for one, or just looking to stay relevant, start with these two questions:

1. Are we leveraging AI to accomplish more with less friction?
2. Are we still asking why, what if, and what's next?

The sweet spot is where action and exploration meet. You build momentum when you stop waiting for perfect conditions and start testing small. And when your curiosity stays active, so does your competitive edge.

The future can belong to you

The future belongs to the marketers who do two things well:

• They are making progress now.
• And they are always keeping learning.

The rest will follow.

To help you get started, download some of Zooma's generative AI exercises and challenges.