Supercharging Your AI-Powered GTM Strategy with Automation

I get asked a lot about how to really operationalize AI into the business systems. By now, most of us recognize the power of Generative AI (GenAI) to transform our business operations. Whether it’s research, ideation, writing, or analysis, the speed and efficiency gains from GenAI tools are undeniable. However, after getting a good sense of how these tools work, there’s an even bigger opportunity ahead: combining Generative AI with automation.

As we look to the future, the potential to supercharge these AI-driven efficiencies with automation tools like Zapier, Clay, or n8n is immense. This isn’t about replacing the human touch; it’s about accelerating processes and freeing up time for higher-value work. For go-to-market (GTM) strategies, the real magic happens when we strategically pair GenAI with automation—allowing us to take everyday tasks and make them faster and smarter, all while keeping humans in the loop for oversight and strategic decision-making.

Here’s how I've heard people (or have myself) leverage AI-automation combos to level up productivity:

Automating Routine Research: Templates for Faster Insights

Imagine this scenario: before every event, your team conducts extensive research on attendees or companies. What if you could build a repeatable template that taps into GenAI and automation to do that work for you? Using Clay, for example, you could load a template that scans company websites, social profiles, and recent news to gather insights. It then compiles this information into a Google Doc, ready for review. This system does in minutes what used to take hours, and your team still has the final say on insights and actions.

Personalization at Scale: Data-Driven Email Drips

Take email marketing a step further by pairing GenAI and automation to not only craft email sequences but also personalize them using real-time research. As you generate base email drips, automation tools can integrate your CRM data, event research, or client personas—pulling relevant data for each recipient. The end result? Personalized, targeted outreach that’s already gone through several layers of automation, freeing up time for your marketing team to focus on optimizing content rather than executing repetitive tasks.

Automated Content Creation with Built-In Style Guides

In content creation, consistency and quality are everything. What if every time you began a project, GenAI could automatically reference your client’s style guide, personas, and brand voice—and then create a draft that meets your specifications? By setting up automations that gather these inputs (e.g., pulling data into a Google Doc) and sending them to the relevant stakeholders, you can streamline the process. Automation ensures your team is operating efficiently without sacrificing quality or brand integrity.

Research-to-Execution Pipelines: Streamlining Knowledge Transfer

One of the biggest bottlenecks in GTM strategies is research transfer—moving insights from research teams to execution teams. By building automated workflows, you can ensure that research is seamlessly integrated into sales decks, pitch materials, or marketing campaigns via the CRM. Imagine the time saved when every piece of valuable information you’ve gathered is already formatted and delivered to the right teams without a single email or manual handoff.

How to Get Started: Simple Steps to Automate with Generative AI

If you’re ready to harness the combined power of Generative AI and automation but aren’t sure where to begin, here are some ideas to help you get started:

1. Identify Repetitive, Time-Consuming Tasks Start by auditing your team’s workflows. Which tasks are repetitive and manual, like data entry, research, or email personalization? These are prime candidates for automation.

Example: If your team manually researches event attendees or prospects, automate that process by using a tool like Clay or n8n to gather company insights or LinkedIn profiles.

2. Choose the Right Automation Tools There are many automation tools out there, but the best ones will integrate well with your current tech stack. Zapier, for instance, is a great place to start because it connects with thousands of apps like Google Sheets, CRMs, and email platforms. Clay is excellent for enriching data, while n8n offers powerful customization options for more complex workflows.

Tip: Start small by automating one or two simple workflows to get comfortable with the tool.

3. Pair Automation with Generative AI Engines Combine AI tools like ChatGPT with automation platforms to supercharge your workflows. For example, use AI to generate text, then automate the process of adding that text to Google Docs or sending it to a project management system like Asana or Trello or even Slack.

Example: Set up a workflow where a research query in ChatGPT generates company descriptions and sends them directly to a Google Doc, email, or Slack.

4. Create Templates for Repeatable Processes You don’t need to start from scratch every time. Build templates for tasks you repeat often, like sales outreach, research briefs, or email marketing sequences. Once these templates are in place, automation can handle the execution, while AI adds the customization.

Example: A style guide or content brief template that automatically pulls in relevant data—like customer personas or past campaigns—into your content writing process which helps ensure that your content sounds like your organization.

5. Keep Humans in the Loop Automating processes doesn’t mean removing people entirely. Always include a review step to ensure quality control, especially for external-facing content. This is where the human touch makes sure the AI-generated or automated content aligns with your brand’s standards.

Example: Automate the draft generation process for email campaigns, but route the final draft to a team member for review and edits. Don't forget to feed that back to your AI prompts so that your digital partner continues to get smarter.

6. Iterate and Optimize Once you’ve started automating tasks, regularly evaluate what’s working and what’s not. Look for new areas to automate or refine your processes. Automation and AI are evolving fast, so staying curious and open to new approaches will keep your business ahead of the curve.

Example: As you refine workflows, you might find that adding another AI model or different data sources can further streamline processes.

The Real Value Lies in Automation

Generative AI is already helping teams move faster, but pairing it with automation pushes those gains even further. It’s not just about speeding up individual tasks; it’s about creating seamless systems where those tasks flow into each other effortlessly.

For leaders and practitioners looking to maximize productivity, the key takeaway is this: the real power of AI lies in how well you can automate the repetitive tasks that consume time, allowing your team to focus on the creative and strategic work that drives growth.

By building these systems now, you’re setting up your organization to scale faster and operate smarter in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. Test, test, test! Find the edges of what's possible in both GenAI and automation. And when new models or tools come out, try those, too. This is a whole new world and the possibilities feel endless and new updates are coming daily!

References

Check out the Tools section at https://smarterx.ai/ and plug in jobs or campaigns to see what associated tasks are ripe for automation. This can be a checklist for what to automate in your organization but also to help our teams re-skill for our new realities. At this point, we are only limited by our imaginations.

Clay has some great resources and templates to get you started: https://www.clay.com/use-cases/ai

Zapier also has some interesting tools and a course: https://community.zapier.com/p/ai

Watch this space as agents are launched, which is GenAI with automation. Hubspot and Salesforce had big announcements in the last month and these tools will only get better with time! If they don't work for you now, try again in a few months... they are getting better fast.