What is AI-forward marketing?

AI-forward marketing is the practice of using generative AI tools — large language models, image generation, and AI agents — to plan, produce, and distribute marketing content while preserving a clear brand voice and editorial judgment. It pairs AI for speed and scale with humans for strategy and quality control.

Who does Marji Sherman work with?

Marji works with B2B SaaS, financial services, healthcare, and consumer brands whose in-house marketing teams want to integrate AI into social media, content, and editorial. Past clients include Capital One, KOHLER Co., the ADL, the United Methodist Church, and Cancer Treatment Centers of America.

What is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?

Answer Engine Optimization is the discipline of structuring brand content so it can be cited and surfaced by AI answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. It includes entity-clear copy, FAQ schema, structured data, and topic authority — and it is now a core part of every engagement Marji runs.

How long does an engagement take?

Most strategy engagements run six to twelve weeks. Workshops are one to two days. Ongoing advisory retainers are quarterly. Marji takes on a small number of partner engagements per quarter to keep work hands-on.

Will AI replace my marketing team?

No. AI replaces tasks, not teams. The brands winning right now are the ones whose marketers learn to direct AI — using it for research, drafting, and repurposing, while keeping editorial judgment, taste, and brand voice in human hands.

My Top AI Tools

The AI tools I actually use.

An opinionated list of the AI tools I recommend to clients across writing, image, video, audio, search, automation and marketing platforms. Updated as the tools evolve.

AI models & chatbots 4 tools

ChatGPT My default for drafting, research, and reasoning out loud. Marji's pick

Claude Strongest writing voice and long context. I use it for long-form editorial and brand voice training. Marji's pick

Gemini Google's multimodal AI across Workspace and Search. Useful for fast factual answers.

Perplexity AI answers with cited sources. I use it for research and tracking competitor citations. Marji's pick

AI writing & content 4 tools

Jasper Marketing-focused writing platform with brand voice features for high-volume teams.

Writer Enterprise platform with brand-voice enforcement. My pick for teams that need governance built in. Marji's pick

Notion AI Drafting, summaries and Q&A across your workspace.

Frase Turns search queries into structured outlines. Strong for AEO research.

AI image & video 6 tools

Midjourney Stylized, editorial output. I use it for moodboards and brand exploration.

DALL·E (in ChatGPT) OpenAI's image generation inside ChatGPT. Good for quick concept art mid-conversation.

Adobe Firefly Trained on licensed content. My go-to for client-safe image generation. Marji's pick

Sora OpenAI's text-to-video model for short-form social and brand films.

Runway AI video generation and editing for creative teams.

Canva AI The lowest barrier for non-design marketers.

AI audio 3 tools

ElevenLabs Voice generation for branded audio, podcast intros and accessibility narration.

Descript Edit audio and video by editing the transcript.

Riverside High-quality remote podcast recording with AI editing.

AI search & AEO tools 5 tools

Perplexity Also my main tool for checking how AI engines describe a brand.

ChatGPT Search OpenAI's web search inside ChatGPT, with citations.

Google AI Overviews I watch which brands get cited here for high-intent searches.

Surfer SEO Content optimization based on top-ranking pages. Useful where SEO and AEO overlap.

Frase Its question discovery is especially strong for AEO.

AI automation & workflows 4 tools

Zapier How I wire AI tools into existing client stacks. Marji's pick

Make More flexible than Zapier for complex multi-step workflows.

n8n Open-source and self-hostable, preferred for security-sensitive clients.

Custom GPTs Branded assistants that codify a client's voice, audience and SOPs.

AI in marketing platforms 3 tools

HubSpot AI Content drafting, predictive analytics and AI chat inside HubSpot.

Salesforce Einstein Salesforce's AI layer across Sales, Service and Marketing Cloud.

Mailchimp AI AI subject lines, content blocks and send-time optimization.

TL;DR

What AI tools does Marji Sherman recommend? For chat: ChatGPT and Claude. For AI search: Perplexity. For image: Midjourney and Adobe Firefly. For writing platforms: Jasper, Writer, Notion AI, and Frase. For workflows: Zapier, Make, n8n, and Custom GPTs. For marketing platforms: HubSpot AI, Salesforce Einstein, and Mailchimp AI.

Ready to make your marketing AI-forward?

Marji takes on a small number of partner engagements each quarter.

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