Thinking about integrating AI into your marketing mix but worried it’ll suck the soul out of your campaigns? Or maybe you’ve already tried a few tools but the content feels robotic? This blog is for you.
Let’s face it: Using only AI for your marketing is like giving someone a chef’s knife and ingredients, then expecting a gourmet meal. You need a balance if you want content that connects, converts, and still feels human.
Here’s how the team here at Hey mixes AI tools into our workflow, while keeping our human creativity alive and authentic:
Use AI For The Grunt Work, Not The Heart
AI is amazing for repetitive or time‑consuming tasks: automation, first drafts, research, or data crunching. But it can’t feel the brand vibe or write with empathy. We let AI do the heavy lifting so we can focus on the storytelling, strategy, and nuance that machines just can’t nail.
Start With A Human-Led Creative Brief
Every project begins with a human vision. We outline objectives, time frames, tone of voice, audience, and key messaging before AI enters the picture. AI can then generate variations, suggest angles, or draft copy for us to tweak - but it’s never the one deciding the strategy or putting together the finished product.
Make Collaboration Tangible
We use tools like ChatGPT for copy inspiration, Meta for Ad headlines & CTA options, and Canva’s AI features for basic enhancements our Graphic Designers could do with their eyes shut. But every output gets a human review and final magic touch - sometimes it’s a word change, or sometimes retouching a design manually.
Keep Your Voice Authentic
AI can mimic tone, but it can’t truly understand culture, context, or inside jokes. We preserve authenticity by adding human stories, examples, facts & brand personality after AI drafts the content. A blog, social post, or email can only convert best when the human touch is visible.
Experiment, Measure, Adjust
Some AI-generated ideas work brilliantly, some flop. Track performance like you would with human-created content. Test subject lines, captions, visuals, or post formats and iterate based on results. AI speeds up the testing process but humans still make the strategic calls.
Encourage Creativity, Not Complacency
The danger is relying too much on AI and letting creativity stagnate. The magic in our strategy or brainstorming sessions still comes from bouncing ideas off of one another. Our team shares ideas, inspirations & variations on our previous success stories that AI could never come up with. Then we can loop AI in to expand or refine further, and choose whether to take that further towards the finish line or not.
Takeaway? AI & Human Creativity Are Best Friends, Not Rivals
The sweet spot is clear: use AI to remove friction, free up time, and explore possibilities - but keep humans at the core. That’s how marketing feels authentic, sparks connection, and keeps campaigns interesting. Balance is everything, and the right mix of tools can make your team as efficient as possible, freeing up more time to do what they do best.
Need a strategy & some training? We’ve got you!
Let’s start a conversation around what your brand really needs and get strategic together.
About the Author of this blog:
Adam McGhee
Adam is a detail oriented creative fresh from the UK. With almost 5 years' experience working within fashion & retail marketing over in London, Adam has previously collaborated with some of the biggest brands in Europe working on all things copywriting, campaign execution, organic social management, paid advertising, global launch activations, email flows, affiliate marketing, e-commerce merchandising & more.
