How to Use AI for Marketing, the Non-Obvious Way

A review of the new book from David Berkowitz titled "The Non-Obvious Guide to Using AI for Marketing."
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IN THIS ISSUE: A review of the book, “The Non-Obvious Guide to Using AI for Marketing” by David Berkowitz, a clear, practical resource for marketers trying to make sense of AI without getting lost in jargon or hype. Plus, why did Salesforce pay $8 billion for Informatica? Short answer: It’s the data.

The Prompt

Over a year ago, I spoke with David Berkowitz, founder of the AI Marketers Guild (AIMG), about how he’s helping marketers make sense of the fast-evolving AI landscape. At the time, he described generative AI as a kind of superpower for these professionals, a tool that could dramatically amplify their creativity and productivity. As a marketer, I was intrigued by his insights into the technology, so I was especially excited to see that he recently published a book on the topic.

Released in March, “The Non-Obvious Guide to Using AI for Marketing: How to Harness the Transformative Power of AI” is a handy guide for marketers of any level looking to jumpstart their AI journey. Spanning 175 pages, the book is free of technical jargon—there is a glossary at the end, if needed—but filled with actionable insights anyone can take to supplement their organization’s marketing initiatives. It doesn’t matter if you’re a freelancer, work in a small business, or are part of a corporate team; Berkowitz has written what might be the perennial introductory manual everyone should read before diving headfirst into AI.

There are 12 lessons covered in “The Non-Obvious Guide to Using AI for Marketing,” from assessing how prepared you are for AI and how to integrate the technology into your marketing strategy to identifying the right tools for the job, creating the optimal AI prompts, creating customer personas and personalization with AI, and measuring the success and ROI of AI-driven initiatives. But instead of lecturing readers about the technology, Berkowitz infuses each chapter with case studies and provides a summary of the key takeaways.

The result is a book that reads less like a textbook and more like a conversation with a trusted advisor, someone who has been experimenting, iterating, and learning alongside the rest of us. And Berkowitz truly has: AIMG isn’t just an online community group; it also functions as a consultancy, offering one-on-one interviews and workshops to companies. With this book, you’re essentially getting access to that same expertise, but at a fraction of the cost of a private consultation.

Will everything in “The Non-Obvious Guide to Using AI for Marketing” stand up to the test of time? It doesn’t appear so, as I’ve noticed at least one example already outdated. There’s a case study in Klarna’s embrace of AI for its customer service, only for the company to recently reverse course. Situations like this are hardly surprising, given the rapid pace of AI—what’s relevant today may be outdated in six months (or sooner). Unlike past technologies that remained stable for years, AI is evolving at breakneck speed. Case in point: One of the last sections in this book addresses AI agents, but in the two months since the book was published, the agentic era has experienced a surge in innovation.

Amid a flood of AI-related titles hitting the shelves, Berkowitz’s debut stands out for offering a fresh and practical perspective. It doesn’t dive deep into how a particular AI company was founded or approach it from a philosophical angle. Instead, “The Non-Obvious Guide to Using AI for Marketing” offers a tutorial on how marketers can make this technology their superpower.

Could the insights in this book apply beyond marketing? Absolutely. In many ways, everyone within an organization plays a role—directly or indirectly—in marketing. And at a time when so many professionals are anxious about job security, eager to stay ahead of the curve, and searching for meaningful ways to harness AI, Berkowitz offers a valuable resource. Rather than fueling fear, he encourages us to embrace AI thoughtfully and strategically.

He doesn’t promise magic if you follow his advice, but he does offer clarity. “The Non-Obvious Guide to Using AI for Marketing” meets you where you are and helps you move forward with confidence. If you want a practical, hype-free introduction to using AI in your marketing work, this book is worth your time. 

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A Closer Look

Salesforce is on an AI acquisition spree. The enterprise tech company announced this week that it’s buying cloud data management firm Informatica for approximately $8 billion. This comes just days after Salesforce revealed its intention to acquire automation startup Convergence.io. Terms of that deal weren’t disclosed. Nevertheless, this is evidence that Chief Executive Marc Benioff is committed to being aggressive in helping companies adopt AI.

Another way to look at the Salesforce-Informatica deal is through the lens of data. The two companies have been circling each other for years—Salesforce nearly acquired Informatica in 2024 with a bid reportedly worth around $10 billion. If this latest deal goes through, it would significantly enhance Salesforce’s Data Cloud by giving it deeper access to enterprise data. That, in turn, would allow Salesforce to provide more advanced agentic support to the businesses that own and manage that information.

This matters because AI is only as good as the data it’s trained on and the data it can access in real time. By integrating Informatica’s capabilities, Salesforce wouldn’t just be acquiring a software company. It would be gaining a pipeline to cleaner, more structured enterprise data. That, in turn, could make its generative AI agents, such as those powered through its Agentforce platform, smarter, faster, and more contextually aware.

For AI agents to act autonomously and effectively inside enterprise environments, they need access to high-quality, well-managed data. This deal positions Salesforce to deliver on that promise, enabling its agents to tap into richer datasets with greater accuracy and speed, ultimately moving closer to the goal of intelligent software that can act on behalf of users across the business.

Informatica is no stranger to the AI game. Earlier this month, at the company’s annual data conference, it unveiled CLAIRE GPT, its CLAIRE Copilot, and generative AI blueprints for major cloud ecosystem partners.

Could this be a larger trend in which tech companies gobble up legacy data firms to help feed their AI investments?

This Week’s AI News

🏭 AI Trends and Industry Impact

🤖 AI Models and Technologies

✏️ Generative AI and Content Creation

💰 Funding and Investments

☁️ Enterprise AI Solutions

⚙️ Hardware, Robotics, and Autonomous Systems

🔬 Science and Breakthroughs

💼 Business, Marketing, Media, and Consumer Applications

⚖️ Legal, Regulatory, and Ethical Issues

💥 Disruption, Misinformation, and Risks

🔎 Opinions, Analysis, and Editorials

End Output

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