“Which AI tools should I use for strategy?” is one of the questions I get asked most. The honest answer: there’s no single best tool. “Strategy” covers marketing, business planning, insight and creative development, and different tools help with different jobs. This guide gives you a framework for thinking about AI in strategy, the main categories of tools and a simple way to get started.
Start with a framework, not a tool
When I first urged marketers to get started with AI, I suggested four steps: identify the problem you want to solve, take an honest look at where AI could help, review real use cases, and then build a competitive advantage from what works. Tools come last.
I later expanded this into my AI for Strategy framework, which looks at where AI can help across five Ps. The detail for each is in the chart below.
- Planning
- Production
- Personalisation
- Promotion
- Performance
Categories of AI tools for strategy
The tools change fast, so treat the names below as examples of each category rather than recommendations. They were the prominent names when I first wrote about this.
Marketing and business strategy
- Market intelligence and customer insight: tools that analyse market trends, customer behaviour and competitors to surface opportunities. Examples: Crayon, MarketMuse.
- Predictive analytics and forecasting: finding patterns in historical data to predict demand, risk and future trends. Examples: IBM SPSS Modeler, SAS Visual Analytics.
- Marketing automation and optimisation: automating personalisation and targeting, and optimising campaigns in real time. Examples: HubSpot, Marketo.
Content strategy
- AI-powered content creation: ideation, drafts of blog posts and social captions, and visuals. Useful for brainstorming and scale, but not a replacement for human creativity. Examples: Jasper, Content at Scale.
- SEO optimisation: analysing content and suggesting improvements to help it rank. Examples: Surfer SEO, BrightEdge.
Briefing and strategic thinking
General-purpose assistants like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini are now part of most strategists’ toolkits for research synthesis and first drafts. I built The Smiling Strategist Brief Generator, a custom GPT that guides you to a clear first brief: the real problem, the audience insight and the single-minded proposition.
Whatever the category, the best tool depends on your goals, your industry and your budget, so trial a few against a real problem before committing.
What great AI creative looks like
One of my favourite examples of brand, creativity and AI working together is Heinz’s “A.I. Ketchup” campaign. Heinz asked an AI image generator to draw “ketchup”, and it kept drawing something that looked like Heinz. It’s a perfect demonstration of distinctiveness, using AI to prove what the brand already owns in people’s minds.
Where human strategists still win
AI is brilliant at speed, synthesis and scale. It’s weaker at judgement: knowing which insight matters, what to sacrifice and how culture will read a message. Use AI to get to the thinking faster, then do the thinking. For more, read Intuition or AI in strategy? and Strategists, beware..
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AI tools for strategy: FAQs
What are the best AI tools for brand strategy?
There isn’t one best tool. Use market intelligence tools for insight, predictive analytics for forecasting, automation tools for campaigns, content and SEO tools for content strategy, and general assistants or a custom GPT for research synthesis and briefs.
How should strategists start using AI?
Start with a problem, not a tool. Identify where AI could help, review real use cases, trial tools against a live problem and build on what works.
What is the AI for Strategy framework?
A way of looking at AI across five Ps: planning, production, personalisation, promotion and performance.
Will AI replace brand strategists?
AI speeds up research, synthesis and drafting, but strategy still depends on judgement, cultural understanding and choosing what to sacrifice. Strategists who use AI well will have the edge.
Work with Roma
Want help bringing AI into your strategy or training your team? See AI in Strategy or book a free 15-minute call.
