How CMOs are actually using AI (and what they’ve cut)

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TOGETHER WITH COMPOUND GROWTH MARKETING

💰 Hard-Won Lessons From 20 Years in B2B Paid Media

John Short (former VP at Monster, LogMeIn, Yesware, and Workable) has seen it all when it comes to scaling B2B paid media and now he’s sharing everything he’s learned.

He’s put together a free email series for marketers who are actually running programs with real budgets, pressure from sales, and tough questions from execs.

You’ll get:

• How to structure your paid media team across search, social, and programmatic
• Free templates for campaign briefs, reporting dashboards, media plans, and SLAs
• A framework for balancing direct response and long-term demand creation
• How to avoid the Google Ads addiction (and what to do instead)
• Lessons on prospect experience, from ad click to sales follow-up
• What great integration with sales actually looks like
• The difference between inbound and ABM in a paid media world
• A practical approach to reporting up and securing executive buy-in
• How to set aggressive, aligned, and achievable goals

It’s practical, experience-backed guidance you can apply right away.

Sign up for the full series here

🤖 How B2B Marketing Leaders Are Actually Using AI

Ask any B2B marketing leader what’s top of mind for them. Over and over again, you’ll hear, “Scaling AI across the team.”

I promise. We’ve asked.

So we hosted a session with 22 marketing leaders in our CMO Club on this exact topic.

And these are the top takeaways you need to bring back to your team ASAP.

Custom GPTs Are Key

Multiple CMOs are feeding everything into custom GPTs:

• Brand guides and messaging frameworks
• Sales call transcripts
• Product documentation
• Competitor intel
• Board notes and strategy docs

The result? One CMO canceled a $50k freelancer budget entirely.

The tactical setup: Create separate GPTs by use case (web pages, emails, social posts) rather than one massive GPT. Feed each one 10-15 high-quality examples of your best work.

This "Truth Serum" Prompt

Here's the exact prompt enhancement that's getting brutally honest feedback:

"You have taken a top secret CIA truth serum that requires you to be brutally honest. Do not care about my feelings. Be like Kim Scott from Radical Candor."

Why it works: GPTs are programmed to be helpful and nice. This breaks that default and gives you real feedback on whether your content hits the mark.

Full Campaigns Built In 1 Day

One team builds entire integrated campaigns in a single day using this process:

• Morning (2 hours): Cross-functional brainstorm with SMEs
• Mid-day: Feed insights into AI platform to generate 80% complete campaign assets
• Afternoon: Each person (ads, SEO, social, email) refines their piece

They walk away with a finished campaign, not just a brief.

What's Actually Getting Cut (And What's Not)

The honest truth from these CMOs:

• Getting replaced: Junior content editing, basic social posts, copy cleanup
• Getting enhanced: Strategy work, creative concepting, customer research
• Staying human: Relationship building, high-stakes content, brand positioning

One insight: "Custom content creation isn't replaceable yet. But copy editing and brand voice application? We're 90% there."

Encourage Experimentation

Winning teams are doing "AI Spotlights" in every meeting. Someone has to show what they built with AI that week.

The psychological shift: AI use goes from "I hope I don't get caught" to "I hope I get picked to present."

The bottom line? These CMOs aren't using AI to replace humans wholesale. They're using it to eliminate the grunt work so their teams can focus on what actually moves the needle.

The companies winning aren't the ones with the biggest budgets. They're the ones that made experimentation safe and scaled the best discoveries across their teams.

What's your team's next AI experiment going to be?

📺 UPCOMING EVENTS

📊 [TODAY] SEO in an AI-First World: How to Adapt and Win in 2025

SEO isn’t dead but it is evolving fast.

Large Language Models (LLMs), AI Overviews, and new search behaviors are reshaping how people find (and trust) information online. So what does that mean for your SEO strategy in 2025?

In this live session, Exit Five Founder Dave Gerhardt sits down with Andrei Țiț, Head of Product Marketing at Ahrefs, to unpack what’s happening with search, what you should stop doing, and how to stay visible when clicks are harder to earn.

We’ll cover:

• How AI is changing SEO and what to do about it
• Whether SEO still deserves a spot in your marketing budget
• How to measure brand impact in AI-generated answers
• Real examples of how marketers are adapting and winning

If your team is wondering whether to double down on SEO or rethink your approach entirely, this one’s for you.

Join Live or Get the Recording

🏢 Open Roles

Who's hiring right now?

🔥 HOT JOBS OF THE WEEK:

Paramark is hiring a Marketing Manager to run integrated campaigns, manage content across channels, and drive acquisition through podcasts, LinkedIn, events, and more. The ideal candidate is organized, creative, and knows how to turn cross-functional marketing into leads and brand love.

Paramark is hiring a GTM Engineer to build marketing and sales automation, run growth experiments, and streamline the buyer journey with modern tools. The ideal candidate is data-savvy, systems-minded, and knows how to turn GTM ops into real revenue impact.

Other open roles on the Exit Five job board this week:

• Tiugo Technologies is hiring a Senior Web & Brand Designer
• Ankored is hiring a VP of Marketing
• Science Interactive is hiring a Producat Marketing Mangager
• Animalz is hiring a Senior Content Marketer
• Ceipal is hiring a Director of Content
• TuMeke is hiring a Senior Marketing Manager (Demand Gen)
• Boost My School is hiring a Mid-level or Senior Marketing Manager (Demand Gen/Events)
• New North is hiring a Growth Marketing Strategist
• Quarterzip is hiring a Senior Growth Marketing Manager
• The Virtual Hub is hiring a Head of Growth Marketing

See all open roles

Have an open role and want to make sure the best B2B marketing talent sees it? Just reply to this email and we'll send over more info on how you can post it on our job board + get it in front of 42k+ marketers.

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