In this special edition of AI for Business, I had the privilege of joining Darby Rollins live at the Genius University Summit for a deep dive into AI-driven marketing that actually connects. We go beyond buzzwords to unpack the exact research strategies, audience-building frameworks, and prompt engineering techniques that I’ve used to generate over $50 million in online sales—and teach to my clients and community.
During this session, I walk you through how to build an AI-powered marketing research machine using tools like ChatGPT and Claude, so you can speak directly to your audience’s true pain points and desires. Plus, I share the story of how I was humbled in front of my marketing hero Gary Halbert and how that moment transformed the way I do research, write copy, and build offers. Whether you’re launching your first product or scaling to 8-figures, this episode is packed with practical strategies and tools you can implement right away.
[0:00] - Introduction
[1:06] - Reflecting on 20 years in marketing and the evolution of direct response
[6:12] - How being an introvert pushed me into mastering copywriting
[10:41] - A tough lesson from Gary Halbert that changed how I approach research
[12:22] - Why empathy is the true superpower of successful marketers
[16:19] - The modern shortcut to old-school research: mining reviews, Reddit, and more
[20:21] - Favorite tools for scraping and organizing customer insights
[24:09] - How to prompt ChatGPT like a seasoned researcher
[29:13] - The ChatGPT vs Claude debate: when to use each for best results
[36:01] - Creating a style guide that mirrors your audience’s language and tone
[43:10] - Writing a high-converting sales letter with the help of AI
[47:14] - Generating product ideas based on real audience feedback
[54:17] - Turning webinars and sales calls into powerful written content
[55:42] - Training virtual assistants to follow this system—even without copy experience
Empathy drives conversions – The best marketers don’t just know their product; they deeply understand their audience’s pain, desires, and language.
AI should be your assistant, not your crutch – ChatGPT and Claude can streamline research and content creation, but the quality depends on the inputs you provide.
Real voices come from real data – Use Amazon reviews, Reddit threads, and YouTube comments to understand exactly how your audience speaks and what they care about.
Create style guides based on audience tone – A persona-driven style guide helps keep your messaging consistent, relatable, and effective across all content.
Prompts are the new skillset – Learning to engineer great prompts is what separates average AI users from high-performing marketers.
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