From Data to Direction: How Mike Anderson Uses genAI to Power Strategic Marketing Research
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From Data to Direction: How Mike Anderson Uses genAI to Power Strategic Marketing Research
Good strategy starts with good inputs. For Aventi consultant Mike Anderson, that often means digging through interviews, industry reports, competitive messaging, and raw client insights to extract what matters most.
But research and synthesis are time-consuming—and that’s where genAI becomes a force multiplier. Mike doesn’t use AI to write content for him; he uses it to speed up the messy middle: summarizing conversations, identifying patterns, and building scaffolding for strategy decks or briefs. The result? Faster insights, clearer direction, and more time to focus on high-value thinking.
In this post, part of our Aventi consultant series, we’ll walk through the actual prompts Mike uses—and show how his human judgment stays front and center in every step.
Explore the other blogs in our series on AI prompting here, here, and here.
1. Synthesizing Interview Notes into Strategic Takeaways
When Mike leads customer interviews or reviews stakeholder transcripts, he uses genAI to speed up the process of distilling messy input into focused insights.
Prompt Example:
“Summarize this interview transcript with a VP of Product at a SaaS company. Highlight their key pain points, what success looks like for them, and what influenced their last buying decision. Format as bullet points grouped by topic.”
The AI output gives Mike a starting point—but he always re-reads the transcript to verify nuance, validate tone, and layer in quotes. For him, AI is a compression tool, not a final judgment.
2. Accelerating Competitive Research
Whether analyzing a single competitor or benchmarking across an industry, Mike uses AI to compare messaging, tease out patterns, and explore areas of differentiation.
Prompt Example:
“Compare the homepage and product pages of [Competitor A] and [Competitor B]. What are their core value props? What themes do they repeat? What’s missing or vague?”
This helps Mike spot white space, align clients more clearly to buyer needs, and avoid falling into “me-too” messaging traps. But again, he always reads the original material—AI just surfaces what to look closer at.
3. Drafting Early Positioning Concepts
When building a strategic narrative or exploring positioning angles, Mike sometimes uses genAI to generate multiple drafts—then refines or rejects them as needed.
Prompt Example:
“Create three high-level positioning statements for a cloud-based logistics platform targeting mid-size retailers. Emphasize speed, visibility, and scalability.”
He uses these as conversation starters, not final outputs. They help internal stakeholders react quickly (“Yes, but…” or “No, because…”)—shortening cycles and moving toward alignment faster.
4. Structuring Strategy Decks or Messaging Briefs
Mike often has to take a mix of notes, insights, and client comments and shape them into a clear deck or one-pager. AI helps build the bones—he builds the body.
Prompt Example:
“Based on this research summary and positioning doc, create a 6-slide outline for a strategy presentation: 1) Market context, 2) Customer challenges, 3) Competitive landscape, 4) Messaging pillars, 5) Proof points, 6) Recommended next steps.”
This outline lets Mike focus more quickly on what needs to be said—not just how to lay it out. But he’ll reorder, rewrite, and sometimes abandon AI’s structure entirely in favor of one that better fits the client’s goals.
Why It Works: Speed Without Sacrificing Substance
Mike is clear: “If you don’t already know what you’re looking for, genAI can lead you down the wrong path fast.” For him, genAI is only valuable when paired with strategic clarity, domain expertise, and editorial judgment.
He compares it to having an over-eager research assistant: “AI will give you something—but you need to validate, challenge, and reshape it constantly.”
Need to make faster, sharper strategic decisions? Connect with our team to see how Aventi blends AI efficiency with expert-level marketing strategy to drive better outcomes, faster.
