Top Five Tools CEO’s Can Use to DIY Marketing This Year

As a CEO, your time is precious. While you have teams for operational execution, you're ultimately the strategic driver of the business, responsible for steering the company toward growth, profitability, and innovation. The role has become even more complex with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), which can automate mundane tasks, analyze massive datasets, and generate insights that were once reserved for specialized roles.

The good news? You don’t need to be a tech expert or rely on a dedicated IT department to harness AI’s power. Today’s AI tools are user-friendly and designed for non-technical professionals. In this blog, we’ll cover five AI tools that can empower you, as a CEO, to take control of key business functions like marketing, analytics, decision-making, and even customer engagement—all without needing to hire a full team of AI specialists.

1. Jasper (AI Content Creation)

Best For: CEOs managing content marketing or looking to scale their company’s voice

As a CEO, you may be involved in content creation, whether it's for your company's blog, email newsletters, social media, or press releases. Jasper (formerly Jarvis) is an AI-powered writing assistant that can significantly reduce the time spent on content creation while maintaining a high standard of quality.

How It Works: Jasper uses the GPT-4 model to generate everything from blog posts and website copy to social media captions. It can even suggest ideas based on trending topics, and its SEO tools help ensure your content ranks well on Google.

Key Features:

• Generate long-form articles, ad copy, and email marketing content.

• SEO tools to help you optimize your content for search engines.

• Supports tone adjustments, so you can maintain a consistent brand voice.

• Multilingual capabilities for global outreach.

Why It’s Great for CEOs: With Jasper, you can quickly produce high-quality content for your company’s marketing efforts, saving valuable time. Whether you’re sharing thought leadership on your blog, creating internal reports, or crafting email campaigns, Jasper helps you scale your efforts without needing to outsource to a content team.

Cost: Starting at $49/month

Survey Says: Go for it.

2. HubSpot (CRM + AI Analytics)

Best For: CEOs who want to optimize sales, marketing, and customer relationships

HubSpot is an all-in-one CRM platform, but with AI-powered analytics, it’s an invaluable tool for CEOs looking to oversee and refine the entire customer journey—from lead acquisition to post-sales support. HubSpot leverages AI to provide predictive analytics, automate workflows, and even suggest improvements to your marketing strategies.

How It Works: HubSpot’s AI features help automate key tasks like lead scoring, email personalization, and follow-up scheduling. It also offers powerful insights into customer behavior and predictive analytics, which can guide decision-making for both short-term and long-term strategies.

Key Features:

• AI-driven lead scoring and segmentation, allowing you to focus on high-value prospects.

• Automation of repetitive tasks like email marketing, scheduling, and follow-ups.

• Predictive analytics to forecast customer needs and trends.

• Integration with popular tools like Gmail, LinkedIn, and Slack.

Why It’s Great for CEOs: You can use HubSpot to track customer interactions, streamline sales processes, and identify trends that will help your business grow. Its AI-powered tools allow you to make smarter decisions with minimal manual input.

Cost: Starts at $50/month for basic CRM features (more advanced features cost more)

Survey Says: Must Have

3. Notion (AI-Powered Knowledge Management)

Best For: CEOs looking for an efficient way to organize and manage business information

CEOs often find themselves managing vast amounts of information—meeting notes, strategic plans, project updates, and more. Notion is a flexible all-in-one workspace that uses AI to help you manage and organize information in a way that’s easy to access and share with your team.

How It Works: Notion allows you to create databases, to-do lists, notes, and knowledge repositories with customizable templates. The AI features assist in organizing, summarizing, and extracting key insights from your documents and notes, making it easier to find the information you need when you need it.

Key Features:

• AI-powered writing assistant to summarize and generate content based on your notes.

• Knowledge management with easy-to-use templates for everything from meeting notes to project plans.

• Database and task tracking, so you can quickly manage and prioritize critical business operations.

Why It’s Great for CEOs: As a CEO, you need to keep track of a lot of moving parts. Notion’s AI-powered features help you stay organized and ensure that important information is at your fingertips. Plus, you can easily collaborate with your team without relying on separate project management tools.

Cost: Free for personal use, paid plans start at $8/month for teams

4. ChatGPT (AI-Powered Research & Communication)

Best For: CEOs looking to streamline research and decision-making

ChatGPT (especially when integrated with GPT-4) is a game-changer for CEOs who want to quickly gather insights, analyze market trends, or draft communications. The model is trained to answer a wide range of questions and can generate summaries, reports, and even strategic advice based on the information you provide.

How It Works: ChatGPT can be used for a variety of purposes, such as market research, brainstorming, drafting reports, and generating ideas for new business strategies. It can also assist with customer support by crafting automated responses or even generating answers for frequently asked questions.

Key Features:

• Instant answers and summaries for business research.

• Automated email responses, internal reports, and presentation drafts.

• Insight generation from industry trends and news.

• Ideation for new strategies, marketing campaigns, and business decisions.

Why It’s Great for CEOs: As a busy CEO, having access to real-time insights and instant responses can save hours of research. ChatGPT is an invaluable assistant that allows you to quickly generate ideas, review key business information, and communicate more efficiently with your team or stakeholders.

Cost: Free for basic use, plus subscription plans starting at $20/month for premium features

Survey Says: Yes, but proceed with caution.

5. Zapier (AI Automation for Workflows)

Best For: CEOs looking to automate repetitive tasks and streamline business processes

Zapier is an automation platform that connects your apps and automates workflows, reducing the time spent on routine tasks. Using AI, it can automatically trigger actions between your apps, such as automatically posting social media updates, syncing data between CRMs, or sending follow-up emails after a meeting.

How It Works: Zapier allows you to create "Zaps," which are automated workflows that connect over 5,000 apps. For instance, you can set up a Zap to automatically add new leads from a form on your website to your CRM, or send personalized thank-you emails after a customer makes a purchase.

Key Features:

• Automated workflows that connect over 5,000 apps.

• AI-powered triggers and actions that save time on repetitive tasks.

• Customizable integrations to automate everything from customer support to marketing.

• Supports CRM, email, social media, and more.

Why It’s Great for CEOs: Zapier lets you automate complex workflows across different platforms, so you can focus on strategic decision-making instead of mundane tasks. Whether it’s sending customer data from your email tool to your CRM, or generating reports from Google Analytics, Zapier handles it all.

Cost: Free for basic automation, paid plans start at $19.99/month for premium features

Survey Says: Yes, must have.

Conclusion: Empower Yourself with AI

As a CEO or business executive, using AI tools can dramatically increase your efficiency and improve decision-making. From automating workflows and managing customer relationships to generating high-quality content and organizing business information, the right AI tools can help you stay competitive and focused on what matters most—growing and leading your business.

The five tools above are easy to use, cost-effective, and specifically designed to empower CEOs to make informed decisions, save time, and drive innovation. Whether you’re handling content creation, analyzing customer data, or automating business processes, these tools are your gateway to a smarter, more productive future.

By leveraging AI, you can not only keep up with the demands of modern business but also stay ahead of the competition—all while maintaining a hands-on role in the strategic direction of your company.