A New Mindset for AI-Augmented Marketing

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Forget fast. Not because speed doesn’t matter—but because it’s the wrong goal.

That’s the advice from Colt Briner, and it’s not just a cute soundbite. It’s how he’s building the future of marketing—one authentic, AI-augmented output at a time.

Briner is the CMO of Trend Health Partners, author of The Race to Relevance, and founder of Scrappy Marketing. With over 25 years of experience and accolades from Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Fast Company, he’s no stranger to the hustle. But when his new role handed him a Herculean challenge—support growth at a post-merger company with a slashed marketing team—he didn’t scale back expectations. He scaled up intelligence.

From Eight to Two (Plus Bots)

When three companies merged to form Trend, their combined marketing departments of eight became two. That could’ve spelled burnout. Instead, Colt and his colleague treated it as a transformation.

“We think of it as a department of four,” he said. “There’s me, there’s her, then there’s my bots, and her bots.”

And with that reframe, Trend’s two-person team began matching the output of a 12-person department—without sacrificing quality, authenticity, or purpose.

Thought Leadership, Not Thought Replacement

The tech stack is familiar: ChatGPT, Bard, Grammarly, AI transcription, content generation tools. But the magic isn’t in the tools—it’s in the workflow. Trend doesn’t use AI to replace thought. They use it to amplify real expertise.

They built a flywheel that’s a dream for any content-hungry marketing org—with AI doing the heavy lifting.

Here’s the process:

• Conduct 30-minute SME interviews
• Transcribe with AI
• Draft outlines and content with GPT
• Review and refine with the SME
• Publish under the SME’s name

This loop—executed by AI and overseen by humans—preserves both authenticity and insight. 

“We’re not going faster than we should,” Briner said. “We’re preserving the things that matter: revelatory knowledge and real human voice.”

Agentic Intelligence: The New Competitive Edge

One of the smartest automations Briner built is a got that reads every article in Trend’s niche and flags the ones they should comment on. It even suggests the commentary direction—based on brand tone and positioning—before it’s passed along to an exec for a selfie-style response.

The result is presence. Visibility. Relevance.

Briner’s team also uses AI to monitor competitor content and track prospect activity. It’s account-based marketing powered by insight, not instinct.

This Isn’t Selling. It’s Showing Up.

For Colt, this new wave of marketing isn’t about flashy AI demos or faux-personalized cold emails. It’s about contributing to real conversations.

“This isn’t selling,” he said. “This is being part of the market’s intelligence. Bring insight. Be revelatory. Be the countervoice if you need to. Just don’t tell me to book a demo.”

That approach has also unlocked executive buy-in. By making it easy for leaders to contribute—and by spacing requests months apart—Briner has turned busy execs into willing collaborators.

ROI, Reimagined

Is this AI experiment worth it? Briner thinks so. He measures ROI by blending classic demand metrics (leads, cost per lead, demo bookings) with brand sentiment indicators (recognition at events, share-of-voice in trade publications).

“If the industry norm says I need a 12-person team and I’m doing it with two—plus bots—that’s a signal,” he said.

Stay Curious. Stay Human. Stay Strategic.

Briner’s message to marketers? Stay rooted. AI might automate execution, but human intuition is still the differentiator.

“We’re learning where we can add the human connection,” he said. “Humor, authenticity, emotional resonance. That’s what AI still struggles with. That’s where we shine.”

It’s not about being first. It’s about being relevant. And for Colt Briner, relevance starts with curiosity, humility, and the courage to experiment.

One Final Thought

Before you declare your AI pilot a success or failure, take Colt’s advice: “Forget fast.” The ground is shifting under your feet. What didn’t work last quarter might fly today.

Just keep digging for the signal. And when you find it, amplify it.

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