#excel sheet

[jcmarchi]

3 AI use cases to elevate your strategy

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/3-ai-use-cases-to-elevate-your-strategy/

3 AI use cases to elevate your strategy

This article is based on Liza Adams’s brilliant talk at the Product Marketing Summit in Denver.

Product marketers and even CMOs rarely make it to the boardroom. In fact, only 41 members of Fortune 1000 boards are CMOs, and less than 3% of board members have managerial-level marketing experience. 

Why?

Because marketing is often dismissed as tactical – beautiful ads, catchy campaigns, and glossy brochures – while the strategic work that underpins it goes unnoticed. This misconception limits opportunities for marketers to demonstrate the true impact of their expertise on business decisions. 

But here’s the good news: AI is changing the game.

AI has the power to elevate product marketing from a tactical function to a strategic force. It enables us to align executives, refine priorities, and amplify results, making the work of product marketers more visible and valuable at the highest levels. 

Yet mastering AI isn’t a race – it’s a journey. Whether you’re just starting to explore its possibilities or already using it to shape strategy, it’s important to embrace where you are and keep learning.

In this article, I’ll show how AI can help you step into a more strategic role by focusing on three key use cases: 

Segmentation and targeting

Competitive analysis

Thought leadership 

These examples will demonstrate how AI can go beyond creating content to drive strategic decision-making and deliver real impact. 

Let’s dive in.

AI use case #1: Segmentation and targeting

Our first use case comes from a real scenario where I acted as a fractional CMO. The company was what I like to call a “COVID darling” – it experienced rapid growth during the pandemic; however, post-COVID, it struggled to sustain that growth. 

The executive team’s instinct was to expand their market and target more segments. My response? Don’t go broad – go deep.

Instead of spreading resources thinly across multiple segments, I encouraged the team to focus on two or three key segments. The goal was to understand these customers so thoroughly that we could become the best fit for their unique needs. Broad, shallow targeting wouldn’t deliver the value these customers required.

Here’s where the challenge got interesting. Each executive had their own idea about which segment to prioritize:

The CEO wanted to target healthcare, citing its large market size.

The CFO pushed for manufacturing, pointing to its high growth rate.

The CPO advocated for retail, aligning with the product roadmap.

The truth is, they were all right – from their individual perspectives. So, the product marketing team and I developed a framework to align these viewpoints and make an informed decision.

We identified evaluation criteria for analyzing each segment, including factors like market size, growth potential, competitive intensity, number of reference customers, and partner strength. Then, we built a heatmap to visually compare how each segment performed against these criteria.

This heatmap became a game-changer. It allowed the executive team to see, at a glance, how each segment stacked up. This data-driven approach shifted the conversation from subjective opinions to objective insights, making it clear which segments offered the most strategic opportunity.

By narrowing the focus and targeting the right segments, the company could allocate resources effectively, align their teams, and maximize their market fit – rather than chasing opportunities that stretched them too thin.

The challenge of gathering data

Before I dive into how we used AI to create a market heatmap, it’s important to acknowledge the most challenging part of the process: data collection and curation. 

While the conversation with ChatGPT took about three hours, gathering and organizing the necessary data took two to three weeks. This stage was critical because feeding AI accurate, well-structured data is the foundation for meaningful insights.

Here’s a breakdown of the types of data we gathered and the sources we used:

Market size and growth: Pulled from analyst reports, including Gartner, to estimate total addressable markets (TAMs) and growth trends.

Competitive intensity: Sourced from customer review platforms like G2 and Capterra to understand how competitors were performing in various categories.

Win rates: Derived from our CRM (in this case, HubSpot), including metrics on win-loss ratios.

Product roadmap alignment: Compiled in a Google Doc to compare customer needs across segments with our current and planned product offerings.

Partner strength: Extracted from a database tracking partner leads, conversions, and overall performance.

Customer references: Assessed from a reference database to evaluate the strength and quantity of reference customers in each segment.

This process involved pulling data from disparate systems, formatting it consistently, and redacting sensitive information to maintain confidentiality. Only after this groundwork was done did we begin leveraging AI.

How we used ChatGPT to create our segment targeting heatmap

Once the data was ready, we uploaded it into ChatGPT in spreadsheet format and began prompting it for analysis. Here’s a simplified walkthrough of how we approached the first two rows of our heatmap – market size and growth – using AI:

Initial prompt: “You are an expert market researcher and analyst in the supply chain management space. Please review the attached Excel sheet, analyze it, and provide a summary of your key takeaways. I will provide further instructions after that.” ChatGPT’s initial response included basic insights, like identifying the verticals with the highest growth rates and highlighting steady growth areas.

Follow-up prompt: “Please create a table with two rows: one showing the 2025 market size and another showing the growth rate you calculated. Please order the verticals as manufacturing, healthcare, energy, food, and retail.” This prompt resulted in a clear, organized table, allowing us to visualize and compare the market data.

Heatmap creation: “Turn the table into a single heatmap reflecting forced rankings for market size and growth rate. Assign a score of 5 to the largest market size and highest growth rate, and a score of 1 to the smallest and lowest.” The output was a color-coded heatmap that visually represented each segment’s market size and growth potential, making it easy to prioritize opportunities.

By repeating this process for the remaining rows – competitive intensity, win rates, partner strength, and customer references – we built a comprehensive heatmap that showed the most valuable segments to target.

Presenting the analysis to the executive team 

Next, it was time to present the findings to the executive team. It’s important to note that this analysis was just a starting point – a framework to guide discussions and foster a 360-degree view of the market opportunities. 

Unlike previous conversations where each executive approached the problem from their one-dimensional perspective, this approach introduced eight dimensions of analysis, offering a more holistic view.

With the heatmap in hand, the executive team could now debate and refine the findings collaboratively. Some execs disagreed with certain rankings, so we made some on-the-fly adjustments to the data. 

We also assigned different weights to certain criteria, recognizing that not all of them were equally important. For example, market growth might carry more weight than competitive intensity, depending on the company’s priorities. 

This flexibility allowed us to fine-tune the analysis and reach a consensus. And, within a week, we validated the findings and identified the top two to three market segments to focus on. 

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[chemical-processes]

A gift from my lovely wife @galaxythreads

[rkiving]

Mike Faist in Challengers (2024) West Side Story (2021)

[delta-lethonomia]

There's a reddit thread on the BG3 sub where the user u/InklingRain posted a spreadsheet they made with all the companion approvals. Super useful in general both for playing the game and for fic, so I thought I'd post it on tumblr and play around a little!

There's a top row with the average approval by companion, but I didn't find that very useful, so I changed it to the count of approvals (i.e. count of approvals & disapproval total, how often a companion had a reaction to something). We all know Astarion gives a lot of disapprovals here and there, but they're only -1 at a time, so no big deal, right?

No. Minsc has the least at only 45 reactions, Halsin at 95, Minthara at 145, and of the main companions, Gale is pretty average at 198, Lae'zel at 224, and Shadowheart, rather opinionated at 258...

but that's nothing compared to Astarion's 406. That's almost 150 more than the next person!!! That's more than Minthara and Shadowheart combined! Babygirl really woke up one day and decided to get in a snit over everything that happens ����

(Longer post about count of positive and negative opinions, sum of approvals and disapprovals, and some major outliers below. Picture with values at the very end.)

But that's a bit disingenuous. If we look at the ratio of positive to negative opinions (not taking value into account), Astarion's pretty average at 30% (negative count over sum count, so let's call that negativity). This is similar to Gale (31%), Karlach (30%), and Lae'zel (32%). In theory, getting Astarion's approval or disapproval is just as easy as any of theirs, with a 20% bias towards positive approvals. Later companions are weighted heavily towards the lower end of the spectrum, with Jaheira at 13% negativity and Minsc at 9%. As you only get them very late, it's pretty clear that the game gives you a lot of opportunities to get their approvals and thus open up more of their quests and dialogue.

However. We have an outlier. Wyll Ravenguard, clocking in at an indecent 38% negativity! Which really just goes to show, while Astarion is the most opinionated, Wyll has the most disapprovals, making him the judgiest companion of all 🤣

However, this really wouldn't be a good post if we didn't look at the value of approvals. Karlach, for instance, has the strongest disapproval value of -100 (given if you sleep with her and then call it a mistake). Ouch. This is clearly at outlier and doesn't say much about Karlach's changeability of opinion in general. If we look at the sum of positive and negative opinions, this is a very heavy swing, making up 100 points of her total 191 disapproval points possible to her 281 approvals total. Another outlier is Minsc, who currently possesses a 43% disapproval percentage (a heavy -50 disapproval given if you sacrifice him to Sarevok. Jaheira, by contrast, apparently doesn't give a damn, or her value might simply not be included in the dateset.)

Removing outliers is really a matter of opinion here, so I'll only remove the most extreme swings, such as the above mentioned disapprovals.

The otherwise strongest swings are Astarion (-15 for telling him it was a mistake preventing him from drinking Araj's blood, or saying you only wanted to sleep with him, not deal with his trauma) and Wyll (+20 for siding with Karlach during his confrontation with her, which really shows he didn't really want to kill her and is very grateful you stopped him). Halsin gives +40 for reuniting Oliver with Thaniel, which...lifting the shadow curse is sort of his life's mission, and a bit of a unique case, so while it makes sense, I think it's such a unique event that can't be topped by anything else and will remove it. Jaheira give +20 for extending the Emperor's protection to Minsc, and, for funsies, Minthara's heaviest disapproval is -5 for donating to Lolth at the Stormshore Tabernacle. (lol)

I only chose to remove the aforementioned Karlach, Minsc, and Halsin values, as they're all very large swings and rather character-defining or personal to the individuals mentioned, so I don't think it says much about them in a more general day-to-day sense.

Now, using the sums of our negative and positive values, Gale is our most Negative Nancy, clocking in at 37%, which goes to show that while he's pretty average for the amount of things he cares about, when he disapproves, it's a strong one. Next up is Astarion at 35%, and Wyll at 34%. Lowest are Jaheira and Minsc at 7% and 4% respectively, which makes an intuitive sort of sense: Jaheira is old and just over being upset by the players poor choices, and Minsc is an insanely positive person overall. The next most positive companion is Halsin at 13%, which also matches with his vibe pretty well, followed by Minthara at 17%, Karlach at 24%, Lae'zel at 26%, and Shadowheart at 28%.

Tl;dr: Astarion has many, many opinions, but Wyll is the most judgemental (most disapprovals compared to approvals possible). However, when it comes to the strength of those disapprovals, Gale reigns supreme, followed by Astarion.

If don't break Karlach's heart, help Halsin achieve his life's ambition, or sacrifice Minsc, then they're pretty positive overall. Later companions are heavily weighted to approve of your actions, and Minthara is comparatively judgemental, but overall far more easy to gain approval than disapproval from.

If you take the average of all these values and include the later companions to look at as a personality "baseline" of how judgy and how strong those disapprovals may be, then...the Act 1 companions are all dramatic af, which really should come to no ones' surprise, while Karlach is the most willing to give the benefit of the doubt imo.

[ir-dr]

Day 3705 - 7 January 2025

🐾

A commission for neko chan!

.//projectTiGER

[abbotjack]

GUYS. BABYGIRL CONFIRMED. BABYGIRL CANON. BABYGIRL REAL. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. he liked the comment. he liked the comment. shawn hatosy saw me—me—call him babygirl and approved. endorsed. i am in ruins. i am in ashes. i am dust on the wind. this is worse than a religious experience because god never liked my comments. shawn has validated my babygirl delusions and now i will never know rest. i will never know peace. babygirl is no longer a joke, it’s a legally binding title. i’m gonna be citing this moment like a historical source. do not text me. do not perceive me. i am too powerful. i have won.

[zathechaosgod]

love the blue prince tag on tumblr for two reasons. one is that there's like no spoilers, just people cursing out certain rooms and occassionally calling one a red room, despite the fact ive yet to see two people hating on the same room. the other is that its Instantly clear to see how far along someone is into the game. mostly dependent on how much they still believe the premise is just "reach the 46th room in this roguelike house builder game to inherit it from your late great-uncle"

[notedchampagne]

multiple families have reached out to me because their gofundmes dont have a lot of donations, so id like to compile the fundraisers for ease of sharing:

@aseelooooo / @aseelooo2 has kr44,020 / kr200,000

@salemanqar has kr1,232 SEK / kr990,000 ‼️ has plateaud in donations

@samerpal has kr85,365 / kr450,000

note that 5 USD =~ 50 swedish krona!

@monashamali has £5,535 / £30,000

@savefamilyyousef has £2,753 / £20,000

@musababed has $5,689 / $30,000

@bilalassadabedrabou has €2,757 / €80,000

@hanaayousef has £3,689 / £20,000

@heno-mo has £3,847 / £20,000

@alhabil has €13,896 / €50,000

@ahmedabuyamin has €33,232 / €35,000‼️95% funded

@yasminalbalawiigaza has €26,417 / €50,000

@yazanfamily has €1,033 / €50,000

@ayaalanqarsblog has €3,304 / €15,000

@mohammed-atallah has €5,728 / €82,000

@malkzaeem has $20,118 CAD / $50,000

@siiraj2024 and @amani93hasan have $10,986 CAD / $82,000

@emhema1 has $544 CAD / $70,000

im going to update this list with more fundraisers + side accounts as time goes on, since staff will terminate accounts often

[leclercskiesahead]

The moment Alex got P4/5 while Carlos was out I just KNEW lollipop man was going to do this

[hychlorions]

the ace attorney twitter account has interacted more with fan content as edgeworth compared to previously held profile pictures. this of course implies edgeworth is more attuned to "the youth" and "fandom culture" than say apollo justice or ryunosuke naruhodo. this is 100% factual

[luthqrs]

doctor who big finish audio stories!

⚠️ this post is no longer being updated or monitored x ⚠️

you may have seen my nuwho books post and thought “well that’s all good and proper but i wanted the big finish audio dramas >:(“ fear not, because i have a collection of those too and i am still not allergic to sharing :)

also up for grabs: doctor who novelisations (x) and torchwood big finish audios (x)

a list of what’s there + how to play below the cut x

things you’ll find here:

new who + misc

the diary of river song (series 1-12)

the death and life of river song (series 1)

the tenth doctor and river song (series 1)

the tenth doctor adventures (series 1-3)

the ninth doctor adventures (series 1 + series 4 vol. 1)

unit incursions (episodes 8.04 + 8.05)

unit nemesis (series 4)

missy (series 1-4)

the eighth of march (3.01 + 3.02)

masterful + terror of the master

rose tyler: the dimension cannon (series 1-3)

the paternoster gang (series 1-5)

master! (series 1-3)

time lord victorious (008)

once and future (005)

tenth doctor adventures: dalek universe (3.02)

classic who

the eighth doctor adventures (series 1-4)

stranded series (series 1-3)

doom coalition (series 1-4) (exc. 3.02.... working on it)

dark eyes (series 1-4)

ravenous (series 1-4)

classic main range (134, 135 + 168)

companion chronicles: the second doctor (vol 1-3 / series 10, 12 + 14)

gallifrey (series 1-3)

!!! torchwood audios have moved. they can now be found here !!!

and how to access them

press play!!

if you like to listen at 1.5x speed like me, you can use an independent media player. on ios, press the 3 dots -> open with: [audio player of choice] (i use evermusic)

make and save copies of what you want even if you don’t have time to listen right now. don’t rely on this link always being here.

want something you can't have?

⚠️ this post is not currently being monitored or updated ⚠️

if there's a particular story/series you wanted to hear that i don't have listed yet, send me an ask or pop it in the comments x

happy listening! x

[coolnonsenseworld]

Welcome to the launch day! Take a look and if you have any questions just let me know! <3

Everything is available separately, but there are also three, hopefully convenient, bundles. Take note of the currency change! and pick whichever seems more convenient. Can't wait to share all the pieces' backstories <3

There will be also stretch goals - they will apply only to the bundles or groups of items on pre-order that could create one (at least 5 items) - so stay tuned <3'

mmezzy.bigcartel.com linktr.ee/mezzy

[hyunhoverse]

low quality just for this hair moment

[shmowder]

Autism be damned by boy can work an Excel