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If prompting AI: “hey, make my eComm sunglasses brand a killer ad” was enough, we’d be chilling on the beach in Cancun.

Thing is, AI CAN actually save you 3+ hours a week on ad production.

You just need to work differently.

More before, then less forever after.

Here we go 👇

🧠 1. Train AI to Think Like Your Brand

(How to set the foundation for great creative.)

Most AI outputs flop because they’re missing something critical: Context.

If you want AI to sound like your brand (not like a random copy-paste bot) you need to train it like you would a junior copywriter.

Here’s how to do it right:

How To Give Context

Most AI outputs flop because they’re missing something critical: Context.

Start by compiling the right "raw materials" in a folder:

• Top customer reviews:
  Look for emotional language, not just star ratings. These reveal pain points, hopes, and outcomes that your best customers care about.
  

• Customer service FAQs and support tickets:
  If 30% of your buyers ask about one feature, that’s a signal, not just a UX flaw. It’s also a potential ad angle: solve confusion early.
  

• Survey responses and Voice of Customer (VOC):
  Surveys capture the raw, messy, unfiltered words real people use. Gold for writing authentic, non-"ad-y" hooks.
  

• Brand guidelines:
  Include tone of voice docs, key phrases, brand values, even preferred fonts and pantones. AI mirrors whatever tone you give it, so clarity here saves frustration later.
  

• Product images + features and benefits breakdowns:
  Give AI the full feature set including your value prop, features and benefits. But train it to translate those into emotional benefits.
  

• Your best-performing ads, emails, landing pages:
  Give AI examples of what’s already resonating so it can pattern-match to success, not start from scratch.
  

• Swipe files of competitor ads:
  Good creatives don't just create, they steal (like all the great artists.) Feed in external inspiration.

💡 Click here to learn how to find competitor ads with Semrush.

Conceptualize First, Create Second

One of the biggest mindset shifts: Don’t immediately ask AI for final outputs.

First, use it to brainstorm concepts and angles based on the materials you fed it. Treat AI like your brainstorming partner, like a precocious new intern who works all night if you ask.

📝 Example Brainstorming Prompt:

"Based on these customer reviews, brand tone notes, and this product description, brainstorm 10 emotional ad concepts for a gut health supplement targeting busy women aged 30–50."

You’ll usually get a mix:

• 3–4 angles that feel promising

• 3–4 that are mediocre

• 2–3 that spark unexpected new ideas
  

That’s still 10x faster than staring at a blank Google Doc. Identify the stuff that works and double down. 

🎯 2. Make It Emotional, Make It Structured

(How to inject emotional tension and proven copywriting frameworks.)

Most beginner AI outputs feel neutral because the AI doesn’t care. It has no emotional investment. You have to engineer emotional tension into what it produces.

Without emotional pull, even the best-written ad is easy to ignore. 

Tap Into Emotions

Start by defining what emotional stakes you're targeting:

📝 Example Emotional Prompt:

"Using these reviews and brand tone, create 3 ad hooks: one fear-based, one aspiration-based, and one pride-based."

Now you're not just producing words — you're producing reasons to act.

Use Proven Direct Response Frameworks

After you nail the emotional stakes, wrap them in proven direct response (DR) structures that have been selling products for 100+ years:

📝 Example Structuring Prompt:

"Take these customer reviews and this product description and write 2 PAS-style ad headlines for postpartum hair regrowth."

This keeps AI outputs tight, persuasive, and primed to sell. Not just robotically “inform.”

Write Detailed Creative Briefs Too

Once you land on a strong concept and structure, you can even have AI generate full creative briefs.

These briefs are gold for handing off to:

• UGC creators/influencers

• Designers

• AI video tools like HeyGen or Creatify
  

📝 Example Creative Brief Prompt:

"Write a 150-word creative brief for a TikTok creator promoting our collagen gummies. Target: moms 30–45. Tone: personal, inspiring. Focus: hair regrowth transformation."

A good brief outlines:

• Target audience

• Emotional hook

• Tone/mood

• Visual or script style

• CTA/offer focus
  

It removes guesswork and speeds up asset production dramatically.

🛠️ 3. Move Fast: Tools + Tactics for Creative Execution

(How to actually build and ship assets at speed.)

Now that you have your angles, hooks, and briefs, it’s time to produce creative — fast and dirty, not slow and perfect.

Let’s go over what AI tools to leverage. And some of the more analog methods to get your creative juices flowing as well. 

⚡ Best AI Tools for Visuals + Video

💡 Pro Tip:
Stack Canva for static social posts, Creatify for video, then test them head-to-head.

🐦 Turn Twitter (X) Into Free Coaching

Stay out of the drama, and Twitter Or “X”) is still the best free DTC university.

Follow smart founders, marketers, and designers who build in public. Lurk, screenshot, bookmark, reverse-engineer. Heck even ask them for their help. 

Start here:
👉 Best of DTC Twitter List

Steal angles. Watch tests. Build your own swipe file.

🛍️ Reverse-Engineer Brands You Admire

If a brand you love is 2-5  years ahead of you, study them like an archaeologist:

• Opt into their ads

• Join their email flows

• Test their customer service

• Analyze their upsells and bundles

• Study their content themes across channels
  

The smartest operators copy the system, not the surface.

💡 You can go a step further and analyze their top pages, top traffic sources and more with Semrush’s Traffic Analytics.

📝 Go Analog to Go Deeper

Finally…step away from the screen sometimes. Creativity needs disconnection to surface new ideas.

Sometimes:

• Notebook > Word doc for rough hooks

• Whiteboard > Figma for funnel maps

• Dog walks > doomscrolling when you're stuck

Context switching literally shifts your brain into a different problem-solving mode (called "diffuse thinking"). Some of my best SnapPad ideas didn’t come from late-night Google Docs.

They came from muddy shoes and no notifications.

♻️ Build Your Creative Testing Flywheel:

1. Brainstorm ad angles with AI

2. Write mini-briefs for the best ideas

3. Produce scrappy visuals and videos

4. Launch cheap, fast creative tests

5. Watch performance: kill losers, boost winners

6. Refine — and spin the wheel faster every month

🎯 Expect 1 in 5 concepts to outperform your current best ad. That’s a win, not a failure. Especially if you’re finding them much faster than before.

🥡 Final Takeaway

Creativity isn’t magic anymore. It’s Inputs × Systems × Tools.

• Train your AI like an intern.

• Structure your outputs like a seasoned copywriter.

• Move fast like a founder with a deadline — because you are.

You don’t need “better AI.”  You need sharper material, faster iteration, and relentless emotional precision.

Go make a mess. Go make it human. Go make it fast.

Signing off,

 Kent

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