Season 2 of Future-Proofed kicks off with a fresh new voice—Ryane, the new co-host and Product Marketing Manager at Copy.ai. In this episode, Ryane shares her professional journey, unique onboarding story, and hands-on experiences leveraging AI productivity tools to drive impactful product launches.

Ryane steps in as co-host, bringing a background from Salesforce, Gong, Clary, and adjunct teaching at Loyola Chicago.

In this episode of Future Proof, host Nathan Thompson interviews Vanessa Silva, a content creator and strategist with over a decade of experience. Vanessa shares insights on how AI has transformed content creation workflows since she started in 2010.

Key Themes:

1. Evolution of content creation processes
2. AI as an assistant, not a replacement
3. Balancing efficiency and creativity
4. Streamlining content distribution
5. Maintaining quality with AI tools

Highlights:

• Vanessa describes the manual, time-consuming content creation process from 2010-2015, contrasting it with today's AI-assisted workflows.

• AI tools have dramatically reduced production time, allowing podcast episodes to be created and distributed in one day versus 2-3 days previously.

• Vanessa emphasizes using AI as an assistant for repetitive tasks while maintaining human creativity and strategic thinking.

• Content distribution and repurposing have been streamlined through AI, though some tasks like scheduling remain manual.

To maintain quality, Vanessa recommends:

• Thinking from the audience's perspective
• Using AI for idea generation when stuck
• Avoiding over-reliance on AI-generated content
• Ensuring brand guidelines and tone of voice are followed

Quote: "Don't lean too much on AI to do everything for you. It is an assistant. It is not replacing you." - Vanessa Silva

Vanessa balances freelance content creation work with running a web development agency - Uzumibi Agency -, specializing in HR, entertainment, and social media content.

In this episode of Future Proofed, Nathan Thompson explores how AI is transforming brand voice management, addressing long-standing challenges in maintaining consistency across multiple marketing channels.

Key Takeaways:

1. Traditional brand voice struggles with inconsistency due to multiple channels, subjective interpretations, and staff turnover.
2. AI offers a solution for codifying and maintaining consistent brand voice across all channels.
3. Implementing AI involves uploading brand guidelines and creating channel-specific workflows.
4. Benefits include improved consistency, reduced impact of staff changes, and more efficient content creation.
5. Defining clear brand voice guidelines and regularly updating documentation is crucial.

Thompson argues that true brand voice consistency has been nearly impossible to achieve without AI, especially for large teams and multiple channels. He states, "As far as I can tell, brand voice has... been more a fun idea than a reality until now with AI."

The podcast highlights how AI platforms like Copy.ai can be used to create workflows that maintain brand consistency: "We can take our value propositions, our product lists, all of the information about the problems that we solve... and store it so it's trained and ready to go."

Thompson emphasizes the efficiency gains, noting, "You don't have to worry about turnover as much anymore... you can quickly get a new writer to use the same workflow as the past writer."

In conclusion, Thompson encourages marketers to embrace AI for brand voice management: "This is absolutely the year to strike on this."

In this episode, we hear from Scott Coleman, an experienced inside sales rep at Copy.AI, about his approach to cold calling. Scott shares insights on:

Combining cold calls with other outreach methods:
"You cannot talk about cold calling without talking about also having emails in your sequences and connecting on LinkedIn... just trying to create any amount of recognition leading up to your calls."

Researching prospects before calling:
"You need to know a little bit about them. You need to know a little bit about their company and you need to formulate an approach for that phone call."

Moving quickly but not blindly:
"Move with speed, move with velocity, but don't move blindly."

Scott's cold call approach includes:
• Using a hook or opening line
• Acknowledging it's a sales call
• Asking how the prospect is doing
• Inviting them to hang up (as reverse psychology)

On maintaining energy and motivation, Scott advises:
"If you feel your mood slipping... the best thing to do is take a moment... refocus your energy and re-center yourself however you do that."

For new or discouraged sales reps, Scott recommends:
"You need to know yourself. You need to know how to get yourself in a good mood... Don't try to fight through the bad feeling by doing nothing or just keeping on keeping on."

Scott reminds us of cold calling realities:
"It is a tough game. Most people are not going to pick up the phone."

But with the right mindset and approach, cold calling can still be an effective sales strategy.

In this episode of Future Proof, Aaron Adza, an inside account representative at Copy.ai, shares his insights on effective cold calling techniques in sales.

Key takeaways:

1. Parallel dialers boost efficiency: Aaron uses technology that allows him to call multiple numbers simultaneously, maximizing talk time and data validation.
2. Strategic voicemails generate callbacks: A vague yet intriguing voicemail can prompt prospects to return calls, opening doors for meaningful conversations.
3. Adaptable conversation starters: Aaron employs various opening lines to build familiarity, like "Does that ring a bell?" to engage prospects naturally.
4. Balancing quantity and quality: While focusing on high call volumes, Aaron emphasizes the importance of genuine interactions over "spray and pray" tactics.
5. Leveraging AI in sales: Copy.ai's tools help generate account research, contact information, and even draft cold emails, streamlining the outreach process.
6. Mindset matters: Handling rejection, embracing "cringe" moments, and staying motivated are crucial for SDR success.
7. Evolving outreach methods: There's a shift from email-heavy to phone-heavy strategies, adapting to market saturation in email outreach.

Aaron's approach demonstrates that cold calling remains a viable and effective strategy when combined with modern tools and a resilient attitude. As he puts it, "If you can handle a little cringe... I think you can do it."

Cold Calling Strategies That Actually Work

In this episode of Future Proofed, host Nathan Thompson speaks with Brianna Stout, an inside account representative at Copy.ai, about effective cold calling strategies. Despite claims that cold calling is "dead," Brianna argues it remains a powerful tool for understanding prospects and facilitating human connections.

She shares key insights on:

• Preparation: Researching prospects and having relevant talking points ready before calls
• Breaking the ice: Addressing upfront that it's a cold call to disarm prospects
• Bringing humanity: Making interactions feel personal, not robotic
• Focusing on relevance: Tailoring outreach to each prospect's specific situation

Brianna emphasizes the importance of having the right mindset, including:

• Approaching calls with humility and empathy
• Not taking rejections personally
• Speaking confidently but without pressure for specific outcomes

For those managing cold calling teams, Brianna recommends:

• Providing proper tools, resources and talk tracks
• Enabling reps to speak credibly about products/services
• Setting up team members for success

She also discusses how AI tools are enhancing cold calling by:

• Assisting with prospect research
• Allowing reps to work more strategically
• Saving time on preparation

While many claim cold calling is obsolete, Brianna argues it enables deeper prospect understanding and human-to-human conversations that other channels can't match. With the right approach, cold calling remains a valuable and effective outreach strategy.

In this episode of Future Proofed, host Kyle Coleman interviews Srinivas Attili, who leads the Center of Excellence for Data and AI at Juniper Networks. Srinivas shares insights on leveraging AI and machine learning to drive hyper-personalized marketing at scale.

Key highlights:

- Juniper achieved a 9x increase in email open rates and 46% higher lead-to-meeting conversion through AI-powered personalization
- They developed a real-time activation system that monitors web analytics and sends contextualized follow-ups within minutes
- An AI safety model vets all generated content to ensure brand consistency and truthfulness
- Attili advocates for combining ML expertise with generative AI capabilities
- Future plans include developing an "autopilot" system for marketing functions using agentic AI frameworks

Attili emphasizes the importance of having a strong data foundation and experimenting strategically when adopting AI. He also discusses balancing innovation with governance to mitigate risks.

The conversation highlights how enterprise B2B companies can apply B2C-style personalization tactics by leveraging AI, while maintaining brand standards. Attili's insights offer a glimpse into the future of AI-powered marketing automation and decision-making.

In this episode of Future Proofed, host Kyle Coleman interviews Ayalla Goldschmidt, a Solutions and Product Marketing Leader at ServiceNow, about their AI implementation journey.

Key highlights:

1. Bottom-up AI adoption: Ayala's team started small, experimenting with AI tools like Copy.ai for product marketing tasks. This grassroots approach allowed them to demonstrate value before seeking wider organizational buy-in.
2. Practical use cases: Early applications included researching industry trends, developing personas, and content creation assistance. The team found AI particularly helpful for adapting content for different audiences and formats.
3. Overcoming skepticism: By showcasing concrete examples and encouraging experimentation, Ayala's team was able to generate excitement and drive adoption across the marketing organization.
4. Scaling implementation: What began as a small pilot expanded to over 200 licenses across product marketing and digital teams, with potential for further growth.
5. Best practices: Ayala emphasizes the importance of learning effective prompting techniques, having humans review AI outputs, and codifying processes into reusable workflows.
6. Change management: Ayala highlights the critical role of change management principles in driving AI adoption, including stakeholder buy-in and demonstrating value.
7. Tool selection criteria: ServiceNow chose Copy.ai for its ease of use, pricing model, and long-term workflow capabilities that aligned with their company DNA.

Ayala's advice for AI implementation:

• Start small with early adopters
• Learn to prompt effectively
• And focus on removing friction from existing processes.

By taking an iterative approach and demonstrating clear value, organizations can successfully integrate AI into their workflows.