Katrina McBride, Marketing Performance & AI Strategist | The Advert Elixir AI Strategy | Digital Marketing | Business Growth
You’ve heard the word AI about a thousand times this year. Maybe you’ve had a play with ChatGPT. Maybe you’re using it for the odd email or social post. But there’s a big difference between dabbling with AI and actually building it into your business in a way that saves time, generates leads, and makes you money.
That’s exactly what I help businesses do now. AI consultancy is a core part of what I offer at The Advert Elixir, sitting alongside my paid media and marketing strategy work. Think of it as the engine behind everything else.
This post is just straight answers to the questions I get asked most by business owners who know AI matters but aren’t sure where to start.
The Reality Most SMEs Are Living In Right Now
Here’s what I hear constantly from business owners across Ireland, the UK, and beyond.
They’ve signed up for three or four AI tools. Some they use regularly. Some they’ve forgotten about. None of them talk to each other properly. They’re not sure if any of it is actually moving the needle or just eating into their budget.
Their team is using AI in ten different ways with no consistency. One person swears by one tool. Another uses something completely different. Nobody has agreed on how AI fits into the workflow, what it should and shouldn’t be used for, or how to check that the output is actually good.
Their ads worked differently last year. The targeting changed. The algorithm changed. What used to perform reliably is now unpredictable. They’re putting budget in and not fully understanding what’s coming back out or why.
They’re producing more content but getting less traction. AI made it easier to create. The problem is everyone else figured that out too. The internet is now flooded with generic AI content and audiences are switching off.
They know their competitors are doing something with AI. They just don’t know what. And that uncertainty is the worst part.
If any of that sounds familiar, you don’t have a tools problem. You have a strategy problem. And that’s exactly what AI consultancy fixes.
The Specific Problems I Help SMEs Solve
“I don’t know which AI tools are actually worth using.”
This is the number one thing I hear. The AI tools market is enormous and it moves fast. New platforms launch every week. Everyone has an opinion. It’s genuinely hard to know what’s worth your time and money.
The answer is not to use more tools. It’s to use fewer, better-chosen tools that are right for your specific business and your specific goals. What works for an e-commerce brand is not what works for a professional services firm. What works for a team of ten is not what works for a solo operator.
Before I recommend anything to a client, I look at what they’re already using, what their business actually needs, and what will integrate without adding more complexity. The goal is always to simplify, not to add.
“I’m spending on AI but I can’t see the return.”
If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. A lot of businesses adopt AI tools without agreeing upfront on what success looks like. They add a tool, use it for a while, and then try to figure out retrospectively whether it was worth it.
Every AI system I build starts with a clear outcome. Cost per lead. Time saved per week. Email conversion rate. Revenue from automated flows. You set the baseline before you start, and you measure against it. If it’s not working, you change it. If it is, you scale it.
“Our team is using AI inconsistently and I’m not sure the output is good enough.”
This is a bigger problem than most business owners realise. When your team uses AI without guidelines, you end up with inconsistent quality, inconsistent brand voice, and in some cases content that’s factually wrong or legally risky.
The fix is a simple AI usage framework. Clear guidance on which tools to use for which tasks, how to prompt them properly, what to check before anything goes live, and what never to run through an AI tool unsupervised. It doesn’t need to be complicated. It just needs to exist.
“My content is getting lost in the noise.”
Everyone is using AI to create content now. That means the bar for what actually gets read, shared, and found in search has gone up. Generic AI output on its own is not a content strategy.
The businesses cutting through are the ones using AI to speed up production while keeping a strong human editorial layer on top. Distinctive point of view. Specific examples. Real experience. That’s what separates content that gets found from content that disappears.
“I don’t know if my competitors are pulling ahead.”
They might be. The adoption of AI in marketing is moving fast and the gap between businesses using it well and businesses not using it at all is widening. But “using AI well” does not mean using the most tools or spending the most money. It means being strategic about where it creates real value in your specific business.
That’s a much more achievable position than most people think.
What AI Is Actually Doing for Businesses Right Now
Let’s make this simple. Here are real things AI is doing for Irish and UK SMEs today.
Finding your best leads faster. Instead of treating every enquiry the same, AI tools score and rank leads so you focus on the ones most likely to buy. Less time chasing. More time closing.
Making your ads smarter. Meta’s Advantage+ uses AI to figure out who to show your ads to, how much to spend on each audience, and which version of your creative performs best. When it’s set up correctly it outperforms manual campaigns. When it’s set up wrong it burns budget. Knowing the difference is the skill.
Telling you what’s working before you waste budget. AI inside ad platforms analyses your campaign data in real time and makes adjustments automatically. It shifts budget toward the ads that are performing, pulls back on the ones that aren’t, and tests combinations of creative that you’d never have time to test manually. The platform is making thousands of micro-decisions on your behalf, around the clock.
Automating your email marketing. Platforms like Klaviyo automate your emails based on what your customers actually do. Browse a product and leave? A follow-up email goes out automatically. Haven’t bought in 90 days? A win-back sequence kicks in. Klaviyo also uses AI to predict things like when a customer is likely to churn and what their lifetime value will be, so you can act before you lose them.
Speeding up content creation without killing your brand voice. AI can draft blogs, ads, social posts, and emails much faster than starting from scratch. The businesses getting the best results use AI as a starting point, not a finished product. A strong editorial layer on top is non-negotiable.
Spotting patterns in customer behaviour you’d never catch manually. Reviews, survey results, email engagement, website behaviour. AI can analyse all of it and surface insights that would take a human analyst weeks to find.
The Questions I Get Asked Most
Is AI only for big companies with big budgets?
No. Most of the tools I work with are accessible and affordable for smaller businesses. The issue is not the cost of the tools. It is knowing which ones are worth it and how to use them properly. That’s the gap AI consultancy fills.
Will AI replace my team?
No. AI is very good at repetitive tasks. Writing the same type of email repeatedly. Sorting data. Running tests. Scheduling posts. Your team is good at thinking, problem-solving, managing relationships, and making judgement calls. AI handles the time-consuming stuff so your people can focus on the valuable stuff.
The real risk is not AI replacing your team. It’s your competitors getting more done with fewer resources while you’re still doing everything manually.
What are the risks I need to know about?
Data privacy. You need to know what information you’re feeding into AI tools and whether that’s compliant under GDPR. I help clients set clear rules around this before we touch anything.
It can make things up. AI tools can produce content that sounds completely convincing but is factually wrong. Everything needs a human check before it goes near a customer.
Generic output. If you use AI with no direction or prompting strategy, the output sounds like everyone else’s. Brand voice and a strong editorial process matter more than ever.
Team resistance. Dropping new tools on a team without training or explanation is a fast way to get people to resent the whole thing. How you roll it out matters as much as what you roll out.
How do I measure ROI from AI?
Before we build anything, we agree on what success looks like. Cost per lead. Time saved per week. Email conversion rate. Revenue from automated flows. There is always a number. If it is not moving, we adjust. AI without measurement is just guessing.
How do I start if I have no technical background?
You start with one thing. One area where you are losing time or leaving money on the table. You fix that, you see it work, and then you build from there. You do not need to understand how AI works under the hood. You need someone to translate it, set it up, and make sure it fits how your business actually operates.
Why Work With Me
I have been doing this work every day for over 10 years. Not talking about it on LinkedIn. Doing it, inside real accounts, with real budgets, for real clients across Ireland, the UK, the US, Australia, and Canada.
Credentials:
- SEMrush AI Marketing Certified
- 10+ years running Meta advertising campaigns
- Master’s in Marketing
- Claude expert
Results:
- Scaled a client from €1M to €10M in revenue through paid media strategy
- Delivered 6.3x ROAS for a retail client using a structured Meta campaign build
- Built advanced conversion tracking systems for a Dublin law firm, significantly improving lead quality and attribution accuracy
- Audited and rebuilt Klaviyo email automation for Irish e-commerce brands, fixing broken flows that were costing them sales
- Delivered AI-powered marketing systems across professional services, e-commerce, and events clients
How We Work Together
Step 1: Discovery. I review your current tools, your data, your team, and your goals. I find the highest-impact AI opportunities specific to your business.
Step 2: Strategy. You get a clear, prioritised plan. What we’re building, in what order, with what tools, and what results we’re aiming for.
Step 3: Build. I set everything up. Integrations, automations, content systems. The technical work gets done properly.
Step 4: Team training. Your team gets clear guidelines and training so they can use what we’ve built with confidence.
Step 5: Ongoing support. AI platforms change constantly. I work with clients on retainer to keep everything performing, fix issues, and adapt as things evolve.
If Any of These Sound Like You, Don’t Wait
- You have AI tools but no clear strategy connecting them
- You’re spending on ads but can’t confidently explain what’s working and why
- Your team is using AI inconsistently with no guidelines in place
- Your content output has gone up but your results haven’t
- Your competitors are moving and you don’t know how to catch up
AI strategy is not a luxury. It’s the thing that levels the playing field for smaller businesses.
The Honest Truth
The businesses winning with AI right now did not have it all figured out before they started. They picked one thing, got help from someone who knew what they were doing, proved it worked, and built from there.
The ones falling behind are waiting until they feel ready. That moment rarely comes.
What you need is a clear starting point and someone in your corner who can guide you through it without the jargon, the overselling, or the unnecessary complexity.
That’s what I do at The Advert Elixir.
If you want a straight conversation about where AI can make the biggest difference in your business, get in touch.
Katrina McBride is the founder of The Advert Elixir, a digital marketing consultancy based in Donegal, Ireland, working with businesses across Ireland, the UK, the US, Australia, and Canada.
