Crafting Data-Driven Strategies with AI

InfoThis is a summary of the following YouTube video:

Build Epic Strategies: NotebookLM + Perplexity Workflow

Blazing Zebra

Jan 19, 2025

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Education

Combine tools for effective strategy building

  1. The text discusses the integration of Perplexity and Notebook LM, highlighting their recent updates and how they can be used together to build powerful strategies. The author, with a decade of experience in a marketing agency, shares a distilled workflow using these tools.
  2. The workflow is broken down into three main steps: research, analysis, and creating a cohesive plan. Each step is crucial for developing a data-driven strategy, and the author emphasizes the importance of using specialized tools for specific tasks rather than relying solely on ChatGPT.
  3. Research is the first step, where the author stresses the need for solid methodologies and frameworks. The research should cover specific categories such as the audience, the company and its offerings, competitors, and industry trends. This structured approach prevents common research pitfalls.
  4. Analysis follows research, where the collected data is examined in depth. This step ensures that the information gathered is thoroughly understood and can be effectively used in strategy development.
  5. The final step is to wrap the research and analysis into a cohesive plan. This plan should be adaptable to the fast-changing world, as highlighted by the quote from Warren Buffett about the importance of being on the right path.
  6. The author uses an analogy of planning a shopping trip to Home Depot to illustrate the importance of planning in research. Just as a shopping list is essential to avoid forgetting items, a structured research plan is crucial to cover all necessary areas.
  7. The text concludes by emphasizing that trying to research all categories in one session is a common mistake. Instead, each category should be researched separately to ensure thoroughness and accuracy.

Use AI tools for strategic research

  1. The text discusses the use of Perplexity, an AI search tool, to build a marketing strategy for a new food truck business. It highlights the tool's ability to outperform other AI search tools by focusing on specific research silos rather than general opinions.
  2. The author uses a cheat sheet, available to Patreon supporters, to guide the research process. This cheat sheet includes prompts for finding legitimate research, such as reports from the Pew Research Center, rather than relying on opinions from bloggers or AI.
  3. A specific example is given where demographic and psychographic data for food truck customers in the Midwest is gathered using Perplexity. The tool provides valuable insights and sources, which can be stored separately to maintain clarity in research silos.
  4. The text emphasizes the importance of finding publications from food truck industry associations to understand evolving customer preferences, such as the trend for 'instagrammable' meals, which are meals that are visually appealing and shareable on social media.
  5. Research on major competitors in the food truck space is conducted using Perplexity, which provides a list of competitors along with their strengths and weaknesses. This information is crucial for strategic planning.
  6. The author also uses Perplexity to search Reddit for customer complaints about food trucks, providing additional insights into potential areas for improvement in the business strategy.

Separate research, analysis, and planning steps

  1. The text begins by addressing common issues faced in various industries, such as high costs, long wait times, small portions, and inconsistencies. These challenges necessitate a thorough strategy to overcome them.
  2. A crucial part of developing a strategy is conducting self-reflection to understand how an individual or company fits into the larger industry context. This is especially important for smaller companies that may not have extensive online information available.
  3. To facilitate self-reflection and gather necessary information, the text suggests using tools like ChatGPT in voice mode to conduct interviews. This can be done individually or with a team to document insights quickly and accurately.
  4. The text emphasizes the importance of structured research by defining silos and researching each one separately. This method ensures comprehensive coverage and prevents important details from being overlooked.
  5. Once research materials are gathered, they should be organized in tools like Notion or Google Docs, and relevant reports should be downloaded as PDFs for easy access.
  6. A critical step often missed is separating research, analysis, and plan creation. The text advises against combining these processes into one, as it can lead to missed details and opportunities.
  7. The analysis phase should focus on each silo individually before integrating them into a comprehensive strategic plan. This approach helps in identifying unique insights and opportunities within each area.
  8. Notebook LM is highlighted as an exceptional tool for the analysis phase, as it can draw connections between different research sources effectively. It is tailored to focus on the specific sources gathered, enhancing the analysis process.

Data-driven strategy using AI tools

  1. The workflow involves creating separate notebooks for different aspects of a business, such as a food truck business and its customers, competitors, and industry. This helps in organizing and analyzing data effectively.
  2. Sources are gathered using Perplexity, and prompts from a cheat sheet are used for analysis. The analysis focuses on psychographic and demographic characteristics, highlighting unexpected or noteworthy findings.
  3. The analysis step is crucial for understanding the gathered information. It involves identifying patterns, comparing and contrasting needs of different segments, and evaluating strengths and weaknesses of competitors and oneself.
  4. In the competitors' notebook, gaps in the market are identified based on competitors' offerings. This helps in spotting opportunities that are not covered by competitors.
  5. Industry information is analyzed using Notebook LM prompts to identify top trends likely to impact growth and evaluate the potential impact of emerging technologies.
  6. The insights gained from this analysis help in understanding customer behavior and avoiding fixation on a single idea during the research phase.
  7. The final strategy is compiled by combining insights from customers, competitors, industry, and company data using a large language model like ChatGPT-1 Pro or Claude.
  8. The use of ChatGPT-1 Pro, despite its cost, is justified by its effectiveness in strategy creation, offering a comprehensive approach to building a data-driven strategy.

Use AI for unbiased strategy creation

  1. The text discusses the use of AI models, specifically in Chrome, to process large amounts of information efficiently. This capability is leveraged to develop business strategies.
  2. A prompt is used to assign the AI the role of a business strategist, aiming to create a winning positioning and marketing strategy. The AI is informed that it has access to various documents to aid in this task.
  3. The process involves gathering resources and analyses from different sources and inputting them into the AI model. The AI then generates a comprehensive strategy, including brand personality, messaging, target audience, and strategic pillars.
  4. The strategy creation process is described as effective, with the AI providing an unbiased perspective by not being overly guided by specific prompts. This allows for a broad range of ideas and strategies to be generated.
  5. The workflow involves using Perplexity to gather information, organizing it in Notebook LM, and then using AI to synthesize a final strategy. This method is praised for its thoroughness and ability to create detailed plans.
  6. The text highlights the versatility of AI in strategy creation, noting that it can be applied to various fields beyond marketing, such as hiring and personal development. A cheat sheet with 100 strategy ideas is mentioned as a resource.

Use AI tools for strategic planning

  1. The text discusses the use of AI tools, specifically Notebook LM and Perplexity, to create effective strategies. These tools are used for self-reflection exercises and analysis prompts, which help in building comprehensive strategies.
  2. Notebook LM is highlighted for its ability to create silos and facilitate self-reflection exercises. This feature is crucial for organizing thoughts and developing a structured approach to strategy building.
  3. Perplexity is used for research purposes, providing a platform to gather and analyze data. This tool aids in making data-driven decisions, which are essential for crafting reliable strategies.
  4. The text mentions additional resources available on Patreon, including over a hundred resources and coaching options. These resources are designed to further assist in strategy development and implementation.
  5. A related video is suggested for viewers interested in learning more about product market fit and go-to-market strategies, indicating a deeper dive into specific strategic areas.