Elison Smart Bug HubSpot AI Tools: Enhancing Marketing Efficiency with AI

Welcome back to Sidekick Strategies Expert Interviews. You know it's Inbound Talks edition. I'm your boy, George B. Thomas from Sidekick Strategies. Today, we're thrilled to have Ellison McLeod Barbatik Comstock from SmartBug Media joining us today. Ellison is a HubSpot technologist, certified trainer, and expert in inbound marketing with a passion for helping businesses unlock the potential of their CRM through innovative strategies. And in his recent HubSpot AI challenge win, he demonstrated how he uses HubSpot's AI tools. Oh, I'm excited. For this interview. To streamline workflows, enhance marketing efficiency, and lead his team to new heights. Today, we'll dive into Ellison's winning AI journey and the inbound talk that he was part of, the Fireside Chat, if you will, and how we can all leverage these tools for success. Ellison, welcome to the show.

Thank you. It's my pleasure to be here. I'm so excited to talk about my use cases using HubSpot AI tools and how I'm helping my clients to succeed as well.

Yeah, I'm super excited because without you, this would be a very boring episode, especially around HubSpot and AI. Although I do love me some AI, to be honest with you. But the first question I always like to ask in these inbound talks is, how the heck are you doing post inbound?

It took me a while to recover, to be honest, because I don't know if you are inbound, but you meet a lot of people, you learn a lot, and, you know, in that week, I feel like you get super excited. You come back home as a different person. Like, you know, the person that went there came back home as a different one. I got home more motivated, more excited to keep learning and connecting. So I'm still, like, recovering, and the people that I met there still trying to connect with them to have coffee chats. So it's been pretty exciting.

Oh, yeah. I. I caught the inbound bug back in 2012, and I'll tell you, it is. It is how we fuel up every year to do the things that we continue to do. So super excited that you were there, A, that you got to talk, and B, that you met so many awesome people. So let's go ahead and dive in to why you're here. Your session, a Fireside Chat, see how a real Customer is using HubSpot AI, showcases HubSpot AI in action. Can you just start by sharing, like, what initially motivated you, the human, to start using AI tools within HubSpot?

Sure. I started using HubSpot tools actually, last year when they launched Chat Spot was the first version was doing beta. So when I, when I saw this new product coming, I was like, wow, I'm passionate about HubSpot and I know HubSpot very well. I use HubSpot every day, I know the products and plus I know the clients, I know the users because I've been working with clients. So I know their pain points, I know what they're looking for and I know the product. So pretty much AI became the bridge between the pain points that I could see in my clients and the solution. So that was like the motivation for me to start. And I'm very curious as well. So I started testing and not only for my clients, but for myself. I, I love creating content. As a HubSpot certified trainer, I am very involved in creating content. So HubSpot invited me to create content in Portuguese for HubSpot Academy. As you, I don't know if probably you all don't know, but I'm from Brazil, so my first language is Portuguese. So they invited me to create content in Portuguese because HubSpot wants to expand their business to Brazil and also other countries that speak Portuguese. So in that moment I realized, oh, there's a need here. So then I started to dive even deeper in how you.

I love a couple of things about that. One, the fact that there's going to be HubSpot Academy in Portuguese because HubSpot Academy is literally the thing that changed my life and got me to the point where I'm at today and owning my own agency. And so that is super amazing. Just the, the ripples and impact that you'll be able to create by creating that content. I love that you love creating content, but I think I love the fact that you said I'm very curious and I love to test things. I think that's a tip, a trick, a hack for everybody that's watching this. And so it's almost like the, the planets aligned AI HubSpot customer problems. So let's keep digging in and the next thing I want to know is like, what were some specific ways that HubSpot AI tools have kind of transformed your daily tasks and workflows at SmartBug Media, maybe even just for your content creation or even for the clients that you're assisting, how have they transformed your daily tasks?

So, for example, when I wanted to create content for HubSpot Academy, I needed to give examples, real examples, and I was not sure how to start, so I used Chat Spot. That was like, in that, in that moment, we didn't have Breeze Copilot yet, so it was before that. So, you know, people, people are getting to know Breeze right now and they're so lucky because I started like before that. So, you know, things are still like, you know, in the very beginning mode. Like, you know, we're still testing and figuring out why what was working, what was not working. And now I was already testing a couple of things. But the first thing that what motivates me the most, and I was like, okay, let me, let me do this, was about the amount of time that I could save in creating content. For example, for example, a blog. If you want to build a blog, it can take you up to three, three hours for brainstorming and then keyword research and then writing an outline and then writing the copy and figure out what is the best cta, SEO best practice. All of that can take a lot of time. So by using chat spot in that time, I was able to kind of compress the amount of time instead of spending two or three hours, spending like 50 minutes and like no helping with my research as well. Not only writing, but also with your research. SEO best practice. So all comes to saving time. So when it comes to the client, it's the same thing. They want to save time and they're looking for solutions and how I could help them to save time and to be more efficient. So me bringing the solution saying, hey, we have this tool, they can help you to save time in your daily basis. Especially think about most of my clients, sometimes they don't have a marketing team or just one person, their marketing team. So having this tool was really like just to help them to do more in a short period of time. So yeah, pretty much saving time and be more efficient with the time they have.

Yeah, I love that you use the phrase compress time. And I love too that you painted this picture of like not only writing but research and best practices and like this, this kind of holistic view of being able to use that tool and then learning it and passing it through to the clients as a HubSpot certified certified trainer should do, educate and then educate right back to the other folks. And I love that you because in your actual inbound talk and in the AI winning that you were able to do, you you talked about or demonstrated using AI to create blog posts. We, I think a blog post, I think educational articles adding value to the world. When people decide that there are no more excuses now time is compressed. I. I can't say, hey, I got stuff to do. No, you need to add value to the world. What tips would you give to others wanting to use HubSpot AI for content creation? Like is there a one or two, one or two, three things that you'd be like what? Make sure you pay attention to this or make sure you do that?

Yeah, I always say that the output that you're going to get from this tool is as good as the input. So for example, sometimes you're not going to get the answer or what you're looking for at the first test, like in the first time you try it. So we need to deal with the tool as a conversation, like, oh, okay, I'm going to give this context but didn't get what I was looking for. So let me try again with more constellation context. Like more like, you know, maybe bullet points I want to address. Or I have this idea, how can I kind of, you know, brainstorm with, with AI and then help me to kind of outline, you know, my idea and then I go from there. So what people sometimes were scared about, they think when they just add a prompt they're going to get what they're looking for right away. And sometimes it doesn't work like that. You need to need to, you know, sometimes be patient with the process and like, you know, learn. It's like we always say is a learning machine because it's learning with you. You're training this tool with you, with your data, with your insights and you are, you are the brain, you are the one, you know, giving these insights. And AI is working as your co pilot. That's why I love this work co pilot because it's literally like you are still the pilot of this plan and you have this tool that's going to help you to succeed and going faster and further. So if I could say in three, in three, like maybe key points. First is giving context. You need to summarize your context. The data is really important too. If you don't have no strong data, the results are not going to be strong the way that you want. What I like about HubSpot AI tools is because they use the data that you have inside of a CRM so you can create really personalized content. Because AI, AI HubSpot AI tool is going to bring what you have inside of your CRM. So that's pretty awesome. And the third thing is you are the final reviewer. So make sure you review what you're creating with the AI because sometimes we are humans, we make mistakes. This learning machine is also learning and it's going to make mistakes of course. So with that it's good for you to practice and the next time you're going to, oh, I already tested the first time and I didn't like that, let me do it again. So and I, and I try in a different method to have a different result. So I think you know, not being afraid to testing and trying is like, you know, I think is the key. You need to test, you need to hands on different prompts, testing different things until figure out like what works for you.

Yeah, there was so much good in there because it really does come down to being human powered, AI assisted. It's does come down to the power of context and basically training or onboarding your AI assistant to understand who and what you're trying to do and just so many good pieces in there that you shared. Now I know we've talked about a lot about kind of content creation in AI and there's a lot of other AI places in HubSpot and so in this next one we can stick with content creation or we might talk about workflows or tasks or summarizing deals wherever you want to go. But I am curious for somebody who that was an early adopter and jumped in and started educating yourself so that you could educate others. What was like the biggest challenge that you faced when you started kind of integrating or educating and integrating AI into your kind of daily workflow?

I would say the building trust with especially if you never heard about AI before, if you are still like kind of skeptical, like you're not sure if, if you trust the tool. What I love now about for example breeze is AI is fully integrated inside of HubSpot which means you're not going elsewhere to kind of pull the information, bring it back to HubSpot. Everything is in one place. So the pain point for me before was with my clients when sharing and trying to educate them. Chat spot before you had to go to a different tab, like a different kind of website, different like design. So it felt like you were not actually in HubSpot even though it was kind of integrated. So it felt like a different tool. So that created a gap that was kind of hard for me to fill in to feel hey you can trust but they're like it's not fully integrated with my CRM. So I'm not sure now there's no excuses because everything is the same screen integrating inside of CRM. So I think now is the best time to start testing and most of these features, e.g. briscopil for free so you don't need to start, like, no, maybe implementing 100% everything right now, but you can start slowly. Testing, for example, content creation is the easiest way for you to start testing. You have an idea and you figure it out with the AI tool. Maybe this is the first step and then further you're going to, oh, there's a different. For example, the agents. Sales you can use in Sales you can use in Service Hub. There's so many ways. There's more than 200 features. I. I can spend hours here talking about all the different features, but I think now is the best time because everything's fully integrated. CyberHub spot. So, you know, it's the best time, I believe, to start.

I love that there are so many features and really it comes down to prioritizing. What do you need to implement in your business? Is it the social media agent? Is it the prospecting agent? Is it the service agent? Is it. Is it what used to be called Chat Spot and now it's called Copilot? And I want to dive into that for a second because we use these words because we're in the ecosystem, because we're nerds, because we like AI. Let's back up a second because in your session, you kind of showcased how you were using Chat Spot or what now is copilot within HubSpot. Can you just take a minute and explain what the heck Copilot is and kind of, again, maybe a few benefits that you were like, I'm willing to fill the gap. I'm super glad it's in HubSpot because I use it to do XYZ ABC all the time.

Copilot is HubSpot AI assistant. So it's pretty much your AI assistant in your daily basis. For me, for example, Copilot is a huge help to creating content. Summarize a website. For example, if you have a sales team, you want to summarize a company record or you go into a prospect website, you want to summarize like, no, what is this interest about what type of technology they use? You can use Copilot to help you to summarize their website or that company record. So it's pretty much your assistant to help you with research, summarizing like, you know, contact records, company records, and also content. I'm very like, no, I focus a lot in content because for me is like, no, a huge help. Especially when I talk about saving time, like I mentioned earlier about how much it can save you time so you can focus more on strategy and less in creating content. Because for me, the key you know, I think the key point for you to succeed is you focus on strategy and then you can create content. Content is going to be the, after you build the strongest tragedy. So think about it. If you have more time to focus on strategy, the content, you know that this tool is going to help you to build is going to be way better. So I think saving time is like, you know, for me with Copilot is the, is the thing that I love the most about how much time you can save.

Yeah, I love this idea of like strategy before creation because creation is intoxicating, it is empowering, it is something that's fun to do. I love creating content. But if you're just going to create content for content's sake, you've got to have a strategy in front of that. Now you, it's, it's interesting because we bumped in earlier to this kind of conversation of like human powered, AI, assisted and Ellison. I need to ask you like, what's your approach to balancing kind of this AI automation or this compression of time because of AI with what still needs to be the human touch, Especially in like customer facing communication, like so talk me through like balancing AI and the human touch. Where does your brain go?

That's why I always say it's really important to review. You review the work always. Because for example, I know my clients very well, I know their pain points, I know what they're looking for, I know their message, I know their tone, I know a lot about them. I have a lot of contacts that maybe I still don't have because I face to face with them. So especially for the tone, voice, tone, this personalization, you need to make sure AI fully understands that. So that's why it's important for you always reveal. And if you feel it's not right, you train AI to make it right next time. So for example, AI gives you a first draft of a blog post, just as an example. You can say change the tone to X, Y and Z for emails. Same thing you can ask, change the tone because you know your client, you know your content. So when it doesn't look like you just train AI to work for you. So I think that's the key here. You as a human, you know the message very well better than anyone. So it is in your power to train this technology to work with you. So we need to give context and like nurture this, this tool to work better for you. So I think that's, that's the secret here. You as a human knows way better and you know the nuances that maybe this technology doesn't know, but it's in your hands to train the students to do better. So I think here, that's the, that's a secret. Like, you know it's going to work for you when you know how to train them.

I often say if you're a great communicator in the real world, you'll be a great communicator with your AI assistant and you'll be able to onboard and train. And if you can get the best out of humans, you'll get the best out of your co pilot. I wanted to dive into another piece of this because at the end of the day we've talked about collapsing time, right? And that's definitely a benefit. But I'm super curious if there's another like, surprise, you know, a surprise benefit of using AI in your HubSpot environment that you didn't expect when you first started, but then all of a sudden you're like, oh, well that's unique and interesting. Like, is there, is there another surprising benefit that people might find themselves falling into?

Yeah, like for me is the fact that AI keeps the history of your research and your inputs. For me was really surprising because I remember when I was creating content for HubSpot Academy in Portuguese, it was like in Portuguese, not even English. And I was kind of like not sure if it worked in Portuguese because, you know, translation, all of that. And I remember I kept researching like trying to figure out and took me like, no couple of months and then like, you know, at the end of, I think the third month I AI was already no really like no fat with my, my data for all this training that I was using. And then, you know, the result at the end was pretty strong because I was like nurturing for like, you know, months with insights, with research, with data and AI was kind of like, you know, getting like, you know, kind of thicker and thicker, you know, and that was, that was the key then when I was figuring out, oh, that is when it works better when I nurture with like, you know, in context with data and I, and I provide this training over time. So that's when I realized that it works when you have the patience to kind of train that to, to work better for you. So that for me was kind of like, wow, if I continue doing that, I can do so much more. So that's pretty exciting for me to kind of realize that in that moment.

Yeah, I love that. Nurturing it and taking the time have it being a long term strategy instead of a Short term success point that you're trying to reach. I love that. And you've mentioned this word a couple times, so I just want to throw it out there for the listener and viewers. Patience, like just having patience to test it, patience to allow it to work, patience for you to learn how to actually interact with it better, I think is a. Is a huge piece. All right, so, Ellison, I want you to get your crystal ball out for a second. All right? We're gonna, we're gonna try to look into the future a little bit because I'm curious. You're an early adopter. You've been using it, you're paying attention to it. Like, looking ahead, how do you see AI kind of continuing to evolve in HubSpot? And like, what features would you like to see introduced? Right. If you, if you could wave a magic wand and look in your crystal ball and go to the future, like, poof, it would do this. What are your thoughts?

I feel like, you know, more and more we need integrated systems. So, for example, using AI not only for marketing, but also for sales, service and operations. So what I'm hopeful and I want to see more in the future is an integrated system. Like, as I mentioned before, when AI chat spot was outside HubSpot, it didn't work very well. Now that we have fully integrated, it is working way better. So in my ideal scenario is having a system that's fully integrated, like with sales, marketing, web data analysis, because that's really important, like analyzing what is working, what is not working. One of the features that I just found out recently was the content remix in HubSpot. It's like when you have a piece of content and you can created like other content based on that. So that was like a great example about integrating like, you know, like one piece of information. And with that you create like, you know, multiple, you know, assets. So that's how I want to see the future. You know, marketing teams and sales team fully integrated, like in AI being the facilitator between those teams. So I think when you see that, when you see this, more and more is going to be like, you know, way more powerful. And I'm excited for that.

Yeah, it's almost like sales and marketing service nervous mentor, where the left hand actually will know what the right hand's doing because AI can actually kind of assist in both directions. I love that so much. So there are people out there, Ellison, who, I don't know if this is a mean word or not, but the word Luddites, where they just, they're not real quick to be an early adopter. I'm an early adopter, you're an early adopter. I mean, it's. It's just how we're made up. But what advice would you Give to other HubSpot users considering AI? But. But sit there on the fence because they're hesitant to implement it in their daily workflows? Like, what advice would you give those folks?

Go to HubSpot Academy? I think, I think education and information, they take away the fear because they give you, like, you know, actually, like, understand about how it works and how you can or make it work for your business or for you in general. And, like, if you feel like, oh, I don't think that's the right time for me, at least you try it. At least you test it. So I think you find resources, you're talking to people, finding educational materials that's gonna help you, you know, to kind of understand better. I think that's a great advice that, you know, I heard this advice in the past about, you know, the importance of keep learning. Like, you know, forever learning. I always say that, like, I am forever learning, you know, because I think when you have the. The education and the. The information, it gives you power to let the fear behind and actually move forward with something. So that'll be my advice.

That's some good advice right there. I love all of those words. It really aligns to who I try to show up to be as I go to bed. A master. But I wake up a student every morning trying to just learn more. And. And so, man, I. That might be a rewind spot, ladies and gentlemen, to just go listen to what Ellison just said, because it is. I think it goes past HubSpot. It might go to some life advice. So here's the thing. As we land the plane, I want to ask you this last question. If someone wants to get started using AI and HubSpot right now, what's the first action you think that they should take?

I think the first action is to know what you're looking for. Because as we mentioned earlier, HubSpot has more than 200 features in terms of AI. So it's a lot. And you can feel overwhelmed. You can feel like, I don't know how to start. So, you know, start, you know, as simple like, no. Inside of HubSpot there's like the copilot chat, and inside of the chat there's like the library prompt. You go and take a look at the library, like, prompt ready for you to use. So I think it's a great place to start because you don't need to, you know, reinvent the wheel. Like trying to say, oh, I don't know how to write a prompt. You know, I didn't know how to write a prompt at the beginning. Now I know how to write prompts. Customize prompt. This is another conversation because it can get a little, you know, hard. But you don't, you don't need to be like, no, I'm prompt expert right now. Inside of HubSpot there's library for you. So you know, prompts ready for you to use. So I think you go dive in, test and like, you know, using the library is a great place for you to start. So, you know, just start testing and you know, some of the features are for free so you don't have to worry about paying anything. So I think that's a great place to start.

I love that. Free is good. Testing is amazing and realizing there's a library and you'd have to be a prompt engineer. Let's go. Allison, thank you so much for sharing your insight and journey with HubSpot AI tools. Your experience truly highlights the transformative power of AI in marketing, in sales, in HubSpot. If people want to connect with you, where do you want to send them?

LinkedIn. I'm very active on LinkedIn, so if you just search for my name, Alison McLeod barbie.com stock you're going to see like probably me is going to be the first one because I don't know there's anyone else with that name. So I'll say LinkedIn is like the first source. Also my email, allison.barbera mail.com so LinkedIn or email I am available to connect with anyone.

Love that so much. And yes, that name is very brandable. So you got lucky. I had to add a B to my name so I could be out of the major mix of George Thomases on the planet. But hey listeners and viewers, if you're ready to elevate your HubSpot game, Ellison's guidance from this interview offers a great roadmap to get started with these AI tools and HubSpot itself. Be sure to connect with Ellison on LinkedIn and check out Smart Bug Media for some innovative insights as well. And as always, don't forget to be a happy, helpful, humble human and do some happy hubspotting along the way.