In a May 16th, 2025 presentation to IBAA members, Kent Lewis, Executive Director of NextNW, shared valuable insights into how generative AI can transform business operations and marketing strategies to improve profitability. As the advertising landscape continues to evolve, staying ahead of technological innovations has become crucial for sustainable success in the indoor advertising industry. Here’s what you need to know about implementing generative AI in your business.
The Promise of Generative AI
Generative AI offers numerous opportunities for businesses looking to optimize their operations and boost their bottom line. According to Lewis, these opportunities include:
- Increased Efficiency: Generate more output or save significant time on routine tasks
- Enhanced Quality and Consistency: Maintain higher standards across all content and communications
- Data Synthesis: Rapidly analyze and summarize large volumes of data for actionable insights
- Workflow Optimization: Streamline low-value activities to focus human talent on high-impact work
- Dynamic Pricing and Personalization: Create customized experiences that resonate with clients
- Revenue Maximization: Leverage AI tools to identify and capitalize on profit opportunities
Navigating the Challenges
While the benefits are compelling, Lewis also addressed several challenges that organizations must navigate when implementing AI technologies:
- Legal and Compliance Issues: Including copyright concerns, intellectual property questions, and data privacy and security considerations
- Content Accuracy: Managing AI “hallucinations” that can compromise content quality and factual accuracy
- Integration Complexity: Effectively incorporating AI tools into existing business processes
- Keeping Pace with Evolution: Continuous monitoring, testing, and training as AI technology rapidly advances
- Human Element: Balancing automation with creativity and meaningful human interaction
- Ethical Considerations: Addressing monetization strategies and preventing disinformation
Seven Strategic Applications for IBAA Members
The presentation outlined seven key strategies for leveraging generative AI in business and marketing operations:
1. Research and Inspiration
AI can identify trending topics relevant to your advertising clients, analyze keywords for maximum impact, and perform competitive analysis to identify market opportunities.
2. Content Creation
Generate compelling ad copy, social media content, blog posts, articles, and FAQs that speak directly to your target audience. Lewis emphasized the importance of effective prompts and using AI filters to ensure quality.
3. Website Optimization
Enhance your digital presence with AI-generated SEO elements including title tags, meta descriptions, ALT text, technical code improvements such as structured data, and link development strategies.
4. Data Analysis and Reporting
Leverage AI to develop detailed customer personas, automate spreadsheet analysis and formula creation, and set up conversion tracking to measure campaign effectiveness.
5. Content Personalization
Deliver tailored experiences across email campaigns, websites, social media, and advertising. For IBAA members specifically, AI can personalize member communications and renewal notices to improve retention.
6. Process Automation
Streamline repetitive tasks including member segmentation, asset management, policy summaries, and ad inventory management and analysis—allowing your team to focus on strategic initiatives.
7. Customer Service Enhancement
Implement AI-powered chatbots across digital channels to provide 24/7 answers to common questions and deliver personalized placement recommendations to advertising clients.
Bonus: Sales Process Integration
Lewis also highlighted how generative AI can transform sales operations through:
- Automated prospect list generation
- Sales script development
- Meeting transcript analysis
- Creating personalized follow-up emails
- Streamlining proposal and RFP responses
- Document proofing
- Replicating successful management approaches
Implementation Recommendations for IBAA Members
To successfully integrate generative AI into your operations, consider these practical steps:
- Start Small: Begin with one or two strategies that address your most pressing business challenges
- Test and Iterate: Monitor results and refine your approach as you gain experience
- Maintain Human Oversight: Always review AI-generated content before publishing
- Stay Educated: Keep up with evolving best practices through the resources shared in the presentation
- Focus on ROI: Prioritize applications that directly impact revenue or significantly reduce costs
Going Premium
While free AI tools are extremely helpful, they are limited to prompts and singular inputs. To get the most from AI platforms, consider investing in a premium account in order to upload documents on which the AI bot can learn. Pricing plans for the top four platforms are outlined below.
Claude (Anthropic)
- Claude Pro: $20/month or $168/year (saves $72)
- Features include: Priority access during high demand, higher message limits, early access to new features, and ability to create custom Claudes
ChatGPT (OpenAI)
- ChatGPT Plus: $20/month
- ChatGPT Team: $30/user/month (annual billing)
- ChatGPT Enterprise: Custom pricing
- Plus features include: Access to GPT-4 models, plugins, DALL-E image generation, browsing capabilities, and priority access
- Copilot Pro: $20/month
- Copilot for Microsoft 365: $30/user/month (requires Microsoft 365 subscription)
- Features include: Advanced AI capabilities across Microsoft apps, priority access to newest models, enhanced image creation
- Gemini Advanced: $19.99/month (often bundled with Google One AI Premium plan)
- Features include: Access to most capable Gemini models, larger context windows, multimodal capabilities, and integration with Google Workspace
These prices are current as of October 2024, but subscription costs and plan features may have changed since then. We recommend checking each provider’s official website for the most up-to-date pricing and feature information.
Conclusion
As generative AI continues to transform the advertising industry, IBAA members who thoughtfully implement these technologies stand to gain significant competitive advantages. By balancing automation with human creativity and strategic thinking, indoor advertising businesses can enhance efficiency, improve client relationships, and ultimately increase profitability. You can listen to a podcast summary of this presentationon NotebookLM.
The presentation reinforced that generative AI should be viewed not as a replacement for human expertise, but as a powerful tool that amplifies what your team can accomplish. By embracing these technologies now and developing organizational competency in their application, IBAA members can position themselves for continued success in an increasingly digital landscape.
For more information about Kent Lewis, visit his website or connect with him on LinkedIn.
