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When I first started at HubSpot, I needed a new headshot fast. So, I turned to generative AI tools — and no one had any idea, at least not initially. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, generative AI tools are impressive.
From text and data analysis to uncanny photos and celebrity videos, AI’s ability to imitate human voices and forms has improved dramatically in the past year. While they raise a lot of ethical questions, they can also help increase productivity and amplify marketing results when used strategically.
Manufacturer Cold Jet, for instance, cut lead response time by 66% using HubSpot’s Smart CRM and Breeze. But what generative AI tools should your team use? In this article, we’ll discuss:
Table of Contents
Generative AI tools for marketing are software solutions that create content (i.e. videos, images, text, graphs), campaigns, and insights using artificial intelligence. Marketers use these tools to speed up content creation, personalize messaging, and improve campaign results across email, ads, social, SEO, and analytics.
To choose the right tools, look for options that integrate with your CRM, support brand voice controls, and offer strong data privacy. Start with a shortlist, run pilot tests, and roll out gradually.
Want to see how AI can work for your team? Get a demo or start free with HubSpot’s AI-powered marketing tools.
Generative AI tools are software solutions that use large-language models (LLMs) or multimodal AI to create new content based on prompts, inputs, or data. Finished products can include text, imagery, video, audio, reports, code, or even ideas.
But how can marketers make use of this?
Generative AI is useful across numerous marketing channels:
Thanks to generative AI tools, marketing teams report reducing content creation time by three hours per piece without sacrificing quality standards. (The most important thing to me.)
The shift from hours to minutes for first drafts means marketers spend more time on strategy and less on production. Here at HubSpot, this idea is at the heart of Loop Marketing.
Not every AI tool fits every team or task. Before adopting new platforms, evaluate them against these practical criteria to figure out if it’s really what you need,
List your top marketing objectives. What exactly are you trying to achieve? This will help you understand what areas you want to focus on improving and where AI may be able to help.
For example, when I needed a headshot, I knew I had to focus on tools that had the best reputation for creating realistic photos.
Does this tool connect to your CRM, marketing automation platform, and content management system? Can it pull data from your existing tools to make informed suggestions?
Even the best AI needs this data to create the most effective and relevant content. HubSpot has its own AI, Breeze, but it also offers integrations with other tools, such as Claude. This enables not just data access but also automation.
Does this generative AI tool have everything you need? With your goals, industry, and workflow in mind, here are some specifics to pay attention to:
HubSpot’s Breeze does all of these things.
Will this tool grow with your organization (aka does it have what you need right now and more)? And if so, will you still be able to afford it then?
Many platforms appear affordable at low contact or usage volumes but become expensive as usage increases. Ensure that the tool you’re considering will remain realistic and useful in the future.
Everything can look great on paper, but you won’t truly know until it’s in practice. So, take some time (2-4 weeks) to pilot or demo different generative AI tools to make sure they work and fit into your processes as expected.
During this time, run these three marketing fit pilots:
Different AI tools solve different problems. Here’s how to match your goals to high-impact use cases:
Marketing teams juggle multiple responsibilities across multiple channels: ideation, production, approval, and distribution. Generative AI and content operations platforms can help streamline every step of this workflow.
This is what that can look like at a high level:
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Email remains one of marketing’s highest-ROI channels, and AI makes it even more powerful. Marketing automation platforms with built-in AI capabilities help teams personalize at scale.
Core email AI use cases:
HubSpot’s AI Email Writer provides practical next steps for marketers looking to streamline email creation while maintaining brand consistency across campaigns.
Paid advertising (or PPC) demands constant testing and iteration, but thankfully, AI can speed up creative production and optimization.
Advertising applications:
Pro tip: Establish clear approval workflows before AI-generated ads go live. Review outputs for brand safety, compliance, and accuracy. Add assets that you like or have worked in the past that AI can reference, reducing the need for manual oversight on every asset.
Social media managers need consistent, engaging content across multiple platforms. AI helps maintain presence without burnout.
Social media AI capabilities include:
Pro tip: Maintain your brand voice by providing AI with examples of your best-performing posts. This helps train models to match your tone, style, and values.
For deeper insights into what resonates with audiences, check out HubSpot’s latest social media trends report.
Search engine optimization can be very monotonous and meticulous. AI tools help by handling repetitive SEO tasks so humans can focus elsewhere. Some of the areas it excels include:
Pro tip: Don’t slack on quality by neglecting review. AI should enhance your human efforts, not replace them. Editorial teams must verify claims, add original insights, refine brand voice, and ensure content serves user intent rather than just algorithm requirements.
Read: How to Humanize AI Content So It Will Rank, Engage, and Get Shared in 2025
Curious how you’re doing with AEO currently? Use HubSpot’s AI Search Grader to audit how well your brand shows up in AI-powered search results and answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews.
Marketing leaders drown in data but starve for insights. AI synthesizes performance metrics into actionable recommendations.
Analytics AI capabilities:
Pro tip: Always validate AI insights against source data. Effective AI analytics tools show their work—citing specific data points and explaining reasoning. Integrate insights with unified reporting in your CRM to close the loop between marketing actions and revenue outcomes.
Use this framework and selection scorecard to objectively evaluate and compare generative AI tools.
| Criterion | Weight | How to Evaluate |
| Integrations | 20% | Does it connect to your existing marketing stack? |
| Data privacy | 20% | Where is data processed? Who has access? |
| Usability | 15% | Can your team use it without extensive training? |
| Output quality | 15% | Does it produce brand-appropriate content? |
| ROI potential | 15% | Will time savings justify the cost? |
| Learning curve | 10% | How quickly can the team become productive? |
| Pricing structure | 5% | Is pricing transparent and predictable? |
Start with tools that integrate with your existing platforms. HubSpot’s marketing automation features are built into the platform, for example, eliminating integration headaches and providing a unified experience.
For standalone tools, prioritize those with:
Here are eight powerful generative AI tools, each solving specific marketing challenges. Every tool includes pricing, key features, best use cases, and integration details.
Best for: Marketing teams seeking end-to-end AI automation integrated with their CRM and marketing platform.
Breeze is a comprehensive suite of AI-powered tools built directly into the HubSpot platform. Unlike standalone tools requiring integration work, Breeze operates natively within your existing HubSpot workflows, from content creation to customer service.
Marketing teams report reducing campaign launch time by 68% after implementation with Breeze.
Key HubSpot Breeze AI Features:
Agicap saved 750 hours per week and increased deal velocity by 20% using Breeze, while Sandler drove 25% more engagement and 4x sales leads by creating personalized experiences with the platform.
When to Use HubSpot Breeze AI:
Use Breeze when your team needs AI to understand your business context or that of your customers. Because it enables access to your CRM data, past campaigns, and customer interactions, Breeze can make contextually relevant suggestions rather than generic outputs.
HubSpot Breeze AI Integration Fit:
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Breeze integrates seamlessly with HubSpot‘s Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, Content Hub, and Operations Hub. It also connects to thousands of third-party apps through HubSpot’s marketplace.
The platform works particularly well for teams consolidating their marketing technology stack.
HubSpot Breeze AI Pricing:
Basic Breeze features (Assistant and select Intelligence capabilities) are available in HubSpot’s free CRM. Full Breeze capabilities, including Agents and advanced Intelligence features, require Started, Professional, or Enterprise subscriptions:
Advanced AI features consume HubSpot Credits, where each credit equals $0.01 USD. For example, the Customer Agent costs 100 credits per conversation ($1), and the Data Agent costs 10 credits per research prompt ($0.10). Professional plans include monthly credit allotments, with options to purchase additional capacity.
Learn more about HubSpot Breeze AI.
Best for: Marketers needing versatile content creation, brainstorming, and conversational AI across all marketing tasks.
ChatGPT is the most widely recognized AI tool, known for its versatility in answering questions, generating copy, brainstorming ideas, and handling diverse content formats from emails and blog posts to photos.
Key ChatGPT Features:
When to Use ChatGPT:
Many writers and marketers turn to ChatGPT, praising its ability to produce creative and engaging copy quickly. That said, use it for rapid ideation (i.e., generating topics), drafting initial content (i.e., outlines, blog articles, social media posts), and creative problem-solving. In fact, we do this here on the HubSpot blog.
It excels at adapting tone and style based on prompts, making it ideal for teams producing varied content types.
ChatGPT Integration Fit:
ChatGPT offers API access for custom integrations and connects with thousands of apps through Zapier. The tool works well with most marketing platforms, though it requires manual copying or API development for deeper integrations.
HubSpot users can leverage the Claude <> HubSpot connector for similar functionality with even tighter CRM integration.
ChatGPT Pricing:
Learn more about ChatGPT.
Best for: Enterprise marketing teams requiring brand-consistent content at scale with advanced collaboration features. It’s also ideal for agencies managing multiple client brands.
Jasper AI focuses specifically on marketing content creation, offering templates, brand voice management, and team collaboration tools purpose-built for marketing departments. It can also generate graphics, but, in my experience, this feature still has some room for improvement.
Key Jasper AI Features:
Jasper’s brand voice features are particularly valuable for teams struggling with inconsistent messaging.
When to Use Jasper AI:
Deploy Jasper when brand consistency across content is of the utmost importance (i.e., a multi-channel campaign), as brand voice controls ensure regulatory requirements are met.
Jasper AI Integration Fit:
Jasper integrates with HubSpot, Marketo, Salesforce, and 5,000+ other platforms. The Chrome extension allows content generation within your existing tools, while API access enables custom workflow automation.
Jasper AI Pricing:
All plans include a 7-day free trial. Learn more about Jasper AI.
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Best for: Sales and marketing teams needing AI-powered workflows for lead research, outreach, and content distribution.
Copy.ai has evolved beyond simple copywriting into a comprehensive Go-to-Market platform with powerful workflow automation capabilities that extend far beyond content creation.
Key Copy.ai Features:
Copy.ai’s Workflow automation is particularly powerful for technical marketing teams who want to automate entire processes rather than just generate individual pieces of content.
When to Use Copy.ai:
Use Copy.ai when your team includes technically proficient users who are comfortable building custom workflows. If they are, the platform excels at automating repetitive marketing and sales tasks.
Copy.ai Integration Fit:
Copy.ai offers 7,000+ integrations spanning CRM, project management, analytics, and marketing platforms.
The API enables custom implementations, and pre-built workflows connect to major tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, Marketo, and Google Workspace. More flexible than Jasper for custom technical integrations.
Copy.ai Pricing:
Learn more about Copy.ai.
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Best for: Social media managers, small business owners, and non-designers creating visual content quickly.
Canva has integrated AI throughout its design platform, making professional-quality visual creation accessible to marketers without design backgrounds.
Key Canva AI Features:
When to Use Canva AI:
Canva AI shines in its convenience and ease more so than being groundbreaking. For social media managers creating posts, Canva AI handles everything in one place with platform specs and plenty of templates ready to go. Use it when speed and ease matter more than advanced customization.
Canva AI Integration Fit:
Canva connects to major social media platforms for direct publishing, integrates with Google Drive and Dropbox for asset management, and offers API access for custom workflows. The platform works well as a standalone tool that doesn’t require deep technical integration.
Canva AI Pricing:
Learn more about Canva AI.
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Best for: Marketing teams creating high-quality, artistic visual content for campaigns and brand materials.
Midjourney produces the most aesthetically stunning AI-generated images, favored by creative professionals for advertising campaigns, concept art, and premium brand visuals.
Key Midjourney Features:
When to Use Midjourney:
Deploy Midjourney for your most creative campaigns. The generative AI tool nails fantasy landscapes and cinematic scenes but struggles with simple product photography. This makes it ideal for conceptual work, advertisements, and social media content, but not e-commerce product shots or mockups.
Midjourney can also get pretty technical, so it’s better to save it when you have a longer timeline.
Midjourney Integration Fit:
Midjourney operates exclusively through Discord, which means it doesn’t integrate with other tools. Third-party tools can interface with Midjourney, but the lack of official API access that helps data sync effortlessly. It’s best used as a standalone creative tool.
Midjourney Pricing:
Annual billing provides a 20% discount.
Learn more about Midjourney.
Best for: Marketing teams requiring detailed analysis, long-form content, and nuanced writing.
Claude, developed by Anthropic, emphasizes safety, accuracy, and thoughtful responses. It excels at complex analytical tasks, technical documentation, and maintaining high standards for factual accuracy.
Key Claude Features:
When to Use Claude:
Use Claude for high-stakes content, technical documentation, and analytical work where accuracy is paramount. It’s also wise to use it for internal products as it’s known for being more secure than other options.
Claude Integration Fit:
Claude offers API access with competitive pricing and aggressive prompt caching that reduces costs by up to 90% for high-volume usage. The platform integrates well with custom applications and development environments.
HubSpot users can access Claude directly through the Claude <> HubSpot connector.
Claude Pricing:
Learn more about Claude.
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Best for: Marketers creating product visuals, marketing materials, and images requiring accurate text integration.
DALL-E 3, integrated into ChatGPT, excels at creating photorealistic images with proper text rendering—a persistent challenge for most AI image generators.
Key DALL-E 3 Features:
When to Use DALL-E 3:
Use DALL-E 3 for graphic marketing materials, product visualizations, and business presentations. It produces exceptional quality for realistic scenes but creates less artistic, mood-driven imagery than Midjourney.
DALL-E 3 Integration Fit:
DALL-E 3 API access enables seamless integration into custom applications and automated workflows. Developers can build sophisticated image generation pipelines, while businesses can incorporate AI image creation directly into existing tools. The ChatGPT integration makes it accessible to non-technical users.
DALL-E 3 Pricing:
Learn more about DALL-E 3.
AI tools deliver maximum value when integrated with your existing marketing technology. Standalone tools create silos. With that in mind, ideally your data would flow something like this:
Using HubSpot Marketing Hub and Claude as an example, here’s how a marketing team would integrate a generative AI tool.
Grant AI access to your contact properties, company information, and lifecycle stages. Make sure to configure the permissions so AI sees relevant data without exposing sensitive information.
Next, create any essential workflows that trigger AI content generation based on user actions. For example, when a lead downloads a whitepaper, AI can generate a personalized follow-up email based on their industry and company size.
By pulling CRM data, generative AI can personalize subject lines, body copy, and even calls to action. With it, each recipient receives messaging relevant to their stage, interests, and behavior. In HubSpot, this can be accomplished using personalization tokens and smart content among other things.
AI allows you to automate workflows to publish blog articles, send emails, schedule social posts, and trigger ad campaigns. It can even generate the content is ultimately distributes as we discussed earlier.
You can’t know if your marketing is actually working if you don’t measure it. So, track open rates, click-through rates, and conversions for your AI-generated content. Compare performance against manually created content to evaluate ROI and feed winning formulas back into AI prompts for reuse.
HubSpot offers a native Claude connector that brings Claude‘s advanced reasoning and writing capabilities directly into your HubSpot workflows. This integration allows marketers to leverage Claude’s superior analytical abilities while maintaining all data within the HubSpot ecosystem.
Consistency requires three elements: documentation, examples, and review processes. Here’s what I recommend:
Responsible AI use needs clear policies about data handling, restricted inputs, and tool selection. Do your due diligence by:
Most modern AI tools are designed for marketers, not developers. You can start immediately with no-code options, then scale to deeper integrations as needs grow.
For instance, web-based AI platforms (ChatGPT, Claude, Jasper, Copy.ai, HubSpot’s Breeze) offer point-and-click interfaces. You simply type prompts, get outputs, and integrate through simple copy-paste or built-in publishing features. No coding required.
As you mature, tools like Zapier and Make allow you to connect AI platforms to other apps through visual workflow builders. You can automate processes like “when lead fills form, use AI to generate a follow-up email, send via marketing automation” without writing code.
Eventually, you may want custom integrations using API connections. This does require developer resources but unlocks powerful automation. Start small with built-in features. As you prove value, invest in more sophisticated implementations.
Measuring AI impact requires establishing baselines, defining clear metrics, and closing the attribution loop. You need to:
Define baselines before implementing AI. Ask yourself:
Track AI-specific metrics. Some common metrics include:
Connect AI outputs to revenue:
This is the critical step most teams miss. Use your CRM to track which AI-generated content drives conversions by:
HubSpot customers can leverage the platform’s unified reporting to connect AI-generated content directly to revenue outcomes. Moreover, according to International Data Corporation, most companies achieve 505% ROI within three years of implementing Marketing Hub.
AI adoption speed varies by team size, technical comfort, and implementation approach, but most teams see productivity gains within a few weeks. Here’s an example of what a gradual rollout may look like:
Week 1-2: Individual Experimentation
Week 3-4: Pilot Projects
Month 2: Process Integration
Month 3+: Scale and Optimize
Want to move faster?
Teams that follow structured adoption frameworks typically achieve full productivity within 60-90 days. Marketing departments using HubSpot report a 68% reduction in campaign launch time after integrating AI into their workflows.
Listen, generative AI is like a hammer, or any other tool. It doesn’t do the work for you, but it does make the work easier to do. The marketers that win in 2026 won’t be the ones using the most tools; they’ll be the ones using the right tools, connected to their CRM, measured against goals, and overall, reviewed and guided by a human.
So, don’t wait. Pick a high-priority use case and pilot a few tools to see how they work. Then expand to other areas as you find those you like.
Bottom line: the generative AI tools every marketing team should use are the ones that help you create faster, personalize deeper, and prove impact — without compromising brand, privacy, or data integrity.
If you want to see how this works end-to-end, explore HubSpot’s Breeze or connect a model like Claude to your existing HubSpot workflows to keep creation and measurement in one place.
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