Introducing Marketing Mindshift Academy

In this episode of the Vera Shafiq podcast, Vera discusses the importance of integrating AI into marketing strategies and introduces the Marketing Mindshift Academy. As we reach the midpoint of 2025, Vera highlights key statistics from the 2025 State of Marketing AI report, revealing that a significant portion of marketers are already experimenting with AI, but many face education and training barriers. 

The Marketing Mindshift Academy offers nine comprehensive modules designed to provide franchise and multi-location marketers with practical, AI-powered solutions for tasks ranging from data analysis to creative production. Vera passionately explains each module's value and encourages listeners to explore the benefits of structured AI training for improved productivity and efficiency. For more information, visit verashafiq.com.

00:00 Welcome to the Vera Shafiq Podcast

00:31 Mid-Year Reflections and AI Introduction

01:04 Introducing Marketing Mindshift Academy

01:34 The Importance of AI in Marketing

02:58 Addressing the Education Gap in AI

03:22 Overview of Marketing Mindshift Academy Modules

04:23 Detailed Module Breakdown

08:28 Addressing Common Objections to AI Training

10:07 Final Thoughts and Next Steps

Marketing Mindshift Academy - https://verashafiq.com/mm-academy/

The 2025 State of Marketing AI Report (Marketing AI Institute) - https://www.marketingaiinstitute.com/2025-state-of-marketing-ai-report

Connect with Vera on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/vera-shafiq/

Transcript

Vera Shafiq: 0:16

Hello everyone. Welcome back to the Vera Shafiq podcast. This is the show where franchise and multi-location pros can get straight talk strategies that you can put to work today. I'm your host, Vera Shafiq. I'm thrilled that you're here. It is almost halfway through 2025. We are halfway through the year. I really hope that you've been able to get some big wins under your belt this year. And I hope that your marketing teams are feeling energized and excited about everything that is coming up our way here in the second half of the year. I hope you've been able to test some new things, whether that be new digital channels new strategies. Maybe you've tried out some new technologies, maybe even dipped your toes into some ai. And speaking of AI, today we are unpacking Marketing Mindshift Academy. This is the brand new class series that I built to help you move from testing chat GPT, to actually running AI powered marketing programs that save time, stretch your budgets, and make your results pop. So just wanted to take a step back and talk about why this really matters right now and why I created the classes. Let's ground this in the real world. The 2025 State of Marketing AI report just dropped recently. This is a report that the Marketing AI Institute develops and a few numbers jumped off the page for me. One of them was that 60% of marketers say that their teams are piloting or scaling AI across the organization. So that's 60%, which is, probably not surprising, but at the same time, it's easy to see that this is on everyone's minds right now, right? 82% list reducing time spent on repetitive data heavy tasks as the number one outcome that they want from ai. So I'll say that again. Reducing time spent on repetitive data heavy tasks is the number one outcome that marketers want, or 82% of those interviewed want from ai. And also these marketers, companies are really understanding and getting it because 61% of companies now provide chat, GPT, either teams or enterprise licenses to their employees. And just to give you a quick note about who this survey asked specifically, this was about 1900 marketers who are members of the marketing AI Institute. So as we can see from those numbers, adoption is no longer a question of if it's happening, but guess what? Still blocking progress. 62% point to lack of education and training as the top barrier. And a sobering 68% say that their companies don't offer any structured AI training at all. That disconnect is exactly why I created Marketing Mindshift Academy. So what is Marketing Mind Shift Academy? Think of it as a nine module hands-on lab for franchise and multi-location marketers who need practical wins. Each class is live on Zoom. And also if it's a group class and you prefer teams or you prefer a different virtual conference platform, I'm happy to accommodate that. Most of the classes are 120 minutes long. The foundational one is 90 minutes long. They are camera on questions, welcome and completely standalone modules, so you can take one or you can stack them. Or you can take them all. And it's really an a la carte approach to picking and choosing the modules that are gonna provide the most value to you and your team. And so we'll work together in real time using all of the AI tools that I deploy and that I've really found to be the best tools for the job. And you'll get the workflows as downloadable templates at the end of each session. So let's take a look at each module individually. So the module snapshot. Module one is Foundations AI Beyond Prompts. We are gonna kick off by reframing AI as a strategic asset and really understanding where AI can be slotted into your daily workflows to provide more efficiencies, more productivity, and just better results. Module two is automating data analysis and reporting. So if you've ever copied metrics from three separate spreadsheets into one deck, or had to manipulate data from different sources in order to get the data analysis that you're looking for or the report that you're looking for, that is going to be solved With this module, we're gonna automate those merges and spit out stakeholder ready visuals in minutes. Module three is creative production and personalization at scale. So we will use AI to build a full social ad set where the headlines are localized for, multiple franchise locations. And these will be done automatically using ai. So no more copying and pasting. Module four is data wrangling and Management. So this is all about cleaning, de-duping, reshaping your data, whether it be multi-location data or other performance data. So potentially taking things like GA four, meta, Google point of sale system, CRM data and putting them all together into a kind of a system or a framework that they can speak to each other in. And speaking the same language in this one data set. Module five is AI as a thought partner. So from pitch decks to understanding your audience or your competitive market I will go through some safe structured ways to let an LLM co-write without losing your own brand voice or brand identity. Module six is computer vision for marketing automation. So we're gonna use. The computer vision part of AI technology to do things like auto tagging UGC photos, flagging off-brand images, checking storefront selfies that have been taken by franchise owners, for example, to see if they are compliant, things of that nature. Module seven is franchisee communication and education, so we will use AI to auto draft performance recaps. That franchisees are actually gonna read and schedule AI generated training to make that kind of communication feel very human, but at the same time take that heavy lift off of our team members and really empowering franchisees in an automated way. Module eight is building simple AI powered chatbots. So you'll train a QA chatbot on your own F FAQs and on your own brand information and knowledge base so that support tickets. The number of support tickets can go down and your customer satisfaction can go up. And then finally, module nine is the AI Marketing Playbook. So using AI to create a playbook where strategy, analysis, research, and then even budgeting and campaign structure and setup is handled by ai, but guided by a human. So those are the nine modules. If you need more information, please go ahead and check out my website@verashafiq.com, slash dash academy. And I'd really love to hear any feedback that you have from me based on what you're seeing there. There are some FAQs on my website if you have other questions. Hopefully the FAQs will answer them. Otherwise, I'm happy to respond to an email or a message if you have any questions or follow ups after that. And then finally, to address the skeptics in terms of objections to putting your team or yourself through a class like this. Some people may say, Vera, my team already plays with chat, GPT. What is there left to learn? There's plenty left to learn. Having a license, like the 61% of companies who do have a license doesn't equal. Process maturity or full usage of the platform and tool.'Cause basically we're gonna move away from that prompt tinkering phase to audit proof workflows and documented governance. Things that you're going to be able to use in a much more robust and meaningful way. Other objections I get are AI sounds great, but we are a regulated industry. Isn't it risky to use ai? That's a big one that comes up a lot. And I'm gonna cover things like risk mitigation and making sure that you handle legal aspects and all of that good stuff in all of the prompts that you use, as well as the way that you use these tools. Another thing that I get a lot is we're swamped and we just don't have bandwidth for AI training. But think of it this way, a two hour class could reclaim dozens of hours per month. So it's an ROI conversation essentially. And I think most CMOs have wised up to this and already see the benefit and the value of this, I don't think that we can say we have no time for AI training at this point. Just two hours of a class is going to provide so much value and ROI on your time that I really think it's a no brainer. All right, that's the course. The next step is really if you are one of the 62% who feel held back by lack of training or if you're part of the 68% who are still waiting for your company to deliver the training. You don't have to wait anymore. Just take ownership. Head to my website. Check out the modules. Go ahead and book your session. It's a very, it's a soft booking process, so you're not gonna put down any money there. And then you're just gonna let me know what you're interested in, what dates you'd like to take the classes, and then I'll get back to you to finalize all the details. I do have group rates available, so if you wanna bring your whole team with you and create a shared language from day one, I am happy to accommodate teams of five plus and I can do special pricing for that. Just really excited to share my knowledge, share all of the information and experience that I have gained over the past six to eight months. And. Bring your team up to speed and help your teams to shine and really use AI in a smart way. So yeah, looking forward to hearing from you on that. Marketing is sprinting towards AI integration, whether we're ready or not. So my goal with this Marketing Mind Shift Academy is simple just to equip you to lead that change confidently, ethically, and profitably. Thanks for spending these 15 minutes or so with me. If this episode sparked an idea, please tag me, share it on LinkedIn. Subscribe to this podcast, share with your friends and colleagues and let me know which module you are eyeing right now. Until next time, keep shifting those marketing minds and remember, put AI to work for you.