It's Not Too Late to Leverage AI for Your Marketing — But the Window Is Closing

The Quick Take

You haven’t missed the boat, but the dock is getting crowded. – The best time to start using AI for your marketing was in January. The second-best time is right now. The agents who began at the beginning of the year are compounding their advantage every day, but the door is still open for you.

Treat AI like a trusted assistant, not a just search engine. One of the most impactful shifts you can make today is to stop typing keywords into AI and start talking to it — having real conversations, giving it context, and training it the way you’d train a new hire.

Good content still wins, and the playing field is finally level. Whether you have 2,000 followers or two, the algorithms now reward quality over clout. Pair that with short-form video and a presence on Reddit and LinkedIn, and you can compete with anyone.

Let’s Start With the Question on Everyone’s Mind

“Is it too late for me to start with AI?”

If this thought has ever crossed your mind, you’re in good company. At a recent event, Jo Barker, SVP of Digital & Growth Marketing at AmeriLife, said that out of roughly 80 agents, only two raised their hands when asked if they knew what AI prompting was. That should encourage you. It means there’s still so much room for people who are ready to learn.

Not to mention, AmeriLife Marketing Mentors’ own data backs that up (AMM). We surveyed 157 healthcare agents about their marketing, and 61% said they still haven’t used AI tools yet.

So, if you haven’t started yet, the window of opportunity is still open, but it’s narrowing.

Another reason to start using AI in your marketing now rather than later is because there’s a compounding effect to these practices.

Think of it like interest in a savings account. The agents who started six months ago aren’t just six months ahead — they’ve been training their AI assistant, building up six months of content to learn from, and getting incrementally more comfortable with every passing week. Those who are just getting started are starting from scratch.

WATCH: You’re Not Behind: How Agents Can Still Get Ahead With AI

How AI Has Already Changed the Game

Consumers Don’t Search the Way They Used To

Consumer behavior has shifted dramatically. Here’s a small example that probably sounds familiar: when you go to Google now, you go straight to the AI overview at the top. The practice of scrolling down a list of blue links and clicking through each to find an answer is becoming less common as AI Overviews become more common.

Now, think about your clients. That’s how they’re researching you, your services, and your competitors. AI is reshaping how people find help. The real question is whether you’re showing up where they’re looking.

Two AI Tools You Should Know About

The AI tool you choose shapes how you work.

There are a few major AI assistants — often called Large Language Models, or LLMs — but two dominate the conversation right now:

Claude — Jo Barker sometimes refers to Claude as her “number one best friend,” using it more than any other AI tool and even paying for the premium version because of how much it’s become part of the daily workflow. Great for coding and complex tasks.

ChatGPT — Still the “backup best friend,” and one to watch. It keeps making advancements and could come back into play as a primary tool at any time. Great for content and general use.

And even though Claude and ChatGPT tend to grab more attention, other LLMs on the market have also gained prominence throughout 2026. Google has Gemini. And Microsoft has Copilot.[Text Wrapping Break]

Copilot — AmeriLife’s LLM of choice, baked directly into the Microsoft 365 Suite, making our work seamless with AI. Great for day-to-day and getting the most out of Microsoft products.

Gemini — Like Copilot and Microsoft, Gemini is Google’s LLM and embedded into many of the Google products people use every day. Great for conversational search.

So, if you’re deciding to use AI in your marketing, think first about what you need to use it for. Here at AmeriLife, we work within the Microsoft suite of products every day. Using Copilot just makes sense.

But if you work exclusively with Google, then Gemini could make more sense.

If you’re building a website, then try Claude.

If you need help with marketing content, ChatGPT may be the best option.

The more you use one, the more natural it feels. So, start with one LLM and one task. Then, build a habit. That’s all it takes.

WATCH: Which AI Tools Save Insurance Agents the Most Time?

The One Shift That Changes Everything: Talk to AI Like a Person

If you take only one thing from this post, let it be this.

It’s easy for people to first start treating AI like you would Google. You type in a couple of keywords and expect a list of links back. That’s the wrong mental model for the AI era.

Here’s the reframe: AI is your assistant, and you should speak to it like you’re having a conversation.

That means:

Give it context. Tell it who you are, what you do, and what you’re trying to accomplish.

Be direct. You don’t need to say “please” or “thank you.” Use clear, direct words.

Train it over time. Just like a real assistant, the more you work with AI, the better it understands your voice, your business, and your goals.

When you stop treating AI like a search bar and start treating it like a teammate, it becomes a tool you can lean on across multiple channels and multiple parts of your day. That’s when it stops feeling intimidating and starts feeling indispensable.

Get Access to AMM’s AI Prompt Library

Three Practical Ways to Put AI to Work This Week

1. Ask AI to Audit Your Digital Presence

At the beginning of 2026, we said the first thing you should do with AI is have it audit your website. And it’s still a very relevant task. It’ll catch things you might have missed, checking for SEO and user experience. But here’s the upgrade: ask it to audit your entire digital presence.

Try a prompt like this:

“Act as a marketing expert and professional web developer. I need you to audit my website. Tell me what the online digital presence looks like for my business. Tell me the opportunities I’m missing, where I’m performing well, and where I can improve.”

AI will come back with concrete observations and identify opportunities you’d never spot on your own.

This is a low-risk, high-reward first exercise. You don’t even have to act on everything it suggests. You just need to see your business the way the internet sees it.

2. Let AI Help You Build a Marketing Plan for AEP

The Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) runs from October to December, and if you’re in that world, you know it’s all-consuming. It’s easy for marketing to fall by the wayside exactly when you need it most.

Here’s a way to use AI that pays off all year: Tell AI you’re heading into AEP from October to December, that you’ll be too busy to focus on marketing then, and that it’s now summertime and you want to prepare. Ask it to help you build out a marketing plan that gets you through.

That’s it. One honest conversation, and you’ve got a roadmap you can put into practice. And if you start today, by the time AEP rolls around, you’ll be that much more comfortable using the tool, so it becomes a genuine assistant helping you through the busy stretch.

WATCH: The Anti-Burnout Content Strategy Agents NEED in 2026

3. Use AI for Inspiration and Ideas — Within Bounds

Heading into AEP, keep compliance in mind. AI cannot replace compliance. It will even tell you that it’s not a compliance officer and can’t be depended on for the rules.

But here’s the helpful nuance: you can go to CMS and Medicare.gov, pull public documents, and put them into AI to reference. As you create your marketing materials, you can ask your AI to reference the rules around marketing Medicare.

So, use AI for inspiration, ideas, and strategy. Lean on official sources and your compliance team for the rules themselves. AI is a collaborative partnership, not a compliance handoff.

The One Rule You Must Never Break

We have to say this clearly:

Never put your clients’ personal or private information into AI.

When you type something into a public AI tool, you’re putting it into a public system. Client names, contact details, account information — none of it belongs there. Use AI for your marketing. Use it to get organized. Use it to brainstorm. But do not feed it your clients’ information.

Think of it like a helpful colleague at a coffee shop: great to brainstorm with, but you wouldn’t hand them a folder of client files. Keep that boundary firm, and you’ll use AI safely and confidently.

The Playing Field Just Leveled. Here’s Your Opening.

Here’s some of the most encouraging news in all of this, and it’s something every agent and advisor should understand deeply about their marketing on social media.

The playing field is now level for everybody. The algorithms that used to reward big accounts now reward quality content that resonates instead. Whether you have 2,000 followers or two followers, it doesn’t even matter anymore. If you’re on social media creating engaging content, you can still get reach. But even then, reach is no guarantee. We’re all at the mercy of algorithms. But the point is, your follower count no longer factors into the equation.

That’s critical to understand, because now it’s just about creating good, authentic content, not about having a million followers. The advantage goes to whoever shows up consistently with something genuinely useful to say.

Short-Form Video Is Still the Biggest Opportunity in Marketing

Short-form video is just as important today as it was a year ago, and it remains the biggest opportunity out there for healthcare agents and financial professionals.

The sweet spot right now? One-minute videos.

No studio required. No script required. What matters most is consistency. Here’s how to start, even if you’ve never posted a video in your life:

Pick one frequently asked question your clients ask you all the time.

Record a one-minute answer — just you, talking to the camera like you’d talk to a client.

Post it once a week to start. That’s it.

If you can build a habit, it’ll get easier and easier over time.

The real barrier here is simply getting started.

In AMM’s State of Agent Marketing Report, we found that short-form video is the number one way people like to learn, but is one of the most underutilized channels for our audience. That means if you’re the one who takes the short-form video leap, you’ll be in the minority of agents leveraging it. That’s a good place to be.

WATCH: Why Health & Wealth Professionals Need Short-Form Video in 2026

Where AI Looks for Answers: Reddit and LinkedIn

Here’s a development from 2026 that’s worth paying close attention to.

As understanding has grown around what gets cited within AI answers, two platforms have emerged as important for agents and advisors: Reddit and LinkedIn.

When an AI tool pulls together an answer for a potential client, it tends to draw from sources it trusts. Right now, conversations and posts on Reddit and LinkedIn carry real weight.

Reddit is a place where real people are asking real questions, getting real answers from real people in return. Only the most credible answers rise to the top, making it a source that makes sense for AI to pull into its consideration.

LinkedIn was built for credibility. It’s how we show up professionally and where we share our expertise. An optimized presence here is a big credibility booster.

And this directly answers a question that gets asked on Reddit all the time: “Is SEO still relevant because we have AI?”

The answer is yes. SEO is still as relevant today as ever.

AI didn’t replace search; it just added a new (and rather significant) layer. The content you create, the profiles you maintain, the conversations you join — all of it feeds into how AI describes you and your business to the people searching for help.

So, if you’re creating content with the goal of ranking in search or AI, that content you create today could really be paying off in weeks, months, or even a year from now.

But you’ve got to get started.

WATCH: SEO Strategies for Health & Wealth Professionals

Why “Now” Is the Word That Matters Most

Let’s bring it all together, because this is the heart of it.

There’s a compounding effect when you’re using these practices. The agents who would have started six months ago are now six months into training their AI, with six months of content to learn from, making smarter decisions every week. The biggest advantage goes to those who have already begun. They’re continuing to find new ways to utilize AI more and more.

And those who are just getting started? You’re still ahead of the majority who haven’t started at all.

The window of opportunity is still open, and the agents who step through it now will be the ones compounding their advantage six months from now — looking back, grateful they didn’t wait any longer.

If you start today, by the time AEP rolls around, you’ll be that much more comfortable. You’ll have an assistant to help get you through the busy time period. And the content you create today could be paying off well into next year.

Your First Three Steps (You Can Do These This Week)

What you need is momentum, not a master plan. Here’s where to begin:

Open an AI tool and have a real conversation. Tell it about your business. Ask it to audit your digital presence. Don’t type keywords, talk to it.

Record one one-minute video answering a question your clients ask you constantly. Post it. Plan to do it again next week.

Show up where AI looks. Make sure you have a real presence on LinkedIn, and consider joining the relevant Reddit communities in your space.

That’s it. Three small steps. None of them require a big budget, a marketing degree, or a massive following. They just require you to start.

A Final Word of Encouragement

If you’ve read this far, you’re already further along than most. You’re not behind. You’re at the starting line, and the field is level.

The agents and advisors who win the next year of marketing will be the ones who started now, treated AI like a teammate, and showed up consistently with good, authentic content.

Now is the time to start.