Is AI replacing marketers, or just helping bad marketers move faster?

In this episode, we're joined by Eric Siu, founder of Single Grain, host of  ⁨@LevelingUpOfficial⁩ , and advisor to some of the biggest SaaS companies, to debate how AI is changing marketing right now.

Eric breaks down the AI workflows his agency uses to cut content production time by 90%, including how they generated 21 blog posts in 30 minutes. But it’s not magic. We dive into where AI works, where it still fails, and why human editors are still a critical part of the process.

We discuss:

00:00 Intro

00:57 Growing an Agency in an AI World

05:23 What Can AI Actually Be Used for Right Now?

09:30 21 Blog Posts in 30 Minutes: Real or Slop?

13:11 The Role of Human Editors in AI Content

15:52 AI Tools Reshaping Marketing

23:54 Agency Value in the Age of AI

30:25 AI for Scheduling, Note-Taking, and Automation

44:03 Gamifying SOPs with AI

46:57 One-Click Internal Linking

50:53 The Personal Brand Machine (And How AI Supercharges It)

58:50 AI-Powered LinkedIn Ads & ABM

01:08:07 Outro

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ahrefs Podcast! As always, be sure to like and subscribe (and tell a friend).

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Where to find Eric:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericosiu/

X: @ericosiuWebsites: https://www.singlegrain.com/

https://karrot.ai/

https://www.levelingup.com/

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/)X: @timsoulo

Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/

👥 People Mentioned

• Neil Patel – Co-founder of NP Digital, marketing influencer, frequent collaborator with Eric

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilkpatel

Website: https://neilpatel.com

• Gael Breton – Co-founder of Authority Hacker, SEO educator

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gael-breton-762b1515

Website: https://www.authorityhacker.com

• Nathan Barry – Founder of ConvertKit (now Kit), previous podcast guest

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanbarry

Website: https://nathanbarry.com

• Dmitry Gerasimenko – Founder & CEO of Ahrefs

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerasimenko

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🏢 Companies & Tools Referenced

• Single Grain – Digital marketing agency founded by Eric Siu

Website: https://www.singlegrain.com

• Ahrefs – SEO and marketing intelligence platform

Website: https://ahrefs.com

• NP Digital – Marketing agency co-founded by Neil Patel

Website: https://npdigital.com

• Authority Hacker – SEO and content marketing education

Website: https://www.authorityhacker.com

• Lindy.ai – AI agent tool for task automation, including recruiting

Website: https://lindy.ai

• Manos – AI-powered recruiting automation (referenced)

Website: https://manos.so

• Reclaim.ai – Smart calendar management for scheduling and productivity

Website: https://reclaim.ai

• Hawie.ai – AI meeting scheduling assistant

Website: https://hawie.ai

• Granola – AI note-taking tool

Website: https://granola.so

• Gong – Sales intelligence and meeting recording tool

Website: https://www.gong.io

• Overlap – AI video clipping for short-form content

Website: https://www.overlap.so

• Opus Clip – AI video clipping tool for podcasts and YouTube

Website: https://www.opus.pro

• Descript – AI-powered video editing tool

Website: https://www.descript.com

• Bannerbear – Automated image and video generation (used for OG images)

Website: https://www.bannerbear.com

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📚 Books & Ideas Referenced

• “Who’s Got the Monkey?” – Harvard Business Review article on delegation

Read it: https://hbr.org/1974/11/management-time-whos-got-the-monkey