We need to talk about AI messaging.

There are a lot of AI products on the market these days. While having so many AI solutions is fantastic, we often miss the mark when it comes to telling and selling those solutions to their full potential.

CEOs everywhere are telling their teams, "We need to be faster! We need to use more AI!" But those conversations usually center around building the solutions, rather than ensuring their success. 

The result is that our messaging has gotten stuck in a boilerplate of AI buzzwords.

So, in this article, I’m going to share three strategies to help you tell clearer, more compelling AI stories – grounded in your unique brand, backed by evidence, and designed to show real-world impact.

The real benefits of AI

Before we dive into our three strategies, we need to acknowledge something: the story companies tell about AI often doesn’t match the story users are living. At Ionos, we wanted to understand that disconnect. So, we paused, took a step back, and looked closely at how people were actually using AI. 

In 2023, we asked people how they thought AI would help them, and then, two years later, we did a reality check to see what they actually perceived as valuable. Two things jumped out at us:

  1. Expectations and reality almost always differed. 
  2. While simplifying and speeding up processes are seen as major advantages of AI, there are hidden benefits, like fostering creativity, that we tend to overlook.
Bar chart comparing expected (2023) and actual (2025) benefits of AI, showing categories like simplifying processes, creative ideas, relieving staff tasks, product development support, cost savings, and competitive advantage, with reality often outperforming expectations in several areas.
Image courtesy of Ionos

It turns out that a lot of less-obvious benefits emerge when you look at how people actually use the technology. This is your cue to lean into those benefits and stop talking about speed and simplicity all the time. 

Now, let's explore three strategies that have helped me master AI storytelling, so you can improve your own approach.

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Strategy #1: Lead with your brand's unique story

Let me share a little experiment with you. I'm going to show you a tagline, and I want you to guess which AI solution it's describing:

AI for everyone

Go ahead, take a guess. OpenAI? Google? Some startup you've never heard of?

Wrong. It's Salesforce.

But you'd never know that, would you? This tagline could belong to literally any AI company on the planet. It tells you nothing about what makes this solution special or why you should care. 

Later, Salesforce did something much smarter. They came up with "Now everyone's an Einstein."

See the difference? 

A comparison of two Salesforce AI taglines showing “AI for everyone through Salesforce Einstein” illustrated with a cartoon Einstein, contrasted with “Now everyone’s an Einstein” accompanied by a rocket-themed graphic and bullet points explaining why the second tagline is more effective.
Image courtesy of Ionos

What I love about this tagline is that it bypasses all the feature talk and jumps straight to what matters: the outcome. Plus, it uses a metaphor everyone understands. This creates an emotional connection – who doesn't want to feel like a genius? It's not about the AI; it's about what the AI makes you become.

Using your known strengths to stand out

At Ionos, we faced a similar challenge. Our core customers are small and medium-sized businesses who, let's be honest, aren't exactly tech wizards. They're trying to build websites, manage their online presence, and grow their businesses – not become AI experts.

So when we launched custom GPTs for our customers, we could have gone the typical route: "Powerful AI assistants for enhanced productivity." Snooze.