Digital Marketing & Technology Community June 17, 2026 Session Recap & Practical Takeaways

At the June 2026 session of the AMA Cincinnati Digital Marketing Community, three marketing leaders presented distinct, real workflows showing how AI is changing the practice of marketing without replacing the marketers doing it. Roughly 40 attendees joined in person and virtually, with strong engagement throughout and an extended Q&A that pushed the conversation well past the prepared material.

The throughline across all three presentations: AI accelerates production, but it does not reduce the need for human judgment. It relocates where that judgment matters most.

AI-Powered Website Audits for Authority

Gina Bonar, Chief Marketing Partner and Fractional CMO at 5 Whys Marketing, opened with a grounding framework for the session: every workflow consists of inputs, transformations, and outputs, and at every stage, human oversight remains essential, with “eyeballs, brains, heart, and gut” needed at every step.

AI Authority Ecosystem Workflows from 5 Whys Marketing

 

She introduced the AI Authority EcosystemTM, a framework built on the idea that website structure and third-party credibility signals work together to build the trust AI systems require before they will mention or cite a brand. Good website architecture, a hub-and-spoke system of pillar and subpages (plus query fan-out for semantic depth), is the foundation a brand controls directly. Third-party signals, like bylines, speaking engagements, and media mentions, are what AI uses to validate that foundation from the outside.

The centerpiece of her talk was a demonstration of a proprietary Authority EngineTM audit prompt toolkit (developed by longtime SEO collaborator Carolyn Dickerson). It evaluates web pages, clusters, and sites across six dimensions: SEO discovery, AI readiness, semantic depth, authority signals, conversion clarity, and citation potential. The audit weighting align to the intent of each page (e.g. topical authority, semantic depth, or conversion).

Gina shared before-and-after scoring data showing dramatic improvement on a real (anonymized) client page and made the case that the audit’s biggest value isn’t the score itself, but what the score enables internally, from prioritization and development guidance to proof of concept and competitive review. It helps streamline approval cycles and reduce friction in the workflow.

Quote: “I’ve never had such a smooth launch with the sales team as I did when I used these audit scores to show why we were doing what we were doing on the website… they just didn’t have any pushback.”

AI-Accelerated Website Design and Development

Audrey Ronis-Tobin, Director of Marketing at CoStrategix, framed AI adoption as a progression: from isolated task execution to AI being embedded everywhere but integrated nowhere, toward an eventual state of orchestrated intelligence, a repeatable, custom-built process where AI and human roles are clearly defined at each step. She was candid that most organizations are still in the messy middle of that progression.

AI Human Workflows for Web Design by CoStrategix

 

She walked through an example of partnering with AI to design a website or application. While humans still have to do the strategic thinking and planning, we can hand off much of the task execution to AI. A key concept in her talk was maintaining context when working with AI-native development platforms. The “how” of passing context from humans to machines is being codified into “specs.” UI/UX designers are now becoming responsible for creating specs – design markdown files (.md) – as living documents that encode brand voice, design systems, and technical rules so that AI-assisted development doesn’t drift from a brand’s strategic intent over time.

She also introduced Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers as an emerging standard for connecting AI tools to a company’s existing data and systems, comparing it to the shift toward universal phone chargers. That simplicity is opening the door to connect AI models to external tools, databases, and APIs – and making possible many new ways to create value for customers.

Quote: “AI is taking some of the grunt work away, and it’s freeing us to do whatever it is it’s going to free us to do. But wouldn’t it be really cool if it freed us to do something revolutionary?”

AI-Native Social Media Content Development

Felicity Tao, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at daoflo, opened with adoption research from a Section AI survey of 5,000 knowledge workers, showing that most professionals remain in the early “experimenter” stage of AI use, applying it casually, without repeatable workflows. She connected this to a broader leadership mandate: a notable share of CEOs and CFOs are now asking marketing leaders to reduce operating costs using AI, making structured adoption a practical urgency, not just an opportunity.

AI-Human Workflows for Content Development by daoflo

 

She walked through a real content development example for a social-sector client doing affordable housing work, showing where AI meaningfully accelerated research and first drafts, and where human judgment remained non-negotiable, particularly around fact-checking AI-generated citations, which she noted are not always accurate, and ensuring the final narrative reflected the client’s institutional knowledge and ethical storytelling standards.

She closed by introducing daoflo’s commercially available AI-powered social media agent, which compresses a full month or quarter of content calendar planning and copywriting into roughly 15 minutes, while preserving human checkpoints at every strategic stage: context briefing, strategy review, calendar approval, and copy edits.

Quote: “Humans and AI can both leverage what they do best to make sure the output is done faster, but, more importantly, more powerful and effective.”

Top Insights About AI-Human Workflows in Marketing

  • AI doesn’t change what good marketing requires; it raises the stakes for doing it well. Strategy, audience intent, and credibility were always the foundation. AI just made the gap between brands who do and do not have that foundation more visible, faster.
  • The real constraint has shifted. It used to be volume, connectivity, and capacity. Now it’s relevance, coherence, and orchestration: knowing what to say, how to keep AI-assisted work aligned with intent, and how to connect the right tools at the right moment.
  • Context is the new differentiator. Generic prompts produce generic output. The brands and content that stand out are the ones where humans fed AI specific, proprietary thinking: brand voice, institutional knowledge, real data, a new POV; not just a topic and a request.
  • Human judgment didn’t get smaller. It moved. Across all three workflows, AI took over repetitive production work while humans kept every strategic decision: what’s true, what matters, what’s on-brand, and what’s accurate.

Practical Takeaways from the Digital Marketing & Technology Community Session

  • A workflow is inputs, transformations, and outputs, and AI accelerates the middle. You still own what goes in and what goes out the door. Most real projects contain micro workflows nested inside a larger macro workflow; using iteration at the smaller scale is part of where the efficiency comes from, since it reduces rework downstream.
  • Audits and scoring tools aren’t about chasing a number. Used well, they remove subjective arguments about content (“do you like this”) and replace them with a shared, defensible standard (“will this perform”), while also getting you to better and to done faster, with more confidence in the result.
  • Markdown files and similar living documents are becoming the way teams keep AI-assisted design and development from drifting off-brand over time. If you’re working with developers or designers using AI, ask what’s capturing your brand and strategic context so it doesn’t get lost between sessions.
  • AI tools still need a human-in-the-loop checkpoint at every meaningful step: strategy, drafts, and final review. The teams getting the best results aren’t removing themselves from the process; they’re being more deliberate about where they show up in it.

Suggested Next Steps for Marketers and Business Leaders

  • Audit one page on your website using an AI prompt, even a general one, to see what AI can and can’t extract about your brand right now. You’ll likely learn more from the gaps than the score.
  • Build or request a brand/context reference document, whether it’s a formal markdown file or a simple one-pager, that you can feed into any AI tool so output stays aligned with your voice and strategy.
  • Map your fully human process before you automate anything. Know what you’re doing and why before you decide where AI fits in it.
  • If your team is anxious about AI replacing roles, redirect the conversation toward upskilling: less time on repetitive production, more time on the judgment, relationships, community engagement, and strategic thinking AI still can’t replicate.

Frequently Asked Questions about Human AI Workflows in Marketing

What is a workflow?

A workflow is a repeatable, structured sequence of tasks that gets you from a starting point to a finished output. Every workflow has the same three parts: inputs (the information or assets you start with), transformations (the steps that change or build on those inputs), and outputs (the finished result). AI doesn’t change this structure; it changes how some of the transformation steps get done.

What’s the difference between AI-accelerated and AI-automated workflows?

An AI-accelerated workflow uses AI to speed up specific steps, like drafting, research, or design, while a human reviews and directs the work throughout. An AI-automated workflow runs with little or no human involvement once it’s set up, often triggered by a rule or schedule. None of the workflows presented at this session was fully automated. Every example kept a human checkpoint at each meaningful step, whether reviewing AI-generated copy, approving a content calendar, or validating an audit’s recommendations. AI accelerated production; it did not remove human decision-making.

How do I start if I don’t have any AI workflows in place yet?

Start by mapping your current, fully human process before introducing any AI tool. Once you know what you’re actually doing and why, it becomes much easier to see where AI can realistically fit, rather than forcing a tool into a process that isn’t yet defined.

What is an AI visibility audit, and do I need one?

An AI visibility audit evaluates how well a webpage communicates what it does, who it’s for, and why it’s credible, specifically from the perspective of how AI systems find, extract, mention, and cite information. If your business depends on being found and trusted online, an audit can show you where the gaps are before you invest in a rebuild.

Where can I learn more or connect with the presenters?

All three presenters are available on LinkedIn and welcome follow-up questions about the specific tools and workflows discussed. Slides from the full session are available alongside this recap.

About the Speakers

Gina Bonar, Founder of 5 Whys Marketing

Gina is founder of 5 Whys Marketing, where she serves as a Fractional CMO and Chief Marketing Partner, leading digital strategy, content development, and AI visibility work for clients across sectors and regions. Her career spans agency work at Golin, senior marketing roles at Deloitte and other world-class organizations. Her work has earned back-to-back AMA Cincinnati Pinnacle Awards: 1st Place for Best Content Marketing (2025) and 2nd Place for Best Digital Strategy (2026), from AMA Cincinnati, one of the top three AMA chapters among 70 across North America for three years running. She holds an M.S. in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. Gina also serves as President Elect of the American Marketing Association Cincinnati Chapter and Co-Chair of the CMO Roundtable Leadership Program, jointly hosted by AMA Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Regional Chamber.

Audrey Ronis-Tobin, Director of Marketing at CoStrategix

Audrey is a growth-oriented marketing executive with extensive experience across numerous industries in driving brand visibility, integrated marketing strategies, and customer success. She is the Director of Marketing for CoStrategix, a strategy-led IT engineering firm that helps companies:

  • Architect trusted data foundations to unlock business intelligence
  • Build scalable digital products that drive customer engagement
  • Engineer AI-driven workflows to optimize operational efficiency

With a strong commitment to community, she also serves on the Board of Directors for AMA Cincinnati, where she spearheads a program that connects marketing professionals with non-profits and startups. She has an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business.

Felicity Tao, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of daoflo

Felicity is a marketing and communications executive with over 20 years of experience transforming how organizations communicate, market, and grow. Her track record spans agency leadership, enterprise marketing, and nonprofit transformation. At Greater Cincinnati Foundation, she led a comprehensive brand transformation that established the organization as the region’s #1 nonprofit brand and increased donor contributions significantly through narrative strategy, data-driven storytelling, and stakeholder engagement. She spearheaded digital transformation at Cincinnati Bell/CBTS, integrating modern marketing technologies with the CRM ecosystem while building the company’s social media and thought-leadership engine from the ground up. At DNA Diagnostics Center, Felicity helped establish the #1 brand in the private genetic testing industry, achieving more than 50% market share through performance-driven digital marketing and emerging technologies. Felicity is also the co-founder and managing partner of daoflo, an AI-amplified agency focused on modern marketing communications, AI strategy consulting, and intelligent systems that help organizations turn strategy into measurable results faster and more effectively.