Transitioning from Agency Services to Content Memberships

Paul Roetzer is a marketing AI expert and educator with 20+ years of experience in the marketing industry. He is the founder and CEO of Marketing AI Institute, a media, event, and online education company that makes AI accessible, approachable, and actionable for marketers and business leaders. He is also the co-author of Marketing Artificial Intelligence: AI, Marketing and the Future of Business, a book that explores the impact and opportunities of AI on marketing.

Paul shares his journey from building a successful marketing agency (PR 20/20) and being an early adopter of inbound marketing as HubSpot's first official partner to now today building the Marketing AI institute. Paul talks about why he's bullish on AI for B2B marketers and shares examples of how AI has streamlined tasks for his podcast, from scripting to content distribution.

Check out the Marketing AI Institute's "AI for B2B Marketers Summit" coming in June.

The conversation covers practical applications of AI in marketing, strategies for using AI tools effectively, and the broader implications of AI in the business world.

00:00 - Introduction: Guest Introduction and Episode Overview
01:30 - Paul Roetzer's Early Ventures into Information Products
03:00 - Success with the Agency Academy and Course Series
05:00 - Inventing a Point Pricing Model for Service Companies
07:00 - The Decision Against Building a SaaS Product
09:00 - The Importance of Building an Audience for Memberships/Courses
12:00 - Paul's Journey into the World of AI
15:00 - Establishing the Marketing AI Institute: Media, Events, and Education
18:00 - Explosive Growth of the AI Introductory Class
21:00 - The Emergence of ChaTGPT and Its Impact on AI in Marketing
25:00 - Challenges Before AI Breakthroughs in Language and Image Generation
28:00 - The Evolution of Paul Roetzer's Career and Focus on AI Literacy
32:00 - Transitioning from Service Business to Content Membership Model
35:00 - The Launch and Unexpected Success of the Podcast
38:00 - Implementing AI in Podcast Content Strategy and Creation
41:00 - The Significance of AI in Today's Marketing Landscape
44:00 - How Enterprises Are Adapting to AI Tools
47:00 - Practical Applications of AI in Marketing and Content Maximization
50:00 - The "Smart Intern" Approach to Using AI Creatively
53:00 - Paul Roetzer’s Tips for Utilizing AI Language Models Like GPT-4
56:00 - Discussing the Future of AI in Marketing and Business Operations
58:00 - Conclusion: Final Thoughts and Upcoming AI Events

Send guest pitches and ideas to hi@exitfive.com
Join the Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
Check out the Exit Five job board: https://jobs.exitfive.com/
Become an Exit Five member: https://community.exitfive.com/checkout/exit-five-membership

***

Today’s episode is brought to you by Zuddl.

We’re halfway through 2025, and one thing’s clear: events continue to be one of the highest performing marketing channels. Niche meetups, conferences, curated dinners, networking - you name it. Everyone’s leaning in.

Events are a core part of our playbook this year at Exit Five. So far, we’ve hosted two virtual sessions each month, one large virtual event, one in-person meetup, and we’re deep in the weeds planning our Drive conference coming back to Vermont this September.

Zuddl helps us run a smarter event strategy - from driving registrations, managing invites, automating comms, reminders, analytics, tracking. Their Salesforce integration also makes it simple to report on pipeline and revenue from events without pulling in ops.

On top of that, the differentiator with Zuddl is how their team is insanely good at supporting us. They always go above and beyond for us - and that’s how we’ve been able to keep the momentum going with 12+ events already this year, with plenty more to come.

If events are part of your marketing strategy, you need to look at Zuddl to see how companies like Zillow, CrowdStrike, and Iterable are using the top event platform for Business events in 2025. 

Head over to zuddl.com/exitfive to learn more.