Helena Rudd: Using AI to Understand Your Customer—and Market Smarter

Helena Rudd, Marketing Director at The Rudd Group, brought a practical and refreshingly accessible perspective to AI during her session at ARE Expo, focusing on how operators can use tools such as ChatGPT to better understand their customers and improve marketing performance.

Rather than presenting AI as something complex or intimidating, Rudd positioned it as a simple, everyday tool that operators can use to make smarter, more targeted decisions.

Start With Your Customer And Not Your Product

A central theme of the session was the importance of defining your audience clearly.

Rudd highlighted a common mistake in marketing: trying to appeal to everyone.

“If your message is aimed at everyone, it connects with no one,” she explained.

Instead, she encouraged operators to create clear customer profiles or personas—understanding who their typical customer is, what motivates them, and what kind of experience they are looking for.

AI as a Practical Tool, Not a Buzzword

Using ChatGPT as a live example, Rudd demonstrated how AI can help operators quickly build these customer profiles.

By inputting basic information about a venue—such as location, offer and audience—AI can generate:

Customer personas
Marketing messaging
Campaign ideas
Tone of voice suggestions
Importantly, Rudd stressed that the input doesn’t need to be perfect.

“It doesn’t have to be complicated - just start with what you know,” she said.

Consistency Matters More Than Complexity

Rudd also addressed the growing number of AI tools available, including platforms such as ChatGPT and Gemini, but emphasised that operators don’t need to overthink their choice.

“There isn’t necessarily a ‘best’ platform, it’s more important to pick one and use it consistently,” she noted.

For many businesses, the biggest challenge is not access to tools, but actually embedding them into day-to-day operations.

AI as an Extension of Existing Knowledge

Rather than replacing expertise, Rudd positioned AI as a way of building on what operators already understand about their business.

By combining internal knowledge with AI-generated insights, operators can:

Refine their messaging
Better target specific customer groups
Create more relevant campaigns
Save time on content creation
This is particularly valuable for smaller operators who may not have dedicated marketing teams.

From Generic Messaging to Targeted Communication

A key takeaway from the session was the shift from broad, generic messaging to more personalised communication.

Using AI to define customer types allows operators to tailor their marketing around:

Local demographics
Customer behaviours
Spending patterns
Visit motivations
This, in turn, increases the likelihood of campaigns resonating and driving footfall.

Simple Tools, Immediate Impact

Rudd’s session stood out for its practicality. Rather than focusing on theory, she demonstrated how operators can start using AI immediately, without significant investment or technical expertise.

The message was clear: AI doesn’t need to be complicated to be effective.

Helena has kindly offered readers a download of her presentation below

Download file

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30 April 2026

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