How an AI marketer uses Airtable
Airtable is a cloud database that looks and feels like a spreadsheet. Work is organized into bases, each base holds tables, and each table holds records. Every field has a type, such as an email address, a number, a single-select status, or a link to a record in another table. Marketing teams use it for prospect lists, campaign trackers, content calendars, and event lists. An AI marketer treats Airtable as both a source and a destination. It reads how your base is built, works from the records already there, and writes finished work back into the right fields so your team sees it where they already work.
Kite does that work with your connected Airtable account. It saves qualified lead lists as clean records, keeps them up to date, builds tables for new lists, and leaves notes on records for your team. You connect Airtable through OAuth, and Kite works in the bases your account can reach.
Marketing jobs Kite can do with Airtable
Most teams come to Airtable with a list in mind, so the jobs below start there. They move from writing a list, to keeping it current, to working from the bases you already have, and then to the structure and notes that make a base easy for the whole team to use.
Save a qualified lead list into your Airtable base
Kite turns a finished prospect list into Airtable records that fill your table's own fields. Say you're sponsoring a conference and want 40 heads of demand generation at fintech companies that raised a Series A this year. Kite finds the companies, finds the right people at each one, and scores every person from one to five against your ideal customer profile.
Before it writes anything, Kite reads your base's structure. It sees that your Leads table has an email field, a URL field for LinkedIn, a number field for the score, and a Status field whose options are New, Contacted, and Meeting booked. It puts each value in the field built for it and sets every new record's status to New. Each record carries:
- the person's name, current title, and company
- their LinkedIn profile
- a professional email when the source has one
- the fit score
- a sentence on why the person fits
Many teams keep companies and people in separate tables. In that case, Kite creates the company record first and then links each person to it. When your sales lead opens a company, everyone Kite found there is already attached to it.
Keep the records current
Kite updates the records already in your table instead of adding a second copy. When it has new information about a prospect, it searches the table for the matching record by email address or company name, then changes only the fields that are out of date.
Here's where that matters. A prospect moves from Director to VP, or their company announces a funding round. Kite updates the title, adds the news to the reason field, and raises the score if the person now fits your profile better. It can update many records in one pass, so refreshing a list of 200 doesn't mean 200 separate requests. You can also put the refresh on a schedule, and Kite will update the list every Monday morning before your team starts outreach.
Kite can also remove records you no longer want. If you ask it to clear out everyone at companies that became customers last quarter, it finds those records and deletes them.
Work from the bases you already keep
Kite reads your Airtable bases as input for its work, not only as a place to save results. It lists the bases your account can reach, reads the tables and fields inside each one, and pulls records filtered and sorted the way the job needs.
That lets your existing data shape what Kite does next. Kite reads your Customers table and leaves those companies off a new outbound list. It reads your Webinar Registrants table, sorts by company size, and researches the 20 largest accounts first. If your content calendar lives in Airtable, Kite reads the posts planned for next month, writes the copy for every record marked Ready for copy, and moves each one to In review.
Kite also reads the comment thread on a record and the files in its attachment fields, such as a creative brief or a logo. That gives it the context your team already left there.
Set up a base or table for a new list
Kite builds the structure a new list needs when you don't have one yet. It can create a new base in one of your workspaces, add a table to an existing base, and add fields with the right types.
For that conference list, Kite might add a table called Conference prospects with these fields:
- name, title, and email
- a LinkedIn profile link
- a link to the company's record in your Companies table
- a fit score from one to five
- a tier with the options Primary and Secondary
- a long text field explaining why each person fits
- a meeting status your team updates after the event
Kite can also rename a field or add a description to it, so a new teammate knows what "Tier" means without asking.
Leave notes for your team on the records
Kite comments on Airtable records to tell your team what it changed and why, and it can mention a teammate so they get notified. When a high-scoring prospect's company closes a funding round, Kite updates the record and comments to the account owner with the news and a suggested next step. The update and the reason for it sit on the same record.
Kite can also attach a file to a record. A one-page research brief on an account, or the ad image for a campaign in your tracker, can live in the record's attachment field. Kite reads the comments already on a record and can edit the comments it wrote.
What Kite reads and changes in Airtable
Kite both reads from and writes to your connected Airtable account. The lists below separate the two.
Information Kite can read
- BasesKite lists the bases your account can reach, so it can find the one you mean when you describe it by name.
- Base structureKite reads each table, its fields, each field's type, and the options in a select field, so every value it writes lands in the right place.
- RecordsKite pulls records filtered and sorted the way a job needs, or reads one record in full.
- CommentsKite reads the comment thread on a record to pick up what your team already discussed.
- AttachmentsKite reads the files stored in a record's attachment field, including each file's name, type, and size.
Information Kite can create or change
- RecordsKite creates records, updates the fields that changed, updates many records in one pass, links records across tables, and deletes records you ask it to remove.
- Bases, tables, and fieldsKite creates a new base, adds a table, adds a field of the right type, and renames or describes a table or field.
- CommentsKite comments on a record, mentions a teammate, replies in a comment thread, and edits or deletes its own comments.
- AttachmentsKite uploads a file to a record's attachment field.
How Kite connects to Airtable
Connect your Airtable account through OAuth. Kite then works with the records and permissions available to that connected account. When a task first needs Airtable, Kite sends you a link to connect it. Airtable asks which bases to share, so include the bases you want Kite to read and write. To create a new base, Kite also needs access to the workspace it will live in.
From there, you can start with the result you want. Ask Kite to "find 50 operations leaders at mid-size logistics companies and add them to our Prospects table." Kite already knows your positioning and ideal customer profile from its research on your business. It reads the table, decides how each value maps to your fields, and comes back with the list and a plan for where it goes.
How-to guides using Airtable
- How to save a qualified lead list to Airtable Coming soon Kite scores each prospect against your ideal customer profile, groups the list into primary and secondary tiers, and writes the records into the fields your table already uses.
- How to add Apollo prospects to Airtable Kite searches Apollo for the companies and people who match your criteria, adds their contact details, decides who deserves a record, and creates those records in Airtable with the research attached.
Where Airtable fits in Kite's marketing work
Limits and product-specific details
- Some field types are added in Airtable itself. Kite can create the fields that hold data, such as text, number, select, date, and link fields. Fields that calculate their values, such as formula, rollup, and lookup fields, need to be added in Airtable. Kite reads the values they calculate.
- Kite renames and describes fields but doesn't change their type. Turning a text field into a single-select field, or editing a select field's options, happens in Airtable.
- Kite works only in the bases you share. It reaches the bases and workspaces you grant when you connect, and it works with the same permissions your Airtable account holds.
Common questions
Does Airtable have its own AI, and how is Kite different?
Yes, Airtable includes AI features that work on the data already inside your bases. Kite works from the other direction. It researches your business and market outside Airtable, finds the companies and people worth contacting, and brings that work into your base as finished records. It also acts on what's in Airtable, by writing the emails, publishing the pages, or updating the campaign your records describe.
Can Kite email the people on a list I keep in Airtable?
Yes. Kite reads the records you point it to, such as every prospect marked New with a score of four or five. It researches each person's company and writes a message for each one. Once you approve the campaign, Kite sends it from your team's Kite email address or a connected email product. Then it updates each record's status in Airtable, so your list shows who has been contacted.