We do get a bit weary of constantly dealing with the pros and cons, highs and lows and ups and downs of AI. In just about every newsletter, we would rather talk about something else. But you can’t ignore it completely when you’re in our business, and we think something is worth pointing out considering the discussions we took part in this past week.
First, there it was on LinkedIn, a couple more people in our business. One making the cliché-ridden claim that “that are two kinds of marketing professionals . . . those who embrace AI and those who will be left behind.” Nothing like appealing to people’s sense of FOMO to manipulate them into doing something they’re not otherwise convicted to do.
Then there was the guy who took a bit of a lighter touch but nevertheless chastised writers who don’t at least embrace AI as a “useful tool.”
So here’s where we are on it. First, and this will be our position forever: We do not use AI for one word or one symbol of writing. Ever. Forever. Every word that comes from us is written by us.
Second, about AI as a “useful tool.” We don’t need it to suggest ways to word things because we can do it better and always will. As far as informational research goes, we recognize that just about any online research is utilizing AI to some degree. Even if all you do is Google a term, the first result you see will come from Google’s AI. So unless you stop Googling things, you’re at least exposing yourself to what AI has to say. We’re not going to go out of our way to avoid that.
But we also took some wisdom in an interview we did last week with our client Steven Panovski of UBX Cloud, who pointed out, “If everyone online says the sky is green, AI will say the sky is green.”
Exactly. Because AI only “knows” what it can snoop out of what others have said. It’s artificial intelligence because it only mimics the sensation of knowing anything. It performs an amazingly quick aggregation of what’s out there and presents you with a summation of it.
So let us ask you a question: If you want to offer content that makes the case that your insight is superior to the average, replacement-level insight that’s out there, why would you use AI to either gather or present that insight? Because all it’s going to be is the collective wisdom of the masses, aggregated and packaged in the way the masses present things.
Our job in producing marketing content is to make the case for you and tell the world what’s special about who you are, what you know and what you do. How long would we last as your marketing content firm if we sat down with you and said, “Our strategy is to make you sound exactly like everyone else”?
We wouldn’t last long, nor should we.
Yet that’s exactly what AI does. The research it does tells you the same thing it tells everyone else. The “writing” it does sounds exactly the same as it sounds for everyone else.
Why would you want that? Because it’s easy? Because it’s fast? Because it’s free? (It’s actually not free, but that’s another topic for another day.)
Our role is present you to the market in a way that will make you stand out.
Another client recently gave us a very nice compliment, noting that when we write profiles of their team members, we actually interview them, find out interesting things about them and use that information to write interesting, engaging profiles.
He said: “Other content firms we worked with just looked at their resumes and put together a few paragraphs of BS.”
Of course. Because we’re trying to show your market that you’re special. If you really want to trust an imperative like that to a soulless impulse that can be convinced the sky is green if it hears enough people say so, then we wish you well.
But we promise you this: North Star clients are going to do better than you will.