I know. I know. AI in marketing is everywhere right now… and there’s skepticism about how much of an impact it can really have. But I think this is our opportunity. I am bullish on AI changing the game for marketers like you and me. As marketing pros, one of the keys to advancing our careers is to identify and seize opportunities in emerging trends. The early adopters among us often grab significant advantages (and shoot, I’ve rarely been an early adopter. Maybe just on LinkedIn. Every other trend I have moved second!) Embracing AI now could offer you a chance to outpace the competition, drive better marketing results, and (most importantly maybe) get time back in your day to spend on stuff that actual deserves your brain power. This isn't about following a trend; it's about strategically positioning yourself and your business for success in an increasingly competitive digital landscape. “Yeah dude but I’ve tried AI and my AI copy sucks.” Sure - if you write a simple prompt, you’ll get back some 6 out of 10 copy from ChatGPT and not be happy with it (and I worry about what happens when all of the companies in your space start sending the same generic copy in their emails and social) but if you really go deep right now with AI tools I think you’re creating an advantage for yourself. Learn how to write prompts. Make using a tool like ChatGPT part of your daily workflow; try using it to help clarify your thinking, do some research, or help you move from 0 to 1 on an idea. For example, this week I was laying out some options for an event we want to do for Exit Five this year (yes, you heard it here first - we’re going to do an in-person event this year). And I wanted to get some guardrails to help my thinking. ChatGPT became a wonderful research assistant and laid our some scenarios to help me think through what the best approach might be. This week on the E5 podcast I talked to Paul Roetzer who runs the Marketing AI Institute and he had some great examples to share about how they use AI to turn a single podcast episode into a variety of content formats, and how AI is helping them craft course abstracts and organizing agenda for their upcoming event (that’s where I got the idea). I don’t think AI is some cheat code though. I think you have to invest your time and learn the right ways to use it for your business. It’s not much different than onboarding a new team member - it might take a bit to get things to the right spot. But especially for a small team like us here at Exit Five, I think there’s an opportunity to lean hard on AI if you’re in the content creation space. Not to write crappy generic content for emails and social posts, but to act as a research assistant. - Dave P.S. I’d love to hear practical examples of how you and your team are using AI. Hit reply here and let us know. We read every response, good and bad. So holler and we’ll holler back.Plus we’d love to collect some interesting use cases beyond using ChatGPT to comment on people’s LinkedIn posts (cough, I see you and I know you’re doing it! If you’re going to do it, at least! Remove! Some of! The exclamation marks! And write better prompts!) |
