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- more flakey snow & even flakier AI content ... [šU]
more flakey snow & even flakier AI content ... [šU]
Listen to the audio version when youāre on the go
Yes⦠Itās actually me reading⦠sorry, no AI to make it sound āperfect.ā
Woke up to yet another full-on snowstorm yesterday morning.
This morningās excitement was trying to get out of a frozen door.
In April.
Itās technically spring.
Which feels about rightā¦
because a lot of what Iām seeing in marketing right now feels the same:
wrong seasonā¦
wrong assumptionsā¦
& a whole mess underneath.
Some people are applying sunscreen & planting gardens.
Not me.
No sunlight yesterday.
So the solar panels didnāt capture much power
But I kept clearing them anywayā¦
just to get something out of them
& thereās more expected
Yay??
Normally⦠thatād be a problem.
But honestly?
Iām not that stressed about it.
& itās not because Iāve resigned myself to the situation
I mean itās been 5 months of this nonsense.
But at least itās around freezing instead of -40!
Iāve already done the work most people skip
& thatās the part most people ignore
Whether itās battling Mother Natureā¦
or their content.
Thatās exactly what Iām seeing right now with AI..
AI isnāt the problem.
The problem is people using it without understanding what theyāre looking at.
Over the last little while, I cleared most of the garbage & material scraps the lazy barn contractor left scattered around the yard.
Marked where the rest is so I can actually find it again.
Cleared most of the standing water (aka pond) in the middle of my drive to the trailer.
⦠a pump with 100 ft of garden hoses for the big stuff
⦠a plastic gas siphon for the little bits
Even broke up chunks of ice around (& inside!) the tent.
Iām dumping it all in 1 spot in the field outside my door.
It wasnāt exciting work.
& my muscles are definitely protesting!
But Iāve been keeping it interesting ā¦
the plan is to be able to say ⦠āiceburg, straight aheadā
hopfully I donāt end up sinking
Didnāt feel like progress at the time.
Because it came back as quickly as it drained
But now ⦠with another 10 inches on top of the foot thatās still here ā¦
What seemed like an exercise in futilityā¦
It matters.
I can park the truck on 1 side of the barn to clear the snow load
That means no damage to the gutters, downspouts, or rain barrels
& Iām not trapped in the trailer because the drivewayās a mini-lake instead of a path out
Then I settled in to do bill-paying work
First thing I always do is check email.
to get a sense if anything else can derail my schedule.
Got a message from a potential client.
Sheās been⦠back & forth.
Weād already spent time going over her rebrand & phases.
Direction.
Messaging.
How to āfix the flatā that is the website so the car still runs.
⦠long enough to get a new tire & realign everything
Then she drops a bomb on me about the business coach they hiredā¦
& how they use AI to build client websites.
She didnāt even realize that was part of what she paid for.
So now itās hard to justify paying someone else to do it āmanuallyā
& hereās the kicker:
Sheās not even comfortable with AI.
Thatās when it clicked for meā¦
She wasnāt being flakey.
She was stuck.
Stuck between:
ā being told she has to use AI
ā & not trusting it can produce anything worth paying for
She didnāt need another tool.
She needed someone who could make sure what she was putting outā¦
still sounded like her.
Thatās not unusual right now
More & more people arenāt trusting it.
But theyāre still using it.
Or worseā¦
Theyāre letting someone else use it for them
without understanding whatās actually being produced.
Sheās understandably leary of AI
She mentioned a friend of hers whoās writing a book.
Using AI to help with research & structure.
Totally fine.
But sheās doing the writing.
& sheās hired developmental editors to help her.
Also sounds fineā¦
Until you hear whatās actually happening.
The editor isnāt editing
The editors are just feeding sections into AIā¦
& using whatever comes back.
Quotes.
Stats.
Supporting points.
Most of itās made up.
Thatās the problem.
Iāve already seen how this plays out.
ā An authorās told to ādouble the word countā just to hit a deadline
ā A consultant publishes dozens of AI-written blogs theyāve never actually lived
On the surface?
Things look like theyāre improving⦠at first.
But then reality hits.
Conversions drop.
Trust erodes.
Because nothing actually answers the real questions buyers have.
AI is designed to give you something that sounds right.
Thatās the point.
It pulls from whatās already out thereā¦
whatās been validatedā¦
what gets a thumbs up.
So what you get back looks polished.
But it doesnāt hold up under real scrutiny.
Expertise isnāt interchangeable
& AI doesnāt magically give it to you.
The problem is handing it to someone who doesnāt understand the subject-matterā¦
& calling whatever comes back ādone.ā
Being a good writer doesnāt make you a good developmental editor.
⦠Especially on a topic you donāt understand.
& when you lean on AI without being a subject-matter expert?
You get something that:
ā āsounds goodā
ā reads well
ā¦but completely crumbles the second a real buyer starts asking questions.
Same storm. Different mistake.
Thatās like looking at 10 inches of heavy, wet snow & thinking:
āYeah⦠this should be fine.ā
āItās warm enough ⦠itāll meltā
Because you donāt see whatās under the surface
Hidden debris.
Water that never drained & isnāt fully frozen
& when the weight of my 6,893 lb electric truck hits?
Thatās when things collapse.
& if the snowās not cleared from the barn roof
& thereās 1,000 gallons of water trying to jam into the gutters & downspouts as it freezes thaws then freezes and thaws again?
This is where things are shifting
Thereās a new role quietly emerging right now.
Writers.
Editors.
Proofreaders.
Not being replaced by AIā¦
Repositioned.
Iām seeing it in marketing because thatās where my focus is.
But it should be happening everywhere.
all those service-based jobs that we being lost to AI
theyāre not extinct
they were just dormant ⦠in winter hibernation if you will
& business are starting to wake up to the reality of relying solely on āartificial intelligenceā to scale
Because someone has to fix the ācotton-candy contentā
All that AI-generated content?
Looks good.
Feels like something.
But thereās nothing underneath.
So now businesses are paying the price:
ā poor conversions
ā made up āfactsā no one bothered to check
ā unclear or generic messaging
ā content that sounds like everyone else
So whatās your next move?
Itās not:
āstop using AIā
& itās not going back to:
ādo everything manuallyā
Start paying attention to where things break.
Where the content sounds rightā¦
but doesnāt actually say anything.
Where it looks polishedā¦
but doesnāt convert.
Where it fills spaceā¦
but doesnāt build trust.
Because thatās your opportunity.
Not in creating moreā¦
but in fixing whatās already there.
Thatās exactly what Iām doing
Taking whatās already been createdā¦
& reinforcing it so it actually holds up:
ā tightening the message
ā clarifying what matters
ā & removing what doesnāt
Same foundation.
But now it can handle the weight.
āHumanizeā it
Make it more conversational so it āsoundsā like a person
so itās clear instead of trying to be cute or clever
So if you feel like youāre ālosing to AIāā¦
Youāre probably asking the wrong question.
Itās not:
āHow do I compete with it?ā
Itās:
āWhere does it breakā¦
& how do I become the person people trust to fix that?ā
Because thatās where the value is now
Not in generating more.
In making it work.
You donāt need to avoid the storm.
You just need to make sure what youāve builtā¦
can actually handle the weight.
Make it a great āAI-fixingā week!
EG
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