more flakey snow & even flakier AI content ... [šŸU]

Listen to the audio version when you’re on the go
Yes… It’s actually me reading… sorry, no AI to make it sound ā€œperfect.ā€

Woke up to yet another full-on snowstorm yesterday morning.
This morning’s excitement was trying to get out of a frozen door.

In April.
It’s technically spring.

Which feels about right…
because a lot of what I’m seeing in marketing right now feels the same:

wrong season…
wrong assumptions…
& a whole mess underneath.

Some people are applying sunscreen & planting gardens.

Not me.

No sunlight yesterday.
So the solar panels didn’t capture much power
But I kept clearing them anyway…
just to get something out of them

& there’s more expected

Yay??

Normally… that’d be a problem.

But honestly?
I’m not that stressed about it.

& it’s not because I’ve resigned myself to the situation
I mean it’s been 5 months of this nonsense.
But at least it’s around freezing instead of -40!

I’ve already done the work most people skip

& that’s the part most people ignore
Whether it’s battling Mother Nature…
or their content.

That’s exactly what I’m seeing right now with AI..

AI isn’t the problem.

The problem is people using it without understanding what they’re 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.

I’m dumping it all in 1 spot in the field outside my door.

It wasn’t exciting work.
& my muscles are definitely protesting!

But I’ve been keeping it interesting …
the plan is to be able to say … ā€œiceburg, straight aheadā€
hopfully I don’t end up sinking

Didn’t 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 that’s still here …
What seemed like an exercise in futility…

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

& I’m not trapped in the trailer because the driveway’s 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.
She’s been… back & forth.

We’d already spent time going over her rebrand & phases.
Direction.
Messaging.
How to ā€œfix 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 hired…
& how they use AI to build client websites.

She didn’t even realize that was part of what she paid for.
So now it’s hard to justify paying someone else to do it ā€œmanuallyā€

& here’s the kicker:
She’s not even comfortable with AI.

That’s when it clicked for me…

She wasn’t being flakey.
She was stuck.

Stuck between:
→ being told she has to use AI
→ & not trusting it can produce anything worth paying for

She didn’t need another tool.

She needed someone who could make sure what she was putting out…
still sounded like her.

That’s not unusual right now

More & more people aren’t trusting it.
But they’re still using it.

Or worse…
They’re letting someone else use it for them
without understanding what’s actually being produced.

She’s understandably leary of AI

She mentioned a friend of hers who’s writing a book.

Using AI to help with research & structure.
Totally fine.
But she’s doing the writing.

& she’s hired developmental editors to help her.
Also sounds fine…

Until you hear what’s actually happening.

The editor isn’t editing

The editors are just feeding sections into AI…
& using whatever comes back.

Quotes.
Stats.
Supporting points.

Most of it’s made up.

That’s the problem.

I’ve already seen how this plays out.
→ An author’s told to ā€œdouble the word countā€ just to hit a deadline
→ A consultant publishes dozens of AI-written blogs they’ve never actually lived

On the surface?
Things look like they’re 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.

That’s the point.

It pulls from what’s already out there…
what’s been validated…
what gets a thumbs up.

So what you get back looks polished.

But it doesn’t hold up under real scrutiny.

Expertise isn’t interchangeable

& AI doesn’t magically give it to you.

The problem is handing it to someone who doesn’t understand the subject-matter…
& calling whatever comes back ā€œdone.ā€

Being a good writer doesn’t make you a good developmental editor.
… Especially on a topic you don’t understand.

& when you lean on AI without being a subject-matter expert?

You get something that:
→ ā€œsounds goodā€
→ reads well

…but completely crumbles the second a real buyer starts asking questions.

Same storm. Different mistake.

That’s like looking at 10 inches of heavy, wet snow & thinking:

ā€œYeah… this should be fine.ā€
ā€œIt’s warm enough … it’ll meltā€

Because you don’t see what’s under the surface

Hidden debris.
Water that never drained & isn’t fully frozen

& when the weight of my 6,893 lb electric truck hits?
That’s when things collapse.

& if the snow’s not cleared from the barn roof
& there’s 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

There’s a new role quietly emerging right now.

Writers.
Editors.
Proofreaders.

Not being replaced by AI…

Repositioned.

I’m seeing it in marketing because that’s where my focus is.
But it should be happening everywhere.

all those service-based jobs that we being lost to AI
they’re 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 ā€œartificial intelligenceā€ to scale

Because someone has to fix the ā€œcotton-candy contentā€

All that AI-generated content?

Looks good.
Feels like something.

But there’s nothing underneath.

So now businesses are paying the price:
→ poor conversions
→ made up ā€œfactsā€ no one bothered to check
→ unclear or generic messaging
→ content that sounds like everyone else

So what’s your next move?

It’s not:
ā€œstop using AIā€

& it’s not going back to:
ā€œdo everything manuallyā€

Start paying attention to where things break.

Where the content sounds right…
but doesn’t actually say anything.

Where it looks polished…
but doesn’t convert.

Where it fills space…
but doesn’t build trust.

Because that’s your opportunity.

Not in creating more…
but in fixing what’s already there.

That’s exactly what I’m doing

Taking what’s already been created…

& reinforcing it so it actually holds up:
→ tightening the message
→ clarifying what matters
→ & removing what doesn’t

Same foundation.

But now it can handle the weight.

ā€œHumanizeā€ it
Make it more conversational so it ā€œsoundsā€ like a person
so it’s clear instead of trying to be cute or clever

So if you feel like you’re ā€œlosing to AIā€ā€¦

You’re probably asking the wrong question.

It’s not:
ā€œHow do I compete with it?ā€

It’s:

ā€œWhere does it break…
& how do I become the person people trust to fix that?ā€

Because that’s where the value is now

Not in generating more.
In making it work.

You don’t need to avoid the storm.

You just need to make sure what you’ve built…
can actually handle the weight.

Make it a great ā€œAI-fixingā€œ week!
EG

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