AI Cannot Fix Your Marketing: Discover the Truth
The central theme of this podcast episode revolves around the prevalent misconception that artificial intelligence possesses the capability to rectify inherent deficiencies in marketing strategies. I assert unequivocally that AI cannot substitute for fundamental clarity in messaging, audience understanding, and content strategy. Without a coherent and targeted approach, even the most sophisticated AI tools, including ChatGPT, will falter in their efficacy. We will elucidate the three principal reasons why marketing efforts may be ineffective, regardless of the integration of AI, and subsequently offer actionable insights to transform this chaos into clarity. Through a meticulous examination of message clarity, audience specificity, and content coherence, we endeavor to equip listeners with the necessary tools to enhance their marketing endeavors meaningfully.
A comprehensive exploration of the intersection between marketing strategy and artificial intelligence is presented in this episode. I contend that a common fallacy exists among marketers who perceive AI as a catch-all solution to their marketing woes. However, I stress that without a clear and articulate marketing message, a well-defined target audience, and a cohesive content strategy, no amount of technological intervention will rectify the underlying issues. I delineate the critical components that constitute effective marketing: clarity in messaging, understanding of the audience, and a well-structured content strategy, each serving as a cornerstone for successful outreach.
In delving into these elements, I provide actionable insights on how to craft a compelling brand statement that succinctly conveys the transformation clients can expect. I encourage a reflective approach to identifying and addressing the pain points of the audience, thereby facilitating a deeper connection through tailored content. Furthermore, I advocate for a paradigm shift in content creation, urging marketers to focus on guiding their audience through a journey rather than merely seeking to increase visibility. This involves creating content that establishes trust and propels the audience toward meaningful actions.
The episode culminates in a call to action for marketers to reassess their strategies, ensuring that AI serves as an enhancement rather than a crutch. By fostering an environment of clarity and intentionality in marketing practices, I aim to empower listeners to convert marketing chaos into a structured, effective strategy that yields beneficial results.
Takeaways:
- In the realm of marketing, clarity of message, audience, and content is paramount.
- AI cannot rectify fundamental misunderstandings in marketing; clarity must originate from the marketer.
- It is essential to articulate a singular, impactful brand statement that succinctly conveys value.
- Understanding the specific pain points of your audience is crucial for effective communication.
- Content must guide the audience through a journey, transforming curiosity into trust and action.
- Regularly auditing your posts is vital to discern what resonates with your audience and to refine your strategy.
Transcript
And welcome to the Marketing Alchemist.
Speaker A:My name's Alex Haynes, your alchemist helping you turn marketing chaos into gold.
Speaker A:And today we're going to talk about a misconception that AI can fix your marketing.
Speaker A:Well, spoiler alert.
Speaker A:It can't.
Speaker A:See, if your message is unclear and your audience is fuzzy and your content has no real strategy, no tool, not even ChatGPT is going to save you from confusion.
Speaker A:There's no magic fix fix.
Speaker A:The good news is we can fix it, and I'm going to tell you how.
Speaker A:Whether you're listening at your desk, scribbling into your manual of transmutation, listening on your phone, we're going to break down what's really going on, how to fix it, and how to get that clarity back.
Speaker A:First, we're going to walk through the three biggest reasons your marketing may not be working, even with AI in the mix.
Speaker A:Then we're going to move into practical parts where you can actually do to shift that chaos into clarity.
Speaker A:Make sure you keep your manual handy.
Speaker A:These formulas are meant to be used.
Speaker A:Let's start with the core ingredients, the element every alchemist needs to understand before beginning any transformation.
Speaker A:Those three things are going to be message clarity, audience clarity, and content clarity.
Speaker A:The first ingredient we're going to talk about is the message clarity.
Speaker A:And most businesses just don't have it.
Speaker A:You know, if you can't explain what you do in one sentence, your audience isn't going to remember it and AI definitely won't generate it accurately.
Speaker A:You're not selling a service, you're selling a before and after experience.
Speaker A:You know, people are looking for transformation.
Speaker A:They're looking for less stress, more time, better results.
Speaker A:You know, I would tell you the things you actually need to understand is what do you actually help people do?
Speaker A:What does life look like after working with you?
Speaker A:These are questions we highly suggest our audience breaks down and look into, is my brand communicating a clear and immediate transformation, not a task list?
Speaker A:That's a good question.
Speaker A:And you may be wondering, Alex, how do I do that?
Speaker A:Well, we take our audience through a journey of self discovery.
Speaker A:A lot of times this is done with a partnership like us who are marketing consultants.
Speaker A:We sit down with our clients and we ask them questions.
Speaker A:We dig into what they do.
Speaker A:We ask, hey, who's your favorite client?
Speaker A:And what do they say about you?
Speaker A:A lot of times this reveals huge selling points and helps you understand what you're messaging about.
Speaker A:Go back to what and why you actually got into the business you got into.
Speaker A:Whether you're a marketing consulting firm like Me who's looking to help people.
Speaker A:Or maybe you made shoes for a better experience or whatever it is, product or service, or you got into your business to do something.
Speaker A:What was that?
Speaker A:Write that down.
Speaker A:That's gonna be the start of your message clarity.
Speaker A:Ask yourself, do I do this better, faster or cheaper than my competition?
Speaker A:Also write that down and then tell us about the experience.
Speaker A:What exactly are your clients gonna get from you?
Speaker A:Don't say I have amazing customer experience.
Speaker A:Everyone says that if you don't have good customer experience, you're not gonna have a lot of good customers.
Speaker A:Instead of focusing on specifically what's unique about that customer experience, don't keep it vague, keep it specific.
Speaker A:And make sure that when you are specific about that, that you actually deliver on those things.
Speaker A:Don't say like 24 hour service if you're not going to be 24 hours.
Speaker A:Simple things like this are going to really help you figure out your message clarity.
Speaker A:Not only do you need to understand your message clarity, you need to understand your audience clarity.
Speaker A:And that's going to be our next ingredient.
Speaker A:The fastest way to lose attention is to try to talk to everybody.
Speaker A:Not everyone is your client and you need to be okay with that.
Speaker A:You need to know exactly who your messaging is for, what they're struggling with and what they're afraid of and what they're motivated by.
Speaker A:AI can wr and it does a really good job at writing, but it can't fill your audience the way you can.
Speaker A:You have information that you have to give AI to make it work.
Speaker A:You need to ask yourself, what do I serve best?
Speaker A:Who do I serve best?
Speaker A:And what do they wish someone could finally say out loud, right?
Speaker A:Those are the things that you need to discover.
Speaker A:I would say write this question down.
Speaker A:If I create content that speaks to the real emotions behind my audience problems, what would it be?
Speaker A:What are the actual problems my audience is dealing with for me and my business?
Speaker A:A lot of times they don't even know where to start.
Speaker A:They just have no idea where to start.
Speaker A:They just are lost in the realm of unending options when it comes to marketing.
Speaker A:When you look at the lay of the land, there's so many things you could do.
Speaker A:They don't even know where to start because it's such a huge problem.
Speaker A:That's kind of where we come in.
Speaker A:We bring clarity to that solution.
Speaker A:We help create plans, we help create structure.
Speaker A:These are things we do.
Speaker A:So let's say you're a health expert.
Speaker A:I would ask you to say, what exactly are you helping them Health.
Speaker A:Are you an exercise coach?
Speaker A:Are you helping them get fit and get better or.
Speaker A:Well, most people aren't gonna get excited about exercise, but they may get excited about losing weight, they may get excited about transforming their body, gaining muscle.
Speaker A:Something along these lines are gonna be the things that get them excited about coming and working with you, as well as who the audience is for.
Speaker A:Are you mostly targeting women?
Speaker A:Men?
Speaker A:Are you at a very area specific?
Speaker A:So maybe you have a local gym.
Speaker A:So you're targeting a very specific local community.
Speaker A:Maybe it's driven by people who want tremendous weight loss.
Speaker A:Well, you're probably not gonna go after people who are already fit.
Speaker A:You're gonna look for people who that and you need to understand that's your audience and then create content for that audience.
Speaker A:Understanding your audience is key to helping deliver that custom content.
Speaker A:Now, moving on, let's talk about content clarity.
Speaker A:This is huge.
Speaker A:But we can get to this part until we figured out who our audience was right, and exactly what you were selling or the message.
Speaker A:Clarity.
Speaker A:So most people post just to say visible, not to move the needle.
Speaker A:And as good as that is a place to start.
Speaker A:Start.
Speaker A:It's not where we want to live.
Speaker A:Content should lead the audience through a journey from curiosity to trust to action.
Speaker A:We are all about creating content that helps bring digital trust to people and then move them to action and actually make sales.
Speaker A:This is why people hire us all the time.
Speaker A:If every piece isn't connected to the next step, it's just noise.
Speaker A:It's not marketing.
Speaker A:And we talked about this in another episode about just value dumping.
Speaker A:We talked about posting without an action or call to action.
Speaker A:We talked about not giving people a thing to do.
Speaker A:At the end of the day, you need to make sure your clients know the next steps.
Speaker A:They're not going to take the time to figure it out.
Speaker A:They want to be served.
Speaker A:And if you're not serving them and helping them along the way and giving in the path to that customer journey, you're going to lose them.
Speaker A:So you need to ask yourself, is this post teaching something showing proof or a guiding action understanding what that type of content is going to lead you to?
Speaker A:The call to action.
Speaker A:I would write this down.
Speaker A:My content exists to guide, not just to fill space.
Speaker A:If you always look at it from a guide perspective, not a sales perspective, that you're just helping people understand their choices, it's going to make it easier for you to actually, actually put in that call to action.
Speaker A:It's going to make it easier for you to understand the content you're actually trying to make when you come from creating content that is people first.
Speaker A:Well, people care about people.
Speaker A:And people especially care when you're investing in them and you're giving them something that's useful to them.
Speaker A:And they're much more likely to then click and buy from you when you're helping them out.
Speaker A:Think about it yourself.
Speaker A:When's the last time a business did something went out of the way to help you?
Speaker A:Were you more motivated to buy?
Speaker A:Well, if so, this proves that actual very fact.
Speaker A:Now that we've talked about the three ingredients and the core of the chaos that sometimes we have, let's actually move into transforming that chaos into actual gold.
Speaker A:So here are three steps you can take right now to get clarity and actually make your AI tools work for you, not against you.
Speaker A:Because I'm a huge fan of AI and we help people do this all the time.
Speaker A:Step one, craft your no fluff brand statement.
Speaker A:This is the foundation of everything else and it should just be one sentence, direct and powerful.
Speaker A:So I'm going to give you a formula you can actually follow.
Speaker A:You ready?
Speaker A:Here we go.
Speaker A:I help at specific person or audience get and then put in specific results without and then fill in the blank things they're tired of.
Speaker A:This is a formula that will help you.
Speaker A:So I'm going to use me as an example.
Speaker A:I help small business owners get likes and turn them into paying clients without the stress and time commitment of doing social media.
Speaker A:That's what we do.
Speaker A:We help turn likes into our paying clients.
Speaker A:We do that for all our clients.
Speaker A:See how that formula worked?
Speaker A:Now here's a couple other examples that might help you.
Speaker A:I help busy professionals grow their brand without spending all day on social media.
Speaker A:That's a good one.
Speaker A:I help overwhelmed business owners get more consistent leads without posting every single day.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:These are both examples that we used AI to help generate based on our actual things that we do for our clients.
Speaker A:So what was your core brand statement?
Speaker A:I'd love for you to tell me that in the comment section below.
Speaker A:Help other people who are finding this video get ideas, what they could say.
Speaker A:Let me know.
Speaker A:Course, we encourage you not to steal from someone else.
Speaker A:Instead use it to influence yourself.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Step two, identify three real pain points that your clients actually have.
Speaker A:The real people have real problems and this is where your message begins.
Speaker A:So I've done this with my clients.
Speaker A:I can tell you right off the top of my head and anyone who worked with me and talked to me about my business.
Speaker A:I've identified the three problems.
Speaker A:People don't have time Right.
Speaker A:That's number one, just don't have time to do what we do.
Speaker A:They don't know how.
Speaker A:They just don't know where to start.
Speaker A:They don't know how.
Speaker A:And then lastly, they might know what they're doing, but they're not seeing the results they want.
Speaker A:They want bigger, better results, usually when it comes to actually converting.
Speaker A:So what are the three pain points your clients have?
Speaker A:What frustrates them right now?
Speaker A:What problem you're selling me right now?
Speaker A:What do they wish was easier?
Speaker A:And what are they afraid to say out loud?
Speaker A:Were they even afraid to admit?
Speaker A:Because sometimes as business owners, as people who are offering solutions, we know their pain point, they know their pain point.
Speaker A:They're just afraid to say it out loud because once they admit that they feel like they failed and we need to give them permission to a, understand their pain point, that we're here to help them, and two, let them know it's not a failure, that everyone else is just like them, but with our help that they can get to that next level with our product, they will solve that solution for them.
Speaker A:So here's some examples my clients may have said.
Speaker A:I don't know what to post.
Speaker A:I feel invisible online.
Speaker A:Everything I do feels generic.
Speaker A:I don't know where to start.
Speaker A:I don't have time.
Speaker A:I don't know how my favorites are.
Speaker A:What's Facebook?
Speaker A:Not that anyone would actually say that, but we have gotten some really similar comments in that area.
Speaker A:So write down, ask yourself.
Speaker A:I solve problems my audience can feel and and not just understand what are they.
Speaker A:And list those three things.
Speaker A:Last step, your last five posts.
Speaker A:Now, if you're not posting, this is going to be a little hard.
Speaker A:But if you are posting, we're going to test what's working, what's not.
Speaker A:This is always good.
Speaker A:And if you are just starting today, make five posts and then go look at which ones did the best.
Speaker A:Auditing helps you understand what's actually resonating with your clients.
Speaker A:We may think as content creators or people putting out that content, we know exactly what our audience needs.
Speaker A:But the reality is numbers don't lie.
Speaker A:There are going to be things that surprise you, but what does really well, what we need to do is pivot and capitalize on that.
Speaker A:So we want to put things to the test.
Speaker A:Open your last five posts and ask, does this a teach did I offer insider value?
Speaker A:2Show Did I prove something or tell a story?
Speaker A:And then three, ask did I guide someone?
Speaker A:Or take a step and see if those numbers also are doing a good job?
Speaker A:Look at your analytics.
Speaker A:Which ones were the most popular?
Speaker A:Did it fall into one of these buckets?
Speaker A:Was it a teaching episode?
Speaker A:Did I show something or did I tell a story that I ask or guide someone to help take a step?
Speaker A:Which one provided the best response?
Speaker A:You know, each post should fall into one of these main categories.
Speaker A:Teach, show, or ask.
Speaker A:That is the premise of what we do as content creators to help get people converted from likes into real paying clients.
Speaker A:So my question is, did you teach, did you show, or did you ask?
Speaker A:If this has sparked something, consider it a new entry into your manual of transmutation.
Speaker A:This is going to help help you transform that chaos into gold.
Speaker A:Now, if you learned something valuable day, do me a favor, tap that like button.
Speaker A:Share this episode Someone who's also feeling stuck Fellow business owner.
Speaker A:A friend who's looking to start a business.
Speaker A:Anybody you can think that would be benefit from this.
Speaker A:And of course, hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out the next steps on this journey.
Speaker A:We're just getting started and I've got more gold coming your way.
Speaker A:Until next time, I'm Alex, your marketing optimistic.
