Archive July 17, 2023

Almost Anyone Can Be Successful With A.I.

BY JOE PROCOPIO for INC. Can almost anyone be successful with A.I.?  That depends. Can almost anyone learn to code?  Wait. Don't answer that yet. Because I don't want to get into a debate about coding skills. Not yet. What I'd rather talk about are the soft skills you need to be successful with A.I. (or in spite of it), and how they have little to do with writing code. Hiring an Army of Natural Language Generators I was a part of one of the first VC-backed Natural Language Generation (Generative A.I.) successes, Automated Insights, starting back in 2010. I invented the…

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How to say ‘no’ as a digital marketer

by Scott Garrett for Search Engine Land If you say “yes” to one thing, then you are saying “no” to something else.  Our time is finite, so when you accept to take on a project, task or experiment, you are declining many other activities you could be doing instead.  It is critical to be intentional about when to say “yes” and “no.”  As digital marketers, we should challenge ourselves to say “no” more often to:  SEO campaigns doomed to fail due to a lack of holistic planning. Marketing technology that is below budget but does not meet our needs. Unnecessary meetings where nothing…

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How to beat the sugar rush of short term campaign leads

by Cameron Williams for Velocity Does this sound familiar? “Our last campaign generated loads of leads! Why haven’t any of them become opportunities?.” “HUNDREDS of people clicked on our ad! Why is no-one signing up for a demo?” “We delivered a record number of MQLs to the sales team last quarter! So why aren’t they using them?” If it does, you’re not alone. Clients come to our door with problems like this all the time — the high of an influx of leads from the latest marketing campaign, quickly replaced by frustration and disappointment when none of them want to…

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McDonald’s Just Wrote an Ad With ChatGPT. The Results Were More Inspiring Than You’d Think

BY BILL MURPHY JR., FOUNDER OF UNDERSTANDABLY AND CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, INC Imagine if you hired a lawyer, or a marketer, or an advertising agency to do some work for your business.  Next, imagine that they came back with a bill for their services. Finally, imagine that when you looked at their work product, you realized they'd simply asked ChatGPT for an answer, and passed it along to you verbatim. Would you be disappointed? I think you might. But there are exceptions to every rule, and that's where McDonald's comes into this story. Earlier this month, McDonald's apparently unveiled an advertisement in Brazil that consists…

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ChatGPT Isn’t Coming for Your Marketing Business

BY CONRAD EGUSA, KATIE KONYN for INC Two months have passed since the latest model of ChatGPT was released and it's fair to say that the media and creative industries are living in a moment of self-doubt. While AI is far from a new technology, its real-world applications were previously mostly limited to data-focused tasks such as analytics and process automation. The latest generative AI tools, however, have exceeded most of our expectations in their ability to produce creative content - something which, until very recently, was believed to be the sole preserve of humans. Now that tools such as ChatGPT-4 and…

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How to Implement a 4-Day Workweek–According to 1 Business That Successfully Made the Change

BY SARAH LYNCH for INC In 2022, Jake Kurtz was burned out. But as the CEO and founder of his own social media management agency, Brick Media in Tampa, he realized that he had the power to make a change in the way he and his company worked. That led him to test run a four-day workweek. He'd come across studies supporting the success of four-day workweek pilot programs: In one U.K. study, 92 percent of companies that tested a four-day workweek planned to continue with the schedule. Once an employee fantasy, the shortened workweek has gained serious traction, with small businesses leading adoption. Kurtz thought: Why not give it a try?  …

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(Mildly) surprising copy converts better

by THOMAS MCKINLAY for Aryih “Uber Eats delivers a delicious meal to your door”vs“A delicious meal at your door, by Uber Eats” These sentences mean the same thing.  But the second one uses a less predictable order and combination of words. So people pay more attention to it. Get the amount of surprise just right (just enough, but not too much), and you could get up to 127.5% higher click-through rates (CTRs). If you’re a marketer or copywriter that likes to write fun and snarky copy, this is your dream come true. Now you have scientific evidence that your copy…

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9 Disadvantages of AI You Never Thought About

By Michael Brenner for Marketing Insider Group Robots and artificial intelligence have fascinated people for decades. Some have predicted amazing advancements and a world like “The Jetsons,” while others fear the disadvantages of AI. The reality is probably somewhere closer to the middle. Still, anyone who wants to use AI in marketing (or business in general) should be fully aware of its pros and cons. We’ve done our due diligence and uncovered nine disadvantages of AI you may have never considered. Key Takeaways: The top disadvantages of AI include a low ROI, as well as unimaginative and emotionless content. AI can instigate…

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Revolutionizing Content Strategies: The Impact of Generative and Chat AI on Modern Marketing

By Kara Parlin for Contently The world of content marketing is changing at a rapid pace, thanks to the revolutionary advancements in artificial intelligence (AI). Since chat AI and generative AI emerged, businesses now have access to powerful tools to help them create engaging, high-quality content like never before. But with the dizzying pace of new AI-powered tools released almost weekly, marketers can have a hard time deciding how to integrate AI into their content strategies. Let’s explore the latest AI-driven technologies and their impact on the content landscape, as well as discuss how businesses can stay ahead by leveraging these tools effectively.…

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How to Fire Your Customers

BY HOWARD TULLMAN for INC. Mark Twain said that a banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining but wants it back the minute it begins to rain. I'd say his view was a little narrow, since plenty of investors are certainly charter members of the same unreliable club. The overnight run on Silicon Valley Bank and that institution's ultimate collapse -- which most of us believe was driven by the panic of a few key, well-connected, and cowardly VCs with social media megaphones -- is just one of the latest cases in point. As…

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