These entrepreneurs figured out how to use AI without losing the human touch
One of the most important factors in creating marketing content that people actually want to watch, listen to, or read is its ability to evoke empathy, convey credibility, and be human.
All of these elements are uniquely human, but that doesn’t mean AI tools can’t help. Humanity and efficiency are not incompatible.
In my business, as the director of a company that helps entrepreneurs showcase their leadership ideas through video, I seek to bring out the most engaging and relatable side of people, teaching clients how to create quality content, but also how to do it efficiently.
I recommend that they use AI as a starting point to speed up brainstorming , content creation, and research. But of course, they should always add their own voice and style. AI is just a place to start.
A small sample of the AI tools I use for video and podcast production are ChatGPT, Rev, Canva's AI tools, and Castmagic.
1. Create very specific AI prompts to sound like you
Many companies and founders are using AI in unusual ways and reaping huge benefits. Emily Friend, founder of the Florence Rose Group, advises startups, private companies, and Fortune 1000 companies on growth strategy and operations. She uses AI for a variety of tasks. At her company, she sets up bots to do legal, analytics, and social media work.
Friend recommends being very specific about how you expect the bot to react. “The more details you give it, the more specific and detailed it will become,” he explains.
When I started applying this advice to my own business, I was reminded of working with various vendors, such as video editors and videographers. Just like with AI, good human communication is key.
I’ve generally been more satisfied with vendor content when I’ve given them creative, clear, plain-language briefs . The clearer your briefs are, the more likely you are to be impressed with the result, whether it’s produced by humans or bots. But with AI, your briefs become even more important.
Within specific prompts, you can ask it to imitate a person, cite valid sources, and continue to progress with new information you input. For Friend, relying on AI frees up time for her to focus on client work.
The whole process “still requires my brain,” Friend acknowledges, because she still has to refine the result and add her human touch. But it helps her run the business more efficiently.
2. AI to answer frequently asked questions while you rest
“AI will take my job – but only when I’m trying to sleep,” says Tomer Pensenzon, Unleash’s chief marketing officer, who lives in Tel Aviv in the Middle East.
Instead of trying to maintain impossible schedules across time zones, he built and trained a Slack chatbot — called Mini-Tomer — that answers questions based solely on his documents and corporate data. Using the company’s software, “it answers 80 percent of the questions in my Ask-Tomer channel while I’m sleeping,” says Pensenzon.
For him, the main value is not in creating information, but in making it accessible, and it is important for each company to personalize it. This would apply, for example, to a marketer like me, with my weekly podcast ("The Exit Interview with Kim Rittberg").
The podcast helps freelancers succeed in work and life, offering tips on business building, marketing, and work-life balance. Pensenzon says that if someone asked me a question about my podcast, I could set up the AI to answer it. Specifically, it could analyze my blog posts and generate the answer based on my content.
3. AI to help you understand what your customers want
Dave Anderson, director of product marketing at Contentsquare, a digital experience analytics platform, uses AI to inform him of market trends and positioning he should consider to market his analytics program.
Anderson essentially uses AI to understand what customers want from AI. But among the “non-obvious” ways he uses the technology, he says, he often does funny parodies of songs about the analytics industry in his presentations.
He uses ChatGPT to get ideas, recommending a song by artists like Taylor Swift or Sting. “The lyrics are never perfect, but they can be inspirational.”
Whether you want to become your company’s next Weird Al, just want to speed up your operations, or are simply ready to take a risk, AI can certainly help you be more creative.
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