Last week, I had the opportunity to talk one-on-one with several attendees from my MarketingProfs webinar, AI: the Ultimate WIngman for Your Brand Voice.

While I always invite session attendees to reach out if they have any questions after I give a presentation, I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the conversations that ensued.

Right now, in companies around the globe, content marketers like those I talked to in particular are trying to determine how they can harness the power of AI to improve their workflows, gain more insights from their omnichannel data, and deliver truly personalized content and experiences to the communities they serve.

Just as important as the many possibilities they saw, they also identified some challenges and areas of concern:

• Where do we start? We have limited budgets and never enough time.
• How do we scale what we learn? AI literacy needs to be on everyone on the marketing team’s professional development plan, but we must also pool our efforts.
• The company has an AI team/task force, but marketing isn’t part of it. How do we convince the C-suite that we need a seat at that table and the ability to forge our own path with AI to strengthen our marketing outcomes?
• Some of my team members are resistant to learning more about using AI as they are worried they’re being asked to train it to take over their job, or they think it will be used to create a deluge of mediocre content.

These are incredibly important questions for all of us to be thinking about. And it’s going to take some time before we all figure out the best use of AI to create better customer experiences.

But the good news is, we’ve got this. AI is just the latest technological change we’ve had to adapt to as marketers. As a GenXer, I remember when fax machines—and then email—were the new thing that was going to kill all other marketing channels. Then it was the internet and the first generation of websites.

I can’t even recall how many times I heard that being a writer was a doomed profession! And yet, here we are.

Marketing has been riding a sea of changes over the past 25 years, and there’s no slowing down in sight. The key to being successful remains our ability to be flexible and adapt to the changes as they come. Because, to quote a favorite line from the movie “The Crow”, “There ain’t no coming back!”

Coming Up on #ContentChat

Content Chat is my weekly Twitter and LinkedIn audio chat focused on sharing expertise and ideas amongst the content marketing community. Join the conversation on Mondays at noon Pacific / 3 p.m. Eastern. Be sure to mark your calendar to join the #ContentChat community and me for these upcoming guests:

• There is no #ContentChat today, due to an unexpected conflict for our guest. We hope to reschedule them soon!
• Next Monday (August 21) on #ContentChat, Jessica Best (@BestofJess) will explain how to improve your email marketing content strategy. We’ll cover the kinds of email marketing that brands can send, what often goes wrong with those emails, and tips for personalizing emails in an authentic way.

​Get Involved with #ContentChat

Want #ContentChat on your calendar? Use this link to follow our calendar, so you never miss a chat.

We're booking guests for August and beyond—send us your pitch!
​Are you a content marketing practitioner or consultant who is interested in being a guest for an upcoming edition of #ContentChat? We’d love to see your topic pitch via our Content Chat guest submission form.

Content Marketing + Related Jobs

​Content Marketing Manager, Discogs.
​Discogs is a platform for music discovery and collection with more than 602K community contributors (including me!). The brand is hiring a content marketing manager to develop and execute content marketing strategies that align with its brand strategy, with content creation spanning social media, WordPress sites, email campaigns, forums, and more.

​Senior Content Manager, Test Double.
​Test Double is an agency that aims to fix what’s broken in the software development industry, working with clients like Zendesk, GitHub, and TED to renew legacy code and accelerate software delivery. The brand is seeking a senior content manager to develop content and campaigns that grow thought leadership, brand awareness, and leads.

​Senior Manager, Social Media Lead, Palo Alto Networks.
​Palo Alto Networks is a leading cybersecurity brand that helps companies secure any cloud, automate security operations, and stop zero-day threats. The brand is hiring a social media lead to manage a global team to develop and implement social media strategies across platforms, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter/X, and Instagram.

​Content Marketing Manager, Applied Intuition.
​Applied Intuition enables engineering and product development teams to safely develop, test, and deploy autonomous vehicles at scale. The company is searching for a content marketing manager to plan and execute its content calendar and develop technical and non-technical content about autonomous vehicle testing and development.

​Senior Copywriter, Blue Bottle Coffee.
​Blue Bottle Coffee is a specialty coffee retailer I came to love during my decades of living in San Francisco. You can buy their cold brewed coffee drinks in grocery stores nationwide and enjoy their cafes in Los Angeles, San Diego, New York City, and a handful of other cities. Its team is hiring a senior copywriter to partner with its creative team and create copy that captures the quality and essence of its offerings. In the role, you’ll work on email campaigns, digital advertising, website content, blog posts, print assets, social media copy, and all in-store signage.

​Lead Copywriter, Kickstarter.
​Kickstarter is a platform that helps people fund their next creative project, spanning video games and movies to fashion and music. Kickstarter’s team is hiring a lead copywriter to develop naming, taglines, and key messaging for brand campaigns and programs.The role provides general support in building the brand and uniquely positioning Kickstarter and its properties.

​Content Marketing Manager, Menlo Security.
​Menlo Security provides a cloud-based security solution that prevents phishing and malware attacks on any browser and device across hybrid environments. The brand is looking for a content marketing manager to break down complex topics into compelling, digestible narratives across social media, blog posts, articles, and infographics.

​Senior Manager, Content Marketing, Granicus.
​More than 6,000 global government agencies have used Granicus to modernize their online services, website & CMS, and digital communication strategies. The team seeks a senior manager of content marketing to research, report, and write everything from blogs to in-depth guides, as well as manage the corporate brand voice.

Are you hiring? We can help!

If you have a content marketing contract position, full-time job, or freelancer opportunity, reply to this email and let us know. We are always happy to share jobs with the community.

ICYMI

​The Midlife Marketer: Orchestrating a Fulfilling Career Change.
​If you are miserable in your job, get out! I understand there are many reasons why people stay in jobs they don’t love, but you will be so much happier if you find a role or industry that is better aligned to your values (and that’s a big reason why I always include open jobs in this newsletter). To help you find your next role, Bernie Borges and I discuss what to consider and how to plan a midlife career change in this #ContentChat recap. Don’t let ‘midlife’ deter you—‘midlife’ spans several decades, starting in your 30s!

​5 Steps To Find Your Brand Voice.
​I had an absolute blast talking about how to use AI to support your brand voice in a recent MarketingProfs webinar. During the session, I shared my brand voice definition and documentation process, which includes five steps to find your brand voice. Let me know if you have any questions—I know it can be challenging for many of us to document a brand voice!

​Why Thought Leadership Content Fails.
​Faulty/poor methodology and lack of internal stakeholder buy-in are the top two reasons why thought leadership fails, according to a new survey from Bospar and Reputation Leaders. While these reasons are not so surprising, the research provides a great look at why your thought leadership programs aren’t driving the results you thought. What are the other big reasons why thought leadership falls flat?

​Unlock Audience Personas With the Power of LinkedIn Profiles.
​LinkedIn is one of the most powerful networks for finding business connections and prospective customers (as long as you know how to use its search features, that is!). In this Content Marketing Institute article, friend of #ContentChat Dennis Shiao explains how to gather data for personas using LinkedIn, including eight profile elements that can help you find people who might be interested in your product, services, or connection.

Until next time, stay safe and be well!

Cheers,

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​Erika Heald, Founder & Lead Consultant​
​Erika Heald Marketing Consulting​
Twitter: @sferika​​
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/erikaheald​
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/misserikasf/
​Threads: @MisserikaSF​