When asked if I thought Ai would replace content marketers during a Q&A last Summer, I laughed and said "no way!"

Then, earlier this year, that essentially happened—to me.

But here's why that's OK: the AI didn't replace me as an experienced content strategist and exceptional writer. It replaced my former client's ugly first drafts of all sorts of copy that a human used to write.

In most use cases, AI isn't replacing polished, finessed, engaging content. Instead, it's allowing a small team to take a few minutes to generate an outline of something they can share with the rest of the company for input, additions, and wholesale rewriting.

This works great for this sort of collaborative, content-by-committee workflow. It works better, in fact, than having a human writer invest their time and mental energy in researching and writing a first draft.

Why? Because when a person creates content, only to have a dozen (non-writer) people chime in with all the things they'd do differently, there's a huge cost. Not just the hours that person spent researching and writing and editing their piece. But the hours of "can you believe this feedback?!?!?" ruminating, messaging their content creator peers, and overthinking their career choice that comes afterward.

Imagine that you are part of an organization wants to co-create all the copy that is shared with customers, to ensure there is company-wide consensus and buy-in for everything that's published. That's a lot of excess baggage for a content creator! But it's no big deal for an AI tool. Your AI doesn't care how many times you have it regenerate the same copy over and over again. It's happy to do so. You are giving it a reason for being!
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It's important to note, however, that in this example, you are not replacing content marketing with an AI—you are simply replacing marketing content creation. Which seems to be a distinction not everyone understands.

After all, some people consider content marketing to be "creating a bunch of SEO garbage." (Can you imagine being in a meeting and having a company leader say that, in front of you, about something you wrote? I can't either. But it's a real quote shared with me from someone I know and trust not to have embellished the comment.)

That comment really hurts. Not because it strikes close to home (it doesn't.) It hurts, because it shows how far we still have to go as a profession in making the distinction clear, and our value to an organization known.

It makes me sad to see how little the person saying the words cares about the concept of content marketing or helping their ideal customer through publishing relevant, findable content. Not to mention the lack of EQ shown by dissing an employee's work in front of their peers.

It's a nice idea to think that if you create a great product people will somehow find it, buy it, and tell their friends about it. While that has happened for some lucky companies, it's not very likely to happen for most companies.

If a person with a pressing business problem is looking for a solution, they go to their favorite search engine or AI tool, and ask for its help to solve their problem. With their problem and potential solutions defined, they ask their peers in some sort of community setting, too.

After all this, if you are lucky, they'll get to your website.

If your website is written by an AI or people who built the product but don't understand anything about the everyday problems the people who'd purchase the product are trying to solve (and how they think and talk about it), you are moving down the short list.

I love using AI to help me understand what I've left out, or to identify additional facets of a topic to explore. But I'd never mistake an AI tool for a human being. And the same is true for its copy. Exceptional content marketing stems from a customer-focused, comprehensive content strategy and empathetic storytelling. AI can do many things. But it doesn't have a lifetime's collection of career experience and human interactions and examples to draw from. If anything, with all the advancements in technology, our human insight remains irreplaceable, and even more valuable as a differentiator in the marketplace.

But back to getting fired and being replaced by AI.

I should note that as part of my offboarding, I gave the client my own personal short list of all the AI tools I've used and recommended. I noted how I thought they might use them, in my absence, to get all the things done. During my tenure, I helped them create foundational content marketing tools, resources, and templates that they can now use with AI tools to stay on voice and consistent.

Content marketing and marketing content are not the same things. And given the choice—which is why I'm a consultant and not a corporate employee—I choose content marketing over creating marketing content. Every. Time. So, thank you, my AI overlords. I owe you a Coke!

Cheers,

Erika

P.S. If you are looking for ways to incorporate AI into your workflows to free up your time to do more of the work that needs a human touch, we'd love to help. Hit reply to this email or get in touch through our website.

Coming Up on #ContentChat

Content Chat is my weekly LinkedIn live video 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:

• TODAY on #ContentChat, I’m joined by Wendy Kramer to discuss how to navigate a brand website refresh. Wendy is a skilled website designer who helped transform our consultancy website earlier this year. We will discuss how to know when it’s the right time to conduct a full website overhaul, how to choose your website content management system, and strategies to overcome the inevitable hurdles you’ll face when relaunching your site.
• Next Monday (March 11) on #ContentChat, I’m joined by Maureen Jann to discuss how to cultivate diverse inspirations for content marketing ideas. (The second time’s the charm, right? I did not expect to have internet troubles when we were supposed to speak last month.) We’ll discuss why content marketing teams should take risks with new and innovative content ideas, including ways to tap into your creativity and inspire your team.

​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 Q2 2024—send us your pitch!
​Are you a content marketing practitioner, author, 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

​Vice President, Social, Content & Brand Marketing, Sprout Social.
​Sprout Social is a social media management and customer care platform used by thousands of organizations worldwide (and many members of our community!). The company seeks a VP of social, content, and brand marketing who will drive its social media presence, develop an influencer marketing strategy, refine its existing content marketing strategy, and evolve its public relations/media relations approach. This role is remote.

​Head of Content, Close.
​Close is a bootstrapped startup that offers a CRM focused on eliminating manual data entry to double the productivity of every sales rep. Its team is hiring a head of content to oversee the strategy, planning, and delivery of exceptional content aimed at SMBs. This role is remote for U.S.-based candidates.

​Director, Content Strategy & Operations, Confluent.
​Confluent is a data infrastructure company that helps businesses enable real-time data insights to innovate and win in a digital-first world. The brand is looking for a director of content strategy and operations to design its global and regional content strategies focused on audience engagement and growth. The individual will manage a team of content marketers and oversee the creation of myriad content assets. This role is remote.

​Senior Content Writer, Customer Stories, Confluent.
​Another opening with Confluent! The brand is also hiring a senior content writer to create fresh short- and long-form content focused on customer storytelling and educating audiences about the capabilities and value of Confluent’s platform. You’ll interview customers to discover and activate compelling story angles. This role is remote.

​Content Marketing Lead, Watershed.
​Watershed provides a software platform to help companies measure their climate programs, like carbon reduction. The company seeks a content marketing lead to own and scale a full-funnel content strategy and create long-form content, blog posts, video, email, social, and more. This role is remote eligible with offices in San Francisco and New York.

​Content Marketing Strategist, Foundation Marketing.
Foundation is a digital content marketing agency serving B2B SaaS brands. The agency is hiring a content marketing strategist to help its clients achieve their content marketing goals and craft content strategies that drive traffic and leads.

​Content Marketer, Ahrefs.
​Ahrefs is a leading provider of SEO tools and a creator of educational materials for digital marketing pros. The Ahrefs team seeks a content marketer to help brainstorm creative content ideas to support the brand’s SEO and thought leadership, perform research and expert interviews, and create high-quality content for its blog and social media channels. This role is remote.

​Audience Campaigns and Content Marketer, SAP.
​SAP is a multinational company that develops enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. Its team is hiring a content marketer to assist with its audience campaigns and create a steady stream of infographics, blog posts, videos, and webinars to engage its buyers and existing customers. This role is hybrid, based in Bellevue, WA.

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 at no cost.

SEEKING RECOMMENDATIONS: What Are Your Favorite Marketing Industry Books?

Our team is updating our list of great books for marketers, and we’d love to include your suggestions! Reply to this email and tell us what books have inspired you to be a better marketer or channel your creativity. If you’d like to be quoted in the post, please share a few sentences about what other marketers will learn by reading your recommended book. Thank you in advance! And, yes, please, if you’ve authored a new content marketing book, let us know—we’d love to include you.

ICYMI

​22 of The Best Events for Content Marketers to Attend in 2024.
​What content marketing events are you attending this year? We recommend you attend at least one event to break out of your day-to-day workflow and learn new ways to approach your content marketing strategy. Our new post shares 22 events to consider, based on recommendations from the #ContentChat community. Reply to this email if we missed your favorite event, and we’ll update the post later this year!

​CMworld 2024: Call for Speakers Open Until April 1!
​Content Marketing World speaker submissions are open! It’s a great opportunity to share your expertise with your content marketing peers (and have an excuse to escape to sunny San Diego!). We hope to see you on stage.

​Meet Sora, OpenAI's Stunning New AI Video Generator.
​Generative AI is now able to create longer and more convincing videos, as demonstrated by OpenAI’s Sora. The tool isn’t publicly available yet, but it’s primed to make big changes to how teams create video. Get the details in this Marketing AI Institute article, or listen to Paul Roetzer discuss the implications on The AI Show.

​Eight Steps to Ensure Brand Safety With Influencer Marketing.
​Influencers are critical in helping B2B and B2C brands engage their buyers authentically. But there are a lot of things that can go wrong with influencer marketing if you fail to take the necessary precautions. This MarketingProfs article shares eight proven ways to protect your brand and add much-needed structure to your influencer marketing process (your legal team will thank you!). If you want more insights about influence(r) marketing, check out this #ContentChat recap with Jason Falls.

​Marketing’s Musical Chairs: Why So Many Reorgs (and What It Means for You).
​The only constant in marketing is change, and there is plenty of it going on. Nearly half of marketing teams restructured in the last year, and just over half did in 2022. Are market conditions to blame? Or is it a reinforcement that our strategies must keep evolving? CMI’s Robert Rose shares his thoughts in this article. What do you make of all the restructures and shuffling going on?

​How Can a Fractional Chief Content Officer Level Up Your Content Marketing?
​Every company can benefit from a seasoned professional directing their content investments, but not every company needs to make a full-time hire. Enter the fractional chief content officer. My post breaks down what a fractional leader is and how they can benefit your organization, including how to decide if it’s the right time to invest in one.
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​Shameless plug: If you want to bring on fractional support for your content team, let me know! I am available to take on new projects and fractional content leader roles. Let's talk about how I can lend my leadership to your team.

Until next time, stay safe and be well!

Cheers,

Erika

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