Do you own a lathe? If you do, chances are woodworking is your hobby or business.
Do you own a 3D printer? If you do, chances are you are in the manufacturing or design fields.
I don't own either, but owning a 3D printer would be cool and give me status. But, I don't know the first thing about using it or how to make it pay for itself.
Tools in the hands of an expert speed up results. Tools in the hands of a tinkerer can lead to wasted time or just be dangerous.
Buying a $5000 guitar will make anyone sound (and look) better, but it won't make you a better player. That takes a combination of learning, practice, and skill.
AI is a Tool
ChatGPT is all the rage. It searches the web to gather information and predictively strings concepts together to form ideas and write them out for you. Microsoft Cognitive Services for Bing is an independent AI tool that reads and learns. The bottom line is that AI is only as good as the programming and the information it feeds off.
AI is an incredible tool in the right hands, and fun in the hands of a tinkerer. Learning to use a tool is a process for both experts and tinkerers.
What we, the public are using is General AI. There are more powerful forms of AI that can already map, design, and solve very complex problems. It does what could take humans years to do in a matter of seconds, minutes, or hours.
You as the Expert
One place you are certainly an expert is in how your business helps others solve problems. You understand your client's needs, wants, and issues. I am sure that you could talk about this for hours in ways that would certainly resonate with your clients and prospects.
So, if you want to stand out from your competition and get the attention of your audience, you have to know how to translate your knowledge into content that resonates with them in a way that piques their interest in your topic.
It would help to interview your current clients and listen to how they phrase the problems or issues that you are hoping to communicate.
Tackling Titles
When marketing a business, we are all dealing with short attention span theater. Most people will give you 3-10 seconds of attention before they move to the next thing.
Besides your topic, the next most important thing is the title. You want your content title to get them to say, “Are you talking to me?”. If that resonates, they will stop and explore more. If it doesn't, they will move on.
Most titles have to be short enough to grab attention, but long enough to deliver the concept of what's in it for them.
Which of these two resonates with you?
- 3D Printers are COOL!
- 3D Printers: Turn Cool into CASH!
The one that resonates with you is the right choice.
Finally, you want your title to be supported by an interesting image. It's often the picture or video that gets people to read your title. It should help people visualize your concept while creating curiosity.
It should get them to think, “What is THIS?”. I chose the image for this post to show your message being elevated and rising above others. Is that what got you to stop and read the title?
Tools for Topics and Titles
AI can be great for ideas and brainstorming with your computer. You can type in your topic and see how AI will try to frame or describe it.
You can also ask AI to give you topic title suggestions. Here are a few other tools I have used for title generation:
Just like any AI tool, success is in the eye of the beholder. What resonates with you may or may not have the same effect on your clients and prospects. If you can, pick your top three and poll your current clients to see what they like best before posting it to a wider audience.
Tools to Deliver Your Topic & Title
The perfect topic and title will have no effect or outcome in a vacuum or bubble. You have to share it, test it, and improve it.
Successful marketers tend to focus on three key tools to deliver messages to the widest possible audience.
Email: This is a list that you control and your users can opt in or opt out of. That makes it the most important tool in your distribution arsenal. The better your list (more organic), and the better your topics, titles, and tools, the better the results should be.
Social Media: This has the potential to reach the largest audience, but AI (algorithms) choose who sees it and when. By the way, they do what's in their best interest (selling advertising) and not yours.
Social Video: This is currently being dominated by YouTube, but there are others. It's social because it's more like Facebook than email. Video is effective because it combines the best of a blog or article, and uses audio & video to deliver it.
We have found that the biggest results combine a mix of all three while driving the user back to your website to interact more and take action.
Each of the above is just a tool. Just like a 3D printer, in the hands of an expert, they can do amazing things.
Keep in mind there are experts in specifics like specialists in medicine. You would not want your proctologist doing open heart surgery alone. But if he/she is surrounded by a team of experts and is the only option available, they can be successful.
So, it makes sense that some people will be experts in content creation but maybe not in placement or distribution. But if he/she is surrounded by a team of experts and is the best option available, then they can be successful.
Final Thoughts
One of the hottest jobs in AI is called a prompt engineer. They sell themselves as experts in posting questions to ChatGPT.
For you and your business, you are that prompt engineer, and you probably don't need a tool like ChatGPT to be good and successful.
When it comes to creating, testing, and delivering your content, the more experts you have access to (and can afford), the better your results should be.
There is a point of diminishing returns. If profits are not generated by paying all those experts, then you may need an expert to help you figure out which tool to use, or maybe whether you should be using any of them to help you to achieve your main business goals… Make more profitable sales.
“Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.”
– Robert Frost
Comment below and share your thoughts, ideas, or questions about how you create and distribute messages! Are you finding AI disruptive or engaging? How do you decide what topics your audience will engage with? how much attention do you pay to headlines and attraction images? Do you have a consistent content distribution system, or is it willy-nilly?
To learn more about this and other topics on B2b Sales & Marketing, visit our podcast website at The Bacon Podcast.
