Your go-to mission plan 🤖
I did a webinar with Brian Clark on ‘How to Become a Market Leader in the Age of AI’.
Why radical change is a leadership opportunity for savvy marketers, and how to navigate these uncertain times.
AI is one of the top 5 big disruptors. Now the hype has died down regarding ChatGPT, it’s time to pay attention. AI is being baked into everything, and we still don’t know what the impact will be on the broader job market.
He shared an important paper in Gen-AI [MIT], which found people preferred the AI content over human content. A bit depressing, but “change brings opportunity – this is opportunity on steroids.”
Beat the ‘push button’ crowd
The basic advice we’ve been given is you’ve got to be human – not very useful. The ‘Be human’ mantra has been chanted since the early days of blogging – fighting against corporate jargon and non-sensical marketing speak.
We need to be ‘more human than human’ – Tyrell’s motto in Bladerunner.
By intimately understanding human psychology and how words influence people rather than getting hung up at the tactical level.
Exploring human values and needs – trust, purpose and belonging. Unity is the most persuasive principle and is included in the new edition of Cialdini’s book Influence.
Building together around a shared identity – the Unemployable community is a great example.
Be a leader, not a creator
Brian talked about redefining how we use content for marketing purposes and prefers ‘empowerment marketing’ to ‘content marketing’. Empowerment is the objective, not content creation.
Thinking in terms of missions, movements and mentors is way more powerful than marketing and niches.
“Because when content can get generated at the push of a button, hey maybe that’s not what I want to be known for, right.” It’s become meaningless and watered down.
I agree. It’s something I’ve been struggling with. Just listened to Chris Cantwell on a pod talking about why he doesn’t like the word ‘content’.
The creator economy is a sea of sameness – lots of creator-named brands, tips and tactics. We create content to make a living. But the creator ethos is backwards – focused on vanity metrics – likes and comments, while not getting to the building a business part because they can’t inspire action.
Connector is a better word.
So, what’s next for Movement Ventures and the community?
Their new focus is the Leading Expert (Copyblogger for grown-ups) – a person fighting against the status quo as part of a movement.
Leading is the key word because “Leadership is what’s needed – and what people are begging for in terms of navigating the change we’re facing.” It doesn’t really matter if you’re working for yourself or for an org.
Outward-focused on the person over the content, and psychological over tactical – the whole human. They are bringing their universe together and unifying things in one community. I love that.
I said the expert hat is tricky sometimes especially if you’re learning in public and on the journey with your readers. I’m seeing more ‘how I did it’ over ‘how to do it’ posts these days.
Brian said but ‘how I did it’ at beginning of the journey is just as viable. When Darren Rowse started blogging in photography back in 2003, he didn’t know a huge amount about it and was very candid about that. “I would research. I would write. I was one week ahead of my audience.”
His Digital Photography School is now hugely successful. He’s pioneered an online movement by sharing his journey with pro blogging.
“So, you’ll be teaching us how to be leading experts?” 💬
“Yes, that’s the idea. This has always been the way, but most people got lost in the content, and more content, and more content. And never understood what they were trying to accomplish with all the content.”
An emphasis on creating the right type of content for your people – which is what content design is all about.
Back to that MIT study he quoted at the start (Title: Human Favoritism not AI Aversion). The most important finding. “When people knew that a human created the content all by themselves they liked it better than if it was AI-generated.”
Human nature is the one thing that’s not going to change. Thank you for giving us some hope!
“Augmented humans will be the leaders going forward, not robots.”
Inspiring stuff – got me all fired up!! An excellent presentation.
Yes to being part of a true alliance of people who want to help each other out.
Want to be part of it? Brian is doing Expert lessons over on the Longevity Gains newsletter for the longevity market, but they are general principles applied to the over-50s. The biggest consumer market the world’s ever seen (think about it, none of us want to get old and die!!).
Leading expert. All rivers flow into this:
• I did a Skill Session with Josh Spector called ‘The Expert Positioner’. He’s changed his messaging to ‘I’m a marketing strategist who helps experts…”
• Ellen Donnelly at The Ask launched the Authority Club this week.
• Thomas Strider shut down his newsletter to start something mission-backed, sparked by a remote work revolution and online entrepreneurship.
• Joe Pulizzi has a new website written in the first person. ‘Father, Husband, Son, Friend, Entrepreneur, Marketer, Author, Podcaster, Speaker.’ Bringing his whole self to it.
• Jan Murray has rebranded her pod to The Courageous CEO (prev. Courageous Content).
Overall, it’s about relationships – important in the golden days of blogging – and bringing that back. LinkedIn and Substack are filling a gap – the number of folks flocking to these platforms shows it’s much needed.
I’ve been thinking about the ‘whole human’ thing and the direction of this newsletter. Trying to figure out a way to bring all my passions and interests together in one place rather than having work and life in separate buckets, which doesn’t make sense.
It’s never been about content creation, personal branding or building an audience. It’s about growth and impact and helping people to reach their true potential. Being the best person we can be. Leaving a legacy, if that’s what you want.
And helping women gain power, health and wealth. The UK has an unaffordable childcare system, which restricts women’s freedom, fun and happiness. I’ve experienced that first-hand. Digital entrepreneurship and remote work were the game changers that kept me going.
Resources
📧 AI content is preferred over human content | Awaken Your Superhero by Christopher S Penn
🎧 Questioning content with writer, producer and director Chris Cantwell | Content People
📚 Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
Living well
The little (and big) things that made me feel better this week
- I made gluten-free oat bread
- I did a one-day yoga detox retreat
- I had a two-hour chat with my sister about her Camino adventure
- I took the afternoon off to potter around Rye with Julieta
- I read a few chapters of Marie Forleo’s book Everything is Figureoutable
- I offered an older man a seat on the bus. He looked at me and said, “No thanks. I’m 79 and fit as a fiddle. I’m very strong. I prefer to stand up.”
It sparked a conversation about healthy ageing. “I’m curious about everything. I’m very nosy. I don’t smoke. I don’t drink. I exercise. Do all these things, and you’ll live a long life.”
Sorry this is so long. I got really into it!!
If you have topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, please get in touch: nika@nikatalbot.io. I’d love to hear from you.
Sorry this is so long. I got really into it!!
If you have topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, please get in touch: nika@nikatalbot.io. I’d love to hear from you.
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Nika Talbot 