What’s with the ducks?

A few months ago, I was sitting in the drive-thru line at a Dunkin by a lake in a small New England town. I noticed a couple of ducks chilling on the water, and it got me thinking about the similarities between ducks and marketers.

The thing is, I'm pretty picky about the people I work with because I know not everyone is going to be a fit.

I look at my ideal clients a little like this (and bear with me here):

They're ducks, like me. 🦆

When you look at a duck on water, you see a little guy chilling on the surface being all cool as a cucumber. But what you don't see is that under the water, they're kicking their feet like crazy to move and keep momentum. You wouldn't know it by looking at them from the outside that they're running a marathon under the surface.

It's super admirable, but not sustainable.

These marketers need support from someone who *gets* where they're coming from, who can help them get unstuck and give them some gentle encouragement and a banana. (Banana is optional).

For most of my clients, I act as part operator, part strategist, part cheerleader, and part therapist -- and that's the way I like it! (I know not everyone is comfy with having a heart-to-heart during a weekly sync, but it's basically my favorite thing.)

And if I learned anything from growing up in the 90s, it's that ducks fly together!

Let’s talk about the eleph(AI)nt in the room

Certainly! Here’s a blog post explaining your position on AI in this ever-evolving digital landscape:

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Just kidding ;)

After having lots of conversations about the role of AI in marketing with other marketers, I think it’s probably time to make my position on AI clear.

Here’s my line in the sand: AI cannot (and should not!) replace humans.

In fact, if you are a potential client and you believe AI can replace human content marketers, please do me a favor and forget my URL.

IMO, there’s nothing forward-thinking or future-proof about outsourcing your most valuable assets — empathy, relationships, thoughts, feelings, lived experience — to LLMs. I think that’s the opposite of forward-thinking. You do realize GenAI is trained on tons of data to recognize patterns and mimic them at scale, right?

That means when you use AI as a replacement for a human, you’re regurgitating what an LLM thinks a human might create based on a ton of data points. And it might be passable. It might even be kinda good. But what it’s missing is nuance, taste, and the ability to really, really understand what matters most for your stakeholders and audience.

AI is predictive, not inventive — and definitely not creative.

If your goal is to create differentiated content and effective strategies, the AI-human centipede is not your way forward.

That being said…yes, I use AI in my work. I’m not a Luddite. I have used — and currently use — AI in my workflows. Most of my clients expect me to use AI and want to know how I’m using it for content.

Some ways I’ve used AI:

• To help templatize processes

• To brainstorm angles

• To pull quotes and ideas from transcripts

• As a structural editor

• Quick, high-level research

• Early rough drafts

• To challenge my assumptions

• To uncover customer insights

Just to name a few! And you know what? It has helped a lot. I think of it like my trusty intern or assistant that can help me get unstuck and more streamlined. But I will never use it to outsource my curiosity, empathy, or strategic thinking.

Because that’s the good stuff — the stuff that leans into the humanness of marketing, the feeling, the storytelling, the vibes.

Besides, I’m way funnier than AI 💁‍♀️