Leveraging AI to work for me

On some level, I’m always going to be an AI skeptic.

Large Language Models (LLMs) and artificial intelligence are personally contentious for me. I’ve written about how painful it was to learn my first novel had been stolen and used to train LLMs without my consent.

There’s a level of violation there that will never sit easily or well. I believe we need stronger safeguards to protect the intellectual property of creative people.

At the same time, I can’t ignore the seismic changes happening in tech, marketing, and work in general. Doing an ostrich maneuver and sticking my head in the sand has never struck me as a tenable strategic position.

I’m grateful to Growclass for the thought and care with which they’ve built their AI Marketing & Strategy certification. I completed the six-week course this week.

What I liked most about Growclass’ AI Marketing & Strategy certification

The certification provides a solid overview of how AI tools are shifting marketing as a discipline. Students explore the ethical and environmental implications of these tools and how AI is changing our field.

• The course’s structure helps you dig in and build. I found setting aside my skepticism and exploring what possible to be helpful, though I avoid generative AI applications for my practice.
• I appreciate the thought and care the team put into the six-week lessons, practical guides, and hands-on practice runs. They provide great 1:1 support when you get stuck (and I did).
• You’ll think about what you need and adopt tools that serve your ethics and values. AI tools change constantly and the team also suggests resources to stay on top of trends.
• A big insight: Chatbots built to do one business function and trained off materials written in your voice will always outperform the generic versions. The tradeoff is uploading your materials and accepting the risks that come with that choice.
• Guidance in deciding which operational tasks to automate and how one to build tools that fill those gaps. AI makes the sense to me as a research assistant or sparring partner. It can help with business development analysis or see gaps in existing messaging (e.g., analyzing my online footprint).

I will always be leery of generative AI. I don’t use it to write articles like this one, for emails and newsletters, or in my creative work. AI offers no benefits to me there.

My favourite tool we used is Tiffany DaSilva‘s CLEAR Framework Check, which automates her approach to auditing websites. She’s one of the Growclass instructors and the app leverages her work auditing and optimizing over 400 websites.

Best of all, Tiffany’s unique voice informs all the copy.

The CLEAR Framework helps students (and prospective clients) assess the gaps in their web properties. It provides a step-by-step guide to the existing problems and how to resolve them.

It’s never going to replace working 1:1 with Tiffany, but it’s a great starting point for feedback.

Tools to automate the boring bits AND help clients discover your work

AI tools like the CLEAR Framework can help you automate the parts of your role or business that don’t align with your strengths. These are the tasks you avoid, ignore, or do poorly. The certification spent a fair bit of time helping us think about those topics.

But there’s more in the implications.

Before AI, writing a book was one way to prime clients to work with you. That’s been a popular tactic for years and likely always will be, especially for leaders with a strong reputation.

I’m thinking, for example, of books like April Dunford‘s Obviously Awesome, which leverages her long career in product positioning. In addition to being huge sellers, her books also act as calling cards for her consulting practice.

But writing a non-fiction book can be expensive and time-consuming. If you don’t have an existing following, distribution can also be a challenge. In the AI age, other options are possible.

Instead of writing a book, using AI to transform and apply your expertise can leverage your time and energy in a new way. For example, Tiffany’s main consulting focus is SEO audits. But sometimes her clients also want to know how to improve their websites overall. Her CLEAR Framework addresses many of the those initial questions using her long-tail of success in helping clients improve their web real estate.

I’ll bet subsequent conversations go deeper because prospective clients will have already thought about the beginner steps. They’ll also be more informed on what they want and why she’s the right person to help.

What I’ll take from this Growclass certification

This course left me with a lot to think about. In the age of AI, all sorts of calling cards are possible. Beyond the practical skills, that alone is learning that benefits my consulting practice and the careers of the ambitious professionals I advise.

Thanks to Sarah Stockdale, Tiffany DaSilva, Hannah Permell, Luke Galea, and the team for creating such an excellent certification and for all their support.