AI Is Doing More Harm To Your Marketing Than You Think
“Do you know every time you sing a different song, you morph your voice to sound like the artist who originally sang it?”
I was just a kid when a stage school coach said those words to me… and of course, I thought nothing of it.
I probably responded with something like, “That’s ’cause I want to sound like Britney AND Beyoncé, duhhhh!”
Looking back, I realise those words were prodding at a core wound that, at that age, I didn’t understand.
Losing My Voice Before I Even Knew I Had One
At the time of joining stage school, I was also being badly bullied, something that later led to me quitting music altogether, despite it being my dream.
And I was starting to internalise that the safest thing I could do was fit in.
The less my voice was heard, the less likely I was to be a target.
So I silenced myself in so many ways.
And I’ll be honest, I’ve fought tooth and nail to lessen the grip on needing to do that in recent years.
It took a year in therapy before I could post my first talk-to-camera video on Instagram.
Months in somatic therapy to expand my nervous system’s capacity to express my opinions without feeling like a tiger was chasing me.
Years of inner work to reclaim my voice and trust that what I have to say is important.
And I know I’m not alone in that.
Change-Makers Often Have a Fear Of Being Seen
I don’t know anyone who has come into my spaces and not felt the fear of being seen in some capacity.
People dilute themselves for a multitude of reasons and have since embarked on the journey of reclaiming the voice that they’ve silenced for so long.
And yet, in most of my reflection calls, I find myself saying the same line…
“I can’t see you clearly in this.”
Clients will sit with me and I will feel the magnitude of their voice so powerfully that I’m deeply moved.
Only to feel the opposite when I come to reading their marketing.
When Your Authentic Voice Gets Lost in Marketing
It’s not because they aren’t good at expressing themselves.
It’s because they’ve asked the robots to do it for them.
That messy, beautiful, raw, and authentically human voice I sat with, the one I resonated with deeply, gets lost in translation.
Their voice is morphed to be more palatable, easier to understand, and more strategic.
Which is what we’re constantly told marketing should be.
But if it’s so “effective,” why doesn’t it feel like it?
Why does it feel like we’re losing the very thing that makes our work magnetic - our authentic brand voice?
The Problem with AI-Generated Marketing Content
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying ChatGPT or other AI tools aren’t helpful.
ChatGPT has claimed third place in my multitude of tabs that I never close, and it isn’t budging anytime soon.
If you read my post yesterday, you’ll know I appreciate the power of AI for business owners who are juggling a million hats.
But when it’s at the cost of the very voice people want to invest in, I think we need to reconsider.
Because it’s leading us to:
Doubt ourselves
Morph our expression
Lose ourselves in translation
Dim the spark that stands out
We’re undoing the years of work we’ve done to reclaim our voices as our most valuable asset.
That’s not a help to your business, that’s the greatest hindrance there is.
Authentic Marketing: Why Heart-Led Businesses Can’t Be Replaced by Robots
I’ll be honest, AI won’t be as harmful to some businesses as it is to heart-led ones.
Those presenting simple, surface-level solutions may even thrive with AI-generated marketing.
But those who have built their business from the heart, who desire deep connection from their work (and those they serve), and who crave authentic expression from their creations, won’t.
AI will never do your work (or your voice) the justice it deserves.
Because your voice, your stories, your tone, your quirks, your truth are what make people trust you, connect with you, and buy from you.
Marketing works best when it’s yours.
Neatly packaged words don’t sell your work. You do.
People don’t need you “make more sense”, “be clearer”, or “more strategic” (probably all the things you are asking AI to turn it into).
They need to see themselves in the stories only you can tell. Feel the frequency your words are naturally infused with. Find resonance in the truth you already know how to express.
And the more we outsource our genius to the robots, the more we strip our marketing of the very essence that makes it effective.
