CONTENTS
What if using AI in your marketing makes your brand invisible? Or worse, actively disliked by your intended audience?
Whether youâre promoting one of four florists in a small town or one of four thousand restaurants in a big city, you already know that standing out from the crowd is central to being found and chosen by customers. This concept isnât just old â itâs ancient; catchy street signs have been excavated from the ruins of Pompeii.
And thatâs what makes it so puzzling that local business owners are embracing AI tech trends that wind up making them indistinguishable from their competitors. This phenomenon was recently highlighted in a 404 Media post that got picked up in the iPullRank newsletter, sharing examples like this of business flyers that have disappeared down the rabbit hole of homogeneity:
These ChatGPT-generated flyers capture the visual âAI workslopâ trend discussed in must-watch detail by Whitesparkâs Darren Shaw and Claire Carlile in this segment of the Whitespark Local Update podcast:
TL;DW
Darren Shaw remarks,
âI find myself 100% rejecting anything with the slightest hint of AI. If I see any of these AI tells in the content, Iâm not reading it. If I see an AI image in your content, youâre dead to meâŚI really stick to this quote (and I donât know where Nick Pierno got it): âWhy should I bother to read something that you couldnât be bothered to write?ââ
If your local business is on a budget and is considering getting on the AI workslop freeway, pull over with me for a minute. There are affordable alternatives that will greatly reduce the risk of your brand fading into the background and disgusting prospective customers.
Here is what peak AI looks like: an AI brand realizing it canât stand out with AI ads, and so its CEO hires street musicians for a campaign I am seeing every time I watch YouTube:
How real is the revolt against AI? My Instagram feed is increasingly full of videos like this one:
And creatives are pushing back with reels like these showing how they offer hand-made branding assets as an alternative:
While Iâd be the last person to suggest that social media is an accurate representation of reality, I find it significant that authentic, human-centered presentations of small brands like this one earn huge numbers of likes:
I recommend you read the comments on that last reel to see people from around the world either wishing or planning to go to Bath in the UK to visit this whimsical store. The vibe is so appealing that people are putting it on their bucket lists! I know Iâd far rather be the CEO of the River Mouse Bath than of an AI brand being told that their AI is making them âdelusionalâ (and *warning*, far less polite words) by consumers:
Herein lies an increasingly-evident problem with AI: it can make you think youâre doing a brilliant job promoting your business, due to its sycophantic tendencies, while simultaneously signalling to the public that you donât care enough to offer your customers the best.
Why are businesses offering something less than the best?
Scenario #1: Large brands have taken the bait that AI-saturated content will make them look high-tech and have been convinced they will be left behind if they donât AI-ify their marketing.
Scenario #2: Small businesses, in particular, may feel they must cut corners due to tight budgets. Unlike many kinds of pre-AI software, AI brands have made much of this technology free to the public for reasons best known to themselves, and strapped startups are using freebies instead of investing in more original brand building.
Scenario #3: Intensive marketing of AI-based design solutions has rapidly succeeded in making them feel exciting and cool to some business owners who enjoy their outputs.
But, regardless of your scenario, can you afford for consumers to feel like this about your brand?
This is iPullRankâs summary of how some companies are seeing opportunity in the fact that AI slop is making their competitors indistinguishable from one another:
If this approach excites you, keep reading!
Consider each of these exits from the AI slop freeway:
Incentivize the opportunity for your companyâs employees to contribute more to developing the brand they work for. In a genuine cooperative model, staff invest labor for a share of ownership, but here, we are simply talking about harnessing the dormant creativity in your entire staff and rewarding participants. Note: I do mean your whole staff because it could turn out that your janitor has a world-class singing voice. All human beings have creativity and someone youâre employing as a receptionist or night manager might have an angle on presenting your business that even a top marketing firm will never come up with.
âď¸ Task: Hold an internal contest inviting all hands to submit concepts demonstrating how they would market your business if they were in charge. This could include manual and digital art, slogans, jingles, event planning, social media campaign ideas, community outreach programs, and anything involving hidden talents. Reward all participants and test the best ideas. The only rule is that external AI must not be presented to the public; submissions must meet the criteria of being authentic human endeavors.
Very expensive ad campaigns sometimes go utterly wrong. I will spare you the visceral reaction I had to an extremely graphic prescription drug commercial, but you can guess what it was like from Reddit comments like these, written by prospective customers:
This last comment captures the backseat driver phenomenon of customers believing they could do a better job of marketing brands than the professionals. They could be right (in fact, in the case of this particular ad, they are definitely right!). After all, your brand is attempting to connect with the public. Why not ask the public what forms of promotion would engage them instead of annoying/upsetting/distancing them?
âď¸ Task: Hold an external contest soliciting marketing content from the community you serve. This could include art, music, consumer-made films, event and community participation ideas, and suggested improvements the business could make to better serve local people. Over 50% of Americans know they are spending too much time scrolling on their phones. A contest is an opportunity for a different activity that calls for personal creativity. The only rule is that the finished product that will be presented to the public is not AI-based.
Somewhere near you, there is a junior college, an art school, a filmmaking workshop, a city choir or orchestra, a community theater, or other hub of creativity where students of the arts are passionate about their craft and eager for opportunities. If the Metropolitan Museum of Art thinks kidsâ art on your fridge is worth showcasing, this should be a wake-up call to the reality that you may be overlooking authentic human expressions that will genuinely resonate with the public. You may not have to go further than the nearest community college to encounter a brilliant thinker who will offer an affordable rate for creating assets for your brand.
âď¸ Task: Contact local schools, teaching studios, art supply stores, and other creative hubs to ask educators and owners for referrals to recommend nascent artists who are seeking work. I offer this suggestion with two provisos: a) not every artist will have the communication skills or organization you need to deliver, so be sure to interview multiple candidates, and b) offer what your chosen artist feels is fair remuneration for their work, because they will not want to work with you in future if they feel theyâve been undervalued.
If even AI brands are trying to seem more human in their advertising, then your local business could have a leg-up in communicating your humanity with well-planned creative assets. If your local search for creators does not turn up a good candidate for this task, your possibilities for finding a beginner, semi-professional, or professional partner are almost limitless on the internet.
âď¸ Task: Iâm focusing on affordable tactics in this piece, but youâll find artists, musicians, filmmakers, entertainers, and other imaginative folks at both ends of a budgetary sliding scale by looking at sites like:
⢠Deviant Art
⢠InkBlot
⢠Upwork
You can also search social media platforms for content like commercial artist, digital art, songwriter, etc.
If your puzzling handmade sandwich board earns you 3.2K likes on Reddit, congratulations: youâve just won the engagement game. Granted, it may not be the local engagement you actually need, but I share this example because it demonstrates how unusual physical advertising can still make people stop, look, and think. Burma-Shave no longer exists but their quirky serial signage occupies the halls of marketing lore.
I sincerely hope study findings are true when they report that half of surveyed young people are now carving out screen-free time in their lives. From my own side of the marketing table, I can report that ever since the industry has become double-dipped in AI, I am hearing a notable number of my peers expressing longing for real-world work and existence. This hunger for physical things and analog experiences doesnât mean you should abandon digital advertising, but it could signal that the time has come to re-invest in your analog presence.
âď¸ Task: Every aspect of your offline business operations contributes to the experience consumers have with your brand. As Whitespark discovered from our recent study of 1,200 Google Business Profiles, communications failures are the #1 cause of negative reviews across fifty different industries. Everything your business does communicates some message to the public, and in considering what appears to be a growing analog appetite, these opportunities for creating a positive impression are worthy of your consideration:
⢠Create physical experiences for prospective customers, like holding a treasure hunt, or a holiday happening that ties in with your business theme, or a celebration supporting a charity, or a community challenge.
⢠Create premises that make people feel good when they visit. This is an art form that has become very hard to find since the advent of big box/warehouse-type stores. But remember the example of the River Mouse Bath we looked at earlier? What if your retail shop was the most charming in town? What if your chiropractic office offered soothing outdoor seating for waiting patients? What if your beauty salon had a photo wall of your clientsâ favorite hairstyles? What if your restaurant added communal tables to address the loneliness crisis? What if your insurance office had pets?
⢠Serve underserved needs. Over the past two years, I have seen so many social media threads like this one complaining that physical merchandise reeks of chemicals, detergents, and other scents. Consumers are increasingly appalled that groceries, restaurant orders, clothing, towels, and other items arrive with odors that range from off-putting to sickening. In my own circle, friends and family have had to send back third-party delivered meals that stink of body wash, cologne, perfume, etc. This did not used to be a problem, and there is a reason why top restaurants forbid the use of fragrances by waitstaff and even by customers. This is just one example of a consumer dissatisfaction your brand could seize and solve. Others could include serving the segment of your community that is still masking for health and ethical reasons; offer masked shopping times, contactless service, and in-store signage about your air filtration and sanitation processes. Or, offering elder-friendly settings, services, and deals to the aging US population.
⢠Seek out real-world ad space. Store signage, window displays, vehicle signage, public transit signage, company uniforms, yard signage, message boards, billboards, sponsored events, street signage, postal mailers, flyers, B2B cross-promotional coupons, business cards, place of worship bulletins, print news media, print tourism media, pop-up opportunities, and so many other options are available to you for building a visible local brand. *Just donât use AI signage!
If your prospective customers are put off by AI shortcuts that send the message that your brand doesnât offer the best, exploring your alternatives is good thinking. Iâd like to close by suggesting that you â the business owner â should guard against underselling your own creative potentials. As a professional artist and author, I can tell you that one of the most common comments I hear from patrons and readers of my books sounds like this,
âI canât draw a straight line. I donât have any talent. I canât do art.â
My friends, this is a habit you formed somewhere in life that has convinced you that you are not a creator. Even birds make art. Whether you were discouraged by the waxiness of crayons, the bleed factor of magic markers, or the squeakiness of your own voice, you have formed the wrong impression of yourself if you think you canât make an authentic presentation of your own business to your neighbors. Who knows your business better than you do? You may need some partners, be they your staff, your customers, your community, or people who are more used to utilizing their creative powers, but you should definitely be part of this process.
I further recommend that you start tuning in like never before to what people hate in the AI era, what theyâre having a hard time finding, what their ideals are, and what would make them happy. You may come up with a new approach to branding and marketing your business that is so good, you will never be tempted again to foist AI slop on your community.
Miriam Ellis is a local SEO columnist and consultant. She has been cited as one of the top five most prolific women writers in the SEO industry. Miriam is also an award-winning fine artist and her work can be seen at MiriamEllis.com.
Whitespark provides powerful software and expert services to help businesses and agencies drive more leads through local search.
Founded in 2005 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, we initially offered web design and SEO services to local businesses. While we still work closely with many clients locally, we have successfully grown over the past 20 years to support over 100,000 enterprises, agencies, and small businesses globally with our cutting-edge software and services.