March BOLDLY to Your Own Beat: 5 MUST Do’s to Keep it Real in an Artificial World.
AI is the new craze. There’s no denying it is helping in many ways including its ability to help us all sound like perfectly polished scholars, enabling us to collapse time by pumping out more content, faster.
And also, since covid, more content creators have flooded the market, almost doubling from 2019 to present day.
Together, these two influences have rocked the scene and posed concern from the heart of many passionate creators and intentional thinkers: We can’t help but think how this wave may dim the greatness that defines our essence.
I had a conversation the other day with a long time friend who shared with me that during covid he lost his drive for shooting photography and film.
He shared that a content creator came up to him in a coffee shop and asked him if he was a content creator too. In the moments that followed, he turned inward, grappling with his identity as a long time, skilled photographer and filmmaker. The label of "content creator" I imagine felt like a jab, diminishing his lifelong dedication to the art of visual storytelling, to just a title that seemingly every other person today is claiming to be. (Ok maybe not that extreme)
As I listened, I empathized with his reasoning and the innate, compassionate Cancerian crab part of me couldn’t help but think about all of the OG Creatives who have got to be feeling the same way.
I know one thing is for sure… nothing can ever replicate our stories, journeys, dedication and passions. AI will never convey the richness of our deepest affinities. The way I see it, eventually everyone's captions and blogs will all echo the sound of sameness and lifelessness if we so choose to outsource our whole strategy to it. In the end, we will all crave and yearn for the authentic warmth and familiarity of a real human's heart, wisdom, thoughts and ideas.
I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t use AI. I think its a great tool, but let’s not forget what's important when delivering our message: Value is the standard and authenticity is a non negotiable to capturing and keeping your clients.
So how do we safeguard our authenticity in the age of automation? Keep these guiding principles close in mind and in your marketing:
Embrace Authenticity:
Recognize, honor and show up in your uniqueness, quirks and stand firm in your core values. No one else is like you, and you deserve to be seen for your gift, talents and ideas.
Remember that genuine relationships are built on connection so reach out not just online, but IN REAL LIFE. Engage with intention and attention to make each interaction that much more meaningful.
Define Your Own Success:
It’s been said over and over and I’ll say it again because everything is fleeting anyway… More than ever we need these reminders: There’s no need to compare yourself to the next person. The only competition you should focus on, is YOU. Get better at beating your old self.
Focus on being and staying valuable and consistent so that you become the value that your audience seeks. Renew yourself. Invest in yourself often. Reinvent yourself. Be better than yesterday.
Cultivating Creativity:
Use curiosity and explore different avenues for innovation. We’re humans, not robots, we’re built to seek adventure. Why else do we care so much about experiences and look for the next new thing to try out?! Your audience will be craving creativity and AUTHENTICITY.
Conventional thinking is a creativity killer in my opinion. Dream and draw outside the lines to come up with ideas that transcend us from the norm, by doing so you can influence others to also think outside the box. Furthermore, you draw your IDEAL CLIENT to you.
Show up & Take risks:
Keep showing up, INTENTIONALLY. Because marketing is done 24/7 not just when you’re launching. When you make it habit to always show up, guess what? You’re automatically marketing, planting seeds and watering them simultaneously.
Say what needs to be said, do what you think can’t be done. Again, we’re stepping into the age of AI. The object and intention isn’t to conform so we all blend in, its to stand out and be seen.
The unknown can be scary, but also exciting to imagine the possibilities. Embrace uncertainty reframe it as POSSIBILITIES.
Positive Impact:
If you’re like me, you’re here because you wanted to create solutions that ultimately change the world. When you focus on a bigger goal such as positive impact, you open up a new world of opportunities and allow for doors and avenues to open up, magnetizing people who are also aligned to the same goals. This is how movements are started.
Seek out others who are also doing great things, bind together to make your presence be known. Just like misery loves company, real recognize real, and great minds fuel each other to birth life changing ideas and possess the power to revolutionize the world.
You are a leader and your voice matters, use your platform to advocate fiercely for what you believe in. Be loud and don’t waver. You’re not a trend follower, you’re the trend setter. Create and lead that movement, inspire others to embrace their realness, encourage them to March to the beat of their own drum.
Overall, I aim to maintain optimism, recognizing the positive aspects of automation and this new era of content creators being birthed faster than ever. Yet, I remain vigilant of the pitfalls when driven by self-centered ego motives, which can dilute the artistry, soulfulness, and depth of our creations. I refuse to settle for a world where automation leads us to produce lifeless, garbage cluttering our inner and outer environments.
Moreover, I’m hugely optimistic and realize there’s a great opportunity for a lot of us to flex more of our REAL brilliance and shine brighter than ever. My intention is for these points to serve as a compass, guiding us as we March BOLDLY to the beat of your own drums to stay mindful, intentional and steady on our mission to make MEANINGFUL impact on the world.