AI, it’s all anyone can talk about these days. I’d argue that holds truer in marketing than just about any other industry. By now, all of us are using it in some form or fashion. Can AI help make us more efficient? Yes. Can AI help automate tasks? Of course. Will AI take some jobs? Unfortunately, yes. But what is one thing AI cannot do? Tell captivating stories about people and brands.
Last month, I was fortunate enough to attend Content Marketing World in San Diego. I was surrounded by thousands of marketers from across the globe all eager to learn from their peers. As you’d expect, AI was a central topic in nearly all the sessions. However, what stood out to me most was from conference headliner Guy Raz, who talked about what we will always need humans for – storytelling. This helped bring some balance to many of the AI-centric sessions. I left Content Marketing World with many takeaways, but no more important than these that show the power of storytelling.
Lesson 1: Every Business Is a Story
Guy Raz is most known for his podcast, How I Built This, where he interviews entrepreneurs to tell their story. No matter the business, no matter the product, no matter the organizational goals, there is one throughline in all these interviews – every business has a story to tell.
Stanford did a study that when people are presented with just facts, they only remember 5% of the information. However, when facts are wrapped up in a story, that jumps to 63%. So, ask these questions about your business or organization: What is our story? How can we tell it in a thoughtful way that is true to who we are? Are we operating in a way that’s in line with who we are?
Lesson 2: A Business Doesn’t Sell Products or Services: It Sells an Experience
In the interview with Howard Schultz, founder of Starbucks, they uncovered that Starbucks was inspired by three ideas:
- Café culture in Milan
- Creating a place between work and home where you can feel welcome
- To serve coffee so different and unusual that people feel transported for those 20-30 minutes
Starbucks didn’t set out to just sell great coffee; they set out to sell a great experience. As marketers, we aren’t there to just sell a product or service. We’re there to sell the story behind it. We’re there to sell the experience our audience can expect when interacting with our business. Great businesses sell a feeling. They sell an experience. Not the thing.
Lesson 3: In a Crowded and Competitive Category, Don’t Sell Features, Sell the Story
MIT did a study that showed 70% of growth in mature or saturated industries comes from innovation. This can show itself in various forms. And successful businesses don’t win on their product or service alone – they win on operational excellence.
Execution is about being disciplined. You have to set goals. You have to hold yourself accountable. And while doing those things, you have to keep your story and values central to everything you do.
Lesson 4: Consistency Beats Virality
Virality is luck. Consistency is a strategy. Guy Raz told the story of the brewery Sam Adams. They built their company on a consistent strategy and by telling their story over and over again across the country. Sam Adams is now one of the largest micro-breweries in the United States.
Consistency is how stories stick, but telling your story consistently doesn’t always guarantee success. You must tell it well, and with strategy and intention behind it.
Lesson 5: Failure Fuels Storytelling
A key learning from all his interviews is that most founders and entrepreneurs experience failure multiple times before they have a hint of success. In fact, 90% of entrepreneurs fail at least once. Of those, 50% build something that lasts.
Point being, don’t let a setback or failure discourage you. It’s only adding to the story of you or your organization.
Lesson 6: AI Can Write Words, but Only Humans Can Tell Stories
Stories aren’t about stringing a bunch of sentences together; it’s about creating meaning. We all know AI can do a lot of great things.
AI can mimic things, but it can’t feel like our audience or customers can.
AI can generate content, but content alone isn’t a story.
Don’t fear AI. Use it. Lean into it. And let it scale your reach. The future won’t belong to those who master AI, it will belong to those who master how to tell captivating stories.
At the end of the day, AI and other technological advancements will continue to evolve faster than we can predict. And yes, you should use them. As marketers, our challenge isn’t to choose between humans and machines, it’s to blend the strengths of both. But ultimately, the stories we tell are what make brands feel human and allow them to connect to their audience.
The marketers who will thrive in the age of AI won’t merely be the ones who automate the most, but the ones who connect the deepest. Sure, AI can replicate our words, but it can never replicate our voice – the empathy, emotion and experience that makes storytelling so powerful. That’s what keeps marketing human. And that’s what will always set us apart.
