How to Leverage Your Brain + AI for Marketing

Matt Donovan here. Figured I’d write that so you know there’s a human owning up to the words on this post. Not that I’m above getting help from ChatGPT, but as a practice, I typically (still) can’t stomach the word salad that gets churned out by AI when I want to actually write with the intention that my words will be read by other humans. AI content can ‘make sense,’ but lacks nuance in its tone & reads like a dispassionate imposter wrote it. Sorry, bots.

TL/DR: Break glass & read the numbered lists below if you need help creating impactful content to achieve your brand or agency marketing goals.

**Easter egg if you read all the way to the bottom. Or… cheat & scroll. 🙂

My wife uses ChatGPT frequently, perhaps daily. She works for an AI company, in fact. As a tool, it helps her quickly and effectively craft decks, outline plans, and hone in on options to move her thriving company’s business forward. Her role is (technically) less creative than mine, and her company’s offering (identity verification solutions) is quite different than ours at Recreation Films: to create scroll-stopping video & photo content in partnership with the world’s biggest brands & agencies. There’s overlap in the fact that all jobs and all offerings require us to strike a balance between bringing our authentic human selves to the table, and well, using tech. [*My wife runs HR, for what it’s worth… a job that also literally includes ‘human’ in it’s departmental title.]

But right now, we seem to be in a collective conflict around whether or not AI is generating the type of creative content that compels people to action. Whether it’s to purchase, join or share something about a brand, how should we use AI to be creative with content? And which type of content partner is going to be the most effective for my brand projects in this fast-moving era of technology?

I humble myself here before you today, in a blog post that absolutely screams to be noticed amid the noise, to share some hard-won realizations that have come with 10+ years working in this business. I write to our future clients, who are but a twinkle in our eye right now. You, seeds of imminent collaboration, will one day type some keywords into a search field, and this is what you need to know.

IDENTIFY YOUR ACTUAL MARKETING NEEDS

1. Define your content strategy. If you haven’t hired a strategist or don’t have one on your staff, it might well be time to do so. In many instances, it’s absolutely crucial to be creating content to satisfy marketing initiatives (example: PDP/point of sale marketing on distributor websites like Amazon or Target will only rank, promote & allow brands to sell products in certain high-profile ways if they actually have the visual content to satisfy consumer need & desire). So, yes, we can make a strong case for just creating content. But you should always have a deep understanding & strategy behind exactly what type (and all of the little details) of content you are creating. For who? What problems or market needs are you satisfying? Do you have brand guidelines & assets ready to pair with this terrific video content you are about to make? You better. Here’s an area where you can also begin to leverage AI to flesh out all of the potential ways to reach your audience. Or to ask for a step-by-step walkthrough around how to create a content strategy, if you are starting from scratch.
2. Poll your peers. Take notes. Play back what you heard & confirm that the content goals (whatever they may be) are agreed upon by all stakeholders. Another opportunity to take the information you’ve gathered & send it thru the generative meat-grinder to see what comes out. Sometimes I like to ask ChatGPT or Gemini to dummy-check my gut ideas (making sure I didn’t leave anything out) or make sense of a boatload of complex information.
3. Do your research. What is the competition doing? Who is standing out & selling right now? Who has the biggest followings & which directions are the winds of the trends blowing? Nobody needs to reinvent any wheels, and (newsflash) it’s pretty tough to not create iterative art these days. So, steal with glee from the vast world of information & inspiration around you. Again, AI can have a role in helping you define keywords, suss out industry trends, or just spit-ball with you if you can’t book someone else’s time for a meeting! There’s a whole world of slick, weird & authentic content out there to inspire you be extraordinary.

SMART LOGISTICS, FROM THE GET-GO

1. Hammer down a budget. Don’t show up to a vendor/content partner meeting with a vague notion of what you have to spend. And be realistic about the fact that you are going to be hiring people (real time in their real, professional lives) to be doing their best work for you. Would you meet with a bunch of car dealers or real estate brokers with no sense of what you were willing to spend or appreciation for the value of what you are buying? Heck no you wouldn’t. Save everybody time by committing to a budget (or at least a range) whether it’s 10k or 500k.
2. Establish a point of contact on your team. There should be one person who can own the communication and consolidate feedback among your team. This will make life easier, all parties happier, and ensure you aren’t overspending your budget by requiring surprise feedback rounds from late-game stakeholders. Recreation Films runs a notoriously organized ship & believes in excellent communication for these exact reasons. And on that note, make sure you choose a partner who feels the same way or you are in for a lot of unpleasant delays.
3. Define your calendar. Know your hard deadline, your launch date or any seasonal (or other) influences that are driving your ability to collaborate, give feedback & book your stakeholder input. Your content partner will own this, but show up to the table with that crucial info so you don’t hamstring the process down the line.

REAL SUCCESS IS…

1. Pushing yourself away from the mild into the wild. Borrowing from some smart friends at successful strategy & branding agencies… to make an impact in today’s market, you need to be remarkable. So, yes to copying or borrowing from other competitors or safe places that are proven winners. But people need freshness. They want to be surprised. Great literature, great films & great art (let’s include marketing in this realm) is all about how ‘every scene must turn‘ and a hero’s journey that is filled with twists & the unexpected. A bland, vanilla approach to marketing is going to put you on the fast track to becoming forgotten. Some of today’s most successful brands have a knack for reinventing themselves, zagging when others are zigging, and meeting the future generations of consumers where they want to be met: in a playful, authentic, bold way. Remember: we are creating video and photo content. These are two of the most consumed, most universal languages of our day. To stand out among the miasma of marketing content (especially marking content), you better be willing to fly your freak flag a bit.
2. A positive attitude. Yeah, I said it. And we wholeheartedly believe in the soft stuff at Rec. Not just because it’s in our DNA as creatives, but because we spent years working with brilliant people in the innovation space. One of the greatest gifts of that experience was a toolkit of powerful behaviors and ways of working that we apply to all client partnerships. Great ideas, successful collaboration, and impactful results happen when we create a playful work environment, nurture the ideas of others, and build momentum that capitalizes on passion and enthusiasm.
3. Prototyping & operating in a bit of beta at the start. You need to set aside time and budget for creativity. You need to appreciate that everything good in life (whether it’s parenting, cooking a meal or planning a vacation… let alone training for a marathon or studying for your PhD) takes real time. We believe deeply in concept development, pre-production, and depending on the budget of our clients… dedicating time to creative iterations, storyboards, mood boards & all of the blueprints that get honed and refined into the ideal map towards a successful project. Don’t skimp on the time upfront, and PLEASE, PLEASE invite your creative content partner into the conversation early on so they can inform it well. There’s no sense in leaving out a key player until the final phase (action) and expecting that they’ll be able to bring their full expertise OR that they won’t be hobbled by some critical factors that you would have benefitted from discussing together first.

This was written by a human in its entirety. Now I have an achey back and need to get up & stretch. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have questions or we can help you solve your marketing challenges & tackle all of your content goals ahead! We have a terrific content studio with high-quality sets and props, an impressive roster of talent and cutting edge equipment, and the ability to work with clients remotely across the USA and globally (as we often do!).

**The header image was created quickly using Adobe Firefly with the mere input of our company logo and a simple prompt: “Logo in a dark space with a single light hitting it from above, as if it’s in outer space.” Amazing what technology can do with a bit of human input & direction!