Fighting the Attack of the Clones

 

It's May 4th, the perfect time to bring up Star Wars.

But I'm not doing the standard post. Instead, I'm waging my own war on cloning, which is why I selected the image of the poster for Star Wars Episode II Attack of the clones movie poster.

If you haven't seen it, the clones in the title are the duplicates of Jango Fett who requests one clone for himself that grows at the normal pace rather than the expedited one set for the clones made for the Empire to serve as storm troopers.

In the foreground you see Jango Fett (what you can see of someone in Mandalorian armor and helmet) along with our other main characters. But the clones themselves who are even named in the title practically fade into the background.

Why? It's because clones are not interesting. We're interested in characters who have their own personality and story -- not interchangeable copies.

Have you guessed yet where I am going with this?

AI slop is a real life attack of the clones

What we've come to see on this platform, as well as many others, is the equivalent of an attack of clones, that AI slop that has no character and holds no real interest. Often it's used in clickbait or engagement posts like this one from Technology Advice:

But you see it also in standard ads like this one.

However, it could also be put in standard posts, as I now see hundreds -- if not thousands -- of people allowing

LLMs to talk for them on LinkedIn, as you see in the examples below that all sound exactly alike.

It makes the platform sound completely repetitive and everyone who uses the formula utterly forgettable.
By adopting the quick and lazy approach of allowing generative AI to write your posts, you turn yourself and your brand into a clone, robbing yourself of the opportunity to establish a unique identity and voice.

If you hire a content marketers whose posts have the earmarks of AI, as in using this kind of construction - "Most businesses don't have a marketing problem. They have a sameness problem." (So ironic that this person put in that message through generative AI-speak that reinforces sameness!) -- then you're paying for a cloned content rather than content that is specific to what you're about.

And why would you do that? It's like paying a chef to cook you a meal from scratch only to be served microwaved TV dinner.

It's possible to cook up something good when you actually like the challenge of cooking with the ingredients available to you. If you don't, you shouldn't be a cook. Heating up TV dinners is not cooking, and pushing out AI slop is not creative content marketing.

It takes a bit of effort to differentiate yourself 

It is possible to do better with just a bit of effort from someone who cares about the craft of writing and marketing. I'll give you quick example based on one of the many posts that used the formula in a promoted ad. 

It says "Your BD person
isn't failing.
You set them up to. "

Notice that the second sentence doesn't logically follow the first at all. In fact, it contradicts the first because it acknowledges that the BD person is -- in fact -- failing, though it blames the "you" rather than "them" in this case.

This kind of illogical nonsense said with a straight face by people who think they sounds smart is the result of being so used to seeing this pattern of posts that you don't even pause to think if it makes any sense.

Here's what they could have written instead with a logical progression.:
"Is your BD team coming up short?
It's not their fault.
You set them up for failure."

There is an affordable alternative to AI 

Perhaps one of the reasons people let the opportunity to truly connect with customers through their communications slip through their fingers is because they think that they can't afford to pay for quality content. That is as ridiculous as saying you'll just eat food out of vending machines to save money on groceries. That is not sustainable and can cause real harm like vitamin deficiency, high blood pressure,  and even diabetes. Compromising on content quality is the same thing. You can get cheap and fast but not good enough to contribute to your overall health when you rely on LLM output. 

So here's my affordable plan to help you avoid turning into a clone that just fades into the background: a special package offered in May and June 2026 only!    Get a consultation and a plan for social media posts that attract organic traffic through differentiated messaging and a distinctly human voice for just $1500.  Contact me for details. 

And for proof of my writing ability, check out my many publications assembled on my portfolio where you can search by topic. 

What B2B content marketers get wrong

By Ariella Brown

You know that advice that every piece of B2B content should have a clear CTA? It's bogus. In fact, the piece of content I wrote that had an immediate impact in terms of bringing in a sales qualified lead for a six-figure annual contract the day after it was published had no CTA at all -- not even a hint about having to schedule a demo.

What it did have were features that many B2B businesses forget about in doing their own imitation of thought leadership outlets and removing all content from individual identity.

Here's what the article had:
☑A vivid description of the challenges he experienced in his work that others in the same line would identify with
☑A clear presentation of the company's solution and how it directly addressed these pain points
☑Mostly important of all, it had a name associated with a bio and pic for the expert in the insurance industry who served as the source of information for the article and related his own experience.

💡Why was this most important? As it turned out, that was the lead's way of marking his interest in the solution. He know the featured expert, maybe even had direct dealings with him in the past. That made him not just trust what he said but also feel comfortable enough to reach out to him directly rather than to a general company contact or form to say he was interested.

One of my pet peeves about B2Bs is that they offer no point of direct and immediate contact. Many of them refuse to list a phone number, and some won't even put in an email. No, they insist, if people are real prospects, they'll fill out the form that makes it easy for us to automatically feed their information into a CRM and send it on to sales people.

This foolish delusion prevents easy access to people who don't want to have to be treated as just prospects you'll get to at your own convenience. They want to get a response while they're thinking that your offering may be just what they need. Keep them waiting, and they'll start looking elsewhere for that solution, and you may not even know you had a prospect that got away. That's the wrong way to attract inbound.

Learn more about the #WriteWay by following The Write Way Pro LinkedIn page and connecting with me on that platform.

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Yes, I did include a CTA here. I didn't say never to have a CTA -- only that you don't have to have a CTA for every piece of content. But I'm going to break another rule here and give you yet another course action. You can check out my portfolio here: AriellaBrownPortfolio.blogspot.com

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CRO is Like Basketball

The 6 step plan that fails

Photo by Aleksejs Bergmanis: https://www.pexels.com/photo/aerial-photography-of-concrete-bridge-681347/

By Ariella Brown

I should have known better, but I still  fell for it. 

I put in my information in order to ungate and  download the tantalizingly titled "How to build pipeline with content in 6 steps" from a company I won't name here. Disappointment doesn't begin to express my feeling at this one-pager that only someone who has never created business content wouldn't know.

The first step is: "Do some research" in order to know you customers.  Obviously, that is your starting point. But it doesn't give you any advice on how to go about this. That's what many businesses who fail to understand their customers really need help with. Surveys are ignored, and few take the time for really in-depth talks because all conversations turn to upsells and not to fostering understanding.

Step 3 is another obvious step for any content creator: "Tell a story."  That was to be the bridge to step 4: using data and the claim that first-party data is the best (definitely debatable).

But the real goal of the whole piece was to declare in step 5 that you need the right tool -- the one the company that put this out offers -- to track engagement. Step 6 is to track engagement (no doubt, with this tool).

The dichotomy that's wrong

What struck me more than the blatant selling in this presented-as-helpful-guide  was the assumption of step 2, which focuses on a division of content that must appeal to people who love categories but that is, ultimately, counterproductive.

It says: "Determine if your content is tactical or 'experience-driven'.” It then goes one to explain that "collateral related to the business image like presentation decks, press releases, and thought leadership" all goes into the "tactical" bucket.

That is presented as distinct from "collateral related to demand gen activities, supported by personas, nurture content, event material, and industry-specific content" go into the "experience" bucket. The chef's kiss here is that the writer (I picture a college student intern using Chat GPT) adds in this note: "(hint: this is the one you want to focus on for demand gen)."

Now, if were to uphold this division of content type, something I don't advocate at all, I would definitely put thought leadership into the experience/demand gen bucket. That's where it belongs, no question about it. 

On the other hand, there is a very important form of content for the tactical bucket that is not named -- case studies or success stories.

Ultimately, though, the division seems to be about the more direct sales enablement materials that would be considered tactical vs. the brand and relationship-building content that is more often associated with demand gen. The delusion of this division is that the former works for immediate conversions-- at least to the point of an MQL while the latter is the stuff you put out to get the person primed for the tactical stuff.

But in reality, your target customer won't be pushed into a linear funnel, neatly progressing from your ToFu to your MoFu to your BoFu content and take the action specified as soon as they hit the tactical content. The buyer's journey is a lot more complex and recursive than that, and recognizing this reality should be part of your first step in building your pipeline.

 Related:

Visualizing the customer journey

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You can also follow Ariella Brown.  

How content marketing keeps things R-R-R-E-A-L

 

By Ariella Brown

Content marketing is the heart of an organic growth strategy. When you do it right, you keep things RRREAL, as you increase:

Reach, as more people in your target market become aware of your brand
​Retention, thanks to nurturing the relationship with relevant content
​Revenue from gaining new customers and increasing the LTV of existing ones
Engagement, as people read, like, respond to, and share your content
Authority in the eyes of readers and Google's algorithms as your content gains more clicks and rises in the ranks  
Leads when people in your target market who respond to your content connects with you

Learn more here: WriteWayPro.weebly.com

Related:

Visualizing the customer journey

How to get everything wrong in a pitch

Visit WriteWayPro.weebly.com  Like and follow on Facebook and on LinkedIn