Inflight Briefing: 021

William Henry on Feb 23, 2023 1:48:02 PM

Delivered weekly, the Inflight Briefing is designed as a blueprint for the builder and inspiration for the curious. It's for those doing good marketing.

021: A tough month for the robots

It’s been a tough few weeks for the robots. TikTokers have been giving McDonalds a hard time about their drive-thru AI’s ability to listen. And some bloggers have been critical — to put it mildly — about Google’s supersonic rollout of Bard.

What we know is that AI is here to stay — from writing copy to editing videos — but there will likely be more turbulence during its ascent.

For marketers looking to make a greater impact, harnessing the current power of AI, without losing sight of the human, is key to streamlining productivity, especially with a short staff and tight budget.

The reason why everyone is still talking about AI is because it really will be a game changer — even if the game doesn’t change overnight.

Snackable snippets

How to use AI to streamline content production 🎥

AI is still a long way from being able to single-handedly produce compelling copy and video. It still requires a lot of intentional and intelligent human input. These are some of the strategies your team can use to make the most of current AI capabilities. One key is to use AI for the heavy lifting in brainstorming, planning, and outlining. While platforms get up to speed, it may be best to write the majority of the content, but a lot of the energy of organizing and thinking can be outsourced to the robots.

What is purpose anxiety and what’s the cure? 📖

David Viscott, a psychiatrist, defines purpose and meaning beautifully: “The purpose of life is to discover your gift. The work of life is to develop it. The meaning of life is to give your gift away.” As humans live longer and spend less time each day worrying about death, meaning and purpose become more essential components of a happy life. What’s your purpose? Are you actively steering your life in that direction? One way to move back toward your lane is by using metacognition as a strategy for reigniting motivation and rediscovering yourself.

How to make a video with almost zero effort 💡

I thought it was crazy when copy.ai wrote an Inflight Briefing for me, but editing video feels like the next level. Our video producer was ecstatic about the results she found when creating short form videos through vidyo.ai — stay tuned and you may find one in a future inspiration section. I haven’t used the platform, but if your nonprofit is hoping to expand its video capabilities, this may be a way of dipping your toes into video and AI without expanding the team or adding another line to the budget.

Email marketing is a lot like dating 📖

If you’re like me, you’re tempted to spend a lot of time writing the body content of your email. But what this article gets is that the most important elements of a successful email are the words that get someone to click through. Nobody’s going to read the whole novel if they don’t first get sold with the title and cover. The guidance to “never judge a book by its cover,” is unfortunately just not applicable when it comes to human decision making, especially if you’re talking about emails. Also, using emojis in the right places can have a huge impact on open rates: the subject line is a great place for one but the friendly from line isn’t.

In the news

Hasbro announced their first game to break over a billion dollars in annual sales was Magic: The Gathering, which has seen a major resurgence in the past few years. How’d they do it? Story. Community. And understanding their players deeply. These are lessons we can all learn from — whether or not we have a magic wand.

As the war in Ukraine passes the one-year mark this week, one encouraging story comes from the direct to beneficiary $1K Project. They’ve raised more than $11.5 million, all of which has gone toward 11,000 Ukrainian families impacted by the war, including over 40,000 children.

Something for your inspiration folder

“Marketing has a marketing problem in the nonprofit sector.” People who are committed to the cause and actively making the world a better place aren’t overhead. They are the mission, embodied.

Nonprofit organizations have a responsibility to kick back against society’s double standard that says companies can market commodities but nonprofits are wasting resources when they want to increase their impact by getting the message out.

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