Rosemary Ajuka-LeCroy (00:02)
For me, the most exciting part about AI and I am completely obsessed with it. I know some people are scared of it, some people are worried about it, all of those things are valid. But I am obsessed and I am obsessed about what is now possible because of AI. And that is not because we can make dogs who are eating spaghetti go viral. Not because of that, but just because of the vast amount of
data that we can have access to, to help our work make more sense that we didn't have before.
go.
Ben Ard (00:59)
Welcome
back to another episode of Content Amplified. Today I'm joined by Rosemary. Rosemary, welcome to the show.
Rosemary Ajuka-LeCroy (01:04)
Thank you for having me, Ben. Very excited to be here.
Ben Ard (01:07)
Yeah, Rosemary, I'm excited. I think this is a subject that every marketer needs to hear. But before we dive into that, let's get to know you. Do you mind sharing a little bit about your background and work history and all that fun stuff?
Rosemary Ajuka-LeCroy (01:19)
Sure, fun one. I'm currently director of marketing at AM Batteries. Prior to that, I was doing customer marketing at BuilderCom. Prior to that, I was doing global marketing at UPS. And before that, I was running my own marketing agency. Way before that, I was a radio show host for seven years. It's been a fun ride. But that's just a quick snapshot of where I'm coming
Ben Ard (01:41)
I love it. And the different backgrounds make marketing so exciting. I love that it got radio into marketing, into corporate and all that kind of fun stuff. I think that there's so much value in that. Rosemary, this is something that's timely that we're going to talk about AI and content strategies that actually cut through the noise. And before we even started recording, we were talking for just a minute.
Rosemary Ajuka-LeCroy (01:57)
Okay.
Ben Ard (02:05)
And you talked about this magic word that I don't think I've heard people say very often, but consumers are being overwhelmed with all the noise. Why is that? Like, why do you feel like consumers are overwhelmed? What's contributing to that?
Rosemary Ajuka-LeCroy (02:15)
true.
Well, we're deep now. You know, these are no longer the early days of social media, of digital marketing, et cetera, et cetera. We are deep. We are all like master degrees or PhD holders at this point of social media. And this is on both sides, both on the side of the marketers and both on the sides of the customers is that we have been creating content, consuming content for over a decade now. And so we get it.
We're in it. You know, we've also built our habits and this and that. And in addition to that, there's been a lot more new voices or old voices amplified, or just, just a great like extrapolation of what it could have been before. So it's just a lot. because,
of how my career started, where it was like heavily focused on making the people happy. That's kind of always kind of translated to all my marketing work is I always put myself in the shoes of the customer and how this must feel to them. And so I think that as marketers, we need to constantly be thinking about the customers. And in this time, we need to think of the overwhelm that the customer is going through right now. There is just content.
hitting you from left, right and center. There's some that you're seeking out because you like it, but there's some that's just like hitting you and you're also like doom scrolling and you're also just like wondering what you need and what you don't. And if you're on the street, you'll get it. If you're on your phone, you'll get it. On your computer, you'll get it. Everywhere you get it. People will talk to you about content they've watched. People will send you stuff you didn't ask for. It's just nonstop. And so if you're in the...
money making business of content. If content is really part of where your revenue comes from, then now you really have to keep it as a yardstick. Just keep it back of your mind every time. My customers are overwhelmed by my content. This next thing that I'm about to put out, how can I make sure that it's truly relevant, truly timely?
and also digestible. Because I'm sure you have something great to say, but do you have to say it in one hour? Do you have to say it for so long? There's got to be a better way to say it. And figuring out what style that would be for you, for your customers, and how long, how short, what format, et cetera, et cetera. That's where I think we can really utilize the power of AI.
Ben Ard (04:52)
Yeah. AI
really has kind of created some of this noise. So in your opinion, how do we capitalize on AI without making it just noise? Cause I feel like a lot of people struggle with that. Cause AI is great at creating massive amounts of really cruddy content. And a lot of people are taking advantage of that auto publishing things like that. How can AI help us create better content that isn't noise, but there's actual value.
Rosemary Ajuka-LeCroy (05:18)
You're right. AI has contributed to this overwhelm. And because it doesn't take breaks, doesn't need, you know, it's just, it can go all day. It won't stop. It doesn't have creative blocks and et cetera, et cetera. It just can't keep going. So it's definitely added to the overwhelm.
I think that because AI is such a fun, cool tool that we're all playing with, we get caught up in just making memes with it and not understanding what the data.
For me, the most exciting part about AI and I am completely obsessed with it. I know some people are scared of it, some people are worried about it, all of those things are valid. But I am obsessed and I am obsessed about what is now possible because of AI. And that is not because we can make dogs who are eating spaghetti go viral. Not because of that, but just because of the vast amount of
data that we can have access to, to help our work make more sense that we didn't have before.
If you work for large teams, maybe you have a data team that's like scouring the earth and finding you relevant data to guide your content strategies. Maybe you don't, and it's just you. And now you and these large teams now have access to that data. And it just comes down to, well, how good is your prompt engineering so that you can find what you need?
But fundamentally, we just have access to a better understanding of our customers' behavior, of what they really need, of what they really want more than we ever could before. And now we can even understand them by region. We can understand them by demographics. We can understand them by time of day. this, you can go really wide, you can go really granular, and we can get all of these things.
if we understand how to use AI. And it's kind of sad that we're spending more time making memes than more time just like digging into the data and trying really hard to understand our customers. You build your persona, and you're like, well, he does this and she does that, and this is the persona, but this persona can literally take on a life of its own.
If you kind of turbocharged that with data that you can get with AI. And that's the part that I think marketers need to understand that the data piece is what we're missing with AI. We're focused on the content piece, but the superpower is in the data because truly we are overwhelmed. But if you have the right data, then you can, I don't, I don't have to talk, I guess in the marketing or targeting is not a bad word.
Well, can target better. You can target better and you can help your customers actually have access to content that helps them. You know what I mean?
Ben Ard (08:09)
I love that. So it's so cool because as marketers, we do automatically shift our attention with AI to its capabilities of creating content. I love how you've incorporated earlier in the process to say, help me find the real insights, the real needs, the real desires and understanding of the people that are going to consume this content.
And you're using it for the data and the research where honestly is where AI thrives. It's that assistant to say, these are opportunities. And then let's use human creativity to create content. you using AI to create the content or is it typically more in the research phase?
Rosemary Ajuka-LeCroy (08:48)
I think AI is better at doing research than it is at creating content. It's getting better. It's getting better. I love to see all the stuff that's going on and I love to play around with that too. But I think we need to really harness the data part, the research part, analytics, the insights, just the deeper understanding that you can get of your customers with AI. And that helps you do a mix in how you create your content. But also like,
In my experience, consulting with small businesses, for example, you know, if you have your own store where you make bagels and whatnot, you don't want AI generated bagel content. You want your own bagels that you made with your own hands. But you do want to understand where's a better way to reach my customers and understand where they go for their bagels in the mornings or on the weekends, et cetera, et cetera. And to start from there is a better point, even if you're going to end up
using AI to create that content. least when you get to the content creation, you understand why you're creating what you want and where are the best touch points and channels for this. All that information will just kind of guide you and you don't waste your time and you don't waste your customers time. It's all relevant to everyone. know what I mean? what you want.
Ben Ard (10:02)
I love this.
This is so cool. Cause you're a hundred percent right. Like I love the bagel example because I want to buy from the bagel shop down the road because I know the story. I know it's homemade. I know like the love and care that goes into it. And that even adds to the flavor and the excitement of all of that. And I think that's so cool is to say AI can help me figure out.
the information that I should be sharing and how to get in front of these people and when and why and how they care. And then I can just use that information to tell the story that I need to tell. I love that. And we spend so much time on the creation side. This really guides those opportunities. Now, when it comes to AI and I love to get tactical when we can.
Rosemary Ajuka-LeCroy (10:37)
That's right. Yeah.
Ben Ard (10:49)
What are your favorite tools? Like, what are you using to gather this research? You know, if you don't mind sharing, and we're not sponsored by any of these tools, but I would love to kind of hear like, what tools do you find to be super helpful for this research?
Rosemary Ajuka-LeCroy (11:01)
You know what, know who's really smart? Claude. Claude's really smart. You, you ask Claude to do a good deep research. mean, like, Chachi Petit does a good deep research, but Claude's just a little bit smarter in that I call her a she. She, she just understands a little bit more nuance. She's not a sprayer and prayer. ChatGPT tends to be a sprayer and prayer, but she tends to
think a little harder when she does her research and she takes better instructions and is able to do like layers of thinking versus just like one layer at a time. So even though I use ChatGPT Claude, Perplexity and all of those guys, I think Claude will be my, when it comes to like business strategy and thinking so far.
of the LLMs, that's the guy that I will go with. I haven't really explored like niche products for this. And I would love to hear about like niche marketing products that lead with strategy, but we're still very much in the content world where we're still just like enjoying what's possible with content. We haven't really taken a step back. And as marketers, we are visual people. You know what I mean?
Ben Ard (12:12)
Yeah.
Rosemary Ajuka-LeCroy (12:12)
And so of course we want to see the content piece first. But I think the power of your content is from the strategy behind that content. And I think it's worthwhile, it's well worthwhile to take the time to figure out the strategy. That's why we have all this like marketing brainstorming meetings and this and that. Isn't that why we do that? So that we can have some strategy behind the content and not just, what about this? And what about that?
Ben Ard (12:34)
Yeah.
Rosemary Ajuka-LeCroy (12:38)
And what about this? But why about that? Like, why do you think this is a good idea? What is informing you thinking that this is what we should be doing? If there's data behind that, that is what will be the game changer going forward. So I'm really obsessed with this whole strategies and insights and data-driven content making. I'm really obsessed with it. I think that...
because we can all make content now, because AI can amplify the content that we can all make. Your mom can start today and she can make her own content. Nobody can, you know what mean? There's no gatekeeping, there's no big organizations, you don't need an agency, nothing, you can just do it. Because of that and because this abundance of information, the people are overwhelmed. And so...
Ben Ard (13:13)
Yep.
Rosemary Ajuka-LeCroy (13:26)
What's gonna, the cream is gonna rise to the top. And the way that that will happen is if you have data-driven content, if it's just this data guiding it. Haven't you ever come across some ads on social and you're just like, my goodness, how do they know me? I want this right now. Sign me up immediately. It's just like so well, I get like goosebumps when that happens. It's so well targeted. The timing is right.
It's exactly what you need and you're like, bam, click, yes, I'm gonna go through your 5,000 forms to get this. I want it, I'll pay the money for it. I'm not mad about this. Blast me elsewhere when you see me on another social media platform. I wanna keep seeing this. That's just because it's so relevant to you. You don't feel annoyed. But if it's not relevant and it's annoying, it's just a pain, you know what I mean? So that's what makes the difference.
Ben Ard (14:01)
Ha
Yeah.
Okay, that's amazing. That's super cool. And Rosemary, we're almost out of time. So I have one final question. You're using AI to find the insights to write really meaningful content. You're keeping the humanity in your content, the story, the authenticity. You're creating human crafted content that rises to the top, the cream that rises to the top. The next thing that I'm always curious about is how do you know if you've hit the mark or not?
How are you judging if your content was noise or actually wasn't, that it's not contributing to the overwhelm, but it was really well accepted and that you should make more of that content? How are you looking at it, judging, hey, we did what we were supposed to do or we need to refine our strategy?
Rosemary Ajuka-LeCroy (15:05)
Again, it's back to data. When you put it out there, the data will tell you if you did a good job or not. Did the people interact with it? Did they like it? Did they share it? Like, there are some content you come across online, even if you've sent 10 memes to your bro already, you'll send him this one too because it's just so good. He has to see it. It's just human behavior. If you understand human behavior, it's just the data behind that.
If you put out something that's relevant, people will like it. People will comment on it. People will share it. Whether it's an agreement and disagreement, just, it will cause something to stir within them. If you're able to stir something up within people, you've done your job. And it's not a matter of like the volume of people who do it, but the right amount, the right amount and like the set of people that you want, your target audience that you want to reach out. If they're...
reacting to the thing that you set out. If some random person who is not in your bio persona is doing it, it doesn't add anything to your bottom line. Like you want it to be the target audience. If the target audience is reacting to it, you're doing something right. It might not be at the volume and at the scale as you want it. It just means just keep going. Just be consistent and continue to do what you're doing and refining it with just like growing skill. But the foundation is right. That's what you need to get right.
Ben Ard (16:24)
love that. Rosemary, I love this episode. It is changing how I think about using AI already. And I think it's so helpful for our audience. Thank you, thank you, thank you. For anyone wanting to reach out and connect with you online, how and where can they find you?
Rosemary Ajuka-LeCroy (16:39)
I'm on LinkedIn. Easy to find. Rosemary Ajuka-LeCroy Easy to find. I'd love to connect. Yeah.
Ben Ard (16:43)
Perfect.
Love it. And we will link to Rosemary's profile on the show notes. So go ahead and scroll down, click on her name, and you can connect with Rosemary. Rosemary, thank you, thank you, thank you. I really do appreciate the time and insights today.
Rosemary Ajuka-LeCroy (16:56)
Thank you Ben, I had fun with this. It's a really cool show you have and I hope to come back.
Ben Ard (17:01)
Thank you, appreciate it.
Rosemary Ajuka-LeCroy (17:02)
Okay,
have a good
