THE BUSINESS OWNER'S EMERGENCY SURVIVAL GUIDE For The A.I. Revolution

Where and when you can definitely, inarguably make your customers’ experiences with you better, faster, easier, always available by using A.I., by all means do it – but be Certain you are easing their frustration and stress, not adding to it. When A.I. can help but be invisible to the customer, so much the better. When A.I. can help you deliver more value, of course, employ it.

Technology is thought of and pitched as a way to reduce friction, speed response, and handle more volume affordably. Technically, it may be that. But it needs assessed in context, not in a vacuum. It needs judged not just by its performance, but by how your customers Feel about it when having to interact with it.

The same negative phenomenon affects advertising, marketing and communication with your customers. The more you have A.I. do this important work for you, the more you’ll look and sound like a clone of your competitors and vice versa.

Here’s the formula you do Not want to be a part of: equalization = commoditization = price/ profit destruction.

You don’t want to be an imitation of a person or business that has achieved great success, brand recognition, popularity and loyalty. Why should a consumer buy your hand-me-down, pale imitation when the real, authentic thing is available to them?

Abundant consumer research and ample anecdotal examples tell us that consumers are hungry for 28authenticity.

You don’t want to be a choice or an option, even if arguing you are the best choice.

Far better to position yourself as the only choice; the only one who does what you do as you do it, guarantees it as you do, and otherwise has no equal. Arguing you have no equal by the excellence of your products or performance is a competitive strategy. Arguing instead that you stand all alone and apart from everybody else thus having no competition and being the only choice is an anti-competitive strategy. Which would you rather do: sell against competition or sell with no competition?

What I don’t do and won’t do is as potent a positioning tool as is what I do.

I am urging you to re-define your goals for your positioning, your advertising and marketing, and how you are known by and thought of by your target marketer. Changing the goal from just competing, from having name or brand identity, or from having some (temporary, indefensible) product or services benefit-based competitive edge. Instead, why not dare to be great? Dare to sit down and think ‘n think ‘n think, to decide on the way you can be the-only-choice for your market. Not better or superior, not lower priced, not more convenient to do business with, not with some features/benefits excellence argument. Instead, with an only-choice argument. It’s a BIG change, a BIG leapfrog move, rich with BIG opportunity.