Every day I see the same thing. A flood of outreach emails in my inbox that have clearly been written by AI. Clearly part of a larger batch outreach campaign.

I delete them without reading them.

I see reels and other vertical videos, obviously generated by AI, to quickly and cheaply hawk some product or service.

I see company websites, built and written using automation and AI prompts, rather than put together by humans who know what other humans want in their web browsing experience.

All of it is junk. I pass it by without a second thought. I assume many other people do too.

Many of today’s companies are forgetting that in order to generate business, you need to actually, you know, connect with an audience.

The content you create - whether it’s written, filmed, or designed - has to be good enough to create some kind of emotional response in the audience that receives it. It has to move people. It has to compel them to take some kind of action. And no, rolling their eyes and hitting the delete button doesn’t count.

Think of all of the great commercials and print ads that you’ve seen, that made you want to buy a company’s product, or use their service. Those pieces were made with intelligence, with care, with the intention of connecting with you in some way.

Today, so much of the strategy of audience connection is just the strategy of automation. Get the robot to make it. It’s fast and easy. Get the robot to reach out in bulk. Higher numbers will mean more sales.

It doesn’t work. It won’t ever work. Because you can’t automate your way to results. You can’t automate your way to growth and expansion.

If you want that elusive long-term success, you have to put in the work. Find out where your audience is. What they care about. What matters to them. And then, intelligently, artfully - craft something that will speak to them and make them want to engage with you.

It’s always been that way. And it always will be.