Why AI Can’t Replace Real Human Connection

Jade Nangah: Hello, all you marketers out there. Welcome back to another episode of The Algorithm Isn't Enough. I am Jade Nonga, your host, founder of VoiceGill and Jeff Set Productions. And today I am joined with Dana Coral, a this is what we call a marketing maven, right? A marketing powerhouse. Dana, tell and introduce yourself just a little bit to the audience. Absolutely. So I'm Dana Coral. I'm the director of marketing here at Latitude Media. ⁓ if you're not familiar with Latitude, we're a B2B ⁓ publication focused on the energy transition. So we're really speaking to that decision maker ⁓ companies that are related to anything AI, data center, infrastructure. So it's really relevant and really exciting in the conversation right now. I love that. And Dana, I know before we started recording, we were touching a little bit on the topic of being a one-woman show. Right. So you are running the entire marketing function over at latitude. Tell me about like what's on your plate and how are you deciding what gets your d attention on a certain day? Yeah, I think it's really challenging when you're that sole marketing person because if somebody comes to me with an idea or we have an observation, unless it's data backed and I can really tie KPIs to success or how it's going to move the business forward, I just can't prioritize it. ⁓ as we're seeing, you know, opportunities across the board, being able to say this is what success looks like with this project or this task, that's really how I can prioritize work to make sure that everything is extremely intentional and we're we're allocating funds exactly where they need to be. I love that. And because you are having to have your hands in all the disciplines, you kind of also have a good idea of where you're seeing shifts in where people are this how people are discovering latitude and brands as a whole. Where are you seeing those biggest shifts across social, SEO, AAO, events, paid? Like, where are you seeing the big shifts happening? You know, I think it's a little bit of a cocktail right now. And, you know, as the marketing lead, working with our editorial team and our leadership, the biggest thing that we can do as a publication is make sure that we're outputting the highest quality content we can. So Are we making sure that we have a scoop that nobody else has? Are we making sure that those interviews are the gets that our competitors don't have? ⁓ so even with all of the marketing levers we could be pulling, the strongest one is actually our quality of work. There's been a lot of discussion lately about SEO versus AEO and part of being a single marketing leader is I want to help our editorial team identify those keywords, long tail keywords. You know, things where I feel like we could be ranking, but I can't be in every meeting. So I've actually leveraged AI. Claude pulls through Python ⁓ a dashboard every Monday that auto-populates into a Google site that has our rankings, our quick wins, where our competitors are. And not that I would ever want to influence the the topics that we're covering, because I think integrity is a really big part of why people come to us. ⁓ they can actually see from a structure standpoint in their headlines how the page needs to be set up, how we can really position ourselves to be more discoverable. And I think that's been a really huge lever for us. social media is important for us as a B2B organization, especially LinkedIn. ⁓ we're able to reach other leaders in the space and get our word out. But we've also found that our biggest opportunity is people sharing content that we have. So It really doesn't come from us sharing. We're seeing it through our newsletter. We're seeing it people we we have data on our website about the share feature that they're using those share links to make sure they're spreading the word on a behalf. So again, going back to our quality is our number one lever for getting that word out there and growing our audience. I absolutely I love so much about what you said. I love the fact that you have Claude pulling reports weekly. I am a Claude fiend and Love that you're using Python and tell you that. Very interesting. I also love the idea of like the sharing of it all because that's not an easy metric to necessarily be tracking. So what metrics are you paying attention to and how are you kind of deciding where those wins are coming from? So I think the metrics really depend on what part of the funnel we're looking at, too. So top of the funnel, we're looking at click-through rate. We're looking at You know, impress organic impressions. But once we get to the that middle funnel, I the metrics really changed. And I think we've gotten into a little bit of a trap of vanity metrics. Like this is how many impressions we're getting. This is how many people are coming to the site. And I think it's really important to gut check just because it's been done a certain way for this amount of time, always questioning. and I think as a marketer, it's such a ⁓ volatile playing field just because you did it one way last year, everything's changing. The algorithm, which is not enough, is changing. The way that we're interpreting data is changing. ⁓ so I think it's really important those metrics to always be questioning if they're actually doing the work you think they're doing. Yeah, I I love that because I agree. It's like we can't keep bringing for me specifically at the time Of me working like heavily in agency world, I can't bring vanity metrics to a CFO. Like I I can't. I can't just bring like, ⁓ we got likes and impressions and it needs to be tied to business growth. And I love what you're saying that it really does depend on where you are in that funnel and having these separations. But I think we're it's just a shift. And ⁓ AI has a big piece in that, but I think in general, just the way our attention is set up also has changed as well. ⁓ jumping back into the AI of it all, I love hearing from solo marketing leaders because all those hats you have to wear have to be supplemented somewhere. And I love hearing that you're using AI to do that outside of this weekly report that's pulling from Python to ensure that your content is AEO friendly, essentially. What are some other kind of AI tools and maybe agents that you're using that have been extremely helpful and impactful for you? So I think one of the struggles we have as a startup is we don't have the funding to onboard all the tools that when I first took on this role, I was like, we need a data visualization tool, we need a, you know, a schedule, we need all these things. ⁓ and it really forced me to get scrappy with the tools that we did have. and when I was interviewing different tools about know that could ingest our data and help me with that data visualization to tell that data story across the organization. we just we couldn't afford it. And so I went to Claude and I I like use it as my therapist. And was like, I can't get the okay to spend this money. What do I do? And Claude was like, I got this. ⁓ so what I was able to do was build some data visualization within Claude. So Yes, Cloud Enterprise has the associated cost, but I feel like many organizations already have that, that we're able to use Cloud Now as that data visualization tool. And that has been a really big unlock visually at the company. It makes me look good. I basically found a savings and was able to use an existing tool to build something that the entire company finds value in. And now I'm able to share this across the the the site that here's where we stand from a data health standpoint. It's the triage, it's the history, here's our opportunities. ⁓ so that's a really big part of how we're leveraging AI is really absorbing the the cost it would be to onboard other tools that this one is solving for. The other side is while our content is written by our in-house editorial team, I am responsible for social copy. And my background is not in energy. My background is at large consumer brands and financial products. So this is a whole new industry for me. And there's certainly a learning curve. I think the marketing principles apply across the board. ⁓ but in regards to being able to speak to the nuances of the industry, it's it's hard. ⁓ but Claude has helped me. So what I've been trying to do is build skills within Claude to help speak like ⁓ on our one of our journalists. ⁓ so when I'm writing longer LinkedIn posts, can you gut check this? Am I am I speaking about this in a way that would make sense to an executive level within the industry? ⁓ so that's been really helpful. But I think it is also important to make sure that even if it is editing my work, are we keeping that human voice? We don't want to be an AI Company in regards to our output, it really is trying to speed up the human touch. Absolutely. And that's exactly how I feel as well. I when I have and I guess here and there I'm still hearing it. I was at Con Lion ⁓ in June. And so obviously it was like marketers Disney World, right? And so a lot of conversations on AI and what's happening and what's shifting and So, and there's a little bit of fear-mongering where people are like, ⁓ well, is AI gonna replace us? And I'm like, I don't think that's the question anymore. I think we've realized that there's human in the loop will always be necessary. Taste is a big word that we keep hearing now when it talks about it. Like AI doesn't have the taste that a human has that can decipher and speak as a human to our ICPs, right? But I think the other piece of it is that if you are not utilizing AI, you're more so apt to get left behind, which is sounds like such a harsh thing to say, but it really is, especially like looking at you where companies are saying, you know what, we're gonna have one marketing person that's leading our efforts. How can you make how can you take what we have and make do and make it better? I feel like that's gonna be more of the conversation and that's gonna be where people are lean more companies are going to be leaning towards. So I love hearing about that and getting scrappy. ⁓ and speaking of the scrappiness of it all and you being a one a one a one man band, I guess you could say, how are you also galvanizing the editorial team and engineering teams and maybe executive leadership? How do you get them to also see themselves as part of the growth strategy and visibility strategy? I really want everyone that I interface with to feel like an extension of the marketing team. And I think I take on the player coach mentality when I have an idea. and it's something I've had to really consciously work on because I've heard a lot of leaders say that the most successful people are the ones who are able to talk about their accomplishments, which is not an easy thing for me. and now as a one-woman marketing department, it can feel very insular. So It is intentionally wanting the rest of the company to understand what marketing does and what their priorities are and how we make decisions, ⁓ but also visibility into like this is what is happening behind the scenes, which shouldn't be behind the scenes. ⁓ so when I we did a reader survey recently, ⁓ because I wanted to better understand our reader and out of that. Build some segments based on how they answered and be able to speak to them in a ⁓ more personalized way, but also to share back those results and say 72% of our audience say that the number one way they engage with us is by sharing our content with a colleague. So with that information, as you're looking at the website, how do you think we can optimize the experience to make sure that we're making that as seamless as possible? ⁓ and with that. I worked with our production team and moved our share icons to the top. And with that, we increased our share by 43% in like four days. But it's these simple asks that when I can present this to the company and say, here's what we know. Here's the opportunity. How can we top that? ⁓ at a previous company, ⁓ the CEO had a saying that was, and. And that was it. Just and you have an idea, and give me more. Top this. And I want to empower everybody I work with to and it. ⁓ because I think that kind of collective marketing eye, especially being alone, I don't know what my blind spots are. I don't have anybody to bounce ideas off of. I think it's my job to create a culture where everybody can feel welcome to be part of the conversation. I love that. And obviously. This podcast is powered by Voice Scale, which is an employee advocacy software. So let's talk a little bit into employee advocacy. What are your thoughts and how do you think about activating those voices in a way that's not making it feel like an an another job for them, right? Because these aren't marketers at the end of the day. How how are you thinking about that? You know, we have ⁓ a writer on our team that, I mean, they're all very talented, but I think she's particularly well positioned to get more visibility into the work that she's doing. and she's very modest, and that's one of the most endearing things about her. But I want the world to see like everything that she can do and the way that even her writing is moving the industry forward. And I think part of it is using the tools we have to shine a light on the people that I think could actually be quite influential. So we're using LinkedIn. To highlight her work and trying to tag companies that she's mentioning or people that she's mentioning to really try and snowball the effect ⁓ and bring more visibility to what she's doing. And I think that as a publication, it's easy to do things like that. But we also have analysts that are digging deep and finding answers and talking to people in communities that are impacted by data centers. And like I think these are really important. voices to highlight. So I'm not even sure we thought of it as advocacy as much as it's importance in the field that we're in and we're proud of the people that are a part of this conversation. so I'm a big proponent of making sure those voices get heard. Absolutely. And that's how I feel as well. Like now more than ever, people are tired of logos, right? They're not Brand pages, we've seen the drop, right? Like people are at this point are like, I want to know who is there a human talking to me behind the screen, or is it just another brand trying to get a dollar out of me? And I think activating and galvanizing your employees and giving them the freedom to say, Hey, here's what I'm doing at the company and here's how it's impacting business and here's why I'm excited about it, create so much value, so much credibility, so much reach, and so much just organic. Goodwill towards the company that I feel like it's so important. And obviously I built voice scale all around this because I saw the impact as I was advocating and doing these employee advocacy programs for so long. And I'm like, everyone should have this. ⁓ so I love that you spoke about like your team and you guys already activating those voices because I feel like that is important. And also it's great for employee retention. I've seen that when employees feel valued and they feel like the company cares about what they have to say, there's so much value in that. And I I just I just love it. Obviously, I'm all about employee advocacy. okay, let's shift from employee advocacy to one of my other favorite topics, which is events, right? How are you working to extend the life of an event so that visibility doesn't just disappear when everyone goes home? You know, and honestly, this is something we really struggle with, ⁓ but we've put some thought behind it. So I joined this company in February, and in April I attended my first latitude media event. and I was only part of the planning, having jumped in pretty close to when the event took place. But ⁓ we saw that there is an opportunity to create that FOMO. ⁓ but we didn't have the coverage to do anything impactful. And I think it was a really big learning coming into our next event, which is in October. That making sure we have the right photographer, the right videographer, the right interviews that happen while we're there, the right kind of ⁓ documentation around the conversations being had, who's having those conversations and what was the outcome. So I think going into this next event in October, I do want to make sure that we are loud and proud about what we built and who we built it with. And I think, you know, the point of our events are really to Bring decision makers together and create momentum around the topics that are really instrumental in the industry. So the content kind of writes itself if you're prepared to do it. ⁓ and I think in October we're going to be so ready. And I'm so excited for how we're going to post event really speak about what happened. Dana, I want to come. I'm excited. Tree event. So this is what this you're doing it well. And I love to see it and I love to hear it. I I will definitely reach out about that event. And actually, as we're closing this out, tell the audience a little bit about the event and who's who's it for, who's invited. What's the what's the vibe? Absolutely. So this is Flex Summit. It is in Austin, Texas on October 14th and 15th. And we are bringing Together the decision-making minds behind our grid infrastructure. So if you have ever been affected by a power outage or a data center has your lights flickering, or you are unsatisfied with how your utilities are being handled, because I know we're all feeling the increase in our utility bills. These are the decision makers coming together to solve this and to bring us in. Of the Gilded Age infrastructure and into the modern age, and I can't wait to be part of this conversation. I love that because yes, after looking at my recent electricity bill, I am aghast. So I love this topic. I love that you guys are bringing the liege together and the brain minds behind it to create some sort of change. So very excited about that. I'll make sure I'll have details in the show notes. Dana, thank you so much for coming on today and chatting with me a little bit. This was incredible. Thank you, Jay. This was wonderful. Amazing. Well, all you marketers out there listening, I will have Dana's details in the show notes. Thank you all for listening. And again, for all of you out there looking to galvanize your own employees, you know where to find us at voicegill.co. And we will catch you guys in the next episode of The Algorithm Isn't Enough. You guys have a good one. Bye-bye.