From ChatGPT to the way Google delivers search results, and from Microsoft to every productivity or content creation tool we use in our business, we are being catapulted towards a new way of doing things.

Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is all around us.

And it’s here to stay.

Not only that, it’s a brilliant tool for small business owners, helping us to streamline tasks, overcome the blank page problem, acting as our research assistant and creating marketing assets more quickly than we’ve ever been able to before.

But in the world of A.I., it’s your brand that is going to be one of the most important assets in your business.

And while everyone gets excited about implementing A.I. tools into their business, it’s those who spend as much time and energy strengthening their brand, as they do learning A.I., who will thrive in this next era of business and marketing.

Here’s why.

Your audience are going to start having issues of trust.

Trust has always been a key element of growing a thriving business.

We work with people we know, like and trust.

But A.I. is starting to blur the lines between what's real and what's not.

We’re getting fake voices, fake images and repetitive content that's being churned out and put on every other website or in every other message.

We need to be aware that our customers have feelings about this.

And if everything is created using A.I., like how can we trust it?

How can we know that everything is what it says it is? How can we trust the content? How can we know that what we're seeing, reading or hearing is true?

Your customers are currently being trained to question everything they see and everything they read.

Because A.I. is, is creating an environment where we need to do that.

As small businesses, we’re doing a great job of leaning into the bright shiny object, and how easy A.I. can make content creation, marketing and other things in our business.

But we also need to remember that it's our job to show our clients that they can trust us.

We can do that by investing in a strong, clear, authentic brand.

Authentic Intelligence will become the cornerstone of trusted brands

It’s not going to be enough to just have a business.

You’re going to actually need to build a brand.

And you’re going to need to leverage your authentic intelligence to do it.

What is authentic intelligence? It’s made up of connection, care, consistence, leadership and storytelling – all things that artificial intelligence either can’t do, or will never be able to do the way humans do.

You can read more about it here.

To be able to leverage your authentic intelligence, you will need to really, truly understand your brand and why it should matter to the people you want to serve. This is why it's going to be so important to know your brand voice, your values, who you are and what you stand for. And to have consistency in your message and across all your brand assets.

Consistency (not content) will become king

The number one thing I see small business owners struggle with consistently, is, well, consistency.

This is because we haven't done the strategic work we need to do in order to be able to be consistent.

What do I mean when I say consistent?

It isn't just how often you show up on social media, or what day of the week you send your newsletter.

It's that consistency of message and actions and values and how they show up for us in our business.

To do that, you’re going to need a roadmap that will show you what consistency means for your brand. A roadmap that’s led by authentic intelligence and backed by human interactions and connection.

Being both authentic and trustworthy is actually about being consistent.

The catch, is that A.I. can only build brand consistency for you to a point.

You can’t use A.I. to define your brand for you

There will be people who tell you that A.I. can create a client persona for you.

That it can create your brand voice.

That it can outline your brand values for you.

I fundamentally believe that it can’t. And that you shouldn’t be asking it to.

It can document these things for you. It can turn your human-centred research, actual client language and brand story strategy into outputs that will turbo charge what it can create for you when it comes to marketing.

But nothing will beat the power of human creativity, ideas, understanding and humanity when it comes to creating connection with your ideal customer.

You can't use A.I. effectively if you don't have a clear picture of your brand.

And if you ask A.I. to create a brand strategy for you based off information it has given to you, then you’ll end up sounding just like everyone else.

If you want to create trust and be able to use A.I. to create powerful marketing that’s true to your brand, then you can’t also get it to hypothesise on who your customer is, or what your brand voice should be.

That’s your job.

And in an A.I. driven world, you need to take it more seriously than you ever have before.

The more human your brand, the more powerful your use of A.I.

As we keep driving our businesses forward using A.I. tools that are only getting more and more powerful, we need to remember what we’re in business for.

Other humans.

To make sure your brand thrives in this era of A.I., you’re going to need to focus on building trust, using your authentic intelligence, being consistent, and defining your brand clearly for the people that matter to you.

Because the more you power your brand strategy with authentic human, the more you’ll get from the A.I. tools you’re investing in.

What’s the best way to build a thriving trusted brand?

It’s Brand Story Strategy.

Because when you align your brand vision, brand mission, brand values, points of difference, your tribe and your brand personality, you’ll be able to implement your brand story confidently into your marketing for clearer messaging, less overwhelm, and more of bringing in exactly the right type of client for your business.

And you’ll be able to leverage all those awesome A.I. tools in the most powerful way.

Subscribe today for regular tips and strategies for building your brand story strategy.

Or find out more about how to build your brand story strategy with me here.