Manish Dudharejia at the Build a Better Agency Summit in May 2023
If you are in the business of selling your expertise, you better get busy becoming an expert in using generative artificial intelligence (AI).
Generative AI has been a disrupting force for quite a few months now, and it is not going to slow down. Warning: if you are not already on board, you need to catch up quickly.
“Generative AI, like ChatGPT, which gained one million users in less than five days, is a testament to how quickly this technology is reshaping our world,” says Manish Dudharejia, founder and president of E2M, a white label digital marketing agency.
Dudharejia says he started his company in 2012 with $1,250 in capital. A little more than a decade later the agency is still privately owned and has a team of more than 180 with offices in India and the United States.
He said generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence system capable of generating text, images, or other media in response to prompts. Generative AI models learn the patterns and structure of their input training data, and then generate new data that has similar characteristics.
According to McKinsey & Company, “Generative artificial intelligence describes algorithms (such as ChatGPT) that can be used to create new content, including audio, code, images, text, simulations, and videos. Recent breakthroughs in the field have the potential to drastically change the way we approach content creation.”
Dudharejia and I spoke about the drastic changes that are coming at the Build A Better Agency Summit in Chicago in May 2023.
“While AI offers unique benefits, it also poses equally peculiar challenges,” says Dudharejia. “As an agency owner, I believe digital agencies are exceptionally good at adopting new technologies. But Generative AI, being the first of its kind, may seem a little out of the league.”
If you are in the business of selling your expertise, how do you leverage generative AI to strengthen your position?
That’s where thinking outside the box can help.
During his early research, Dudharejia realized that AI will encourage agency owners, strategic consultants and professionals to focus more on strategic consultation, offering it as their service.
“Generative AI can help you improve all other aspects of your work. But it cannot deliver strategic consultation, not yet!” he joked (not joked).
In the marketing agency world, strategic consultation is about introducing a comprehensive digital marketing strategy. That should include brand identity creation, domain registration, website creation, hosting, and the works. And then, of course, digitally marketing the website to increase its brand visibility.
For strategic consultants, executive coaches, financial advisors, and professional services, that may take a similar but different form. Generative AI can greatly aid you. That’s what strategic consultation is all about.
“Strategic consultation has to become your unique selling proposition in the era of generative AI,” says Dudharejia. “Moreover, if you are a niche-specific agency with particular domain expertise, come up with a niche-specific strategy. That will be your competitive advantage. Let’s say you are a dental marketing expert. So, when a dental practice/brand approaches you, create a niche-specific digital strategy tailored to their needs. Always focus on your strengths.
In a phone call interview, LinkedIn expert Ellen Melko Moore seconded the advice.
“There's a whole world of mastery just in learning the best prompts to create a joyous three-way marriage between artificial intelligence, LinkedIn, and what I call ‘The Rhetoric of Persuasion and Influence,’ says Moore. “We're teaching this to our current private clients. They’re picking their jaws up off the floor to discover how easy it's become to create powerful, persuasive content marketing that attracts the most lucrative clients.”
