AI Is Creating Average Marketing Faster. That's the Problem.

"We're just using ChatGPT for our marketing now."

I've heard some version of that sentence three times this week. Every time I do, I ask the same question: "That's great. What's the strategy?" Most people pause. Some laugh. Others admit they don't really have one. They're just doing what everyone else is doing. And that's exactly why I believe AI is creating one of the biggest opportunities businesses have seen in years.

Before you assume I'm about to tell you AI is ruining marketing, let me stop you. I use AI every day. Our team at Cracked Egg Creative uses AI every day. I believe every business owner should learn how to use it because it isn't going anywhere. But somewhere along the way, we've confused using AI with having a marketing strategy. Those aren't the same thing. And the businesses that understand the difference are going to separate themselves over the next decade.

AI Slop Is Everywhere

A few weeks ago, my family drove home from Florida after vacation. Somewhere in the Carolinas, I started noticing something. Every roadside billboard looked strangely familiar. Not because I'd seen the companies before. Because they all looked like they came from the same prompt.

The same impossibly happy family. The same perfect blue sky. The same polished gradients. The same generic fonts. The same stock-looking smiles. Different businesses. Identical marketing. After about the tenth billboard, my 14-year-old son started calling them out before I could. "AI." A few miles later... "Another AI one." By the end of the trip, it had become a game.

Think about that for a second. A teenager sitting in the passenger seat could instantly recognize AI-generated advertising from a moving car. If he can spot it in two seconds, what do you think your customers are seeing?

That's the real problem.

AI isn't making marketing more memorable.
It's making average marketing effortless.

Average Has Never Been Easier

Yesterday, businesses produced average websites. Today they can produce average blogs, average emails, average Facebook ads, average videos, average social media posts, and average sales copy in minutes.

The speed changed. The quality didn't.

That's what fascinates me. AI has dramatically lowered the cost of creating content. It hasn't lowered the cost of earning attention. In fact, I think attention has become even more valuable because when everyone can create content instantly, content itself stops being the competitive advantage. Original thinking becomes the advantage.

Marketing Still Has Two Jobs

I've spent more than 15 years helping businesses grow through digital advertising, email marketing, and customer acquisition. The tools have changed. The algorithms have changed. Consumer behavior certainly has. But one thing hasn't.

Marketing still has two jobs: separate your business from your competitors and give people a reason to act.

Everything else is tactics.

That's why I get nervous when I hear someone say AI is handling their marketing. AI can absolutely help create content. But it can't tell you what makes your business worth paying attention to. That's still your job.

Saving Time Isn't the Goal

One argument I hear all the time is: "Dave, AI saves me hours every week." I believe it. It probably does. But here's the question I think more business owners should be asking.

If AI saves you four hours but your marketing becomes easier to ignore, did it really save you anything?

Most display ads struggle to earn a one percent click-through rate. Email inboxes are more crowded than they've ever been. Social media feeds never stop moving. Attention is scarce. So why would you willingly sound like everyone else competing for it?

Every Technology Follows the Same Pattern

Before I worked in digital marketing, I worked in politics. When social media first exploded, everyone thought the advantage belonged to whoever posted the most. Campaigns flooded every platform. Then something interesting happened.

The volume stopped mattering. The campaigns that won weren't posting more. They understood people better. Social media stopped being the strategy. It became one tool inside a much bigger strategy.

I think AI is following the exact same path. Right now, we're living through the gold rush. Everyone wants to tell you they're AI-powered. Five years from now, nobody is going to care whether you used AI. They're going to care whether your marketing worked.

Technology has always rewarded people who think differently
before it rewards people who move faster.

I don't believe this time is any different.

Experience Still Wins

Anyone can ask ChatGPT to write an ad. Experience tells you whether it's worth running. Anyone can generate twenty blog posts. Experience tells you which one actually answers the questions your customers are asking. Anyone can write an email. Experience tells you what earns a click.

AI doesn't replace judgment. It amplifies it. If your strategy is strong, AI can make you more efficient. If your strategy is weak, AI simply helps you create mediocre marketing at scale.

The Businesses That Will Win

One of the things I enjoy most about working with business owners is learning what makes each company different. Not what they sell. Why customers choose them. What problems they solve better than anyone else. What story only they can tell.

That's where great marketing starts.

At Cracked Egg Creative, that's how we approach every client relationship. Before we recommend a website redesign, an advertising campaign, SEO, AI search optimization, or content strategy, we spend time understanding the business behind it.

Because the best marketing doesn't come from better prompts.
It comes from better questions.

Final Thoughts

I don't think AI is replacing marketers. I think it's exposing them.

The businesses that win over the next decade won't be the ones using the most AI. They'll be the ones using AI without becoming indistinguishable from everyone else.

Learn AI. Experiment with it. Use it every day. But don't confuse creating more content with creating better marketing.

The faster everyone creates the same thing, the more valuable originality becomes. And that's the opportunity.

Not to use AI more than your competitors. To think better than they do.