by Lake

The Strategic Marketer Returns: How AI Rewrites Our Job Description

For years, marketers have been drowning in work; drafting endless copy, resizing Canva images, formatting PPT decks, pulling analytics, studying the data, trying to find the story in the data… Important work, no doubt, but it left little time for what really moves the needle: strategy.

Now AI is changing that. The tactical “busywork” that used to fill a mid-level marketer’s day can now be done faster, cheaper, and easier. And that means the most valuable part of our job—the part that’s uniquely human—is back in the spotlight.

So does this mean that marketers are safe during the AI takeover? Nope – not a chance! But there is some good news.

What AI Automates (and What It Doesn’t)

AI is the ultimate marketing intern; fast, tireless, and able to crank out a first draft of just about anything.

What it automates:

  • First drafts of blog posts, ads, emails, and captions
  • Image variations and resizing
  • Summarizing calls, transcripts, and research
  • Routine reporting and tagging
  • SEO briefs and keyword research

What it can’t (and shouldn’t) replace:

  • Brand positioning and narrative
  • Understanding customer pain and desire
  • Big-idea campaign concepts
  • Taste, judgment, and restraint
  • Ethics, voice, and cultural relevance

The brands that thrive will use AI for speed, but double down on originality, emotion, and strategic clarity.

A Simple Operating Model

60/30/10 Rule:

  • 60%: AI-accelerated production
  • 30%: Human-led strategy and creativity
  • 10%: Governance and learning

Guardrails:

  • Maintain an AI style guide and gold-standard examples
  • Set review gates for anything public-facing
  • Keep sensitive data out of public tools

The Takeaway

AI will replace many marketers. But the strategic marketer is more important than ever. And in this new era, your value isn’t in how much you produce—it’s in how clearly you can decide what matters.

Want to evolve your team’s role in the AI era—without losing your brand’s soul? Let’s work together.

by Lake

Your Brand Has a Backstory—Are You Telling It?

Why Brand Storytelling Strategy Starts Long Before the First Sale

Every great brand has a beginning, meaning a backstory.

Just like the most compelling characters in fiction, the brands we love didn’t emerge fully formed. They were shaped by need, fueled by pain, or sparked by rebellion. Yet so many businesses skip this essential part of their brand storytelling strategy.

If you’re struggling to connect with your audience, don’t start with more features.
Start with your story.

🧠 What Is Brand Storytelling Strategy?

At its core, brand storytelling strategy is the deliberate use of narrative to communicate your brand’s identity, values, and vision.

But here’s what often gets missed:

The most important part of any story isn’t where the character is now. It’s what happened before page one.

That’s your brand backstory. And it’s one of your most underutilized assets.

🪞 Backstory Builds Connection

In fiction, backstory shapes everything.
We understand Batman because of the alley.
We root for Frodo because he never asked for the ring.

Your brand is no different.

  • What did you rebel against?
  • What struggle shaped your values?
  • What pain were you born to solve?

🎯 How to Use Your Brand Backstory Strategically

Whether you’re a startup or scaling enterprise, your brand messaging should reflect your origin story. Not in a nostalgic, overlong About page, but in your voice, your tone, your promise.

Ask yourself:

  • What moment changed everything for us?
  • What belief drives our decisions?
  • What scars do we still carry and why do they matter?

These aren’t fluff. They’re brand differentiators.

💡 Why Emotional Branding Starts With the Past

Strong emotional branding comes from vulnerability. Picture young Bruce Wayne losing his parents to violent crime. But your backstory doesn’t need to be dramatic. It needs to be true.

Because when your customer hears what you’ve been through, they start to believe you can help them through what they’re going through.

🛠️ TL;DR: Your Brand Storytelling Strategy Checklist

Use this to shape your narrative across messaging, web copy, and campaigns:

✅ What pain sparked the brand?
✅ Who did we want to help?
✅ What value did we refuse to compromise?
✅ What was the turning point?
✅ How do we show that in tone, visuals, and messaging today?

📢 Final Words

  • Every hero has a backstory.
  • So does every brand worth following.
  • Your brand identity isn’t just your visual design or voice guide.
  • It’s your emotional blueprint, built from your past and lived through your messaging.
  • If you don’t tell your story, your competitors will tell one for you.

The brand story that drives this blog is here. For help telling your brand’s story, click here.

by Lake

The Long Walk of Marketing, Part 2

What to Do When You Realize You’re Just Walking

In part one, we explored what Stephen King’s bleakest novels teach us about brands, life, and marketing. Read it first. Click here.

There’s a reason The Long Walk lingers. It’s not because of the violence. King’s done worse. It’s not because of the dystopian world. It’s barely sketched. It’s because it feels like us.

It’s the crushing grind of a game that seemed so worth it – and winnable – when you started, and the realization that there’s not a finish line.

Fortunately, you’re not like the boys in Stephen King’s novel. You’re allowed to stop. Nobody’s going to shoot you for stepping off the road. No crowd is waiting to cheer your collapse.

So, if you’ve realized you’re not really marketing anymore—you’re just keeping pace to stay “alive”—here’s how to find your way back:

First, STOP

Breathe. You can’t strategize when you’re stuck in survival mode. Stopping is not failure. It’s the first step to clarify.

Change Paths If You Can

Sometimes you need a new adventure. Take a cue from Ansoff’s Growth Matrix:

  • Explore a different audience with market expansion
  • Add or evolve your offering with a new product
  • Or take the same product to new segment
  • Or go bold with a major diversification

Big changes require a million small ones. If you start on one of the small ones today, you’re no longer “just walking” but heading to a new destination.

Get Back to the Basics

If new products or markets are too far away or out of your control, get back to marketing’s foundation:

  • Who are you helping?
  • What’s their pain?
  • Feel it. I mean REALLY feel it.
  • How is your product or service the way out?

Great marketing isn’t about being the last brand standing. It’s about knowing and never forgetting why you’re doing the work in the first place.