Being Real is a Major Edge

Yes, yes, we know, AI this AI that everyday is becoming the norm. Really!? Take a breath and read the following article from John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing and consider what matters in your professional world as an Architect, Engineer, Landscape Architect and all associates in the built environment industry.  From "The Credential" communications staff, please comment and we will share your point of view next month.  

I've been scrolling through reviews on a handful of different platforms lately and something's been bugging me, because they've started sounding suspiciously alike, the testimonials show up with no name attached half the time, and the headshots look just a little too smooth to be real people. I played around with an AI headshot myself a while back and honestly went right back to a normal photo of my own face within a week, because I'd rather look like a guy who's been doing this for 30+ years than some rendering of one.

When anything can be faked, being real is a major edge

I've watched trust get built a different way over the years, and it used to be about looking professional, having the slick site, polished copy, flawless appearance that mattered. It doesn't carry the same weight anymore, not when anyone can generate a slick site and polished copy in an afternoon. People want to buy from people, and when everything around them can be faked, they go looking for whatever can't be.

Being imperfect went from falter to feature

I joke about this on podcasts all the time: I'll stumble over a sentence mid-answer and just laugh it off instead of trying to smooth it over, and people connect to that stumble a lot more than they'd connect to some flawless, scripted take. “Flawless” is exactly what AI-generated content is selling right now, and a little awkwardness proves you're a real person sitting there talking.

Getting cited somewhere you don't control carries a different kind of weight too (a podcast mention, review site, somebody else's blog post bringing you up unprompted), because that's the one kind of proof that can't be faked on your behalf no matter how good their tools get.

Look at your website through a stranger’s eyes

Pull up your website like you're a stranger who's never heard of your business before. Is there a face looking back at you that matches who is offering the business, or a stock photo that could belong to anyone? Can you find a client you could go look up, or just a quote with no name attached? If you had to guess whether a real person built this site, what would tip you off either way?

Find the leak before you fix the funnel

Trust doesn't operate on its own. It's tied to everything else happening before and after it, from how someone finds you to whether they ever refer you. A Strategy First consultation walks through your whole journey, so you can see what's carrying weight right now and where the cracks are.

With permission we reprint this article by John Jantsch from "The Weekly Marketing Roundup", Duct Tape Marketing 9/15/26.   

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Problem of the Week August 10, 2026

   Problem: 

In the video game Asteroid Blaster, there are a total of five rounds on the first level. During each round, asteroids appear on the screen and a player must blast as many asteroids as possible before time expires. This becomes more difficult because the number of asteroids increases with each round. The table shows the number of asteroids for each of the first three rounds. If this pattern continues, how many asteroids will there be to destroy in Round 4?   

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