Whether you're an AI skeptic or you just don't where to start when it comes to finding clients with AI, Episode 507 of the Marketing Mentor Podcast is for you!

It's an excerpt from a webinar I recently hosted about how to use AI to find the best potential clients for you. In it, I answer the question, “Can AI results be trusted?”

And although it is too late now to sign up for the course mentioned in the webinar, I am now offering 1:1 AI Client-finding coaching calls where I will show you exactly how to find your best potential clients using AI. 

In the meantime, listen here (and below) and learn…

 

Here's the transcript if you prefer to read....

Welcome Y’all – I am Ilise Benun and I am thrilled to see so many people here today – especially so many new people. And let me start by thanking all of y’all (as we say here in Savannah) – because we broke all our records for webinar sign ups – we literally just hit 1500! Clearly, AI is a hot topic.

If you don’t know me yet, the most important thing to know is that for the last 36 years, I’ve been on a mission to help creative freelancers just like you build a business you can depend on – and your own terms. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned over all these years it’s that marketing works – when you do it. Marketing is how you find those “better clients with bigger budgets” as I like to say – the ones who will bring you better income. It’s that simple.

But things are changing – fast. And I truly believe that AI is going to transform the way we market ourselves…it’s already happening. I quickly realized that if we’re going to compete in a world of AI – and sometimes against AI – we’re all going to need an edge. So I’ve decided to lead the way, to get out in front of it and to pave the way for you to have that edge too.

That’s why we are here today: to talk about AI and your marketing. I’m going to share what I’ve been learning and the strategies I’m developing to use AI to find your best potential clients.

So first…I want to explain how I came to this new idea.

As you well know, AI is changing everything – including the way we work – you may be feeling it already. Everyone is talking and writing about AI – for some it’s all hype, for others it’s all doom and gloom. I’m staying away from both extremes.

If you’re tired of hearing about AI, I get it. But trust me, this is only the beginning. And I don’t think any of us can afford to be tired of it. I think we have to harness our curiosity and focus on exactly how AI is going to affect each of us: that means me and you and your clients – even if you have no clients yet.

That’s why I’ve been spending my days (and weekends lately!) completely immersed in AI. I’ve been testing every new tool to see how well it can help you find clients. I’ve been trying different ways of talking to AI, from conversational and friendly to no nonsense and matter of fact. I’ve tried prompt after prompt after prompt, tweaking one word here and there to see how that changes the output. And I have to admit, it’s a lot of fun!

I have also been experimenting with almost all of my coaching clients – some are into it and others, I can tell, don’t really want to hear about it. With everyone, AI is helping pinpoint their best potential clients more quickly and in a more targeted way. I’ve discovered that to make AI work in this way requires a new and creative way of thinking and communicating – we will need to develop new mental habits to make the most of AI.

I’ve also been educating myself – reading and listening to everything I can get my hands on, from the most obscure existential AI topics on Lex Fridman’s podcast to the super tactical ones on the AI Daily Brief and AI Applied.

So I know there is a lot out there – but the truth is, I can’t get enough. It’s all super interesting and I can’t wait to see what happens.

In the meantime, I’m focused on marketing with AI. Because to my utter amazement, I haven’t heard anyone talking about using AI to find clients. Which I just find bizarre. It seems so obvious to me.

In fact, you may have been one of the many who, when you signed up for this webinar wrote, “I never thought about using AI to find clients.”

But I did – and right away – that’s when I realized that someone was going to have to take the time to figure this out – and I thought, “Why not me?”

Now, I’ve never been an early adopter. But this is different. It feels different. I can’t afford to wait to see how things shake out – and I don’t think you can either.

In fact, if we start now, we can help shape this. I plan to help shape it. The fact that you’re here tells me that you just might join me. Doesn’t that sound exciting?

It really is when you start getting into it. It’s slightly addictive too – this new way of finding clients – because AI allows you to access information that you can’t find with a simple Google or LinkedIn search.

Plus, with AI it is already easier and faster than ever – and we’re just at the beginning. It’s going to get better and better. That’s why I’m staying ahead of it.

But when it comes to finding clients, I know it’s easy to get stuck at the very first step: choosing who to market yourself to.

In fact, you may be saying to yourself, “I heard there are so many clients out there – but where are they? Why aren’t they finding me?”

Or maybe you’ve tried looking but you got quickly overwhelmed by all the possibilities.

The thing is, you have to know who to look for. And of course, if you don’t know who to look for, you won’t know where to find them.

Needless to say, these obstacles will get in the way of building a business you can depend on – with steady income and quality clients who value your work and will pay you handsomely for it.

But with AI we can remove these obstacles.

Because here’s the thing: it’s still so new that there are no experts yet. I don’t think of myself as an expert at AI.

I’m an expert at marketing and I’m applying my marketing expertise – the proven strategies I’ve developed over 36 years – to AI.

So today I want to show you a sampling of what I’ve learned so far.

Because – you know this – when you work on your own, it can be very lonely. And right now, that can be downright scary. That’s why I decided to bring everyone together – so we can figure this out – together.

So before this webinar ends, I have a feeling you’re going to be as excited as I am.

If, like me, you've also been immersing yourself in AI, then you know exactly what I mean and you’ll walk away with a whole new way to use AI.

But even if you know nothing about AI, no worries.

You’re in the right place. My goal for you today is simply to get curious about the possibilities. I think you’ll be ready to take the first baby step with me, so you can learn how to do this for yourself, which will give you the competitive edge you will need.

Are you ready? 

Because not only will I share with you some of the simple strategies I’ve come up with, at the end today, I’m going to introduce my new Live Summer Course, Potential Clients on Tap with AI.

So stick around til the end, because we’ll have lots of bonuses and discounts – but they won’t last long and they’re only for those who are with us live. 

First, then, let’s address the 3 elephants in the room…They are: 

1. That AI results can't be trusted
2. That even if you can trust AI, it’s hard to decide who your best potential clients are 
3. That even if you can decide, all the good clients are probably already taken.

Any of those sound familiar?

All right – let’s jump in!

Can AI Results Be Trusted?

Let’s talk first about whether AI results can be trusted. 

I know there is a lot of skepticism about AI. And it’s certainly true that AI gets things wrong and makes stuff up – just like humans BTW. 

But we still trust humans, right? Some more than others, of course. Well, it’s the same with AI. Trust but verify, as they say. 

I’m going to show you how you can get results you can actually trust from AI.

I do wonder if this lack of trust is because things are a bit scary right now. But I will tell you that I’m not afraid and I am not skeptical. AI is here to stay so I’m super curious and I think you should be too. We have to leverage our curiosity – right now. The sooner you do, the further ahead you’ll be.

So first of all, when we use the term “Artificial Intelligence” what exactly are we talking about?

Because AI refers to so many things! It’s a blanket term that we throw around willy nilly. So let me be clear about what I mean when I use it. I’m talking about using AI to find clients.

I’m not talking about using AI for writing or for design or to deliver your services or even to create content for your own marketing. That’s a separate issue. And I’m sure we’ll get to it soon.

But for now – for today – we’re talking about market research. Specifically, finding your best potential clients through what I’m calling AI-infused research. What is that? 

AI-infused research means using AI to listen to the market.

Because if you use it right, it’s as if AI gives you the superpower to read the minds of all of humanity and summarize it in an instant.

If that’s true – and for the most part it is – then it's the best research tool and listening device ever. 

AI can tell you what pain points to address in your marketing – and that’s how you show your best prospects that you understand what they need.

That’s what will make them choose you over your competitors – and over AI itself! 

Even better, AI-infused research uses AI to generate an actual list of prospects, good prospects, the right prospects for you – the ones that fit the criteria for YOUR ideal client. 

That’s what I’ve been figuring out. What info do you need to give the AI so it can give back the best possible list of actual live potential clients.

Now, you may be wondering if you can trust a list that AI generates. I say yes. Here are 3 reasons why: 

1. Because when it comes to who you want to help, you are the expert. So you will be able to see right away if the list of organizations or people you get from AI are the ones you want to help. 
2. As with all AI output, you’re going to double check it. You will see within one click whether the list is current and the prospects are real. Most of the time, they are. Because…
3. You’ll click right to the source so you can verify – remember, trust but verify. 

AI is made for research and there’s actually very little to distrust with this way of using AI. Doesn’t that make sense?

Good, because I want to show you how. 

As I said, I’ve been using AI on almost every coaching call lately – and some of my clients are skeptical at first. But then I show them how easy – and how fun it can be – when you tell it who you are and what you’re looking for – in 2 seconds flat, we get back a list of actual prospects.

That puts an end to their skepticism instantly!

I will show you a short demo shortly. But first, when I say, trust but verify, here’s what I mean:

• You can trust AI when…you know how to communicate with AI. Talking to an AI is kind of like talking to a friend – but different. You should be polite but you can’t be too nice. In fact, sometimes you really have to push back and correct the AI – otherwise the output you get may not be helpful – and then you’ll just get frustrated and give up! We don’t want that, right?
• You can trust AI when…you give it the details and context it needs. That’s how you get the best and most relevant list of prospects for you – it’s actually very personal. So you have to be able to articulate not just who you are and what’s unique about you, but also who you’re looking for. 
• You can trust AI when…you manage your expectations. If the first result you get from AI isn’t "perfection," you can't throw your hands up and say, “See, AI can’t be trusted! Or “AI is a waste of time” or my favorite, “I’m too old for this!”
• And of course, you can trust AI when…you use the right tools. Some are more trustworthy than others. I am only recommending the ones I have tested and have given me the best results. Perplexity.ai is my favorite tool at the moment (although I do expect that to change). It’s essentially a search engine wrapped in AI packaging. That means the results are current and, most important, you can see where the information is coming from – in fact sometimes the sources are more valuable than the output itself. 

One journalist and educator described Perplexity as “like having a smart assistant who not only finds the book you’re looking for in a vast library but opens it to the exact page that has the information you need. Google just points you toward potentially relevant shelves.”

Ready to see? I shared a couple simple prompts recently in a LinkedIn post and several  people tried them – and got great results right away. Daniel wrote: 

"In seconds I had a list of 10 construction industry associations I can approach in search of potential clients. Thanks Ilise!!!" 

That was just one simple exercise. Imagine what you could get with a bit more effort!

Wanna see how it works? Here’s my first demo. Don’t worry about taking notes. You’ll see all of today’s prompts in the chat PLUS we’ll include them in the PS of the message which will go out tomorrow with the replay. So for now, just sit back and relax and watch how simple this can be…

Obviously I can’t show you the demo on a podcast but I’d be happy to in my new AI Client-Finding Coaching Calls in which I will show you how to use AI to find exactly who you should be working with. Some people are calling it “genius” but to me it’s a no brainer. Just go to marketing-mentor.com and you’ll find details on the homepage. 

Or if you’re not quite ready for that, simply sign up for my Quick Tips and you’ll get the most up to date strategies as I continue to infuse AI into the Simplest Marketing Plan and share how it’s simplifying marketing for so many creative professionals. 

I’ll see you next time. .