Worried about AI replacing your job? In this episode, Ash Roy and media coach Julie Macdonald share three powerful steps to help you stand out and build an authentic brand in an AI-driven world. Learn how to listen to your clients, define your core message, and deliver real value that AI can’t replace.
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00:00 Turning AI from a threat into an advantage
00:14 Three simple goals to be more human in an AI-driven world
00:34 Step 1: Listen to your clients and customers
01:04 Julie: "It's listening first and doing later."
01:38 Why listening is crucial before creating solutions
01:57 Using LinkedIn and Amazon for market research
02:20 Action step: Turn complaints into your next big offer
02:39 Step 2: Define your core message in one sentence
02:45 Julie: "Who are you as a story? Why should anyone care?"
03:07 The importance of nailing your message in one sentence
04:18 Test: Can your client repeat your message after hearing it once?
04:41 Action step: Write your core message in one sentence
04:59 Step 3: Deliver a useful outcome, not just deliverables
05:49 Value is about outcomes, not just deliverables
06:06 Being valuable, useful, and trusted
06:21 Supporting clients beyond deliverables
06:37 Value is about outcomes, not polish
07:02 Recap: Listen, define your message, lead with value
07:15 It’s about useful outcomes and humanity
07:32 My conversation with Seth Godin on story skills
Ash Roy and Julie MacDonald Video Transcript (This transcript has been auto-generated. Artificial Intelligence is still in the process of perfecting itself. There may be some errors in transcription):
Ash Roy:
I've been lying awake on my studio floor wondering, is AI going to replace us?
Julie MacDonald:
Who are you? Go back to just being a human.
Ash Roy:
We're surrounded by robots. Algorithms, automation,
Julie MacDonald:
Authenticity is 21st century life skill.
Ash Roy:
What if we could make one simple shift that turns AI from a threat into a life-changing advantage?
And that is use it to help us to be more human and we'll be sharing. Three simple goals you can set for yourself. So, you can be more human in this AI driven world. I'll be speaking to my friend and client, Julie McDonald, an international news anchor, a journalist and a media coach. Think of it as your playbook to build an authentic brand and one that AI can't replace.
Let's do this.
Okay, so the First step is to listen to your clients and your customers, but listening alone won't save you. There's a much tougher test that every coach and consultant has to pass, and we'll get to that soon. But first, let's dive into what listening really looks like.
Julie MacDonald:
It's listening first and doing later.
What is your customer or your prospective customer telling you? Now you might say, well, I don't have any customers yet. Well, who would you like them to be? Go out, find them online. Look at the comments that they're making on your competitor's products, because people will always say what they don't want rather than what they do.
So, look at what they don't want and build your product or your offering around that. So that's listening to them. Listen to the tone that they use, the words that they use. So that's your kind of listening part done.
Ash Roy:
Julie's point is simple but powerful. Everything starts with listening to your clients and customers.
So, before you design a program post content or think about scaling, you need to tune in to what your customers and clients are actually saying. Coaches and consultants who skip this build solutions no one has asked for. But when we take the time to listen first, then our content and our solutions create reason.
Imagine scrolling through LinkedIn comments on a competitor's post. You'll often see things like, this doesn't solve my problem, or, I wish they'd covered X, Y, Z. You can do this on Amazon book reviews too. By the way, that's free market research. If we are listening closely. This is a great way to build the solution our customers desperately want before anybody else does.
Okay. So action step for you. What's one complaint you've seen from your clients or people in your industry that you could turn into your next big offer? Let me know in the comments. I'd love to hear from you. Okay. So listening gives you insights, but if you can't translate those insights into a message that cuts through, you'll lose attention fast.
And that brings us to step two, and that is define your core message in one sentence.
Julie MacDonald:
Mm-hmm. And then we come to. Who are you as a story or who is your product as a story? And in the words of an old news editor of mine, and forgive me for swearing, but why the, does anyone care about your story? You know, I would go into a news meeting when I was a trainee journalist with some of the fiercest brains in the land, and I'd be sitting there at 22 quaking in my boots when it came to my turn to pitch.
And I learned, if you cannot nail it in one sentence, you are done. You are burned, and they move on. That's the reality of the media, and actually that's the reality of the attention span of most of your customers. So, you have got to have done all the work. You've got to be able to reduce it down. Now, I'm an expert storyteller and a communication strategist, and I have to do this all the time, and I have to keep redoing it.
So I use this same sheet, you know, every six months. What are my customers telling me? What's working for them and what's not? What other problems have they mentioned to me that they would like me to solve? Right? Who am I right now? What kind of problem solver am I? What am I passionate about delivering right now?
And then I try to update my website or whatever it is that I'm putting out on LinkedIn. With those things though, that I'm kind of constantly evolving along. With my customer.
Ash Roy:
Julie's advice here is brutal but true. If you can't clearly explain what you do in one sentence, your client will just scroll right past you.
I've seen this over and over again in my membership community working with consultants and coaches over the last eight years. The consultants and coaches who thrive are the ones who can make their message. Crystal clear. Now, this isn't about being clever. It's about being clear and unmistakable. Here's a test.
Could your client repeat your message after hearing it once? If not, maybe it's time to sharpen your message until it sticks. So here's your action step. Try this right now. Pause this video and write down your core message in one sentence. I recommend calling out your audience in that sentence and the benefit you deliver to that audience that they genuinely want.
Now, can your ideal client repeat this back to you? Feel free to add your one sentence core message in the comments below. I'd love to hear from you. Okay, so far, you've listened carefully and you've nailed your message in one sentence, but here's the part that separates the amateurs from the pros.
Remember me mentioning at the start of this video, there's a tough test. That every coach or consultant faces and must pass. Well, that test is about delivering a useful outcome to your customer, not just talking about deliverables, is Julie.
Julie MacDonald:
And then I think, what is your main value? And when I say value, I mean, you know, in, in Clan Mac media useful.
I want to be useful. Mm-hmm. Um, I had a meeting with a client the other day. They wanted to buy a film from me, but they had absolutely no. Runway or path for this film. They, they wanted a film, but they didn't know what they wanted it for. Now, I said, I, I can happily charge you 15 pounds for a, for a film, but you are gonna be really dissatisfied when you tell me, well, the film didn't do anything for me.
Yes, because making a film doesn't actually make it useful unless you do something with it. It's just an accessory. But you have to know what it's for and what to do with it, and where you're going to send it out into the world so that we can make you a film that matters. And actually, the answer might even be.
Not making a film, it might be doing a host of other things and not wasting your money on a film because they will get better results. So, I think for me, we need to be valuable, you know, valuable to people. We need to be useful to people and we need to be trusted and that, you know, I do not wanna take people's money and then not deliver.
That is not who I am. I wanna give value. I will always give more. I'm always there when a client calls me in the middle of the night. You know, I'm giving a speech tomorrow. I still have clients that I media trained three years ago and they say I'm giving. Beach. And I remember it said in the storytelling notes, but, oh, I've lost them.
Can you help me? So, I point them to where we store everything online. Yeah. You know, once somebody is a client of mine, they're, they're part of my family.
Ash Roy:
See, I think Julie nails it here. Value is about outcomes. Useful outcomes, not deliverables. If your clients don’t know how to use what you've given them, it doesn't matter how polished it is.
Consultants who lead with value and useful outcomes, who connect their work directly to results that the customer wants to have in their business or life are the ones who thrive. What's one way you can make your service more useful to your clients this week? Not just more polished, but more impactful.
Drop it in the comments. I'd love to know. Okay, so those are the three steps. Listen, first, define your core message and lead with value. Follow this playbook and you'll stand out in the world where AI is commoditizing knowledge. Remember, isn't the information you have. But the useful outcomes you create and the humanity you bring to the table.
Now, if you wanna go deeper on this topic, an important step is to get clear on your story because your story is what makes your brand unforgettable. I actually recorded a full conversation with Seth Godin, and a lot of it covers this. Particular topic, how to craft a story that cuts through the noise. I also shared my own story with Seth, and you can watch that right here.
Don't miss it because it ties everything we've spoken about today quite nicely together. If you haven't already subscribed, please consider subscribing and share this video with somebody else who you think might benefit. Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next one. Ciao for now.