06/13/2025
Nikki’s Notes: Are You A Wolf, A Sheep or a Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing -
Marketing advice for our fellow pro content writers from Nikki's Notes - 5 minute read
Companies are flocking to change up their websites and marketing content and utilize the new shiny thing, AI. Executives and management see it as an opportunity to save money on hires for wordsmith talents and marketing staff. But will it cost them more money than it saves. What is the long-term perspective? Are these decisions to skirt or fall into lawsuits for copyright infringements, scrape online materials and errant data collection going to prove truly profitable. Are these companies throwing their ‘babies’ out with the bathwater.
Following my attendance at a recent gathering of marketing specialists in London and another in Manhattan, the consensus from many was that company leaders should examine more closely whether they are merely joining a pack of generic content production when they embrace AI as their total marketing solution.
A London speaker said companies that are current market leaders are particularly vulnerable. This is because their current marketing content tends to be authentic, better quality, accurately presented and usually exceptionally creative at addressing their target audiences, and that they will reap no benefit from substituting other materials they can garner from lesser sources or by rehashing their current highly-viable content using AI.
The speaker went on to say that thought leadership values far outweigh the AI crafted materials. Especially as many consumers and customers are already becoming distrustful of overviews produced by AI. AI can produce material that truly ‘may or may not be accurate’, as Google itself admits. He went on to explain that particularly purchasers of more valuable products are not going to trust their spend to companies that start informing them solely via AI. They want and frankly deserve, more than that.
One gentleman (let’s call him Jack), who is highly regarded in the realm of AI development that I felt quite honored to be introduced to, sat down with me for a bit to chat. I admit that his main focus at the beginning was his interest in my experiences in dressage training and in particular he was keen to gather some advice on breeding performance horses – a passionate business enterprise of his daughter and wife. A discussion that had floated into the conversation thanks to my friend David who had mentioned my equestrian career as part of the introduction. But aside from horses I was able to ask Jack pointed questions about AI and how professional writers like me and their skill sets fit into the new world of content production.
Here is the gist of what he said, framed in my own analogy:
Businesses fall into three categories. The wolves. Those that are leaders of the pack, the leader of the wolves, are visionaries that look at the bigger picture and like to be ahead of the curve when it comes to hitting their target audience and hitting them hard.
The second category are the sheep, the businesses that follow what everyone else is doing, and thirdly, the new and rising category, the wolf in sheep’s clothing. This group uses AI to assimilate everyone else’s content and regurgitate it and often don’t actually produce anything themselves and are middlemen or are new to the marketplace.
The problem for group one, the wolves, is that their rush to be first and to be seen as current is fueled by the belief that AI is so clever that mastering it will yield the biggest profits, but that it is highly likely they already have authentic, well-written materials to hand. This excellent content will be scraped by their all competitors using AI and then regurgitated. As industry leaders however, their attempts to do the same by utilizing their competitors creative assets will downgrade their own overall content and messaging. Almost ensuring it to become boring, industry repetitive, and read with no personality. The very things they paid to have clearly defined in the first place to promote their products or services as offering a first-class experience and to successfully build trust in their brands with a known identity.
Jack told me he had seen these type of company leaders jump onto the AI bandwagon early which he said was great, but they hadn’t fully comprehended that throwing everything to one side and going solely AI was a recipe for sales diminishing, and often in their haste they were throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Meaning they were letting go of valuable marketing staff that knew their products and could produce superior quality creative assets at a time when in fact it was more essential now than ever that these content producers continued to feed their content hopper and their own AI machine. Jack said scraping competitors content was unlikely to produce anything of great benefit to this group.
AI can only assimilate, at least for right now. Jack explained niche and high-end markets are particularly vulnerable to losing business by publishing generic content because usually their prime audience demographic was particularly savvy and intelligent. And would not be so easily, ‘bought.’
Group two, the sheep category is the largest group. Many businesses are slipping to group two from group one – and they are beginning to see this negatively affect their bottom lines. This is how Jack put it:
“AI is informational. It will become more imaginative. But to quote Dr. Einstein, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” And a good writer creates imaginative, unique angles and fresh perspectives. As a business you will always need writers to produce thought leadership i.e. have genuine knowledge on a topic then tell it in an artful and engaging manner. Never undermine the reader’s intelligence.”
The problem for business owners in group number three, is that the public are becoming increasingly sick of being fed regurgitated material. The copycat materials, style of authorship being AI and generic content won’t stand the test of buyers over time. Especially if the product or service is a higher value purchase or requires any form of financing. People will check them out and see that they are not who they appear to be – and fall to the wayside.
Any hint of ‘manufactured’ or ‘rekindled’ storytelling, often attributed to pretend characters in a shallow attempt to bring authenticity to a viewpoint or share information, will quickly reveal themselves leaving the reader feeling misled and distrustful. As we all know, trust is one of the five pillars of marketing. In fact it is a cornerstone.
The evening was a fun and insightful event. I felt very grateful to have received a last-minute invite from David, an elderly and highly-respected London-based ‘Fellow’ of this prestigious institute that happens to be a family friend.
As Jack stood to leave he offered me a final piece of advice:
“It’s going to be a fun ride. Just stick with clients that are on the right track.”
As I gazed across the rooftop at the elegantly dressed and animated group of marketing gurus and executives from many walks of life and a myriad of industries, a mixture of wolves and sheep, I was struck by more than the chimes of Big Ben that echoed somewhere in the distance.
I was struck with the thought that my job as a PR/Marketing strategist/specialist really hadn’t changed because of the AI copycat. It was still going to be my job to show clients how to find the right track and to help them navigate the woods and the trees and deliver the content they needed to satiate their clients’ appetites for tasty and nutritious fare. And I am happy about that, because I love doing it.
So if you are a business owner looking for a new or better direction to build your business visit Horse in a Kilt Media Inc., and learn more about my stable full of marketing skills as an artful content writer, equestrian blogger, columnist, video producer and scriptwriter, film production showrunner, professional photographer, and marketing specialist and strategist. I am seeing an increasing number of clients that want me to edit and reframe their generically produced works as well as continue to produce authentically produced original content to grow their businesses. And I am happy to marry both types of production to ensure content is on point.
As a British/American professional Grand Prix competitor/coach/clinician I bring unique angles, experiences and thought leadership/authority to my wordsmith wizardry with a proven successful track record in boosting brand visibility and viability and a willingness to interject some much-needed human intelligence into your marketing content.
About Nikki:
Internationally published author/writer, content creator, PR/Marketing specialist, photographer and equestrian Nikki Alvin-Smith offers “Engaging Content that Engages Riders to Read,” with unique and fresh material for your horse or pet related business, magazine, website, newsletter, blog, and email blast sales machine. Her portfolio of works is extensive and includes equestrian and pet features that have been published worldwide in over 260 different magazine titles. Her clients include/have included: equestrian and “B” list movie celebrities for whom she regularly ghostwrites and provides PR services; manufacturers of equine and pet related medical devices, feedstuffs, supplements, grooming supplies, fencing and barn equipment, horse transport, horse structures and professional equine service providers; profit and non-profit initiatives and organizations; and non-equestrian related businesses/publications in the pet industry, investment, real estate and international travel and rural lifestyle.
Nikki Alvin-Smith is a British international level Grand Prix dressage competitor/trainer/coach/clinician. Together with her husband Paul, who is also a Grand Prix dressage rider, Nikki operates Willowview Hill Farm , a private dressage yard and organic hay farm in the Catskill Mountains of New York. The duo provides ‘team’ clinician services to clients worldwide to riders of all levels and many riding disciplines.
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