AI Marketing Slop Is Everywhere: How to Tell If Your Content Sounds Fake

This week on Marketing Sucks, Amanda and Phil take on one of the most painfully obvious problems in modern marketing: AI-generated content that sounds polished, empty, and completely forgettable. Through a game of “Marketing Guru or AI Slop,” they compare real quotes from iconic marketing voices against fake AI-written ones and break down exactly why bad AI content is so easy to spot. From vague fluff words and overused language to generic ideas with no real point of view, this episode gets into what makes content feel human, sharp, and worth paying attention to. They also share five practical ways to clean up AI-assisted writing so it actually sounds like you, not a robot trying to be inspirational on LinkedIn. If your brand voice is starting to sound suspiciously like everyone else’s, this episode is your wake-up call.

What You’ll Learn

 ✔ How to spot the difference between real marketing insight and AI-generated fluff
 ✔ Why bad AI writing usually sounds polished but says nothing
 ✔ Which overused words instantly make content feel generic and fake
 ✔ Why strong writing needs tension, opinion, and a real point of view
 ✔ How to make AI-assisted content sound more human and more specific
 ✔ Why you should never publish the first draft AI gives you

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Podcasting support

Production: theultimatecreative.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Okay, welcome back to Marketing Sucks. I'm your host, Amanda Casinha.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

And I'm your co-host, Bill Ginther.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

And what sucks this week, Mr. Ginther? AI slop. Okay, the you were in charge of this episode, and I hate the word slop.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

So You gotta like Sean Connery would say it.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

It's like, it's sloppy. It's like it's it's an awful word.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Okay, so what sucks this week is AI slop, but we're gonna play a little bit of a game called Marketing Guru or AI Slop. So I'm gonna.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Wait, first of all, we need to make a disclaimer here. Because I I can't like not say it. So we did record this episode already, like two weeks ago. I didn't have access to any of this. I still don't. I did get every single one right when we recorded this the first time. I'm also brain dead. I feel like I'm gonna get them wrong, and I feel like I need to work extra hard to get them all right again.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

I don't know. I feel like you just sucked the mystery out of this episode.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

No, no, I have to say it because it's like it's not real. Thank you for unless you changed up the quotes.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Maybe I did, maybe I didn't.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Shit. Okay. Well, let's do this. Okay, explain the game, Phil.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Okay, great. So this is called Marketing Guru or AI Slop, and your job is to guess which quote is real and which one is AI Slop.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

I am good at this because I see a lot of bad AI all the time.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

I know. You always point it out.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

I hate it. Because like I'm all for using AI to help with like discovery and brainstorming and just like get your, you know, get a good solid ground going, but like you gotta change it up. So I usually can I usually I would say like 99.99% of the time can spot AI.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

Yeah, so we'll let the points do the talking for you. Okay, so if you score so there's five rounds in total. If you score between zero and two, you probably spend 80% of your time on LinkedIn consuming that type of content. If you score between three and four, you've got a nice bullshit detector. Okay, it's a nice thumbs up. And if you score five, you're like on point.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Okay, let's do this.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

All right, round one. We're gonna start with our friend Seth Godin. Okay. So the first quote Great marketing happens when your vibe scales faster than your features.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

The second quote permission marketing is the privilege, not the right, of delivering anticipated, personal, and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them. Which one feels like Seth?

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Feels like Seth or is AI?

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Feels like Seth.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Second.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Quote B. The real quote is B. That's correct.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Yeah, do you want to know why I know the first one is AI?

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Because I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

Because who the fuck uses the word vibe? Like I if I'm ever using the word vibe, it's it like in a conversation or in any type of thing. It's sarcastically? Yeah, it's ironically. Like I'm not using it like in a what like what?

SPEAKER_00 3:25

And the first one's easy, okay?

SPEAKER_01 3:27

Okay. Next. Next. What did you guys get on that one? So keep your score, okay? Ding ding ding.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

Okay. Philip Cotler, okay? Yeah. The first quote The future of marketing belongs to brands that automate intimacy without losing authenticity.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

The second quote Marketing 5.0, by definition, is the application of human mimicking technologies to create, communicate, deliver, and enhance value across the customer journey.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Okay, I'm gonna just go off pure instinct here, but like the word authenticity is used so much in AI. So I'm gonna say that A is AI. Ding ding ding. Yeah. There are certain words that you cannot get away from. And listen, and if you like to use the word authenticity, that's fine. But it's the way that that one is like in a list and it's like the last one. It's just like that's the that's the dinger for me.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

You know, like you're segueing to a different point.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Yeah, it's very, it's very obvious. Okay, next.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

All right, two points Amanda, zero points AI. Okay, round three, Donald Miller. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

Brand story, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

First quote never assume people understand how your brand can change their lives. Tell them. Okay. Quote B if your customer has to work to understand you, your marketing is already in recovery mode.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Say the first one again.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

Never assume people understand how your brand can change their lives. Tell them.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Okay. Do the next one again.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

If your customer has to work to understand you, your marketing is already in recovery mode.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

I think B is AI.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Very good. Three for three right now.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Yeah, that one was tricky. Because the that one, it was more like of a vague statement, but I went with who Donald Miller is and the way I've read the books, so I'm like, I know how he writes. So I think that's and the tell them at the end was like very pointed, which is really what the brand story is about.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

He's all about clarity, right? Yeah. And so I felt like this one was funny for me because I was like, B is AI trying to sound like Donald Miller's.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Exactly. Yeah, but then but if you know good writing, then you know which one's Donald Miller.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

You know, your man Don.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

I'm so good at this. I like these games. Let's do these all the time.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

You can do a monthly game. No, that's fine. I'll leave that up to you. Okay, I like that. Alright, round four. Gary V. Everyone's favorite entrepreneur. Okay. So our first quote is attention compounds faster than strategy when your content moves at the speed of culture. That quote's got like a backwards hat on it or something. Okay. Alright, second one is your number one job is to tell your story to the consumer wherever they are, and preferably at the moment they are deciding to make a purchase.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Say the first one again?

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Attention compounds faster than strategy when your content moves at the speed of culture.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Say the second one again? This one's throwing me.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

Your number one job is to tell your story to the customer, wherever they are, and preferably at the same moment they are deciding to make a purchase.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Say the first one again?

SPEAKER_00 7:02

Attention compounds faster than strategy when your content moves at the speed of culture.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

That one sounds like AI, but it can also be very Gary V. Say the second one again.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

For everyone listening, I hope you're enjoying these quotes. Your number one job is to tell your story to the consumer wherever they are, and preferably at the moment they are deciding to make a purchase.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Fuck. It's the way that you read it, because I I'm trying to l hear it in Gary V's voice, and the way you're reading it is like not the way that he like like his in like his intonation is definitely. I know that, but I'm trying to hear it. Okay, one more time, and then I'll make a decision.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Alright. First quote.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Attention compounds faster than strategy when your content moves at the speed of culture.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Second quote. Your number one job is to tell your story to the consumer wherever they are, and preferably at the moment they are deciding to make a purchase. That is correct. Okay. Very good.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

I the why I broke it down was the compounds and some of the words just were too big for how simple Gary makes his like his not his concepts aren't simple, just the way that he is able to articulate them. He makes it very easy for like his audience to digest. And the the first one just felt too big. So I made you read that seven times.

SPEAKER_00 8:35

Content moves at the speed of culture. Like it sounds super punchy. So it's something like you'd be like, yeah, Gary, but then you're like, okay, but like who? And under what conditions.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Yeah, that one was a tricky one. Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

Four for four, throw. That's not bad.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

Okay, next.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

Okay, round five, Joe Pulizzy. Mm-hmm. Okay. First quote. Your customers don't care about you, your products, or your service. They care about themselves. Second quote. The best content doesn't chase reach, it recruits belief.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

Say the first one again?

SPEAKER_00 9:09

Your customers don't care about you, your products, or your services. They care about themselves.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Second one?

SPEAKER_00 9:18

The best content doesn't chase reach, it recruits belief.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Second one is AI.

unknown 9:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

How you can't read it without smiling. I'll tell you that I wasn't even looking at you. Okay, why I can tell you this is that's AI. Is that ChatGPT specifically? I don't know about the other ones, but ChatGPT specifically loves these like two-sentence, like fragmented thoughts that aren't connected by anything and that are so fucking vague, like anybody could say it. And so that was the tip-off.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

It's not this, it's this. Yeah, or whatever. Yeah. Okay, wow. Five, five for five.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

All right. So now that we've played that game, we're now gonna go into five practical tips for identifying or avoiding AI in your writing and in your branding. Because to be honest, I'm seeing a lot of garbage out there. A lot of garbage. And like I'd rather see boring content than read bad AI content.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Yeah, fair enough.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

And this goes with like, so again, not saying you can't use AI or that you shouldn't use AI because we actively use AI in our business, of course. Yeah, we have to be ahead of the times here. But I want you to, when you're asking ChatGPT or anything to like help you out with something, then really it's it's gonna be number one about your prompts and really getting deep into those prompts so that it does sound more human and it sounds like yourself. It's also like setting up your chats to be very or your bots to be like experts in what you do. So that could be like uploading transcripts, uploading documents, uploading like your website, your Instagram, your the the way that you speak, a voice prompt, like anything like that. Like that helps it. But you still have to do these five things. It works, but you still have to do five things. Like you can't just like let it write for you. Yeah. So number one is the could anyone have said this test? So kind of like what we just did with these quotes. Like, could anyone have said this? So and and making sure it's like true to your voice.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

Yeah, well, every every single quote that was real had a point of view. It wasn't just like this generic top line two sentences, yeah platitude, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Yeah. So that's number one. Number two, hunt down the abstract fluff words. So authenticity, alignment, impact, transformation, like Elevation, elevate, power, vibes, just care for the vibes. We could do better. Okay. Even if those are the words to describe your brand, I I encourage you to do better. Like, I think there's so much more out there. You could have so much more fun with your writing while still maintaining professionalism, right? So I think sometimes people think like fun and creativity doesn't align with professionalism, and that's not the case. Like we write for very high-end, like professional organizations, and we still have fun with the writing. We still have fun with the targeting, we have fun with the language and the messaging. So I think really changing how it is that you use those words and like words like authenticity, impact, transformation, like they've been used everywhere. So, like, how do you stand out amongst the like from the the the crowd of other brands? Also, number one, using Chat GPT poorly or have just, you know, historically used those words for 30 years.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

They're exhausted. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

So how do we make that different? Number three, a lot of fake writing will collapse when we ask certain questions. So these are the three questions. So when you let's say you prompt chat or whatever AI system you're using to uh write something for you. This is what I want you to ask yourself after you've read it is who is this for? Like, actually, who is this for? What exactly like are they doing? Like what, like what are these people doing? Who am I talking to? And where does this happen? So, you know, especially when we're selling something, the sales scripts I see online that come from ChatGPT or like the the sales pages. Oh my God, they're so exhausting. Like, please take me back to like storytelling days. Please tell me where you're actually from, not just like your accolades, you know, like it's crazy to me.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

Sorry, I'm just I'm like looking at these questions, thinking back to that like fake Gary Vee quote. It's like when content moves at the speed of culture, and I'm like, when does this happen?

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Exactly. So it's it's really like looking at it and and and it takes time, guys. So here's the problem Chat GPT and our worlds right now is all about speed and fast and who can like collapse time and all the things, and that's all great. However, there is a time for slowing down, like really crafting your brand, your messaging, and everything that goes into that that will make it great from the beginning, and that will not require you to have to make five, six, seven different brand, you know, iterations or rebrands or whatever the hell you want to call them. So do it right the first time. Like take your time. There's so many people we speak to that just like want, like, okay, I have this idea. Like, when can we get that done? And I'm like, well, like in reality, we have four different sets of people that that needs to go through from like design to copy to like even just from strategy and ideation. So, like, yes, I'm all for collapsing time. I'm all for getting things done quickly. I don't like waiting, as we know. I like to just make decisions fast, but there are certain things that do need some time and refinement. And I'm finding that the people that think going fast means relying on AI for everything it are the people that are going to it comes at a cost. It they're gonna it it's gonna come later. What's the cost is? Number four.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

I love this one. Does it have tension or is it just all polish? When people write, they hold a specific point of view, they draw a line in the sand, there's a clear opinion and articulation of that opinion where uh AI just kind of like gaslights everything. You know what I mean? It's just like, oh yeah, it doesn't matter what you tell me, I'm gonna agree with you. Everything's good.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

Well, that's the thing, right? And like we know this, like the the research has come out is that it's not going to like go against you, like unless I tell it to. Yeah, you gotta unless I'm just like argue with me, give me the like negative parts of this, like me accountable. Yeah, hold me accountable, like even then, it's still not going to. So adding the tension, not just the polish means really just like make it fucking human. Yeah. Like make people think when they read it.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

And your writing gets better when there is a bit of friction, right? Like when you when you're saying this is what I believe and this is what I stand for.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

Well, even if the reaction is, oh, well, I disagree, you just got engagement. And that and that's beautiful. But then it's something that other that you just cruise past because you're like, yeah, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Yeah, I had I had people writing on like a reel recently, and just like, I do not agree with what you're saying. And I was like, Great, let's have a conversation about it.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

Thanks for the engagement.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

And also thanks for the engagement. That's the whole point, right? Like, I don't want everybody to agree with me all the time. That's fucking boring. Like, let's have like an actual dialogue, like let's let's whole strategy in itself.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Thanks for the engagement. It's a great book name.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Thanks for being Babe. That's a good one. Oh, that's a good, like another podcast type of name.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

No, that's what we need, a second podcast.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

Okay. And number five, never publish the first draft. I mean, that goes with anything.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

Like anything in life. Don't publish the first draft. But that's a telltale sign. And that's when I really know somebody's used AI because it's like it's like a regurgitated like one-liners all the way down. And I'm just like, oh my God, did what did you use to write this? Because it wasn't a human, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

Yeah, there's no, there's no variation in like sentence length and structure, right? It just says anyway. Yeah, yeah, don't polish the first or don't don't polish it, don't publish the first draft. There we go.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

So our action items for today are basically why don't you go and check on like two or three pieces of content that you put out that were AI assisted, we'll say it that way, and see how you can make it better, see how you can make it more human. And you probably already put some thought and some effort into it, but let's just let's make it even better. So I and and this is an exercise in everything that you do. Take a minute, even if like set a timer for even 10 minutes is great, and just do a writing exercise on a piece that came from ChatGPT and really add like what you want to say. Like if you actually didn't give a fuck what anybody thought, what would you actually say? Write that down, post that.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

That's a good exercise.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

And that's where we're gonna leave it today. So if you love the podcast. And you love playing games with us, sounds weird, then give us a share. Give us a share, give us a like, a follow, share it, give us a review. That was what I went to say. And you can find us on all the socials at grind social media. Chat soon. See you next week. Bye guys,