Source:
https://www.podbean.com/eau/pb-qmgtt-1423f0f

AI, business development, pricing, the future of PR - all the latest trends. Oh, the things we get to talk about when we’re joined by Chip Griffin of the Small Agency Growth Alliance. Listen to this episode to get the latest scoop.
Learn more about Chip and SAGA here.
 
Transcript
Michelle Kane (00:02):
Thank you for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves, people like me, Michelle Kane of VoiceMatters, my wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. And today we have a guest. We are absolutely thrilled to be joined once again by Chip Griffin of the Small Agency Growth Alliance. Hello, Chip.
Chip Griffin (00:26):
It is great to be back here. I love being with the two of you.
Michelle Kane (00:29):
Ah, likewise, likewise.
Karen Swim, APR (00:31):
We are so excited. This totally makes our week. Thank you so much for hanging out with us, <laugh>.
Chip Griffin (00:36):
Thank you for having me.
Michelle Kane (00:37):
So we're talking trends today and top of mind for most people in PR and beyond is of course AI. It's, you know, it's being thrown around in the news and people either are using it or are afraid of it, are just completely ignorant of it. But it's here. And, you know, Solo PR Pros, we like to think of ourselves as savvy smarties. We're just wondering what's, what's your take of what you're seeing out there right now?
Chip Griffin (01:12):
Well, my wise guy answer that I gave to an agency owner who asked me a couple of weeks ago about it, I said, “AI, what, what's that? I haven't really heard much about this.” <laugh> And he had first thought I was serious. <Laugh>  In any case, I mean, look, AI is absolutely top of mind for just about everybody right now. It is something that, I don't think I've had a conversation with any agency owner who hasn't brought it up. It is something that all communicators are talking about. Some are afraid of it, some are excited about it. Very few are really squarely in the middle as far as I've seen. And I think that really it's just incumbent upon folks to learn as much as they can about what new opportunities exist out there and figure out how they can implement it within their own businesses. Whether you are a solo or in-house or whatever, there's a lot of things that you can do with AI to make you more effective, more efficient. And I would be focused on that rather than on the, the scary side of it that a lot of people like to dwell on from time to time.
Michelle Kane (02:09):
Right, right. Like the recent letter of doom from hundreds of tech leaders, <laugh>.
Chip Griffin (02:17):
Right. Well, and you have to keep in mind that, that a lot of time, I mean, if you have the people who are already involved in AI saying, “Hey, we need to regulate it,” usually that's because they want to protect their own stake. And you see this in many industries. The large players often call for more regulation because it keeps out upstarts and it protects their position. So I would take that with a grain of salt, personally.
Michelle Kane (02:40):
Yeah. Nice big shaker of salt.
Karen Swim, APR (02:44):
Yeah. It reminds me of every technological invention that has ever happened, how there is this fear that it's going to disrupt our way of life. And I'm not saying that the concerns around AI are not well founded. They are. So, as communicators, I agree with you, we need to use it. We need to learn it. And we also do need to be aware of the risk and the concerns around it so that we can guard against that. So one big one for me is understanding how AI can be used to spread mis information, which is a growing problem, and it has been for many years, and it continues to be something that we really have to deal with. So you really have to understand it so that you can educate your clients and so you know how to monitor their brand reputation, because you don't want false statements attributed to clients. You know, if anybody's operating without crisis plans, you need to get on top of that immediately, because these are all things that can and do happen, particularly for high profile individuals where images are being used and manipulated and they're getting better. You know, AI technology is getting better, so it can be more difficult to spot the fakes than in the past.
Chip Griffin (04:09):
But this is, I mean, it really isn't something new. It does make it easier. It does make it more polished in some cases. You know, if you take a look at what Photoshop has done now with, with its ability to use generative AI, it's, it's really, frankly, amazing as a photographer. I love what it allows me to do for my clients in a good way, but it certainly does open up other risks. But, I think we've just, that's an extension of what we've seen for a long period of time. And so, we absolutely need to be attuned to it. But at the same time, we shou