Why is content marketing so important? | Jimmy Girot, Director of Marketing, Intterra

These days, AI-generated content is everywhere: it's in your feed, ads, and even in real life. Businesses can now scale and create faster than ever, but does this content actually connect with audiences? At its core, great content is personal. No matter how much AI helps us scale, we can’t lose sight of the fact that humans are essential to creating content that resonates.

In this episode of Straight to Voicemail, Rachel Elsts Downey sits down with Jimmy Girot, Director of Marketing at Intterra. Jimmy shares his insights on why content marketing is more important than ever, even as AI continues to shape the landscape. He discusses how AI can amplify human-driven content by optimizing your operations, but emphasizes that the human touch, authenticity, and emotional connection must remain at the heart of every marketing strategy. 

You’ll learn:

• Why human-driven content still matters in an AI-driven world
• How AI can support content creation without replacing human connection
• The importance of starting small and being intentional with content

Jump into the conversation:
(00:00) Why we wanted to hear from Jimmy
(00:10) The role of content in today’s marketing strategy
(01:00) Why content marketing is essential, even in the age of AI
(02:00) How to keep content human while using AI
(03:00) The power of starting small with content marketing
(03:40) Scaling content without losing authenticity

Straight to Voicemail is for CMOs, CEOs, and Heads of Marketing in B2B tech who want insights from the people who’ve been there. Each episode centers on one big question answered like a voicemail you’ll want to play again.

Don’t miss this conversation! Follow Straight to Voicemail and explore Genius Cuts for more B2B content strategy insights.

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[00:00:00]

[00:00:09] Rachel Elsts Downey: We talk a lot about content, obviously, we are a content production company,

[00:00:14] but we talk about how to scale it, repurpose it, how we can automate some of it. But there's a part of the conversation that gets lost in all the efficiency talk, why content matters at all. Especially in a world being rewritten by AI. From discovery to creation, AI is top of mind for every marketer.

[00:00:34] Jimmy Girot wrote his way into tech, literally. Growing up writing was his voice. Now as a marketing leader, he's learning to use the out loud one too, because leadership demands communication that lands, that resonates. He spent eight years as a freelancer before moving into marketing leadership for tech companies and writing has been a through line for him. He serves as the director of marketing at Intterra, and he sits at the intersection of data tech and of course storytelling. And for Jimmy, content has always been about one thing, no matter if the ingredients and the recipe has changed, it's about understanding people first, and that's what makes his perspective so relevant

[00:01:18] right now. In an AI driven world, the human part of content matters so much more. So I had to call him when I had this question:

[00:01:28] "Remind us, why is content marketing so important?"

[00:01:32] Here's what he had to say.

[00:01:33]

[00:01:43] Jimmy Girot: Hey, Rachel. It's a great question about content marketing and the age of AI that we're working in now.

[00:01:52] I've landed at a place with content marketing and AI where I feel like it really is important to not just have a human in the loop, but to have a human quarterback in all of this

[00:02:06] with AI as an enabler. Now that I'm leading a marketing org at a smaller software company, I still think my first or second hire would be a content marketing leader. So I see AI as a way to make things more efficient on content to amplify the message and how that message is delivered at each stage of the customer journey. If we zoom out at a super high level, content marketing, in my opinion, is everything.

[00:02:39] Most effective way to bring a brand to life is through content. And so it's great to invest in AI, but you have to do it in a deliberate way and not with the, "This is going to replace something way."

[00:02:55] I think we're at a point with AI and marketing, at least that's what I can speak to where when I get asked the question, "How are you using AI in your day-to-day job?" It's really hard for me to answer that. I can tell people I can do a market segmentation in three minutes instead of three days. It's become such a part of just my workflow that I don't really think about the use cases. And if you can get to that point as a marketing org, as a content marketing team or leader, as long as it's not a distraction, I think it could be really helpful. I hear, "How are you using AI in your day-to-day job?" as "How are you using the internet in your day-to-day job?"

[00:03:53] Like, really hard question to answer for me at least. Right? And I think that tells us all we need to know, tells me all I need to know about the direction this is going. It's more infrastructure than it is a replacement of X, Y, or Z, at least through a marketing lens and content lens.

[00:04:15] It's a default mechanic in your day-to-day, whether you're a writer or even a growth marketer. It's the first place I go, AI. No matter what I'm starting. So we have to pair that with, I think responsible use of it. Content creation was really impressive in the beginning because we hadn't seen it before.

[00:04:42] The more you use it for content creation, the more you realize the gaps in trying to use AI for like, end-to-end content marketing, that's really hard. But what you can do is start a project, QA a project, set up internal systems for project management using AI, set up internal AI based automations for market intelligence, like the list goes on.

[00:05:13] And that's why I say it's the infrastructure, the scaffolding. It's not the thing that you're bringing the brand to life with, it's just this really important layer that we didn't have before.

[00:05:26] All right, Rachel, that's all I have to say about that. Gimme a call back. Shoot me a text when you have time. Look forward to catching up.