The most human skill that becomes more valuable as AI gets better

Summary

MarTech Podcast Episode Summary

Episode Title: The most human skill that becomes more valuable as AI gets better
Air Date: June 27, 2026
Host: Benjamin Shapiro
Guest: Amanda Cole, CMO of Bloomreach
Producer: I Hear Everything

Main Theme

This episode centers on how AI advancements are shifting the landscape of marketing, with a focus on the growing value of uniquely human skills. Amanda Cole, CMO of Bloomreach, shares her approach to integrating AI tools into her workflow, her favorite resources for staying at the forefront of marketing, and some lighthearted stories about her personal experiments with AI. The conversation is lively, reflective, and firmly grounded in the realities and challenges of modern marketing.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Navigating Marketing Complexity with a Human-Centered, AI-Enabled Approach

(01:15–02:25)

• Benjamin Shapiro introduces Shift Paradigm, an integrated marketing consultancy, which embodies the "AI-enabled, but not AI-dependent; human first" ethos.
• Amanda resonates with the idea that success today requires balancing the latest technology with genuine human insight:

  "They get techy without losing sight of the real person behind every click." (01:44, Shift Paradigm pitch)

• The takeaway: AI should empower marketers, not replace the human element in customer connections.

2. Staying Informed: Favorite Resources for Top Marketers

(02:25–03:44)

• Amanda’s go-to tools for staying ahead:
  • Claude (AI assistant): Amanda relies on Claude for finding and summarizing marketing resources.

    "Claude actually is a great resource for helping you find resources." (02:32, Amanda Cole)

  • MKT1 (Emily Kramer): A recommended newsletter with actionable frameworks.
  • Allie Miller: Industry influencer on AI, especially on Instagram.
  • NotebookLM: Used as an organizational system — Amanda pulls in sources, summarizes insights, and creates a searchable “digital twin” for research and ideation.

    “You can organize in folders by projects, you can query and have conversations and essentially almost a digital twin version of yourself that you can debate with based on the context sources that you pull into NotebookLM.” (03:52, Amanda Cole)

• Instagram as a learning hub: Amanda highlights the platform’s unexpectedly rich marketing content.

  “I guess I have a lot of Instagram examples now that I'm thinking about it.” (03:10, Amanda Cole)

3. AI in Practice: Personal Projects, Wins, and “Fails”

(04:41–05:46)

• Amanda shares her hands-on experience building with AI:
  • Built a share-of-voice tracking tool connecting Claude, Supabase, and Vercel.
  • Met with honest (and blunt) feedback from her PR team:

    “I sent it to our PR team and they're like, you're an idiot. There’s so many reasons why this doesn’t work.” (04:57, Amanda Cole)

• Finding humor in the process: Both host and guest reflect on how AI flips old roles:

  “For all of our lives, everybody has been able to do the job of marketing... And now, finally, we can say to engineering, we can do your job.” (05:15, Amanda Cole)
  “The coolest thing I built is the replacement and the ability to say, hey, engineering, I could do that, too.” (05:39, Ben Shapiro)

4. The Most “Useless” AI Project

(05:46–06:41)

• Benjamin’s favorite useless project: An internal dashboard that changes color to reflect the time of day, inspired by the company logo’s gradient.

  “The color of the page changes throughout the day... so when I look at any given page… I basically know where I am in the day.” (05:46, Ben Shapiro)

• The point: Sometimes experimenting with AI can be fun and even the “useless” projects can be personally meaningful or make work more delightful.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On information resources:

  “Claude really does. And actually a Notebook LLM is another thing that I use… I can then double click and go into more detail and I store and actually organize my research in NotebookLM.”
  — Amanda Cole (03:18)

• On embracing failure and cross-disciplinary exploration with AI:

  “I mean I get really excited about the stuff that I build and then when we go to actually use it, it doesn't necessarily work or it's not as cool as I thought.”
  — Amanda Cole (04:45)

• Reflecting on the shifting skill set in marketing:

  “Now, finally, we can say to engineering, we can do your job.”
  — Amanda Cole (05:15)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:15 — Introduction to Shift Paradigm, AI’s human-centric approach
• 02:25 — Amanda’s top marketing information sources
• 03:44 — How Amanda uses NotebookLM as her personal knowledge base
• 04:41 — Amanda’s story about building AI-powered tools
• 05:39 — Benjamin’s favorite “useless” internal tool
• 06:41 — Episode wrap-up and closing remarks

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Conclusion

The episode highlights the paradox of AI in marketing: as automation and intelligence improve, the distinct value of human skills — like curiosity, synthesis, intuition, and creativity — only increases. Amanda Cole’s story encourages marketers to actively experiment with AI, embrace trial and error, and remain focused on the people behind the metrics, ensuring technology is a tool for human connection, not a replacement for it.

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Connect with the guest:

• Amanda Cole on LinkedIn
• Bloomreach

More from the show: MarTech Podcast

Transcript

[A]

The Martech Podcast is a proud member of the I Hear Everything Podcast Network. Looking to launch or scale your podcast, I Hear Everything delivers podcast production, growth and monetization solutions that transform your words into profit. Ready to give your brand a voice? Then visit iheareverything.com.

[B]

From advertising to software as a service to data across all of our programs and clients, we've seen a 55 to 65% open rate. Getting brands authentically integrated into content performs better than TV advertising. Typical lifespan of an article is about 24 to 36 hours. We're reaching out to the right person with the right message and a clear call to action. Then it's just a matter of timing.

[A]

Welcome to the Martech Podcast, a member of the I Hear Everything Podcast Network. In this podcast, you'll hear the stories of world class marketers that used technology to drive business results and achieve career success. Here's the host of the Martech Podcast, Benjamin Shapiro.

[C]

Today's interview is brought to you by Schiff. Paradigm Marketing today is buried in complexity. You've got the tech, you've got the tools, but moving the needle feels harder than ever. And the last thing us marketers need is another consultant pitching digital transformation.

[B]

Enter Shift.

[C]

Paradigm Shift is an integrated team of experts who help enterprise brands turn complexity into traction. Their work is insight led and strategically grounded, designed not to sell you a service or a piece of tech, but to actually solve real business challenges. What makes them different? Well, they're AI enabled but not AI dependent. They're human first, but plugged into the latest tools and models and the moments those models need to go through to prove themselves. They get techy without losing sight of the real person behind every click. And they don't just hand you a deck. They build the blueprints and stay to develop, deploy and run the engine. Growth isn't one size fits all. So stop settling for strategies that collect dust and start working with the team that actually builds for you. Visit ShiftParadigm.com to see how they can help you connect meaningfully with your audience. That's ShiftParadigm.com okay, last question for you.

[B]

Tell me the places where you go to get information that makes you one of the top marketers in the world.

[D]

I have so many. Claude actually is a great resource for helping you find resources. Obviously, the Martech Podcast Emily, stop. Go on please tell me more. Emily Kramer from she does MKT1 is A is A great publication with frameworks and different tips and tricks. There's an AI influencer named Ally who does A ton of stuff on Instagram that I love because it's short an AI influencer.

[B]

As in not a real person.

[D]

No, sorry, she's an influencer in AI.

[B]

Okay.

[D]

Influencer. Allie Miller is a real person who talks a lot about AI. And then there's Natalie from Corporate who's. So I guess I have a lot of Instagram examples now that I'm thinking about it.

[B]

You're on Insta, you're on Instagram consuming a lot of marketing content. That's actually the most interesting thing to me.

[D]

I got to the top, don't you know. But there, there really is, there is a ton of information and I do think expand, expanding your ability to consume. Claude really does. And actually a Notebook LLM is another thing that I use because as I get the sources from Claude and pull in and I'm able to capture and summarize where, where things are at least high level interesting, I can then double click and go into more detail and I store and actually organize my research in NotebookLM.

[B]

Tell me more about that NotebookLM as your database essentially for research. How are you using it?

[D]

Yeah, it's awesome because you can pull all the different topics you can organize in folders by projects you can query and have conversations and essentially almost a digital twin version of yourself that you can debate with based on the context sources that you pull into NotebookLM. And so Claude, I am obsessed with Claude. The first thing I log into every day is, is cloud and most of the people I know it's the same. And so like identifying those sources, having questions, getting information, identifying thought leaders or posts or articles that, or even books that I should be reading and then the ones that, that I want to keep track of or be able to reference and go back on and include in in my thought process. Those get stored in different project folders in Notebook ll.

[B]

Tell me the coolest thing that you built yourself using AI.

[D]

I, I mean I get really excited about the stuff that I build and then when we go to actually use it, it doesn't necessarily work or it's not as cool as I thought. You know, I'll create a calculator that I think is really cool. Or I actually created a share voice tracking tool I used. I connected Claude to Supabase to Vercel and I built this whole, what I thought was a really cool share voice tracking tool and I sent it to our PR team and they're like, you're an idiot. There's so many reasons why this doesn't work.

[B]

I think stuff PR can't say that they're supposed to be all buttoned up.

[D]

They did. They threw it out. So what I think is cool is that for all of our lives, everybody has been able to do the job of marketing. They've all told us how to write copy better, how design could be better, what swag could be better. And now, finally, we can say to engineering, we can do your job.

[B]

The coolest thing I built is the replacement and the ability to say, hey, engineering, I could do that, too.

[D]

I can do your job. Yes.

[B]

The most useless and my favorite thing that I've built with all of our internal tools. The color of the page changes throughout the day. I hear everything's logo has a gradient in it, and it looks a little bit like a sunrise, so the color changes where the gradient changes, so it looks like it goes from sunrise to sunset throughout the day. So when I look at any given page that I'm on, I basically know where I am in the day, whether I need to hustle or whether I still have time because, like, it's golden hour at the end of the day. And then, you know, when I log in at night, the page is, like, black, like midnight, and it looks like a club. My favorite useless AI development. All right, well, Amanda, I appreciate you coming on the podcast, humoring me with the cookie metaphor, telling us a little bit about how to get ready for the new era of marketing, and talking about some of the fun stuff you've been doing. Thanks for coming on and being my guest.

[D]

Thanks for having me.

[B]

All right, and that wraps up this episode of the Martech podcast. Thanks to Amanda Cole, the CMO of bloomreach, for joining us.

[C]

A special thanks to Shift Paradigm for sponsoring this podcast. Shift is an integrated team of experts who help enterprise brands bridge the gap between strategy data and customers. Human first, AI enabled and execution led. They build the blueprints, then stay to develop, deploy, and run the engine you need. So stop settling for decks that collect dust and start working with a team that actually builds for you. Visit ShiftParadigm.com to see how they can help you connect meaningfully with your audience.

[B]

If you'd like to contact Amanda, you could find a link to her LinkedIn profile on our show notes or on martechpod.com or you can visit her company's website, which is bloomreach.com. if you haven't subscribed yet and you want a daily stream of marketing and technology knowledge in your podcast feed, hit the subscribe button in your podcast app or on YouTube. And we'll be back in your feed next week. All right, that's it for today. But until next time, my advice is to just focus on keeping your customers happy.

[D]

Foreign.

[A]

Thanks for listening to the MarTech podcast and I hear everything. Production Looking to launch or scale a podcast like this one for your brand? Then visit iheareverything.com.