By Nadia Marinova, Account Executive

As a graphic designer, marketing specialist, and social media strategist, I’ve had conflicting feelings about artificial intelligence. On one hand, it’s impossible to ignore the momentum; AI has transformed the way we ideate, analyze trends, build strategy, and even design. On the other hand, I see the results from intuition, emotion, and the kind of storytelling that comes from lived experiences and real connections.

And the truth is: nothing will ever replace the heart behind human creativity. Marketing without emotion is just noise and storytelling without soul is just content.

So where does that leave us?

At Marx Layne & Company, we are forward-thinking, data-driven, and deeply connected to the communities we serve. As the landscape shifts, we aren’t simply “using AI,” we’re leveraging it. We use AI to deepen our subject-matter expertise: analyzing industry signals, competitive movement, and emerging audience behavior, so our counsel is not only creative, but rooted in intelligent, real-time insight. The goal is to empower human creativity with smarter tools.

AI can streamline research and workflows, offer insights faster than ever, and even spark ideas. It doesn’t understand a restaurant owner’s pride in a new dish, a nonprofit’s determination to change lives, or a community’s cultural heartbeat the way we do.

We’re not just adopting AI, we’re building a smarter creative ecosystem around it.

A big part of that evolution means using AI not just for content, but to strengthen the backbone of modern reputation management: visibility and discoverability. That includes using AI-powered analytics to understand search behavior, adjusting client website copy for improved SEO and readability, identifying trending keywords and audience intent, optimizing metadata, headlines, and structure for stronger search performance, and reviewing content gaps while spotting opportunities based on real-time search data.

We aren’t replacing our strategic thinking; we’re reinforcing it while working faster to save client dollars. Our team still writes the stories, shapes the voice, and builds relationships, because audiences connect with people, not algorithms. AI simply gives us sharper insight, cleaner workflows, and a clearer understanding of how to get those stories seen in an increasingly crowded digital world.