Happy Wednesday! This week:
Join my Friday webinar
A new report shows you’re not the only one who doesn’t have the right access to the right tools
Why you probably will need to know what Markdown is
Let’s get started!
THE LEDE
💡 I Helped Someone Vibe Code a Comms Tool. Their Reaction? “This is MAGIC!”
Wow.
Last week, I hosted a webinar for 29 attendees, walking them through — in real-time — how to make something real using Claude Code. And at the end, one of them shared that sentence in the chat: “This is MAGIC!” Capital letters and everything!
So, I’m going to host another webinar later this week. Details below, but first, let me tell you what we did, and what we’re doing again.
What We’re Building
I’ve created about a dozen tools for myself using Claude Code, so I’m pretty advanced with it by now. (I’m also still learning new things every time, though!) But for this webinar, I’m keeping it simple. You’ll build “The Comms Gut Check,” a web app where you paste in a draft and get structured feedback. My version looks like the below:
The tool uses AI to evaluate the draft for clarity, jargon, potential audience pushback, and tone. I ran the Declaration of Independence through it; here are some of the results. (Unsurprisingly, the AI didn’t think that colonists loyal to the British Crown would take so kindly to Jefferson’s prose.)
That’s what you get. As one of last week’s webinar attendees posted to LinkedIn, it’s a big step up from just tossing prompts into chatbots: “Role-specific workflows (e.g., "a tool that gut-checks your draft press release) beat generic AI talking points every time. Specificity is key.”
How You’ll Build It
If you wanted to learn how to cook, you’d do two things: grab a cookbook and get into the kitchen. Hands on learning with step-by-step instructions. That’s what we’re doing on Friday’s webinar. I’ll give you seven prompts to put into Claude Code and, along the way, explain what Claude Code is doing. At the end, you’ll have a real, working tool.
What You’ll Learn
The magic of learning this way isn’t that you end up with The Comms Gut Check, though. It’s that — to carry the analogy forward — you get comfortable cooking. There are a few hurdles to getting started with vibe coding, but I’ve built a program that not only gets you past those hurdles, but helps you understand the why behind what you’re doing. Today, things like “Markdown files” and “API keys” may sound scary — and may be preventing you from starting to be the builder you can be. I’ll get you past that.
The Event Details
The webinar is this Friday at 3p ET — sign up here. To make sure we get through the build in an hour, you’ll need to do a bit of set up. It’s easy to do, and if you get stuck, no worries — Claude itself can walk you through it. Here's what you'll need to participate:
A Claude Pro or Max account (paid)
The Claude desktop app (free)
Claude Code itself set up in the app. Claude Code requires a free tool called Git — if you haven't set it up before, just ask Claude how. It'll walk you through it in a few minutes.
One more thing: you'll need an API key, but we'll set that up together during the webinar. To save time, create a free account at https://platform.claude.com/ and add a few dollars ($5 should be plenty) beforehand.
Can’t Make It? There’s More to Come!
Because I’m helping you build in real time, I’m not making a recording available — but don’t worry.
I plan to host another webinar or two in June.
In a few weeks, I’ll be making the “recipe” for The Comms Gut Check available for free, if you want to do it on your own.
Also, if you want to bring me in to do a guided build for you or your team, glad to do so as well — get in touch.
Hope to see you Friday!
THIS WEEK IN AI
🌎 Curious by Design: Why Early Adoption Is Now a Core Communications Skill
Recently, Zeno Group released Clarity 2030, a global research report examining the state and future of the communications profession — driven, of course, by the impact of AI on our work lives. Drawing on surveys of 1,400 communications professionals across ten countries and thirty in-depth interviews with high-level executives from both in-house and agency settings, the report attempts to answer a single defining question: what will it take for communications leaders to thrive in the years ahead?
The report's central tension is one that will feel familiar to any working communicator:
72% of global communications professionals expect their influence to grow, shaping business strategy, growth, risk, and workforce decisions by 2030 —
But only 29% feel fully ready for what's ahead.
That gap is not a minor confidence issue — it’s fear driven by the need to find skills using AI. A whopping 77% believe communications will require entirely new skill sets by 2030. Personally, I think “entirely new” is an overcorrection — good writing, good judgment, and being a good but curious listener are the hallmarks of our work, and that’s not going to change. But other things will.
The big one from the report — and one I wholly agree with — is that communicators, not our technology partners, are going to be (and really, already are) the ones taking the lead on AI adoption. That’s going to be an uphill battle. The report flags three things I’ve heard over and over again.
Investment in official access to AI tools is lagging. Fewer than half reported universal access to approved tools — let alone unapproved ones!
About 20% of those surveyed said that they were using unauthorized tools (“shadow AI" is the term Zeno uses, and I love it).
Even if they get access to the cool tools, the trainings aren’t effective — you need to figure it out on your own.
Why it matters: The communications professionals who will be best positioned in 2030 are the ones who stay genuinely curious today: who experiment with new tools before they're required to, who seek out the messy early versions of things rather than waiting for the polished enterprise rollout.
Your next step: If you’re not a shadow AI user, become one today. Just don’t do it on your work machine — businesses enact governance and access rules because cybersecurity and data privacy are no joke. But if you have a personal laptop, go find something to tinker with ASAP. (Like, say, Claude Code — and then join my webinar.) 😀
🎯 Quick Hits
Bad news: we’re probably going to have to format our communications in an AI-friendly way going forward. Ramp ran a controlled experiment testing how different content formats — HTML, schema, and Markdown — perform with AI engines, and found that Markdown was the only format that consistently surfaced in LLM responses. The web pages we humans read are written in HTML, so having a Markdown version for the bots could be really important going forward.
The UK government ordered Google to give publishers the ability to opt out of having their content scraped to power AI Overviews and other AI features. I’m not sure if many publishers will take advantage of that new power, as it will likely just reduce the impact of your content. But it’s clear that governments are concerned about the impact AI is having on publishers.
I’M HERE TO HELP
🤝 Your Comms Team — Leveled Up
AI adoption is critical for communications teams — and I’m on a mission to help you get there. Let’s work together to get your team moving — or moving faster.
📅 A strategy call. Whether you're trying to build systematic AI adoption across your team or focused on AI search visibility for your brand or organization, I’m here to help. Learn more and book an intro call.
🎓 Self-paced learning. I’ve created six courses to get you up to speed on how AI impacts communications. Get started here.
📋 A prompt playbook. Need a kickstart? My communications-focused prompt playbook has more than 600 prompts to help you get started. Download it, free.
SPONSORED BY
10x the context. Half the time.
Speak your prompts into ChatGPT or Claude and get detailed, paste-ready input that actually gives you useful output. Wispr Flow captures what you'd cut when typing. Free on Mac, Windows, and iPhone.
COOL AI TOOLS
🔨 Tools To Try This Week
LLMrefs — Tracks which sources large language models actually cite
Writer — Enterprise AI platform enforcing brand voice and compliance
Pressmaster — Turns announcements into PR-ready content and media assets
PostCast — Take your exec’s top LinkedIn posts, use those to capture their voice, and then output new drafts for new posts. I made this, and it’s free, but you’ll have to bring your own Anthropic API key.
AI + COMMS JOBS
🏢 Find a New Gig
Looking for a role at the intersection of communications and AI? Here are some opportunities to check out:
Sr. Marketing Specialist, AI Content Strategy at Ingersoll Rand (Charlotte)
AI Creative & Content Manager, Amazon Key at Ring (Hawthorne, CA)
Director, Communications & Founder Brand at Scribe (San Francisco)
Director, PR & Communications at Seekr (Austin)
SPONSORED BY
One agent, one brain, zero manual work.
Most AI tools forget you the moment the chat ends. SureThing doesn’t.
SureThing is an autonomous agent that can draft in your voice, triage what matters, follow up on things you forgot, and report back with what happened next.
Day 1, you onboard it.
Day 30, it knows your clients and patterns.
Day 90, it catches things you missed.
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YOUR FEEDBACK WANTED
🔊 Help The Comms Stack Improve
Quick question: how can I help?
What workflows are you struggling with? Where does AI still feel mysterious or overwhelming? What has worked that you’d like to share with others?
I’m a builder, and I’d love to help you and the rest of The Comms Stack community find great new ways to use AI.
Reply and tell me.
I read every response.
Even a one-sentence reply helps. For example:
“I wish AI could help me with ______.”
Until next Wednesday,
Dan