Are you weighing up whether to switch to using AI copy?
Before you make that decision, let me explain why working with a copywriter who uses AI is a much better solution than outsourcing your content to AI alone.
If your written content is to have an impact on your audience, then it needs to be engaging and on brand. This means you need material that is unique, thoroughly researched and presented in the tone that will best resonate with your readers.
AI copy can’t give you that on its own!
What AI can do is make a good copywriter more efficient with your money. Here’s how…
AI frees me up to…
- Be creative. With more time to spend on the art of writing, I can connect with the muse to acess deeper insights, come up with helpful analogies and play around with phrases and wording.
- Conduct thorough research. More time also means I can go deeper and broader with my research, unearthing those precious gems of information that will add value to your content.
As a smart assistant, AI…
- Guides my research. By giving me a summary of complex topics and signposting useful resources, AI can slash the time I need to get my head around a subject and find valuable information.
- Generates headlines/titles. I know the formula for writing a powerful headline or title, but so does AI because it’s been trained on insane amounts of data. Rather than spending 20 of your minutes coming up with a punchy opener, I now spend 5 choosing between a dozen generated by AI – and maybe tweaking it if that’s needed.
- Writes meta descriptions. Meta descriptions are the snippets of text that describe search results on Google. They are like little ads, and AI is great at quickly generating them. Again, I will review and tweak the AI copy if necessary.
- Performs a final grammar and spell check. Because this just makes sense!
Why I warn against businesses using AI to write their online content
Of course, it is in my interest to have businesses coming to me to write their copy, but if you are considering saving a lot of money by asking ChatGPT or Google Gemini to churn out your content, I must make you aware of the following:
- AI makes factual errors. From minor mistakes to major blunders, AI can generate inaccurate information. These are technically referred to as ‘hallucinations’ and are accepted as inevitable at AI’s current state of evolution. It only takes one howler to harm your brand. Not only does this cast doubt on your industry knowledge, it shows that you prefer to save money and take shortcuts rather than produce content of real value.
- AI copy is tone deaf. Unless you specifically input your brand guidelines into your AI tool, your generated content is unlikely to be on brand. That means you will have to spend a lot of time editing and redrafting (or prompting AI to do this).
- Creatively, AI copy is hit and miss. AI can generate some impressive creative content, but sometimes it is way off the mark. The subtleties of humour also get lost on artificial intelligence.
In my experience, a copywriter/AI partnership is the best way forward for businesses and organisations looking to outsource content creation. While AI focuses on what it excels at (speed, accuracy and organisation), a copywriter can turn their attention to in-depth research, brand voice and creative treatment.
In other words, you can have the best of both worlds. Contact me to find out more.
Here’s a more in-depth article about AI and copywriting I cowrote with Vu Online