Does artificial intelligence (AI) really hit the mark when it comes to writing high-converting marketing copy? We’ve said before why we don’t think so — at least, not as a standalone service. AI won’t be replacing your copywriters anytime soon, but it can still be a helpful tool for those who may need additional marketing support. Now we’d like to dig a little deeper into what areas that can include. Here are the reasons why we think an AI digital writing assistant could be beneficial to your efforts, along with a few caveats you should keep in mind.
AI Can Help You Write Good Better
Even the best writers out there make typos. The faster you try to pump out content, the more likely you are to make them. While the occasional text goof shouldn’t be something you lose sleep over, it can start to look unprofessional if they become frequent — especially if they’re in emails to your leads trying to demonstrate why you’re worth the time to discuss new business.
True, spell check and grammar tools have been around for a while. But AI can catch those mistakes and then some by adhering to specific style guides, recommending alternative phrasing — even helping you condense your sentence structure if you’re trying to take a complex idea and fit it into a brief but effective social promo or email blast.
The caveat: AI doesn’t know your industry like you do, so it won’t automatically be able to create high-quality content like what you’ll need for blog posts, ebooks, and white papers. Even short-form content, like emails and social media posts, will need your finesse to make sure that they have the appropriate keywords, phrasing, tone, and writing style that are reflective of your business. AI might be able to create a paragraph or more about a particular topic without much trouble (a product description, for example), but it doesn’t know the particulars that really set your business apart from the competition — or how it feels in the shoes of your leads that will need your services.
AI Builds a Framework for Your Content
Are you having difficulty conveying a particular message in your ad copy? Or maybe you’re unsure about how to format a blog so that it flows logically from Point A to Point Z? AI can help you create a framework that organizes the points you want to include in a comprehensive format.
Then, you can take those points and expand upon them using your own industry knowledge and experience, as well as company-specific services and information that make it your own.
The caveat: AI may be able to account for a lot of variables, but the copy that it generates is often very generic. While this serves you well as an outline, you really want to take the time to review the generated script, add to it, and edit it so that it includes specifics that are relevant to your business. Plus, AI isn’t perfect and can still get facts and information wrong, depending on which sources it’s citing. That means you still need to fact check its work to verify its accuracy as much as its relevance.
AI Can Help You See New Ways of Expressing Your Content
Do you feel like your marketing copy has become repetitive and stale? It’s easy to get stuck in a loop when it comes to the content you think is most engaging to your leads, whether it’s the pain points they’re experiencing, recent market changes that may be affecting them, or the products and services that you offer.
While part of the solution to that writer’s block is learning how to be a better storyteller, AI can give you a boost by generating ideas you may not have previously imagined. This applies to long-form content creation for blogs, all the way down to marketing emails and their subject lines.
The caveat: Like any “out of the box” suggestion, there’s always the possibility that it’ll be too disparate from your normal content to make sense or be as effective as what you’ve drafted before. That said, it could still provide a springboard for molding something fresh and on brand, while accounting for the relevant points you want to convey to your target audience.
Is an AI Digital Writing Assistant Really Worth Your Time?
Answering that question really requires asking two before it:
Do you already have a marketing team, whether in-house or outsourced?
Does your team want to push more content in a shorter amount of time?
Having an AI writing assistant isn’t really necessary in the grand scheme of things if you already have one or more people on your team who can handle the copywriting. But maybe you’re strapped for talent, your marketing team’s down a couple of members, or you simply want help automating a few of the steps within your content writing process. If any of those situations apply to you, then an AI copywriting tool could be of benefit to auto-generate material for your team in real time.
Depending on what type of AI digital writing assistant you use, it may also be free. Just keep in mind that “free” equates to “still in development.” AI may be perpetually learning and improving at a fast pace, but it’s young, and there are many different AI tools cropping up that likely have more than their fair share of kinks to work out — beyond the caveats we raised above.
If you’re curious about what types of AI tools to try, as well as their pros and cons, Hootsuite and Woodpecker both offer valuable insight.
Does Marketing Armor Use AI?
We have experience with clients who’ve dabbled in AI for their content marketing and have then asked us to proof their work, and we’re aware of the AI tools that are available. That said, our content writing is currently all handled in-house through human creation. We’d still be happy to advise you on how to apply AI power to your current projects, or address any needs you may have with content generation. When you’re ready, click the link below to get started.
