Using AI for Copy: Pros, Cons, and Best Practices

Which of these two introductions do you think was written by AI?

Intro 1

The growing role of AI in copywriting and marketing brings exciting possibilities, but it also comes with a new set of challenges. How can you make AI work for you when copywriting is a creative skill? 

In this article, we’ll go into the pros, cons, and best practices that apply when using AI tools for copy and content.

Intro 2

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing and content creation, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a groundbreaking tool, reshaping how we approach copywriting.

From small startups to large corporations, AI’s role in generating and optimizing text is a hot topic, stirring discussions about its potential and limitations.

In this post, we delve deep into the world of AI-driven copywriting. We’ll explore the benefits it brings to the table, such as unprecedented efficiency and the ability to analyse vast amounts of data for targeted content.

But it’s not all smooth sailing. We’ll also address the challenges and drawbacks, like the risk of losing personal touch and potential ethical concerns.

💡The answer is at the bottom of the page.

Understanding AI capabilities in copywriting

Using AI tools can be great time-savers, they can help with writer’s block and they can be super-useful when you’re facing a blank page. In fact in our AI survey, 78% of copywriters said they use some sort of AI tools.

However, they still aren’t currently at a level where you can be completely free of engaging with the creative side of writing – and still produce good quaility, original work

Once you’ve used AI to generate copy over a period of time you soon start to see it has a partcular writing style, and repeatedly uses the same phrases and formatting across all the content it produces.

If we take a look at the introductory paragraphs at the start of this post, you’ll see terms like…

• …ever-evolving landscape…
• In this post, we delve deep…
• We’ll also address the…
• We’ll explore the…

Anecdotally, I’d guesstimate that about 90% of all the copy I’ve ever asked chatGPT to produce uses those phrases.

AI copy also likes bullet points, with the opening words bold. e.g.

If we can spot it, Google certainly can.

Google is clear it has no issue with AI generated copy that delivers high quality content. However, it does take issue with low quality, spam content.

One of the easiest ways to detect what it perceives to be spam content (rightly or wrongly) is through these patterns.

Using AI for short form and long form copy

There are two major kinds of writing you can use an AI tool for in marketing: copywriting and content writing.

To write an article on a topic (known as long form content) versus short, snappy copywriting, a human writer would typically have these sets of skills:

Copywriter

• Tone: Persuasive, and direct across short-form touchpoints and webpages
• Purpose: To inspire sales and conversions. To make the reader take an action of commercial value.
• Goal: Enhance bottom-of-the-funnel actions: Fill in a contact form, open an email, and click a buy link/offer button.
• Person specification: Hired for the dazzling expanse of their imagination and judged by the compactness of their solution.

Content writing

• Tone: Informative and engaging, giving value to help the reader solve a problem.
• Purpose: To build relationships and trust with the audience.
• Goal: Enhance brand authority, social proof, and top-of-the-funnel activity such as likes and session lengths.
• Person specification: Creates memorable long content. Able to hone emotions like curiosity, empathy, or inspiration, and make customer connections.

Keep these skills in mind when briefing an AI as a tool for both copywriting and content writing. 

Will AI tools work on all forms of copy? 

The short answer is yes, but I’m not sure if we’re quite at the stage of development I’d call Oracle-level wisdom.

The pros of using AI when planning copy, content and image generation are:

Pros

• Speedy idea generation – AIs quickly think through concepts.
• Keeps a uniform tone and style – AIs adapt their output to your context.
• Potential to reduce staff costs – as ideation time is saved through AI-enabled processes.

AIs haven’t gained the ability to write brilliant copy — however, with your help, it does get pretty far.

Cons

• A lack of creativity and originality — AIs contain only what they have gathered or been allowed to gather by their developers.
• An AI lacks a full understanding of nuanced human emotions and contexts — there can be factual errors in output and a frustrating lack of accuracy in terms of tone & style. 
• An AI’s dependence on data can create mistakes in output — words are often repeated and the idea that digital content is valuable real-estate and every word counts hasn’t sunk into their robotic minds — yet.
• Danger of being classed as low quality content by Google if published unedited.

Best practices for briefing AI as a writer or marketer

To put it simply, asking an AI to write something is like imagining it’s a conversation you are having with your writer, designer, or SEO consultant.

If you want to invest in AI copy tools, apply the following tips to save time.

Provide the context

Familiarising your AI with your brand before you begin writing will help you generate better short copy and longer content pieces across various channels and platforms.

To help, it’s good to bring some copy examples. Give the AI your style and tone of voice to guide output.

Next, let’s think about what would naturally help aid your success in using AI tools for writing.

Prepare to iterate

Start by composing your own copy, and then utilize free AI tools like ChatGPT, Bard, or Bing to enhance your ideas, improving your writing flow and style.

Are you compiling social posts, hashtags, web banner copy, or video scripts? Consider taking it further with the free tools and the copy you’ve written. 

To enhance and iterate write more requests. Write in question form; “Write four social posts based on the article we just created”. “Now create a 30-second introduction script to a podcast on this topic”.

At this stage, you should have produced a tight brief and be ready to ask the AI to write copy.

Play with design concepts

As you continue, keep drawing the tool back to the core concepts as ideas shape up in your mind and you get more creative. “Can you recommend some images that might suit the social posts?”

You’ll need to have clear objectives and guidelines. A premium AI tool like Seenapse.ai is fun to try (for free).

Seenapse AI acts like your creative partner and asks you the questions it needs to generate a brief from scratch.

It then generates various creative key messages, and a visual direction, and suggests taglines.

Ask it to generate a feature image or more content threads. You can try other visual AI tools like DALL.E to create your images.

How does ChatGPT stack up?

Here is an example using chatGPT 3.5, where I ask for headline and article outline ideas.

ChatGPT is excellent for helping you when the brain runs dry and with changing tone, rewriting, and sometimes sparking off a new idea. You simply provide as much contextual detail as you can.

Next, to produce copywriting, I’ll refine my request for articles, to ask ChatGPT to write a persuasive CTA for the above article:

Not too bad! If you are just starting on your AI copywriting journey, the free version of ChatGPT can do a decent job of tailoring content and writing a CTA, which might allow you to combine the role of copywriter and content writer into one.

How to tailor content for different channels

AI-generated content, or generative AI, can adapt content and copy for various platforms (social media, websites, emails, etc.) and chatbots.

With free AI tools, you simply need to state which channel you want the copy for, the word count, context and other format factors.

For example, I could write: “Based on my Ask the Therapist” article and topic 3, would you write a video script for a 30-second explainer about our supportive community”. Here’s the result.

It truly is astonishing to see ChatGPT attempt a sensible tagline, “Join our supportive community today. Together, we thrive.”

I’d have to adjust and edit this copy to align it more with the brand, but the bare bones of what I’d need to produce as a copywriter are there, in seconds.

What is the future of AI tools and copy? 

For those writing, managing, and updating their website, at present, you will find that writing is still something you’ll often have to tweak as a human.

Current free AI tools easily go off track if you don’t brief your requests concisely and provide detailed instructions. 

A free AI tool is handy for suggesting alternatives and igniting that creative spark that was missing.

Investing in AI copy has the potential to save you time and headcount in marketing roles.

Best AI tools for copywriting and content

These tools for copywriting and content creation all have a free option you can test.

• Grammarly – spelling, punctuation and grammar help. Simply add to your browser.
• Tome.app – create a presentation or slide deck.
• Rytr – for emails and blogs.
• Anyword – content that is branded.
• Wordtune – internal teams and HR help with content.
• Simplified – copy and image/video editing.
• Text Metrics – SEO optimisation made easy.
• Prowritingaid – grammar, writing style improver.
• Writecream – text, audio and image generator.
• QuillBot – rewrite, paraphrase and repurpose content.
• DeepL – translate into another language.
• ContentForge – improve academic and technical content.
• Hypotenuse AI – brief and expand keywords for mathematics and engineering.

SEO AI tools to try

SEO AI tools that are worth exploring can generate SEO titles, and in terms of copywriting, suggest social posts, scripts, PPC ads, zippy headings, hashtag suggestions, and product copy/captions.

These AI tools can also help you optimize content for search engines and differentiate and customise to re-sell/upsell to different groups.

Some SEO AI tools to try include:

• Diib – grow rankings.
• CaniRank – advanced keyword search.
• KeywordTool – Google’s AI tool.
• Jasper – optimize web pages
• SEO.ai – generate long content SEO optimised.
• Surfer SEO – research, audit, write SEO articles.
• Scalenut – keywords, briefs, articles.

On all forms of copy, it’s best to think of an AI tool as helpful, and time-saving, but you will still need a human to edit and shape consistent integrated marketing campaign messages across your channels.

Final Thoughts

From an operational perspective, there are some barriers to entry. To get the most out of AI tools for copywriting, a human operator with an education in writing and marketing is desirable. 

If it’s just you, and you want to cut down the time needed to write copy, you might find our article on How to write copy that keeps your audience engaged a useful assist.

It is worth exploring some of the tools above, alongside educating yourself about the “AI–versity”. Seeing the invention of many AI tools for copy reminds me of when people started using new tools for analytics. Those who adopted early became experts later on.

💡Which intro was written by AI? Intro 2