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Are AI tools threatening the existence of writers? Not quite. Find out why.

According to a recent article by Hubspot, AI is the name of the game; marketers are leveraging AI to deliver on business objectives. The use of AI for marketing is currently worth 15.8 billion USD and is projected jump to over $108 billion by 2028.

ChatGPT, Bard, Text Cortex, Jasper, GetGenie are just some of the free and subscription-based content tools that are available for individuals and businesses to use. The tool has the potential to save money and time on content writing that can be used for marketing and the customer experience. AI allows you to specify the parameters of the type of content you are after and detail required.

Over 80% of marketing gurus are using some form of AI technology for their digital campaigns, with the focus being on ad targeting.

But what about longer form content? Blogs, press releases, whitepapers, editorial and more?

Are marketers ready to ditch content writers for AI in this instance? Not quite.

While there is no doubt AI can really take the grunt work out of getting pen to paper, factual details, statistics, word limits and other elements, there are still limitations to what AI can do.

The use of AI for marketing is currently worth 15.8 billion USD and is projected jump to over $108 billion by 2028

I experimented with a few AI platforms with the following parameters:

• a 500-word content marketing article about the same topic
• must include statistics
• must be convincing

Here is why AI hasn’t killed off writers:

1. Lacks personality: most consumers will act and purchase when they feel their needs are understood and met. For me, this element was missing in AI copy. Whilst the level of detail is certainly informative and is delivered quickly, I don’t believe an AI tool can ensure copy reflects brand voice in the first iteration. Marketers will still need to edit the content to reflect their brand voice relevant to buyer personas.  

2. Limited angle: AI tools don’t necessarily deliver the intricacies required for a newsworthy angle. When I used the parameters above for each tool, the headline did not appeal to the reader’s sense of emotion or curiosity. This is fundamental for click-rates, engagement and eventually ROI via the call-to-action (which, of course, wasn’t included). While some tools like Rytr can allow you to select the tone of the article, considerable editing and polishing is still needed for the content to be ready for marketing use. The level of detail is a plus, but it lacks the persuasive element of content marketing that should be visible throughout the article. In my opinion, human writers are still needed to source the true ‘nugget’ of the piece.

Marketers will still need to edit the content to reflect their brand voice relevant to buyer personas

3. Not verified: One thing to note when requesting stats and facts to augment your content piece using AI is the fine print at the bottom of the page that says “information about people, places or facts might be inaccurate“. This means any stats used for a content marketing article needs to be fact-checked before being used for campaigns or sent to clients. This is particularly important for highly regulated industries such as financial services, data, pharmaceuticals and more.

4. Not marketing optimized: at the end of the day, marketers need content that performs. Detail is important, but if AI generated content is not driving traffic to your website or qualified leads to your sales team, it cannot replace content marketing writers. In my opinion, it is unlikely AI content will be fully optimized for social media, SEO and web channels in the first iteration. Optimization looks different for all businesses, so editing and polishing of AI produced content is required before it is marketing ready.

human writers are still needed to source the true ‘nugget’ of the piece.

In summary, AI content writing tools can be very effective as a writer’s assistant. These platforms can certainly help reduce research element for quality content marketing but come with limits that cannot be ignored. It can definitely help with getting the ball rolling, especially if you are experiencing writer’s block. However, at this point, significant human editing of AI generated content is still needed.

Have you dabbled in some AI for content marketing, but need some help polishing and editing for your business objectives? Perhaps your AI generated content hasn’t really performed as you’d hoped.

NSA Communications can help optimize and make sure your content is performing.

Contact us today:

E: noha@nsacomms.com M: 0405 383 190