I’ve been a writer for my entire professional life. I write blog posts, white papers, and emails; I help clients develop strategies that include writing; and I teach other writers how to be better at their jobs. But even though it’s my job to write, I’m still terrible at it — and that’s my point. Writing is hard because humans are complex creatures with complicated emotions, beliefs, and experiences. AI offers a huge opportunity to improve content marketing by making it easier for us all to write better content more quickly—but not just by automating the process of writing itself. In this post we’ll look at why writing is so difficult in the first place, what AI can do about those challenges right now (spoiler alert: not much), and what will have changed when AI becomes good enough to produce original text indistinguishable from human writing (which may or may not ever happen).
Writing is hard.
Writing is hard. It’s not just the creative process that’s a slog, but also the research, time and effort required, as well as skill level required to do it well. And that’s before you even factor in how much patience you need to have when writing!
But don’t worry—there are content marketing tools that can help with all of those things (and more).
Writing is hard because humans are complex.
Writing is hard because humans are complex.
The things that make us unique—our emotions, our styles, our inconsistencies and unpredictability—are also the things that make us good at writing. Not just any writer can write well; a writer who can capture your imagination is rarer still. But even if you’re not a great writer yourself, there are companies out there that can provide you with quality content for your business or brand.
AI offers a huge opportunity to improve content marketing.
AI is not just a great opportunity for content marketers, it’s pretty much the only way they can compete.
AI offers a huge opportunity to improve content marketing. It can write better copy than humans, more copy than humans and faster than humans, for less money and at a higher price point as well. AI also allows you to reach more people with your content than ever before by automating some of its distribution while personalizing the experience on an individual level.
AI will change the role of the writer.
The role of the writer in content marketing will change. The writer of today is used to working alone, but in the future they’ll need to collaborate with other professionals and learn new skills. They’ll need to understand how their work fits into a larger business strategy and how it relates to business goals. They’ll need to understand their audience—who are they? What are their needs? How can we reach them?
This doesn’t mean that writers will no longer be able to do what they love: create content for brands based on their passions or interests (and get paid for it). But these changes will require them to build up new skills as well as take on new responsibilities within an organization.
AI will expose writers’ skills and flaws.
If you’re a writer, you should be excited about this! Artificial intelligence will expose your skills and flaws. AI will expose writers’ skills and flaws by looking at the words they use and the way they structure their sentences.
For example: when writing about AI, many people use words like “future” or “technology.” But did you know there are only 412 different ways to say “the future of”? Or that there are only 883 different ways to say “technology”? If an AI was asked to write something about technology’s future it would probably have a lot of overlap with other articles written on similar topics. And if I teach that AI how to write more effectively (or better yet, teach one another) then we’ll all benefit from better content results in Google searches!
Writing is hard because it’s personal.
Writing is personal.
That’s what makes it so hard sometimes. When you write something, you have to show who you are, what you know and how much of an expert in your field of expertise that makes you—all while keeping the reader engaged and interested along the way. You’re writing for an audience that could be anyone from a total stranger on the other side of the world to a friend or family member sitting next to them at dinner. And that person has expectations about how they want their information presented to them: Do they prefer long-form content? Are they looking for more specific details? Is there too much jargon in this article? Can we make this easier on people with less time on their hands? How should we structure our website so users know where everything is located and can easily navigate between sections? And so on…
Writers are important, but they will no longer be the only ones writing.
With AI-powered content, writers will become more important.
They will no longer be the only ones writing, but rather one of many contributing factors in the creation of content. As we move forward with this technology, writers may have a bigger role in developing ideas and shaping narratives. They will also have more opportunities to work on multiple projects at once.
Writers who are willing to collaborate with AI tools can look forward to having new ways of thinking about their craft evolve over time as well as new ways they can apply their skillset beyond traditional forms like novels or essays. This could mean generating stories based on user data sets or creating interactive multimedia pieces that incorporate video game elements like quests (think Pokémon Go) or puzzles (think Escape Rooms).
The days of “write it, optimize it, and forget it” are over.
The days of “write it, optimize it, and forget it” are over.
AI makes content marketing more complex by adding new variables to think about when creating your strategy:
- Your audience’s interests and attention span are constantly changing.
- AI can help you understand what people want based on the data it collects from their actions on your site or social media accounts.
- But you still have to figure out how to write copy that meets those needs.
If anything, writing great content is going to require more skills than ever before, as well as more time and money for research and development—and even then there’s no guarantee that all of your efforts will pay off in the end (see: all those failed launches).
Machine-written copy won’t feel familiar any time soon.
Machine-written copy won’t feel familiar any time soon.
Machine-written copy will be more like a human-written copy than a human-written copy.
One thing I learned from this article — writing is hard!
One thing I learned from this article is that writing is hard. Writing is personal, complex, and a skill. It’s also a profession and a career.
Writing takes time and effort, but it’s worth it if you want your business to be successful on the web.
Conclusion
I hope I’ve convinced you that AI is the future of content marketing. It offers a huge opportunity to improve our work and bring the benefits of machine learning to text generation. In this article, we looked at some of the challenges facing AI-powered writers today, from the complexity of our language to its personal nature. But these challenges will be overcome as more people learn about this technology and start using it for themselves! If you want to get started right away, check out my recommended tools below: