Maintaining an aggressive digital presence requires powerful and focused advertising copy. A business needs to provide a clear and consistent message on all its digital channels to advance in the marketplace. Finding and hiring an adequate copywriter can cost a small or micro-business owner substantial time and money—a combination that is finite and already in high demand.
AI copywriting services may provide an answer. These programs can do things like writing ad copy, editing website content, and creating mail campaigns. Artificial Intelligence cannot take the writing task completely off a business owner’s plate, but it could help save energy and resources.
How AI Copywriting is Changing the Marketing Landscape
Good copywriting traditionally depended on the work of trained marketing experts. These specialists command salaries that are usually out-of-reach for the small and micro-business owner’s advertising budget. Luckily, AI is making small businesses more competitive by offering low-cost copy generation. A Smart Insights article notes that AI “writers” are currently sophisticated enough to avoid readers’ detection and boost conversion. Business owners can trust this proven level of AI competency when using copywriting software.
Using AI-generated Templates
Software like copy.ai, articoolo, Writesonic, and Copysmith can turn a vague idea into marketable copy. Even better, the absolute beginner can make use of these writing programs. Templates can take a user from developing a product description, to isolating keywords for search engine optimization, and onward to writing a listicle including a recommendation for that exact product. According to a Forbes article, the creative director for eBay even described one of these programs as being “to copywriting what Photoshop is to designers.” A more timely comparison might be to Canva –the accessible graphic design program that comes stocked with thousands of editable templates.
As an example, I wrote the following description for an imaginary one-person consulting agency called Russo Results:
I research and write articles to introduce small and micro-business owners to time and money-saving technology that can make their marketing strategies more aggressive.
-input into AI software
By filtering that poorly written sentence through template generators in three different programs, I was able to derive the following unique value proposition (written by AI but compiled from many templates by me):
I’m a solo entrepreneur, so I know you have limited marketing resources.
1. I’m a self-employed hairstylist and salon web marketing manager. I also run my consulting service, Russo Results, to help small business owners save time and money with proven marketing strategies.
2. I’m a researcher, not a saleswoman. I work to give owners actionable advice based on my analysis of their challenges and needs.
3. I’m affordable. That’s right; my services won’t break the bank for your business’s marketing budget.
–AI-generated copy
This proposition is far more potent than the vague description I provided. The AI synthesized my meaning and offered complete and confident copy that would be useable as written.
What’s the Catch?
Unfortunately, no single AI copywriter could take my idea from start to finish. Instead, I had to:
- input my example sentence into copy.ai’s brand mission generator,
- then put that brand mission into Writesonic’s keyword extractor,
- then finally into Copysmith’s unique value proposition generator.
The process only took about five minutes. Still, it required access to all three programs and the ability to filter between the many templates each process generated. These programs still need a small-business owner to have both the financial resources to subscribe in the first place plus the writing and marketing background to optimize their results. By selecting a weaker option at any level of content generation, we go from the copy shown above to this – much more anemic – output:
I’m Hope Russo, call me at [XXX] XXX-XXXX.
1. I offer affordable marketing strategies for small business owners.
2. Whether you need a fresh marketing strategy or a marketing makeover, I look forward to helping your business succeed!
AI-generated Copy
The first unique value proposition illustrated confidence, skill, and an awareness of consumer pain points. By contrast, this copy is vague, unpolished, and dull. Successful composition still depends on human judgment, making the value of business investment into AI copywriting software dependent on the user’s competency.
Emerging tech startups such as Joshua Wong’s Hypotenuse AI are already working to solve this problem. In an article with TechCrunch, Wong notes the failures of modern copywriting technology. Further, he suggests that his program utilizes the newest machine-learning tech to write tailored copy that matches a brand’s personality. He also teases “the possibility of the AI enabling infinitely customizable marketing copy — meaning a website could parse a visitor’s data footprint and generate dynamic product descriptions intended to appeal to that particular individual.” Should Wong realize his goals with Hypotenuse, the small business subscriber will have an incredible marketing advantage.
Bottom Line
AI copywriting is not a perfect solution. Still, it is a time-saving option for small and micro-business owners operating with a limited marketing budget. While the current output of these programs will still need human scrutiny, targeted copy templates can allow business owners to manage their own advertising. Future copywriting AI technology promises even more freedom for small and micro-business marketers.
If there are writing purists who still frown on AI copywriting, it’s important to note that tech-assisted writing is not the future of the discipline; it’s the present. Writesonic AI outlined this article, Grammarly proofread it, and Hemingway edited it for clarity.