Can ChatGPT and other AI technologies handle the copywriting for your marketing materials? The answer is yes, and in more ways than one, but only if you know how to use them.

The artificial intelligence technology known as Large Language Model (LLM) has disrupted the hell out of the written content industry. Marketing content can now be produced much more quickly—though that doesn’t mean the writing that’s been produced is very good. Human feedback can help AIs generate ideas or sales copy in a specific brand voice, which means the machines still need us… for a few more years, at least. 🤖🙃

If you don’t know how to write content and edit drafts in the first place, though, you’ll have a tough time getting your business off the ground.

In this post, we’ll go over how to prompt ChatGPT or other AI technologies in ways that will give your content writing more punch.

Why Develop Your Copywriting Skills Now That AI Is Here?

There’s no reason to learn copywriting techniques now that a machine can do it for us, right? … right?

Not exactly. The best copywriters produce product descriptions, landing pages, and email marketing that connects with customers. While an AI can certainly produce content ideas, they may not be the right ideas for your target audience.

To learn copywriting is to learn what makes your readers tick. What inspires them? What bothers them or holds them back? Tap into the psychology of your reader’s motivations.

As you explore, here are three AI strategies to consider.

ChatGPT for Copywriting: 3 AI Strategies to Consider

No. 1: Organize Information for Writing Long Form Content

Artificial intelligence can create outlines and subject lines, which can help cut down on the amount of mental lift needed to kick out a blog post. Consider using this technology to break down complex ideas.

Remember that you don’t want to use AI to replace the research stage of content writing. AI writers are designed to be persuasive, not accurate. While you can certainly leverage an AI to help you with website copy or landing pages, you should fact-check any claims that are made in the text.

No. 2: Check SEO Copywriting to Improve Search Results

In search engine optimization, the number of primary and secondary keywords in a blog post is a factor in how well that post ranks. Many copywriters struggle with this strategy; it’s tricky to stuff keywords into an article while still having personality.

One tool I love for making my articles more SEO-friendly is Surfer SEO. This software can plug into Google Docs using a Chrome browser extension, and it shows you what keywords to incorporate as you’re writing. Surfer uses a language processing technology, and also looks at posts from other high-performing websites to give you feedback.

Surfer has made my SEO process much easier. I cheat a little, honestly; I turn the audit feature on before I’ve even started my first draft. With this data in hand from the start, I have the ability to write SEO-optimized content quickly.

Related: Surfer SEO Review: The SEO Writing ‘Training Wheels’ You've Always Wanted

No. 3: Train an AI to Write Social Media Posts

Did you know you can feed information to an AI and it will learn and improve over time? This is sometimes called training data, and it can be used for reinforcement learning to make ChatGPT more effective when you ask it to create copy or new ideas.

This can be especially useful for social media posts, because social media captions need to have a voice and tone that reflects your brand. When an AI is untrained on brand, you have to edit the output so much that it’d just be faster to write the posts yourself from scratch.

By training an AI first, you might have better success when asking for examples of headlines, email copy, or ad copy that will be seen by your target audience.

Obviously, I Also Asked ChatGPT for Tips on How to Use ChatGPT

One of its tips was to practice “prompt engineering.” Here is what ChatGPT suggested:

Prompt engineering involves carefully designing and manipulating the input prompts to obtain desired outputs. Experiment with different prompts and observe how ChatGPT responds. You can play around with the length, tone, and content of your prompts to shape the output to your liking.

It's also beneficial to include an introduction sentence that aligns with your desired writing style. Through prompt engineering, you can fine-tune ChatGPT to generate copy that meets your specific requirements.

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I had never heard of prompt engineering, and as it turns out, it’s a thing. Here’s the Wikipedia page on it.

This brings up another good use case for ChatGPT: Using it as a tertiary source. In journalism sourcing, a tertiary source is a source that aggregates information from many other sources. Similar to a search engine, ChatGPT can help point you in the direction of new ideas or insights you previously didn’t know existed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Copywriting in Danger Because of ChatGPT?

Probably not. Copywriting skills are more about knowing your target audience than grammar and syntax. The best copywriting is writing that resonates with potential customers.

How Do You Use ChatGPT for Content Writing?

Prompt an AI to write an outline or draft on a topic of your choosing. Get specific about length and format. You may also consider training ChatGPT on past writings to help it improve.

What Is ChatGPT Used For?

ChatGPT is a large language model (LLM). This means it has been trained on vast amounts of written data, and can complete tasks or summarize topics based on this training.

Is ChatGPT Available for Free?

Yes, you are able to use the free version of ChatGPT to experiment and get acquainted with AI technology.

Is ChatGPT Safe to Use?

ChatGPT is safe to use. There are even hackers trying to push ChatGPT and other AIs as far as possible regarding unsafe or controversial responses, all in the name of improving safety and developing appropriate censorship standards.

What Kind of Company Is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is not a company, it’s a product. The company that owns ChatGPT is OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research laboratory.

Does Google Own OpenAI?

No. OpenAI is a separate entity. Google has developed its own chatbot, Bard, to compete with ChatGPT. Microsoft’s Bing chatbot is also a competitor.

How Do I Start Learning Copywriting?

Read books written by great copywriters, and begin to nerd out on the science and psychology that go into copywriting. Also learn everything you can about your target audience.

Can Copywriting Be Self-Taught?

Yes. Anyone can learn copywriting without needing professional training. Focus on the problems your customers have and how they think about those problems, then speak to those in your marketing.

Is It Hard to Learn Copywriting?

Not necessarily, but copywriting can be tricky at times. Remember that copy isn’t just about what you want to say, but also about what you readers want and need to hear.

Give ChatGPT a Try Today

Even if you don’t plan to use new technologies, it’s important to get acquainted with them so that you have a better understanding of the world. Experiment with large language models to see how they might supplement your overall writing goals. ◆

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