ChatGPT: 5 Use Cases For Copywriting

Few topics are as contentious among marketers than the discussion about the use and role of generative AI in marketing, and more specifically, copywriting and content production.

There's no doubt that AI can streamline a number of tasks in an agency setting, but can it help when brand stories, authenticity and human connection are the things consumers are seeking out? Well, we're going to explore, but spoiler, it can, if you use it correctly.

How can humans use ChatGPT to supercharge their content without compromising quality?

Content purists will have an array of horror story examples of instances when AI has either clunkily, or with pure, unfiltered errors and poor construction, devised content that wreaks of quick fix, zero human input and zero-effort. As marketers, our clients are paying us for a service, for our learned experience of what works, our skillsets born and developed from years of on-the-job experience and dealing with real, human consumer behaviour.

It is our professional and moral responsibility to deliver what is being paid for, but this also means moving with the times and exploring the ways we can utilise technologies, including AI - as a tool, not a replacement to human creativity. It makes sense to utilise time-saving options in order to meet needs effectively, without  losing sight of quality, delivery and engagement. So, how can we strike that balance and what can we use ChatGPT for?

1- Outlining and idea mapping

We've all found ourselves staring at a blank page; it can be overwhelming to start organising our many thoughts about a piece into something coherent, fluid and logical. As a tool built for efficiency, AI is ideally placed to support administrative tasks such as outlining, helping to take your notes and thoughts about a piece, and order them into something which flows the same way on the page as it does in your mind.

Here, we are leaning into AI as a tool, a support for our own creativity and this is where it can truly shine. Something to note about every application of AI in content writing, is that often, the results are only as good as the prompt itself. This is because this is not human, it cannot generate content as effectively as you, or with the same nuance. It needs to be fed solid ideas, and needs to grasp your aims, goals and outcomes to actually help you.

So, when utilising ChatGPT, remember you must provide clear, concise instructions, and importantly never skip the check and review stage of these suggestions once supplied.

2 - Hook examples and exploration

Another route to maximising AI's potential as a sounding board, rather than a writer, is to allow it to help with hooks and headers. If you find yourself struggling to pick out the winning hook, a killer headline, or the best pull quote, it can help. Be specific - it is always about providing as much insight into your desired outcome as possible. Use it for narrowing down your options, helping to summarise your sections with appropriate headers and more.

3 - Editing

Editing copy down to meet a word count can be a marketer's worst nightmare - you have so much to say, you've provided rationale for your arguments, but you need to cut down 25% to fit an award submission text box perhaps? Let ChatGPT help. As always, be clear in what is essential and non-negotiable, make it obvious what is vital to your point, give concise instructions on how much you need to cut while retaining the points you wish to make.

4 - Audience insights

If you're seeking insights into audiences for specific sectors and products, AI can help with this. Allow it to analyse and collate data on approaches, campaigns and content that worked well for competitors, or audiences the likes of which you're seeking to target.

5 - Human-in-the-loop approach

The common theme with all the ways we can harness ChatGPT to maximise our written content and other AI tools, is to lead with human input and accept the output as part of a process, not a finished product. AI can play a huge role in refining, editing, planning, but it cannot think critically like a human can - it has none of your lived experience and nuance. To maximise the tools it offers, while retaining trust, brand authenticity and importantly, factual accuracy, we must employ a 'human-in-the-loop' approach, which helps ensure the output is what we need, but also helps to train AI to drive future efficiencies.

The Human-in-the-Loop principles refers to a hands-on approach to utilising AI and supporting machine learning, through which a human is always participating at every stage. However, as marketers we're focusing on this less to teach AI, but more to manage, engage with and monitor it, ensuring the outcome suits our needs and is on point. Human-in-the-Loop does not fix inaccuracies if the person checking blindly trusts every element of the AI output - we must sense-check, and fact-check everything.

For marketing, we mean drawing on the benefits of AI, but with human-led action in terms of:

Context - being specific when we input data, content or copy.

Refinement - Review the output, then enhance or refine your prompts to secure a correct outcome in terms of brand, messaging and accuracy.

Check and review - This is very important. This is where we close the loop with additional human review to ensure your content has retained objectives and will work alongside your brand, not against it. Check facts are accurate, check brand tone is correct and consistent.

AI is clearly here to stay and while there's a long way to go before copywriters need to be quaking in their boots about losing their jobs to the machines, it is worth exploring these ways (and others) of utilising this tech to our advantage, to elevate and support our skills, without compromising on skills and learnings.