The global AI market is predicted to grow in the nearest future, reaching a market value of $126 billion in 2025. This number alone already says something about the impact AI has had on different industries worldwide. In fact, even our daily lives are supported by AI-powered tech – and we don’t even notice it.
Likewise, the world of digital marketing and particularly copywriting has been impacted by these changes as well. Some businesses are adopting different AI writing tools to make it easier to create effective marketing materials. However, the introduction of AI in copywriting has its advantages and disadvantages. Here’s what it will mean for copywriters and businesses.
What is AI copywriting?
To put it simply, AI copywriting is the process of using AI-powered tools and technologies to write copy for marketing. These tools usually receive instructions from you and then generate copy that is based on these instructions and the pre-existing on the web. The result is both new and free of plagiarism.
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Obviously, the quality of this copy will depend on the quality of the tool itself as well as the parameters you set and the similar pieces of content that the tool finds on the web. There are already many AI writing tools available online, such as Jasper (former Jarvis), Copy.ai, or Copysmith, but AI writing is still in its infancy and has a lot of potential. It’s also worth noting that the CRM and business startup tool HubSpot is investing in such solutions and has been working on a free AI content writer assistant.
Advantages of AI copywriting
At first glance, there are numerous benefits to AI copywriting. Lara Beltran, a copywriting expert, explains it this way, “AI copywriting can make the entire process of copywriting much easier for businesses of all sizes and specialists of all levels.” Here are just some advantages of AI copywriting.
- Save time: Perhaps the most obvious benefit of using AI copywriting tools is that you will be able to save time. By generating copy through these tools, you won’t need to spend as much time doing research, brainstorming ideas, thinking about the precise wording of a sentence, and then editing everything for the final product. Instead, the tool will do all of it in a matter of minutes, if not seconds.
- Focus on other tasks: Once you have more time on your hands, your energy can be directed to other, more important tasks. For instance, lead generation might require more time at the moment, while copywriting will be taken care of by the AI-powered tools you are using. By giving you more time for other tasks, AI copywriting tools help you better distribute your resources and energy between the different parts of your business that require your attention.
- Create in bulk: Not only do AI copywriting tools create copy quickly, but they also do it in bulk. This means that large amounts of copy can be generated way faster than before. This is particularly helpful for handling repetitive tasks. For example, product descriptions can now be generated with more convenience because you will simply need to set up the parameters you need and get good copy almost immediately.
- Personalized copy: On the other hand, AI tools can also be used for creating more diverse copy. Because such tools are way faster and better at research and analysis than human copywriters are, it becomes much easier to personalize copy for each customer or target audience segment separately. Better analysis means better predictions, so this copy could potentially perform better than the one written by human copywriters. Moreover, writing tools can take into account your SEO requirements and deliver both personalized and search-engine-optimized copy.
- Brainstorm ideas: One of the biggest challenges for any copywriter is to keep coming up with good ideas. Brainstorming new things to write is always difficult, no matter how experienced you are, but it becomes even harder when you hit writer’s block and have absolutely zero ideas. For copywriting tools, this isn’t a problem whatsoever. They can work all day long generating more and more copy as long as you keep giving it your requirements for this copy.
- Spend less: One last big advantage of using AI copywriting tools is that you can spend less on all of your copywriting. It’s cheaper to purchase a single tool than to pay human copywriters to do the job. Yet, is it worth it?
Disadvantages of AI copywriting
While there are definitely numerous advantages to using AI copywriting in your strategy, there are still some drawbacks that come with it. If you want to use AI tools effectively, you will first need to consider these challenges. Here are some of the major disadvantages of such solutions.
- Nothing truly original: While it’s true that AI copywriting tools can generate new ideas, it doesn’t mean that these ideas will be truly original. These tools analyze existing content and take into account your own parameters to create new copy. Everything that these tools create will be a mashup of something that already exists on the web in some form.
- No human emotions: Another huge downside to AI copywriting is that there are absolutely no human emotions involved. Machines can’t appeal to human emotions the same way humans can, which is essential in terms of consumer buying behavior. People often make purchases based on emotions, so if your copy lacks these, it will obviously underperform as a result.
- Awkward wording: As mentioned earlier, AI copywriting is still in its infancy. While many of the tools currently available are advanced enough to create copy, there is still a lot of room for development. And one of such areas is wording. AI copywriting tools often end up creating copy that sounds awkward, so you will have to proofread and edit it yourself to get the final product that you can actually use.
- Not a complete substitute: Lastly, AI copywriting still isn’t a complete substitute for human copywriters. Right now, there is no way you can completely replace your human copywriters with tools like that.
How can AI copywriting impact business?
So, how can AI copywriting impact business and copywriters particularly? While AI tools can’t replace copywriters yet, these tools can definitely help companies and their employees to create better copy. Here are just a few ways how you can use AI, whether you are a business owner or a copywriter.
- Combine copywriters and AI copywriting: Instead of relying solely on human copywriters or AI tools, the best thing you can do is combine them. If you are a copywriter, don’t shy away from using AI copywriting tools – they can make your day-to-day tasks easier. If you are a business owner, introduce your copywriting team to AI copywriting tools and help your team set them up.
- Automate repetitive copy creation: The best types of copy to create with AI copywriting tools include blog posts, social media posts, email subject lines, article headlines, product descriptions, and meta titles and descriptions. In other words, anything that can have a particular template. The creation of such repetitive copy can and should be automated.
- Interact with customers indirectly: Another way to use AI copywriting tools is to create copy for interacting with customers indirectly. For example, answering customer questions on Quora or other online platforms. Depending on your own abilities and goals, this can be a great way to experiment with your copywriting strategy.
Final Thoughts
All in all, AI copywriting is yet another innovation that is set to change the world of digital marketing, for better or for worse. Businesses of all sizes are already adopting AI-powered tools to help them create better copy.
However, this doesn’t mean that copywriters will suddenly be out of jobs. It simply means that using this tech can help companies and their copywriters find better ways to deliver their message to their audience.
Photo credit: The feature image has been done by Elias Herter.
This guest article has been submitted by Wanda Lafond. While we appreciate guest contributions, it's important to note that the views expressed by the author are not necessarily reflective of those held by TechAcute.
