What you’ll learn:
- Why are B2B marketers turning to AI copywriting tools and providers?
- What are qualities to look for from a writer who uses AI?
- What happens if you don’t use those screens?
With the help of AI copywriting and content tools, B2B content creators can create high-quality content more efficiently than ever before. It’s a game-changing opportunity that most B2B content marketers simply can’t afford to miss.
We’ve already written about the dangers of relying overmuch on generative AI, and there are ethical issues that will need to be worked out over time. Still, marketers are under pressure to immediately leverage generative AI in their content campaigns, partly from FOMO but also because it’s a real revolution in speed and costs.
If you’re looking to hire or subcontract a B2B content writer who has AI copywriting expertise in Jasper, ChatGPT (or my personal favorite, Grammarly), what background, traits and expertise should you be looking for from that person?
1 • They understand strategy (and how to serve it)
This pretty much automatically rules out AI-enabled “content mills” and lesser providers who may be able to grind out reams of content using AI copywriting platforms – but is it B2B content that descends from your go-to-market strategy or supports campaign objectives?
Let’s be blunt. There are a lot of dense writers out there who getting along because they’re adept at AI prompts. But what you want is a writer who knows how to deliver good ideas for topics, provides flourishes and narrative engagement in their written drafts, and has a real handle on your business and branding.
What 5 ways are humans indispensable to good B2B content?
Or else they’ll be handing in a lot of unoriginal “me-too” work that doesn’t achieve your goals and may ding your brand because it’s oh-so-meh. Or just plain dumb.
On a nearly tangential side note? Wikipedia, of all places, has a list of stupid article ideas that’s pretty hilarious.
2 • They do research
AI-expert content writers have absolutely got to be inquisitive. The AI platform they’re using will be able to scrape for links and data. But a lazy writer won’t go beyond those to dig for material or insights that are truly revelatory or even exciting.
Sometimes that research might seem to come out of left field and have very little to do with the core topic. Yet it actually brings the content to life or illuminates a point in ways that an AI wouldn’t intuit – and therefore wouldn’t provide.
2 • They can edit
Louis Brandeis famously said, “There is no great writing, only great rewriting.” In the realm of B2B content writing, this statement rings especially true. A good content writer, even one using AI copywriting tools, will also be a good editor who’s capable of polishing his/her work to a gloss before s/he ever puts a first draft in your inbox.
But why is editing so crucial? Well, for one, it ensures proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation. And the context for those can change: Before launching a content project, make sure your writer is clear on its country of origin or intended audience, as spellings and sentence constructions can vary across different regions. The obvious example: Is it ‘colour’ or ‘color’?
Another l aspect of editing is to ensure that you’re not overusing words or including redundant ones. Remember, readability is key, and anything that hampers it will lead to an unsatisfactory result. A good writer will get this from the start and deliver sharp, pared-down copy that still evokes your brand voice and hits the tone you want from the piece.
Finally, editing is also about adjustment – making the content smarter, or more direct, or otherwise more appropriate to your target audience. If an AI copywriting provider is a good editor (and has taken the time to understand the target), their client won’t have to be the one making these changes.
4 • They know SEO
To make your content more discoverable through internet search, your B2B content writer doesn’t necessarily have to know the ins and outs of SEO. But it helps. Sometimes, SEO mandates can inspire the creation of good content.
So a B2B content writer who has AI copywriting expertise should also know SEO trends and techniques to increase the chances of the client’s content appearing at or near the top of search results. This drives visibility and potentially more engaged readers.
They should understand that good content nowadays isn’t about keyword density or the quality of a meta title or description. It’s about the quality and authoritativeness of the content.
5 • They know AI
Seems obvious, right? But if you’re going to hire a writer who purports to understand AI tools and AI copywriting, make sure they’re not blowing smoke.
A survey by Resume Builder found that nearly half of recent job seekers were embellishing their AI skills.
As with any technical tool, there are layers of knowledgeability and expertise involved in the use of AI writing implements. If you’re adding them to a corporate AI license, it’ll be good if they’re already familiar with the platform your team is using.
6 • They’re not constrained by AI copywriting
Some AI copywriting providers (and we’ve seen plenty of apparent examples) rely too much on AI as a tool. To the extent they let it do their outlining, their research, even their thinking for them.
That’s not what you want from a good content or copy writer. You want somebody who will execute a campaign vision but also will have the savvy and seasoning to make the material better, suggest course corrections or push back on overall strategy because they’ve been through similar situations and can call on experience-based judgment.
Does that sound like something you’d get from an AI? Or from a writer who’s just selling AI-reliant writing services?
What happens if you ignore this advice?
Maybe nothing. Maybe you’ll go merrily along and find yourself dominating your segment and reaping cascades of eyeballs and MQLs by not applying these filters to your AI copywriting providers.
More likely? You’ll wonder how you flushed away all that budget and got little or no improvement in return.
Or even saw a decline in site traffic, content stickiness, qualified leads, and other KPIs…slow, perhaps, but inexorable and mysterious.
How come?
Don’t give up on pursuing the true innovation that drives breakout B2B content marketing success.
- Mediocre content delivers mediocre results: An AI copywriting provider who’s interested in doing a volume business in filler, not in good, strategic, original and engaging content, will drive down the quality of your content campaigns. That plays right into these other dangers…
- People develop craptent filters: B2B content marketing is thrillingly competitive, because you’ve got to outdo yourself at every turn – and outshine your competition. In part, that’s because audiences quickly learn to filter good content from bad, and recognize when something is robotically repetitive of stuff they’ve seen before.
- Your competition isn’t standing still: The best at B2B content marketing (and most successful, no coincidence) among them are always trying to find ways to improve content and leverage it in fresh ways.
- You’ve hamstrung invention and innovation: This may be the most dangerous development of all. By using AI copywriting providers, in-house or external, who rely on these tools to a fault, you’ve compromised your ability to to deliver originality and breakthrough insights. Remember, any “hot new idea” that comes from an AI prompt is scraped from something that already existed. Don’t give up on pursuing the true innovation that drives breakout B2B content marketing success.
Maybe nothing. Maybe you’ll go merrily along and find yourself dominating your segment and reaping cascades of eyeballs and MQLs by not applying these filters to your AI copywriting providers.
More likely? You’ll wonder how you flushed away all that budget and got little or no improvement in return. Or even saw a decline in site traffic, content stickiness, qualified leads…
How come?
- Mediocre content delivers mediocre results: An AI copywriting provider who’s interested in doing a volume business in filler, not in good, strategic, original and engaging content, will drive down the quality of your content campaigns.
- People develop craptent filters: B2B content marketing is thrillingly competitive, because you’ve got to outdo yourself at every turn – and outshine your competition. In part, that’s because audiences quickly learn to filter good content from bad, and recognize when something is robotically repetitive of stuff they’ve seen before.
- Your competition isn’t standing still: The best at B2B content marketing (and most successful, no coincidence) among them are always trying to find ways to improve content and leverage it in fresh ways.
- You’ve hamstrung invention and innovation: This may be the most dangerous development of all. By using AI copywriting providers, in-house or external, who rely on these tools to a fault, you’ve compromised your ability to to deliver originality and breakthrough insights. Remember, any “hot new idea” that comes from an AI prompt is scraped from something that already existed. Don’t give up on pursuing the true innovation that drives breakout B2B content marketing success.