There’s been a lot of doom-mongering about AI and its impact on the written word. But despite the frankly quite frightening potential of AI to revolutionise many areas of business, including content creation, copywriting – by humans – still plays a crucial role in attracting and engaging audiences.
Evolving landscape of written communication
Digital channels and tools like email, social media and text messaging have undoubtedly transformed the way we communicate. But these changes have only amplified the importance of well-crafted written content. From social media posts to brochures, case studies to white papers, words – and how we use them – are still critical in capturing audience attention, conveying messages effectively and building trust in your brand.
AI and copywriting: A new frontier
AI-powered writing tools have added a new dimension to this landscape. AI can generate certain types of content quickly, assist with research, and help optimise text for search engines, for example. However, it is not a replacement for human creativity and expertise.
While AI can produce coherent text, it often lacks the nuanced understanding of brand voice, emotional resonance, and cultural context that skilled copywriters bring to the table.
In our experience at Wordsworks Copywriting, it also struggles to create coherent, well-structured and non-repetitive texts longer than about 500-600 words. If you need a short generic blog post mainly for SEO purposes, you might be fine with AI. If you need something longer or more sophisticated, AI-generated content tends to come across as superficial and repetitive; a little bit amateur rather than pro.
The ability to craft compelling long-from narratives, weave disparate material together in a logical coherent structure, evoke emotions, and truly connect with audiences remains a distinctly human skill, which means projects like corporate reports, sustainability reports, deep-dives, thought-leadership, white papers and much more remain out of reach for AI bots.
Building trust and authenticity
Take the professional services sector, for example. As a true ‘knowledge industry’, professional services businesses are built on words – whether it is delivering advice and guidance to clients, attracting and retaining staff, or communicating key messages to the market.
Digital channels have opened up new opportunities to engage with people. New ways to present the firm to clients, to explain USPs to potential recruits, or to strengthen internal communication.
But the sheer variety of channels means there is more market ‘noise’ to cut through. Audiences have so many channels to choose between, so much material to process, that you have to work harder to make yourself heard, in terms of both quality and effort.
In this environment, audiences are increasingly savvy, able to distinguish between generic, AI-produced text and thoughtful, human-crafted copy. We are more aware of what works and what doesn’t; what rings true and authentic and what sounds generic or impersonal. As a result, we are more discerning about which messages we engage with. And if the words we read and messages we understand don’t measure up, we tend not to take much notice.
Human touch in copywriting
Poor grammar and meandering sentences are obvious red flags. But some things are not so easy to correct. A sustainability report might be grammatically perfect, but if it is written in a style that is dull and overly formal, readers will soon find something more engaging to read. Equally, a web page might provide a word-perfect overview of your capital markets practice, but if the writing is long-winded and full of jargon, few people will stick around long enough to find out.
With the proliferation of content across diverse digital channels, standing out requires more than just ‘correct’ text. It demands a deeper understanding of the audience, creativity in messaging, and the ability to convey complex ideas in an engaging manner. Skills that AI still struggles with.
This is where professional copywriters add real value, helping to make sure the proposition, messages and values of your business are communicated in a natural, meaningful way that engages with your audiences across every piece of content.
While artificial intelligence offers powerful tools to augment the copywriting process, the human touch – with its creativity, empathy, and strategic thinking – is more crucial than ever. As we navigate the digital landscape, investing in high-quality copywriting that effectively communicates your message will continue to be a key differentiator.