People get excited by how AI models like ChatGPT make it easy to create copy and content at scale.
As a writer you can create way more content when using AI. And yes, it’s a lot easier. No more writer’s block. AI can help you come up with new ideas for content, suggest headlines, and even write a finished draft for you.
And instead of a new post or article taking you two or three hours, or more, you can get it done in 5 to 10 minutes. How awesome is that?
Well, it IS awesome.
But…
There is something flat and unsatisfying about writing in a formulaic way.
Academic writing. Business writing. Marketing writing.
You do the work. You put the words together. You wait for pay day.
As a copywriter, the least satisfying type of writing for me is when I follow some kind of template or framework. That kind of structure may reflect a “winning and proven” approach to writing an ad, landing page or sales page.
But… I don’t get much pleasure from writing like that. I’m following the rules, but I don’t feel that I’m putting any of myself into the work.
AI is the big thing right now.
And while tools like ChatGPT are incredible in many ways, there’s one thing they’re really, really bad at.
Emotion.
Bots don’t do emotion.
They definitely don’t write with emotional intelligence.
For a start, they have no first-hand experience of emotions. Lines of code can’t fall in love, or laugh.
And they can’t feel empathy for others. Lines of code don’t care about people, and how they feel.
As freelancers we have to get out there and build an audience.
Many of us do this through creating our own websites, publishing newsletters, writing articles and networking on social media sites.
Over time we might build up a subscriber base of a thousand, five thousand or even twenty thousand or more people.
These are people who read our articles, our blog posts or even our Tweets.
But who are these people? What kind of audience are you building?
Imagine walking into someone’s home, looking around and seeing a family photo on the wall.
Not a posed family portrait. More of a goofy shot. Not terribly well composed. Maybe even a little bit out of focus.
Seeing you study the picture, your host comes over and says, “Oh my goodness, let me tell you the story behind that photo!”
It isn’t the photo that has the true power… it’s the story behind the photo.
It’s the story that carries the true emotional punch.
I’m writing this post for YOU.
We’ve probably never met. But I try to picture you in my mind as I sit at my computer, pecking away at the keyboard.
I might even imagine you here in my home, sitting across from me at the kitchen table.
I’m writing to you as if you’re the only person in the world on my mind right now.
This means I’ll always talk about you in the singular.
One-on-one. You and me.
I think you notice and appreciate it… the fact that I’m writing this just for you.