I remember when I made my big shift from offline copywriting to online copywriting… way back in 1997.
One of the things that changed – had to change – was my network of contacts.
For the most part, the people I knew in the offline world weren’t following me online. At least, not right away.
That meant I needed to develop a new network of contacts and potential clients.
It’s always been the case that to deliver value to a client, you need to know just 10% more than they do.
I’ve been teaching this for years.
Copywriters who are just launching their careers often feel nervous about not knowing enough. And then they realize that knowing just 10% more than their prospects is enough.
That 10% can deliver huge value.
The same is true today when it comes to AI.
You don’t need to be a leading expert in AI. But you do need to know 10% more than your prospects and clients.
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.
Emotion is at the core of great copy. This has always been the case… before AI, before the Web, before computers.
Great copy touches its readers at an emotional level.
Why? Because as consumers we buy based on our feelings. We buy the car that makes us feel good. We buy the pair of shoes that makes us smile. We buy the video game that gives us pleasure.
Every purchase is triggered by emotion. Once we have decided we want something, we will often turn to our more rational selves to justify the purchase.
By now, pretty much every writer and copywriter on the planet will have used a tool like ChatGPT as a writing assistant.
Some writers use AI just to help outline their work. Others use it to complete full drafts.
Other tasks that are really well suited to AI include things like brainstorming and market research. This takes us beyond just the task of writing, and can help us learn more about the products and services we’re writing about.
Working with an AI is like having a super-smart assistant working with you on every project.
But there’s one big downside…
If I suggested you double the fees you charge, maybe you’d tell me that none of your clients would use you.
That sounds reasonable.
After all, as freelancers we don’t set out to charge less than we can. We think we know what our clients and prospects will accept, and we write up our estimates accordingly.
Suddenly I have strange superpowers and I’m going to force you to double your fees anyway.