Can ChatGPT Help Your Copywriting? We Tried It—Here’s What We Think
Ermm… is ChatGPT gonna steal our jobs??
That’s the fear of copywriters everywhere (and, let’s face it, people from a lot of other industries).
After all, ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence (AI) tools are capable of a LOT. They can research, write, edit, solve, translate, and even joke. But we think copywriters will get the last laugh, and not just because machines can’t actually giggle. (Yikes, can you imagine?)
Human writers have several advantages over AI. We’ll get to those in a bit.
Yet none of us has to be afraid of ChatGPT. In fact, we can use it to help with a variety of copywriting needs. We’ve done it ourselves at Quotable Copy, and here’s what we’ve found — the good and the bad.
What Is ChatGPT, Anyway?
We should probably start by explaining what ChatGPT even is.
According to the chatbot itself, “ChatGPT is a language model… designed to understand and generate human-like text based on the input it receives.” Unlike Google, where you enter short keywords or questions and are given a list of relevant results, ChatGPT is more like a conversation, where you type a question or prompt and receive a natural-sounding response that is tailored to your interaction.
Essentially, it’s AIM with a really, really smart robot.
While ChatGPT is currently the most popular AI chatbot, it’s only one of several AI tools that have sprung on the scene. Others include Google Bard, Microsoft Bing, Claude AI, Chatsonic, Jasper Chat, Perplexity AI, and more. Even productivity apps like ClickUp and Notion have developed their own AI tools. Everyone wants a slice of the AI pie!
The Rise of AI in Copywriting
One of the most obvious applications of AI technology is copywriting.
After all, ChatGPT literally writes its responses. There’s nothing stopping you from copying and pasting its answers into your blog posts, emails, or other marketing copy. Even if you don’t use the responses verbatim, AI can help you research, outline, or refine your content.
Writers have reacted to AI in different ways, ranging from skepticism to full-on fear.
You may remember the 2023 strike by the Writers Guild of America. One of the main negotiations the writers were fighting for was protection against AI — they wanted to ensure it was used only as a tool, not a replacement, for their jobs. They succeeded.
Writers from other industries may not have the same security yet, but many economists think it’s coming. Or, if automation does take our jobs — as one analysis by PwC predicts — it could prompt the need (and the wealth) for a universal basic income or other creative solutions. Futuristic thinking, but that’s the world we’re living in.
Whether you’re optimistic about AI in copywriting or not, it’s important not to shut our eyes and plug our ears about it. You don’t have to use it, but you should be aware of it.
How Creative Businesses Use AI for Copywriting
You’ve probably heard other creative entrepreneurs talk about using ChatGPT to help with copywriting. Here are some of the ways photographers, coaches, designers, and other creatives are using AI:
- Brainstorm content ideas
- Generate content outlines
- Research industry trends and events
- Write blog posts, social captions, and other copy
- Proofread drafts of copy
- Analyze the tone of a piece of writing
- Suggest engaging headlines
- Create SEO meta descriptions
Our Copywriting Experiment with ChatGPT
All right, so what do WE — an actual copywriting studio — think of ChatGPT?
We’d be hypocrites if we spewed opinions without having actually used the tool, so we gave it a shot. And not just once, either; we’ve played around with ChatGPT many times over the past several months.
Yep, we have some thoughts.
What We Like About ChatGPT
Let’s start with the pros — because yes, there are many pros to ChatGPT for copywriting!
- It’s the perfect place to start. Hate staring at a blank screen? Have no clue what to write, or how to write it? We like asking ChatGPT for ideas, an outline, or more information on a topic. Our blank screens are filled with words in no time — which is a much less stressful starting point for any piece of copy.
- It’s also a good place to end. Want to fine-tune your copy before hitting “publish”? Use ChatGPT to proofread or optimize your text. As professional copywriters, we trust ourselves more than a machine. But we have entered some error-laden text into ChatGPT, and it caught most of the mistakes. We’ve also updated some of our headlines and CTAs based on its suggestions.
- It helps you refine your tone. Not sure your copy is striking the right emotional chord? Ask ChatGPT to analyze or adjust the tone. Again, we would never rely completely on a version rewritten by AI, but if you’re struggling to make your copy sound more like your brand voice, ChatGPT can give you some good phrasing ideas.
What We Don’t Like About ChatGPT
Now, for the cons of ChatGPT for copywriting…
- It isn’t always accurate. We thought one of the best uses of ChatGPT would be researching statistics for our blog posts. We were wrong. Although the stats generated by ChatGPT sounded compelling, when we tried to cross-reference them, Google often turned up zero results for the same stat. Maybe that’s because, as of this writing, ChatGPT uses information from no later than September 2021. So if you’re hoping for up-to-date info, this is not the place to find it.
- Its copy is either boring or cheesy. When we’ve asked ChatGPT to write copy for us, the first draft usually sounds like a high-school English paper: logically structured, but very womp-womp. When we’ve asked ChatGPT to rewrite the copy in a more casual tone, it comes back sounding ridiculous (“Alright, folks, let’s talk about ChatGPT, the AI text wizard that’s got everyone buzzing!”). For copywriters who value personality and authenticity, these various “voices” of ChatGPT just don’t cut it.
- It’s not as magical as it seems. Is it just us, or is anyone else a little… underwhelmed by AI in general? We know it’s powerful, and will only get more powerful, and we probably aren’t using it to its full potential. But given all the hype around ChatGPT, we were expecting to be absolutely wowed by the experience. In reality, it’s a step up from Google — and (given bullet point #1 here) sometimes a step down. While AI has been helpful in some ways, it is far from the time-saving, world-changing unicorn we’ve been hearing about.
Why AI Won’t Take Our Copywriting Jobs… Yet
Maybe we’ll eat our words, but we feel pretty confident that our copywriting jobs aren’t threatened by AI just yet.
Aside from the cons we just listed, ChatGPT simply cannot replace your critical thinking, emotional intelligence, or personal experience.
Humans connect with stories — and you are full of them. AI is not.
We understand it might be hard for you to know what stories to include in your marketing, let alone how to craft them. That’s where working with a real-life copywriter can help. We can pull those stories out of you and sculpt them in a way that connects with your audience in a genuine, unique, totally non-robotic way.
[ Check Out Our Copywriting Services ]
How to Leverage AI for Copywriting
Now, we aren’t saying you should never use AI for help with your copywriting. In fact, to some extent, we encourage it — because it can save you time, help you brainstorm, and optimize your copy.
Plus, this is where the world is heading. If you don’t start using ChatGPT now, by the time you do, you may find yourself lagging behind your competitors who already know how to leverage it well.
Tips for Using ChatGPT for Your Creative Business
Getting started with ChatGPT couldn’t be easier. Simply create an account here and start asking away.
Want to make the most of the answers you receive? Here are a few tips to perfect your ChatGPT prompts:
- Ask for multiple options, not just one.
- Add as much detail to your request as possible.
- If you don’t like your result, ask for edits (change the tone, remove adverbs, etc.).
- Start a new chat for every new topic.
- Label your chats with logical naming.
But Remember: You’re the Human Here
“AI is a robot perched on our shoulder, not the creator at the keyboard.”
–Copywriter Ann Handley
Don’t let ChatGPT replace the creative, emotional, conversion-focused copy only you can create.
Not sure you have what it takes for that kind of copy? Reach out to see if we can help. We’re pretty sure we can.
