Using AI Tools for Copywriting

As AI tools continue to evolve, they’re becoming an essential part of many organizations’ digital marketing strategy. AI can help marketers with a variety of tasks, from research and ideation to content planning, optimization, review, and performance analysis. 

In our recent webinar, Kerry Harrison zeroed in on how AI tools can help copywriters become more efficient and create more space for their creativity to flower. 

“The key is to use these tools to augment our creativity, rather than to replace it.”

Do you worry that AI tools will make your copywriting job obsolete? Are you wondering how you can add a human touch to AI content? Continue reading to find out how AI writing tools can become your allies and help you create great digital marketing content.  

In this blog, we’ll explore:

1. What are the main AI tools for copywriting? 
2. How to use AI for your copywriting
   • Conduct research
   • Generate ideas
   • Create first drafts
   • Edit content

What are the key AI copywriting tools?

AI tools are used for a variety of marketing tasks – and copywriting is no exception. To use generative AI well, it’s best to concentrate on just three or four tools. Although it’s tempting to try every new arrival on the market, sticking to a few tools and mastering them will likely give you better results.

Right now, there are four key AI-powered chatbots to consider:

• ChatGPT developed by OpenAI
• Claude from Anthropic
• Gemini, Google’s model
• Copilot, Microsoft’s AI assistant

These are the four tools (or models) I find most useful as a copywriter. Each one has its unique features, so  I often move between them depending on what I need. 

Note: Not all tools are currently available in all regions, and they are constantly undergoing version updates.

Let’s look at each tool in a bit more detail.

ChatGPT

At the time of writing, OpenAI had just revealed its brand new GPT-4o model. This is available to ChatGPT Plus customers now, and will be coming to free users soon.

GPT-4o (the o stands for “omni”) is a multi-modal model that combines audio, visual, and text processing. Think of it as a combination of ChatGPT capabilities and a Siri that can ‘see’.

If you’re a free user, GPT-4o will give you access to all of this:

• The best ChatGPT model
• Internet access
• Ability to upload files
• Vision and memory
• Access to the GPT store and custom GPTs (although you’ll need Plus to build one)

Paid users get a 5x higher message limit – and it looks like new features are coming soon. If you’re still waiting for GPT-4o to arrive and have been toying with the idea of paying for Plus, here’s a comparison table for you. It shows you the differences between the current free model (ChatGPT 3.5) and the paid model (ChatGPT-4/Plus).

Top Tip: It’s also worth checking out the free versions of Claude 3 and Gemini. They’re newer models than ChatGPT-3.5 and certainly pack a punch.

Key differences between ChatGPT 3.5 and ChatGPT Plus.

Google Gemini

Google’s chatbot, Gemini, arrived almost a year after ChatGPT, and it feels like they’ve been playing catch-up ever since. That said, the models are powerful, highly effective – and better than ChatGPT for some tasks.

Like ChatGPT, there are free and paid versions: Gemini and Gemini Advanced. Using Advanced  gives you access to Google’s most powerful model to date – 1.5 Pro.

There are several very useful features in Gemini, which you can’t get anywhere else – and they’re all available on the free model:

• Drafts: Gemini generates three drafts for every answer, which means you have three different options from the get-go. 
• Modify response: You can make the response longer, shorter, simpler, more casual, or more formal in just one click.
• Double-check response: Google will cross-reference the response against Google search results and give you links that corroborate. It’ll also warn you if there isn’t any back-up. This is all very helpful at a time when AI hallucinations (unsupported responses) are very real.
• Adjust one small part of the response: This is great for long-form writing. Unlike other models, where you have to explain which parts you want to change, Gemini allows you to highlight part of the response and adjust it with one click or a prompt.

Claude by Anthropic

Anthropic was set up by two ex-Open AI employees and has had huge amounts of investment – most recently $4 billion from Amazon. Its chatbot, Claude, is currently powered by its third-generation model – Claude 3. 

What’s special about Claude? Well, it’s a popular one amongst copywriters as it has a less formal default tone than ChatGPT. If you want a tool to help you write first-draft copy, Claude is a great option! 

There are a few other elements which make it worth considering. Firstly, you can upload files on the free version (something you can’t do in ChatGPT 3.5). 

Secondly, Anthropic’s GenAI model is trained to align with a constitutional AI document. It outlines principles like freedom, opposition to inhumane treatment, and privacy. Right now, a stronger ethical standpoint feels important!

Microsoft Copilot

Copilot is more of an all-round AI assistant, but it does have a chatbot as part of its offering. It’s powered by GPT-4, the model that underpins ChatGPT Plus – but it’s free here.

One of the unique features of Copilot’s chatbot is the ability to choose from three conversation styles:

• Balanced: This is best for the most common tasks, such as search.
• Creative: This is ideal if you need to generate new content, or longer or more expressive output.
• Precise: This is good for shorter, more factual jobs. 

If you use the compose feature within Copilot on the Microsoft Edge Browser, you’ll also get some handy prompt bubbles to help you reach a more customized result. For example, you can choose a tone, format, and length in a few clicks.

Like ChatGPT Plus, Copilot also lets you generate images with OpenAI’s DALL.E 3 model. Once again, you can access the model on Copilot for free.

How to Use AI for your Copywriting

You can use AI for an enormous variety of copywriting tasks. Let's take a look at the most important: 

1. Conduct research
2. Generate ideas
3. Create first drafts
4. Edit content

1. Using AI to conduct research

A lot of copywriters use AI to help with researching. This particularly applies to freelance writers who have to quickly become an expert on a range of topics. GenAI is excellent at helping you build a quick understanding, or to explore around a topic.

It can help you:

• Explain complex terms
• Summarize content 
• Explore different perspectives

Explaining complex terms

If you’re dealing with a difficult concept or you want to explain something simply, AI is a great tool.

Need a simple explanation of a black hole that would make sense to a student aged 16? AI will give you an explanation. If you ask it for a response to suit a 10-year-old, it will go simpler still. 

Pro tip: When using these models for factual content, don’t forget to fact-check everything. As mentioned earlier, Large Language Models can hallucinate and you don’t want to be sharing inaccurate information.

Summarizing and comparing content

You can use AI for summarizing content, or comparing documents and web pages. For example, if you’re deciding whether to invest time in reading a very large report, you can ask AI to summarize it to help you decide.

Or perhaps you want to turn your blog post into a short social media post. No problem. AI can summarize that content and even write the first-draft post for you.

Pro tip: With ChatGPT Plus, Gemini Advanced, and Claude, you can upload files and ask the model to summarize them for you.

You can also compare documents – here’s an example using ChatGPT. You can ask the model to show you the headline, a summary and even the sentiment of the articles. Once again, this helps you decide which articles to read and analyze. 

Join for FREE to access this video

Conducting research in the Edge browser

You can create a page summary, or chat with any webpage or article when you use Copilot  in the Microsoft Edge browser. To start, click on the chat tab and ask any question about the page in your browser window.

Join for FREE to access this video

Note: The Insights tab in this walkthrough is no longer available on all versions of Copilot.

Human tip: Even though AI can summarize or give you the key take-outs from articles, there’s still huge value in reading a long research paper from top to bottom. It helps us formulate our opinions and ensures we pull out our own key points. 

Exploring different perspectives

These AI tools can also give you a handy (and quick) overview of your target audience. For example, if you outline your target audience in your prompt, you can ask the model to outline their dreams, desires, fears, and frustrations. Or perhaps you’d like the model to be a highly resistant customer who argues against you, so you can fine-tune your sales pitch.

Of course, this isn’t a replacement for full audience research and speaking to people, but it’s a good starting point. You could also sit down and work out the dreams, desires, fears and frustrations of your audience, but AI can give you a starting point in around 30 seconds.

Another way to explore different perspectives is to put several people “in a room” together to talk something out. 

For example, you could ask ChatGPT to act as an advertising copywriter, an AI consultant, and an AI ethics expert. Then ask these roles  to debate the pros and cons of a certain topic. You can see the start of a similar conversation below:

2. Using AI to generate ideas

Ever experience blank page syndrome? Or struggle to get started? Now you don’t have to!

AI tools are the perfect way to blast that initial writer’s block. It won’t always give you outstanding ideas, or wow-worthy first lines, but it’s a start. And writing is much simpler when you’re not dealing with anxiety about a blank page.

Suggest alternative phrases

When you’re writing content, you might sometimes find yourself using set phrases. In the rush of writing, you may not even notice them, but your readers might.

AI is a great tool for suggesting alternative phrases. Again, they might not be perfect, but they’ll take your thinking in new directions.

Generate content ideas

You can also use AI tools as a brainstorming assistant to help you come up with content ideas. You might ask it for a selection of ideas, so you can then choose the best ones. 

Even if they’re not 100% perfect, you’ll get a whole host of starting points in around 30 seconds – and you can’t argue with that.

Pro tip: Download the ChatGPT free app to your phone. You can interact with it by talking, and even choose the type of voice it uses. Plug in your headphones, go for a walk, and bounce some ideas around with ChatGPT. Brainstorming through voice feels much more natural than typing too.

3. Using AI to create first drafts

AI is particularly effective when you want to quickly create first drafts. Although you should never copy and paste these first drafts, you can use them as the basis for your later drafts. 

Consider using the AI Sandwich model when it comes to drafting content. You begin with human ingenuity, use AI to efficiently bring the idea to life, and then use human oversight to refine the content. 

The AI sandwich is made up of three stages: 

Step 1: Human intelligence

Creating great content is a human skill, requiring human intelligence. Do some brainstorming and research to get a good idea of what you want to write. At the very least, arrive at the model with a clear objective, so you know if the output is meeting your needs.

Equipped with research and insights, you now need to craft specific, effective prompts. Tell the model about the context, your target audience, strategy, the content format, tone and style, and anything else that will shape your output.

Step 2: Artificial intelligence

Select your tool of choice, add your well-crafted prompt, and let the model do its work.

Step 3: Human intelligence

Remember, the output is your first draft. It’s now time to use your human craft and expertise to refine the content. And don’t forget to fact-check your content – and sense-check it against your initial objective.

Is this what you wanted? Or do you just like it because it was done in 30 seconds? These are all important questions to ask.

4. Using AI to edit content

In the third stage of the AI sandwich, you are essentially editing the content with a human eye (and ear). However, an AI assistant also makes a great sidekick when editing your copy. 

For example, you could enter a piece of text and ask for improvements. This can take your thinking in new directions, unstick a thought or help open up a new route for you. 

You might give the model prompts like:

• Please suggest five ways to improve this social post.
• Tell me how I can make this blog more clear or fluent.

As always, the more specific you are, the better the feedback will be. Gold in, gold out!

Ensure your Copywriting Skills Match your Marketing Needs

To help a brand stand out from the competition, it's important to use effective marketing tactics and strategies, especially in this new AI age. DMI's Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing will not only teach you the fundamentals of digital marketing but also dive into key areas such as content marketing, SEO, strategy, analytics, social media, and much more. 

Related

• Webinar: How to Use AI for Your Copywriting
• 27 Social Media Tools Every Content Creator Needs
• Walkthrough: Using ChatGPT to Create Content Pillars