“I can just get ChatGPT to write that” — pretty much every bro I see online talking about content marketing and the value in hiring a content writer or copywriter.

As the owner of Uncanny Content, a strategy and content marketing agency, I’d be downright stupid if I didn’t see the seismic shifts AI is creating (and will continue to create). AI language learning models have only been publicly accessible for less than two years now…and everyone uses them. Including my mother. 

Today, my team and I are having nearly weekly conversations about what AI can do, how we can leverage these tools, and our ethical standards around using it with clients who give us money for our strategy, content writing, and copywriting.

(Note: We have an AI clause in all our client contracts that states we may use ChatGPT for ideation and outlines, but no final product will ever be created by AI. We also never input our clients’ IP into these tools.)

At our retreat in April 2024, I asked the team: What are we doing differently as an agency in a world with AI? The answers were mostly what I expected — and I want to share some of that with you to show you how our agency is adapting. These tools are rapidly changing how we’ve done our work for the last decade and, let’s be honest, we create deliverables that are technically “replaceable” by AI. 

But Dear Reader, you and I both know that marketing strategy, copywriting, and content creation go beyond simply regurgitating outlines into sentences or filling in some ad-lib social media prompts. That’s what AI is eliminating — and it’s what the bros (used as a gender-neutral term for douchey business owners) aren’t prepared for. 

Let’s dive into how our content marketing is changing with AI. 

“Oh shit, content marketing AI is here.” 

When ChatGPT was released in late 2022, most people in my space had fun playing with a new tool. It’s like when someone shares their shiny new software or fancy spreadsheet template — everyone wants to see if it makes them more productive. Of course, the excitement fizzles out, and we all go back to what we know.

ChatGPT didn’t fizzle out though.

When I started playing with ChatGPT myself, I immediately understood the implications. My agency has deliberately priced itself as a more accessible option, and our ride-or-die clients are brands that need a lot of content created. So obviously I knew this would mean lower project volume and potentially fewer clients.

As most of us know, in late 2022, ChatGPT wrote about as well as a 14-year-old trying to pretend she could write witty banter (#Flashbacks). 

But by August 2024, as of this publication? I can engineer a strong prompt and get something back that’s *almost* what I need. And you know what? I don’t hate that. It beats a blinking cursor and the inevitable panic that comes from “I don’t know what the f*** to write.”

People are usually shocked to learn that I use AI pretty frequently and that I’m not particularly worried about it “taking my job.” Honestly, I’m kind of excited. Why? Because now we can go deeper with our clients. 

How content marketing AI helps us produce better work for our clients

One of the hardest parts about running a content marketing agency is trying to explain to folks that…it’s not just about content. We’re not just slapping a few posts or blogs up to get you a few thousand site visits or likes. 

What our retainer clients frequently tell us is that we’re their partners — they trust our opinions and look to us to help them make decisions. We work with our clients to:

• Hone in on their offers
• Change course if they find they want to serve a new audience
• Gradually make changes to their branding (voice, visuals, offers, etc.) 
• Address current events and how their brand shows up in the world
• Evaluate the challenges they’re facing and help them create plans to overcome them
• Consider their budget and capacity when creating plans
• Get off the ledge (you know, the one where you say you’re gonna burn it all down and go be a fruit stocker at the grocery store?)
• Better understand their audience’s engagement styles and needs
• Create marketing calendars that match their capacity and preferences 
• Troubleshoot slow sales and find new ways to drive revenue 
• Help them feel comfortable with their expertise (and having their face on social) 

Once we know what they need/want — and what their audience needs/wants — we get to writing. 

What we deliver: Retainer content

Based on our conversations about projects, upcoming goals, pivots, offers, and so on, we create all the content they need. 

Depending on the client and their needs, this includes:

• YouTube videos: We provide scripts if needed, write YouTube descriptions (with links!), and choose titles.
• Podcast content: We provide scripts if needed, write podcast descriptions, create shownotes (with links!), choose titles, and even turn podcast content into blogs sometimes (based on the strategy). 
• Blogs: We provide outlines, full content writing, SEO data, links, research, CTAs, categories, etc. 
• Emails: We provide subject lines and preview text, merge tag guidance, full content writing, links, button or graphic direction, etc. 
• Social media posts: We create content for literally all social media platforms and mediums, including Reel prompts and video direction, Story prompts and video direction, carousel slide copy, graphic quotes, caption writing, hashtags, CTAs, etc. We even come up with ManyChat or “reply” automation copy. We also offer graphic design and social media scheduling. 

The only thing we don’t do? Record Reels and publish them for you 😉 

What we deliver: Sales + promo content

What if a client has a new offer they want our help promoting? Or they want to redo their website? Or they have a Black Friday sale coming up? Yup, we do all of that too. We call these “pop-up projects” and help clients with a variety of copywriting needs, like:

Website copy

Need a single sales page revamped? Want to scrap the whole site and start over? Need to add a service page or make it clearer how to book you? 

We help with that. We’ve been writing web copy for retainer clients AND project-based clients for years. We also offer SEO direction, design direction, and even imagery or graphic recommendations! 

Funnel copy

This is our SHIT. We map out every piece of your funnel — from the top-of-funnel lead magnet (freebie or low-cost offer) to the retargeting ads and even the re-engagement sequence you send months down the line. 

You’ll see every piece of your funnel, where folks come from, and where you want them to go. We can write everything for (or just pieces of) your funnel, like:

• Webinar scripts 
• PDF freebies
• Landing pages
• Confirmation pages
• Tripwire or OTO pages
• Nurture sequences
• Cold ads to the top of your funnel
• Retargeting ads to the bottom of your funnel
• Sales scripts to close the deal
• Evergreen blogs
• Emails
• Social to promote your funnel

…and more. Seriously, I could keep going.  

Launch copy

Cue Gwen Stefani, “Uh huh, this my shit!” Launch copy is another thing we just absolutely LOVE writing. 

But we don’t just say “Oh you need a sales page for that new thing you made!” We talk to you about the offer, its inclusions, its benefits, its audience, etc. We also talk to you about how you’re building a runway for your launch to butter folks up. We talk to you about live launching vs. evergreen funnels. We talk about what to do if you don’t hit your launch goals. And we give our honest feedback on your offer and how you’re presenting it. 

I know a lot of copywriters in our space and they’re all great, but they just don’t dive in as deeply as we do to help people launch their offers thoroughly. 

Sales copy

Want an influx of cash for a dental emergency or a vacation you wanna take? Need to hit a revenue goal faster? Want to join in on the Black Friday fun? We got you. 

We help clients review their offers, determine their sale price, and pinpoint any urgency or scarcity strategies they might want to use (i.e. doorbusters, bonuses, cart closing, etc.). 

Once we know what you want to put on sale and why folks want it, we can get to work updating product or sales pages, creating email and social promotions, writing ads, and even strategizing how to warm up cold leads who could benefit from this sale.  

What we do differently than AI

That’s a lot. My hand is cramping just writing this. And you know what? That’s not even everything we do. I just don’t have the capacity to list it all out. 

Now, I’ll be honest: With AI, you might be able to generate a lot of that content and copy yourself. You can get a YouTube script that is pretty bland and goes off what others have done on YouTube. Same for the podcast outline. Hell, AI can turn your video or podcast into a blog using your transcripts!

It might sound like the same crap you read online all day, but it’s done. Emails? ChatGPT can do that. Social captions? Pshhh, ChatGPT can rock those out in seconds. Product descriptions and sales emails? Done and done. 

But the two things all of that ^^ is missing when you use ChatGPT? A strategy and your brand personality.

A holistic marketing strategy (with or without the writing) 

I named “Uncanny Content” thusly because of a conversation I had with a client very early on. She had complained on our discovery call that nobody could really nail her voice and she was feeling defeated because she didn’t have the time to create all her content herself. 

I took a stab at it and she told me it sounded so much like her, it was uncanny. Let’s be real: AI still can’t fucking do that. 

But it wasn’t “uncanny” just because I put the right words in the right order with the right tone. It was “uncanny” because I got to know her, her business, her offers, her current marketing efforts, her goals, her audience, and so on. 

I did the strategic deep-dive to ensure that the content reflected all of that — and this is exactly what my agency does now. We have processes that help us get to know our clients from the jump. We have check-in calls and Voxers with our clients so we know what’s happening in their lives and in their businesses. And we take feedback and learn (kinda like AI but way more consistent) so that your content and copy always sound like you.

More than that, though, the content and copy we write are aligned with your brand, your goals, your audience, your platforms. It’s not just fluff words used to check a box. 

Why strategy still matters with content marketing and AI

Of course, we know that creating content for people and writing copy might seem like something that “AI could totally do” for you. I won’t argue with you. Sometimes, when you use the right prompts, and you have clarity around what you’re generating and why, you can puzzle together some good shit. 

But you’re not going to get good shit out of AI unless you have the strategy and clarity going into it. 

That’s why we start every project now with a strategy intensive — where we dig into your offers, your current marketing strategy, what you want to be doing differently, what you see happening in your space, and more. We spend 2 hours really getting to know your brand. From there, we create a 3-month marketing calendar and (if you sign on for a retainer) project briefs related to the projects you have coming up (think launches, sales, website revamps, etc.)

Once we deliver your strategy and/or project briefs, you can review everything, ask for updates, and then decide what you want us to write. Some people want to try their hand at using AI to create their plans and copy. Others want to create it themselves. Most of the time, though, they say “Please take this off our hands.” And we do 🙂 

This is why I’m not really worried about AI. Because the work that goes into your business and its offers has to be picked up, inspected, studied, and understood for anything AI creates to really “hit the nail on the head.” We’re really fucking good at that piece and we have about 10 years of experience and rave reviews backing us up. 

But before I go, I want to talk about why AI does worry me, and why I hope business owners like yourself really think about what they put into and use from AI. 

AI worries me…

A family friend of mine, an intelligent and powerful woman I trust deeply, said that “AI is the sum total of the internet.” 

And guess what the sum total is? Mostly white men sharing their ideas. Mostly surface level concepts that don’t address real expertise or dive deep into what makes someone’s life or business different. Mostly clickbait and content that doesn’t serve the greater good. 

That’s why AI worries me. Because I see more and more people using it poorly (read: without a strategy and personality) and I fear that the sum total of the internet is going to become more and more mediocre.

But that’s not the sum total of the internet. In the 10 years I’ve been in business, I’ve worked with over 300 clients. I’ve talked to probably 1,500 people. The people we talk to about our services are CREATIVE. They are PASSIONATE. They are DIVERSE. They are INTELLIGENT. They are DRIVEN. 

But in some case, you’d never know it. They’re using ChatGPT without a strategy or without thinking about how they want to relay that information, and the content is just falling flat. 

Don’t get me wrong: There is nothing wrong with using ChatGPT. I love it. It makes so many things more accessible to so many more people. But it’s not going to be as powerful as it could be if you lack strategy and personality.

That’s why, when a petty ‘friend’ at a barbecue asked, “So, are you out of business yet because of ChatGPT?” I just smiled and kept drinking my beer. 

We’re adapting to the world with AI; are you?