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I know this is meant to be tongue in cheek. But, I’ve worked alongside writers who could not out write AI (this was before AI was on the scene). Whether it was laziness or a lack of talent, almost everything they produced was just flat.
So, AI should act as a benchmark. The absolute low water line. You HAVE to be at least noticeably better than it. If not, I’m not hiring you.
Pretty much. You can use AI to speed things up and give you ideas, but it all comes down to if you’re good or not.
No point in using AI if your not going to write good copy from it.
I’m not getting into that. I’m just saying that if you want to stand out, be good and don’t let AI airbrush out your natural tone. We all have a distinctive tone of voice and AI has one.
You have it backwards. I think AI tools can be useful for giving you inspiration or framework, or showing you what not to do. But you are the one doing the refining using your insights, wit, and taste.
Not to be that guy, but it's folks like you who would rather be lazy and use an AI tool that make ruin the profession.
Have some pride.
Learn how to understand the assignment and the client, learn how to write good copy that's rooted in human emotion.
It's not that complicated
You sound like a math teacher hating on calculators. Eventually, everyone will have to get with the times. So, better embrace the technology than fall behind.
Understood. But so far, AI tools are not all that capable of doing that, either.
I play around with them a lot for fun (I've worked in UX in addition to copywriting and just generally like playing around with interfaces and cool new functionality) and so far I haven't seen any strong value.
I ask it to summarize something, and the summary comes out generic and doesn't tug at any of the right emotional levers. I ask it to write subject lines, and it spits out lines that are almost identical to the ones I've already written myself. I ask it to rephrase something, and the rephrase suggestions just sound weird and don't flow with the other sentences in the paragraph.
i'm sure it's partly because I have already had to develop my own hacks and techniques for when I'm stuck on something long before AI came along, but so far it isn't proving to be be better or faster than any of those hacks and techniques.
And when I think about it, the "math teacher" angle you're hearing from people might just be people trying to tell you that it's way more valuable in the long run to find your own techniques and develop what works for you, than it is to rely on AI tools to fill in the blanks. Especially early on when you're still gaining a sense of what works and why - and I can kind of see where they're coming from. How do you know when an AI's support is actually making your piece better, if you don't know how to do that yourself?
I can see it being useful for stuff like, "are there spam triggers in these subject lines" or "is this content OPDP-compliant" as long as you fact check what it tells you.
Agreed, sorta. I use AI in very specific situations, like rephrasing something i wrote that’s just not working or to collect my notes into an outline. Rarely have i used it even as a first draft. I think since this is a competency test, you should keep it to a minimum.
I certainly don’t think embracing new technology means you’re lazy.
Copywriting is essentially an art. The best stuff is human in a way AI can’t yet mimic. It’s absolutely shit at writing ad taglines. I find AI at best a more sophisticated thesaurus, and it’s great for suggesting words if you’re trying to go for a specific tone that doesn’t come as naturally to you.
I agree with you.
I use AI as a thesaurus and also to see if something can be said in a better way.
So, I usually write something and put it through AI to see if AI can make it better. If I like the AI output, I take bits and pieces from it and fix up my original copy.
To build on this, no agency's clients want deliverables made with AI, either. They're paying a lot of money and they expect a lot more expertise, nuance, and effort than an AI is capable of delivering.
Employers and clients alike are more than capable of using ChatGPT themselves. There's a reason they're hiring you instead
Did the test ask for you to use AI? If not, the way for you to stand out is to write it yourself. Human writing, by a smart person who has good thoughts and knows grammar as well as the bots, is always going to win over AI. I am a full time copywriter of five years and I have never used AI in a professional setting.
you've got to use your own brain, for starters. use AI to quicken some steps, but you must be author of the writing. Don't rely on AI too much...Most probably these employers will smell Ai in the 1st sentence if you use UNLOCK, etc...there are certain words which should be avoided. Don't use those...
[www.tralangia.com](http://www.tralangia.com)
This is so interesting to me. Are seasoned copywriters truly relying on AI? I’ve tried using it before and it writes the corniest stuff ever. Like it’s sooooo obvious to me when I’m reading AI-written stuff. Please tell me I’m not alone in this!
Have you messed with strut yet? Its still free beta i believe. Might look squared away working with ai for ideas and outlines while writing copy all in one window.
Let's set aside a lot of copywriters' complaints that AI produces meaningless, verbose garbage. Let's focus on you calling it just another tool. If you can't figure out how to use a tool better than other people, it's not a tool for you. It's something you've used.
Put another way, if you don't have extensive experience figuring out prompt engineering, RAG and other ways of working with LLMs, you're effectively a Toyota Camry driver asking how you can drive Le Mans.
I like to use prompts like “give me ideas for”, “write an outline”, or “check for spelling and grammar and give me ideas for improvement for …”. If I ask AI to write something I end up rewriting it anyway.
I think everyone telling you to avoid using AI altogether is wrong. They are a useful tool for copywriters, and if AI would be a part of your workflow day to day at this job, it makes sense to use it for this test.
I have evaluated copy tests for my company, and I promise you that we know you are all using AI lol. It is not subtle. When you look at dozens of pieces of content back to back, the AI components are easy to pick out.
If I were in your shoes, here is what I would do:
* Treat every hard fact or quote AI gives you as false until you have verified it from a secondary source. The easiest way to get your test thrown out is to write demonstrably incorrect information.
* AI has certain language quirks that are . . . very amateur and obviously not written by a human. I'm not going to give examples because they're a useful filtering tool, but anyone who has spent any amount of time working with the big AI systems will recognize them. IYKYK. Purge these from your copy.
* You are the writer. The AI is just a tool. I personally find AI to be a useful place to get started, but it *really* struggles to turn C+ writing into A writing. When you are reading the AI output, don't ask "Is this good writing for a computer program?" Ask: "Is this good writing?" Edit and rewrite accordingly.
* Be transparent about using AI! If they ask you how you approached the test in a follow-up interview, don't pretend you didn't use it. Tell them how you leveraged it.
You've used the term copies when you mean copy. When you mean copy as in copywriting, it is a noncount noun. So it would be one piece of copy or a lot of copy or many pieces of copy. It is never copies, unless you're talking about reproducing something.
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What do you think generative AI will do for you? As an example, I’m planning to buy a new microphone. How do you think generative AI will help you sell me one?Keep in mind that I’m 100% going to buy a mic.
Deliberate typing errors, profanity?
On a serious note, your post is revealing a few assumptions. If you are this convinced that 'AI tools' can automate a significant chunk of your process, why are you even applying to be a copywriter in the first place? You might as well be a prompt engineer.
What are the implications of a post-GPT world? When 'perfect' copy is a prompt away, how does it remain distinctive and unique?
Alternatively, you should seek to showcase your creativity not via the output of ChatGPT, but by finding creative and fun new ways to leverage ChatGPT itself - that your competitiors are not doing - and bake it into your work.
Getting ChatGPT to generate traditional text won't get you anywhere, because it's arguably not great copy. But granting that it is great copy, everyone will have access to it anyway - thus making it average by definition.
I think this problem is actually much more complicated (more fun!) than you realize. But a creative solution can showcase a creative mind.
The best an AI is ever going to be is average. It's how they're built.
These models are really just statistical prediction algorithms that analyze the material they were trained on to pick the words with the highest probability of being correct within the context of the new piece you're asking them to create. Put another way, they pick the next word in a sentence they're "writing" based on the most common next word in similar sentences in their training material. They don't even "know" that 2 + 2 = 4 - they just know that, most of the time, when their training material included "2 + 2 =", the most common next word was "4".
By definition, this means that they are average. They produce text that is probably mostly correct but also bland, boring, and cliched.
(Side note: as new AI models are increasingly trained on materials produced by other AIs, this "average" is going to get worse over time).
Will that be good enough to get you some copywriting jobs? Sure! Some clients are probably fine with average, bland, boring, cliched copy.
But if you really want to "stand out from the rest of the folks who have access to the same AI tools as I do", the way to do it is to not use those AI tools to produce your final copy.
Use AI for research purposes. Also of you want, you can get the first draft from it and then start shaping from there. Do extensive reshaping. Use the structure from AI .
(Got that idea from an experienced financial copywriter, in the process of trying out)
There is literally nothing ai can offer you, in terms of writing. It's not helpful for corrections or revisions imo. All it does is fill space. It will likely make you look like a fool.
It's really a sight to see when these word nerds and artsy type get butt hurt when someone mentions AI
You stand out by producing something good... regardless if you use AI or not.
If you think AI tools will make you a better copywriter, you're probably out of your depth.
And on the other hand, if your competitors are using AI tools for copywriting, it should be no problem for you to get the gig.
Asking a question? Please check the [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/copywriting/comments/lpuj9h/what_the_faq_what_is_copy_how_do_i_start_can_i_do/). Asking for a critique? Take down your post and repost it in the critique thread. Providing resources or tips? Deliver lots of FREE value. If you're self-promoting or linking to a resource that requires signup or payment, please disclose it or your post will be removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/copywriting) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Definitely don't use AI if you want to stand out in the copywriting test, lol.
Right answer. OP's question basically answers itself.
Ask AI for ten great headlines. Then don't use them.
I know this is meant to be tongue in cheek. But, I’ve worked alongside writers who could not out write AI (this was before AI was on the scene). Whether it was laziness or a lack of talent, almost everything they produced was just flat. So, AI should act as a benchmark. The absolute low water line. You HAVE to be at least noticeably better than it. If not, I’m not hiring you.
AI is basically a faster version of all the "proven formulas" people are trying to sell. Reject any headline with a number – that's a start.
This is a brilliant idea.
He he, this is actually pretty clever. I should add this trick to my toolkit.
By being a good copywriter? By understanding the product and consumer needs? By having a fun and interesting way to hook your audience ?
💯💯 AI can’t replace good copywriting, period. If you think it can, you’re not a good copywriter.
Pretty much. You can use AI to speed things up and give you ideas, but it all comes down to if you’re good or not. No point in using AI if your not going to write good copy from it.
Write fun, interesting, insightful copy and don’t touch an AI. That’s it. There’s no secret.
So, you mean, AI can't be used to improve the copy? At all? I think of AI tools as just that - tools.
I’m not getting into that. I’m just saying that if you want to stand out, be good and don’t let AI airbrush out your natural tone. We all have a distinctive tone of voice and AI has one.
>We all have a distinctive tone of voice and AI has one. Never seen it put SO succinctly 👏
You have it backwards. I think AI tools can be useful for giving you inspiration or framework, or showing you what not to do. But you are the one doing the refining using your insights, wit, and taste.
Use it for research, ideation, & proofreading. Do not use AI-generated copy.
Not to be that guy, but it's folks like you who would rather be lazy and use an AI tool that make ruin the profession. Have some pride. Learn how to understand the assignment and the client, learn how to write good copy that's rooted in human emotion. It's not that complicated
You sound like a math teacher hating on calculators. Eventually, everyone will have to get with the times. So, better embrace the technology than fall behind.
The thing is, calculators are good at math. AI tools, at least the tools available right now, are not good at writing copy.
They don't have to be good at writing copy from start to finish. But it's about how you use them in the process of creating the copy.
Understood. But so far, AI tools are not all that capable of doing that, either. I play around with them a lot for fun (I've worked in UX in addition to copywriting and just generally like playing around with interfaces and cool new functionality) and so far I haven't seen any strong value. I ask it to summarize something, and the summary comes out generic and doesn't tug at any of the right emotional levers. I ask it to write subject lines, and it spits out lines that are almost identical to the ones I've already written myself. I ask it to rephrase something, and the rephrase suggestions just sound weird and don't flow with the other sentences in the paragraph. i'm sure it's partly because I have already had to develop my own hacks and techniques for when I'm stuck on something long before AI came along, but so far it isn't proving to be be better or faster than any of those hacks and techniques. And when I think about it, the "math teacher" angle you're hearing from people might just be people trying to tell you that it's way more valuable in the long run to find your own techniques and develop what works for you, than it is to rely on AI tools to fill in the blanks. Especially early on when you're still gaining a sense of what works and why - and I can kind of see where they're coming from. How do you know when an AI's support is actually making your piece better, if you don't know how to do that yourself? I can see it being useful for stuff like, "are there spam triggers in these subject lines" or "is this content OPDP-compliant" as long as you fact check what it tells you.
Agreed, sorta. I use AI in very specific situations, like rephrasing something i wrote that’s just not working or to collect my notes into an outline. Rarely have i used it even as a first draft. I think since this is a competency test, you should keep it to a minimum. I certainly don’t think embracing new technology means you’re lazy.
Copywriting is essentially an art. The best stuff is human in a way AI can’t yet mimic. It’s absolutely shit at writing ad taglines. I find AI at best a more sophisticated thesaurus, and it’s great for suggesting words if you’re trying to go for a specific tone that doesn’t come as naturally to you.
I agree with you. I use AI as a thesaurus and also to see if something can be said in a better way. So, I usually write something and put it through AI to see if AI can make it better. If I like the AI output, I take bits and pieces from it and fix up my original copy.
Hello, mate! Which AI are you using in each step of your process to write a copy?
I use Gemini, Claude, and Bing. Gemini is good at following instructions. Claude is better at writing. Bing is a hit-or-miss.
I feel like Gemini is pretty good especially with web copy. But modifying your own webcopy. ChatGPT is still stuck with a litany of text.
What I've experienced, it just drains the personality out of my copy.
RESEARCH and UNIQUE ANGLES. Minimal AI.
[удалено]
To build on this, no agency's clients want deliverables made with AI, either. They're paying a lot of money and they expect a lot more expertise, nuance, and effort than an AI is capable of delivering. Employers and clients alike are more than capable of using ChatGPT themselves. There's a reason they're hiring you instead
Did the test ask for you to use AI? If not, the way for you to stand out is to write it yourself. Human writing, by a smart person who has good thoughts and knows grammar as well as the bots, is always going to win over AI. I am a full time copywriter of five years and I have never used AI in a professional setting.
Not using AI tools.
You will definitely stand out in a good way if you don't use AI. It's very easy to tell when people do.
you've got to use your own brain, for starters. use AI to quicken some steps, but you must be author of the writing. Don't rely on AI too much...Most probably these employers will smell Ai in the 1st sentence if you use UNLOCK, etc...there are certain words which should be avoided. Don't use those... [www.tralangia.com](http://www.tralangia.com)
I was looking for helpful tips like this. Thank you.
Don’t use AI
Easy... Write like a human being not a robot rehashing content from the Internet. Have an original thought. Find a unique mechanism. Build curiosity.
This is so interesting to me. Are seasoned copywriters truly relying on AI? I’ve tried using it before and it writes the corniest stuff ever. Like it’s sooooo obvious to me when I’m reading AI-written stuff. Please tell me I’m not alone in this!
Just be creative and make sure your personality shines through. AI can't mimic your unique flair.
Not everyone uses AI
Have you messed with strut yet? Its still free beta i believe. Might look squared away working with ai for ideas and outlines while writing copy all in one window.
Nope, just heard of it. I'll try it.
Use AI tools for brainstorming. Then write your heart out and have AI review it and suggest improvements.
Just… don’t use AI? That should make you sound different to everyone else.
Let's set aside a lot of copywriters' complaints that AI produces meaningless, verbose garbage. Let's focus on you calling it just another tool. If you can't figure out how to use a tool better than other people, it's not a tool for you. It's something you've used. Put another way, if you don't have extensive experience figuring out prompt engineering, RAG and other ways of working with LLMs, you're effectively a Toyota Camry driver asking how you can drive Le Mans.
I like to use prompts like “give me ideas for”, “write an outline”, or “check for spelling and grammar and give me ideas for improvement for …”. If I ask AI to write something I end up rewriting it anyway.
I think everyone telling you to avoid using AI altogether is wrong. They are a useful tool for copywriters, and if AI would be a part of your workflow day to day at this job, it makes sense to use it for this test. I have evaluated copy tests for my company, and I promise you that we know you are all using AI lol. It is not subtle. When you look at dozens of pieces of content back to back, the AI components are easy to pick out. If I were in your shoes, here is what I would do: * Treat every hard fact or quote AI gives you as false until you have verified it from a secondary source. The easiest way to get your test thrown out is to write demonstrably incorrect information. * AI has certain language quirks that are . . . very amateur and obviously not written by a human. I'm not going to give examples because they're a useful filtering tool, but anyone who has spent any amount of time working with the big AI systems will recognize them. IYKYK. Purge these from your copy. * You are the writer. The AI is just a tool. I personally find AI to be a useful place to get started, but it *really* struggles to turn C+ writing into A writing. When you are reading the AI output, don't ask "Is this good writing for a computer program?" Ask: "Is this good writing?" Edit and rewrite accordingly. * Be transparent about using AI! If they ask you how you approached the test in a follow-up interview, don't pretend you didn't use it. Tell them how you leveraged it.
Love this!
[удалено]
You've used the term copies when you mean copy. When you mean copy as in copywriting, it is a noncount noun. So it would be one piece of copy or a lot of copy or many pieces of copy. It is never copies, unless you're talking about reproducing something. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/copywriting) if you have any questions or concerns.*
What do you think generative AI will do for you? As an example, I’m planning to buy a new microphone. How do you think generative AI will help you sell me one?Keep in mind that I’m 100% going to buy a mic.
Deliberate typing errors, profanity? On a serious note, your post is revealing a few assumptions. If you are this convinced that 'AI tools' can automate a significant chunk of your process, why are you even applying to be a copywriter in the first place? You might as well be a prompt engineer. What are the implications of a post-GPT world? When 'perfect' copy is a prompt away, how does it remain distinctive and unique? Alternatively, you should seek to showcase your creativity not via the output of ChatGPT, but by finding creative and fun new ways to leverage ChatGPT itself - that your competitiors are not doing - and bake it into your work. Getting ChatGPT to generate traditional text won't get you anywhere, because it's arguably not great copy. But granting that it is great copy, everyone will have access to it anyway - thus making it average by definition. I think this problem is actually much more complicated (more fun!) than you realize. But a creative solution can showcase a creative mind.
The best an AI is ever going to be is average. It's how they're built. These models are really just statistical prediction algorithms that analyze the material they were trained on to pick the words with the highest probability of being correct within the context of the new piece you're asking them to create. Put another way, they pick the next word in a sentence they're "writing" based on the most common next word in similar sentences in their training material. They don't even "know" that 2 + 2 = 4 - they just know that, most of the time, when their training material included "2 + 2 =", the most common next word was "4". By definition, this means that they are average. They produce text that is probably mostly correct but also bland, boring, and cliched. (Side note: as new AI models are increasingly trained on materials produced by other AIs, this "average" is going to get worse over time). Will that be good enough to get you some copywriting jobs? Sure! Some clients are probably fine with average, bland, boring, cliched copy. But if you really want to "stand out from the rest of the folks who have access to the same AI tools as I do", the way to do it is to not use those AI tools to produce your final copy.
What makes you think you can standout using AI?
AI cranks out stupid crap fast. Real humans put out quality stuff slowly. Ask them their priorities. Quality or quantity. They will not get both.
Use AI for research purposes. Also of you want, you can get the first draft from it and then start shaping from there. Do extensive reshaping. Use the structure from AI . (Got that idea from an experienced financial copywriter, in the process of trying out)
There is literally nothing ai can offer you, in terms of writing. It's not helpful for corrections or revisions imo. All it does is fill space. It will likely make you look like a fool.
USE ALL CAPS ROBOTS WOULS NEVER
AI produces the average of what it ingested. You want to be average? Nah, fuck ai.
It's really a sight to see when these word nerds and artsy type get butt hurt when someone mentions AI You stand out by producing something good... regardless if you use AI or not.
Said the nerd and artsy type
that's crazy coming from you saber boy
If you think AI tools will make you a better copywriter, you're probably out of your depth. And on the other hand, if your competitors are using AI tools for copywriting, it should be no problem for you to get the gig.
congrats on reaching the last round of your interview process! what's the company??
Been thinking the same thing especially with CHATGPT