Brand reputation is vital. The number one content trend for 2024 is human, authentic content and yet that is the one thing consumers say they don’t see enough of. And yet 60% of marketers who incorporate generative AI into their content creation process worry it will harm their brand’s reputation.
What connects your audience to your brand? Your authentic, human voice.
In everyday life, we want to find people we can relate to; those with similar views, motivations, and commonalities with whom we can begin to build a relationship. With that relationship comes trust, hence the importance of the opening 60% statistic. Your brand reputation must be protected at all times.
The best way to achieve this is through content marketing. Not the AI variety. It does have its place, but not if you want to draw in a loyal group of brand advocates.
Creating human, authentic content
Most companies say that blog content is their top priority (for reputation and lead generation), so it’s vital that they understand how to harness their authentic, human voice.
When your content (representing your brand, so it’s your voice) ‘speaks’ in an authentic human voice, the people you want to attract (i.e. those with like-minded interests) sit up and pay attention. They’ll want to engage with you.
That’s why humans must remain at the helm of your content marketing strategy.
Create a people-first content strategy
So far, AI tools have been frozen in time, only able to draw on information from September 2021. Not great news when you realise that AI could be giving you outdated information or data that’s just plain wrong.
However, this is changing, with OpenAI announcing that its chatbot will soon be able to search the Internet for up-to-date information in its responses.
Right now, if you want accurate information and cited sources, it is best to stick to a human copywriter. Especially when you consider that they have another advantage over AI: they can play with language.
Whatever industry you’re in, it’s competitive, so you’re always looking for innovative ways to connect with your audience. That could be taking a whole new approach or using language to disrupt (in a good way) and create a new trend.
Again, this is not something AI can do.
Maintaining your brand voice
Brand voice and reputation are inextricably linked, so let’s go back to the 60%, 42% and 36%:
Your brand voice is your way of differentiating yourself from every other company in your space. It’s what makes you unique and is the backbone of your brand reputation.
Your voice should arouse curiosity and inspire people to interact with you, and the best person for that job is a professional copywriter.
Why?
Because she’s a living, breathing person who can tap into your audience’s emotional receptors to build lasting relationships.
The chances of you having one demographic as your target audience are slim. AI can’t tell people apart, so it will generate generic content. However, a real person can tweak your brand’s voice to appeal to any number of different personas.
AI will never gain an in-depth understanding of the human psyche.
Original content will enhance your brand reputation
I touched on this in my earlier article, “AI-generated Content is NOT Original Content.”
Content creation with AI goes something like this: stipulate the text format you want, give it a topic and some keywords, hit send, and wait.
The result will have been curated from the information available on the Internet, delivering a data-driven jigsaw puzzle. That means it’s not original content, written in your brand voice, or authentic.
Content creation with a copywriter goes like this: you discuss your target audience and what you want to say. This then leads to a brainstorming session to generate ideas for suitable topics. Your copywriter goes away and researches the topic. Using the information they’ve gathered (and their own experience), they create content that’s up to date, cites relevant sources, is on brand in terms of voice and style and is original and authentic.
Maintain your brand reputation
On the face of it, AI appears to be what marketers have been looking for – a fast and relatively cheap way to create content.
However, there’s a long way to go until it outshines a human copywriter. If you want to attract humans to your brand, you need a human to write your content – especially the articles, reports, white papers, brochures and website content that drives your sales.
Trust me, in the long run, it will be a lot better value.
Sally Ormond – a living, breathing non-AI human copywriter.