VOLUME 23, ISSUE 9 – SEPTEMBER 2024
THIS MONTH’S MENU:
I. AI’S BAD NEWS & GOOD NEWS
WSJ Article Outlines AI’s Threat AND Silver Lining for Copywriters
II. 3 REASONS TO ADD A PROJECT BRIEF FORM TO YOUR SITE
Seasoned PR Copywriter: How to Qualify Leads Faster
III. NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN?
Book’s Message: Stop Worrying About Being “Original”
I. AI’S BAD NEWS & GOOD NEWS
WSJ Article Outlines AI’s Threat AND Silver Lining for Copywriters
On 6/21/24, the Wall Street Journal ran a piece entitled “AI doesn’t kill jobs? Tell that to freelancers.” (Read it here.)
At first blush, the piece sounds pretty grim, but there are multiple pockets of good news sprinkled throughout.
The piece starts out discussing a 30-year New Hampshire freelance copywriter, whose clients suddenly stopped calling.
While initially claiming they weren’t using AI, some returned some months later asking her to rework AI-generated copy that was falling short.
No question, AI is bad news for writers with middling skills easily replicated by Chat-GPT. But, as the article observes, many clients who understand how important high-caliber copy is to their marketing efforts find AI just isn’t cutting it.
A Michigan based freelance sales and marketing copywriter actually saw his business rise, after getting inquiries from clients unhappy with the AI-generated content they were getting from their previous vendor.
Noted the copywriter, “The marketing people think it looks fine, but then you hand it to someone who actually knows something about industrial fluid purification, and they’re like, ‘This is word salad.’”
While this bodes well for high-level copywriters, it also means they need to expand their AI skill set so they’re more useful to their clients.
The fact that AI is a multi-layered tool that requires a non-trivial investment of time in order to master its potential underscores the fact that most clients don’t have the bandwidth to do that.
Hence, copywriters who DO invest that time can thrive.
Check out the piece, “AI & THE WRONG QUESTION” in last month’s issue, where I steered readers to a LinkedIn post from increasingly-AI-savvy copywriting coach, Ed Gandia, outlining all the ways that he deploys AI.
II. 3 REASONS TO ADD A PROJECT BRIEF FORM TO YOUR SITE
Seasoned PR Copywriter: How to Qualify Leads Faster
Great advice from 20+-year CT FLCW (and regular E-PUB contributor), Jennifer Mattern—seasoned PR writer and founder of the acclaimed All Freelance Writing site.
If your contact page on your website simply lists contact info or a generic contact form, consider adding a project brief form directly to your site.
Here are three reasons a project brief form could be a good addition:
- Get project details up-front.
Instead of the usual back-and-forth with new prospects, a project brief form gives you some idea if you’re a good fit for their needs from their first contact.
If a prospect submits details for a type of project you don’t take on, refer them elsewhere. If the project does sound like a good fit, you go into your first conversation already having background to guide any research or questions.
- Qualify leads and weed out tire-kickers.
Having prospects fill out a project brief form lets you know if they’ve put much thought into their project yet. It also allows you to quickly weed out inadequate budgets or unrealistic deadlines.
- Semi-automate inquiries.
Conditional logic forms allow visitors to choose a general contact form or project brief form. Each form is assigned a different email subject line. Those emails can then filter into different folders in an email account making sure prospect inquiries never get lost in your inbox.
Try adding a project brief form to your website and, and it might just help you qualify leads faster.
III. NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN?
Book’s Message: Stop Worrying About Being “Original”
I read an interesting little book (an under-two-hour read) recently called
Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon. Not a new book, and definitely worth a read. The main premise of the book is encapsulated in this excerpt early on:
Nothing is original. The writer, Jonathan Lethem has said that when people call something “original,” nine out of 10 times they just don’t know the references or the original sources involved.
What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original.
If we’re free from the burden of trying to be completely original, we can stop trying to make something out of nothing, and we can embrace influence instead of running away from it.
This refreshing message takes the pressure off of us to create something that’s Never Been Seen Before, while giving us permission to freely use and leverage other peoples’ brilliance.
Not talking about plagiarism here, of course, but simply building on others’ ideas. Squeamish about the word “steal”? Remember good copywriters collect great examples in a “swipe file.”
I’m reminded of when I wrote the first edition of “The Well-Fed Writer.” My model, of course, was the book that got me started, Bob Bly’s outstanding classic, “Secrets of a Freelance Writer.”
I loved the comprehensiveness of his book (the only one on the market on commercial writing before mine came out), but knew I could add my own fun, lighthearted voice, while still delivering tons of practical, step-by-step info. I think I succeeded.
But Bob’s book showed me the way.
Just something to keep in mind the next time you’re staring at the blank page. No one’s expecting something stunningly original. Steal from the best.