Hey there, Marissa here. If you're a small business owner or if you're even a service-based copywriter, this episode is going to be just for you. We're going to talk about AI tools again. I did an episode about a year ago, but nowadays we hear a lot of buzz about certain AI tools, free tools that people are going bonkers over. They're just posting everywhere about it. So, of course, I've got my own two cents on the topic, and I want to share a few insights from a copywriter's perspective. Some of this will apply to my fellow copywriters out there. Don't worry, don't start writing your resume just yet. And this will also help small businesses that are creating promotional content for their products and services. So we're going to take a look at the AI tools. On today's podcast, will AI Tools Take Over Our Communication here on the Resilient Faith Online Show? Welcome. I'm Marissa Shatterg, host of the Resilient Faith Online Show. I'm an online marketing coach and certified copywriter. In this podcast, you'll find a different perspective on the external and internal challenges we face as online creators. Join me for some inspiration and practical tips to create positive influence in the world. To continue the conversation, learn about my private resilient creator community. Go to MarissaShatrick.com forward slash community. Hello, hello again. Oh yes, we're going to be talking about AI tools, a hot topic. Yes, should we create unique content or rely on AI tools? Pros and cons. Are you using them? Do you like them? Is it helping? Is it working? Is it converting? The bottom line is is it producing revenue for you? So we're going to lean specifically on the promotional content that you would write to sell your products and services. So we're first going to look at the evolution of technology and its effect on our culture. There's been a lot of changes, especially when it comes to technology. Changes with our phones, our computers, music, movies. We're going to just go down memory lane and take a look at some of the changes. So when change happens, I simply look at it and I glean what will be helpful and I discard what isn't. Because there will be continued change in the future. There'll be other things that will not be the same. It's constantly changing. So let me give you some examples. For example, the the telephone. Back in the day when they had princess phones, you probably don't even know what that is. We used to have phones in practically every room of our house. The kitchen had a wall phone, the bedroom had a little princess phone on the nightstand. Maybe you had a phone on the garage. Why? Because they were anchored, stationary. In order to be able to make a phone call, you had to go to the phone to make the phone call. They were in one spot. And so you had lots of these plugged in throughout your house so you can answer the phone at any given time and not have to run up and down the stairs or wherever you were to catch a call. That's why we had answering machines in case we missed the calls. So all of this started changing. We had some phones then had longer cords so that we can get a little further, maybe from the kitchen, maybe step into the dining room or the living room. And then we finally got to cordless phones where we didn't have a cord, but you couldn't go too far because then you'd lose the connection. Then finally things evolved and we had the Blackberry. And man, I remember those Blackberry days. I thought the Blackberry was the most fantastic piece of technology ever made because so much of it was contained there. So it made my life easier, and it was just the beginning of what we later saw when we had the iPhones. And I even remember when the iPhones came out, people were buzzing around talking about like what apps should I download? And we thought, what's an app? Why do you need an app if you just need the phone to make a phone call? Little did we know, right? So progress has helped us in some ways, but it's also made us very vulnerable. People are more busy, they're distracted, they're separated, even if they're in the same room. You've seen images of people sitting at a dining room table and they all have their phones and they're not talking to each other, right? There is a show, it's a documentary, The Social Dilemma. It's on Netflix. I don't know if you've seen it or not. It's interesting to watch that and realize how much our activity on the phone is tracked and how much the algorithms try to direct you to look at certain things. Very interesting. So I think if we need to be a little concerned about anything, it would be that as opposed to AI tools. Now the eight-year-olds and nine-year-olds want a phone. Oh my goodness, right? So progress has made us more vulnerable in some ways. And then of course we had the computers. I remember a movie, it's an older movie I absolutely love, it was so funny, with Spencer Tracy and Catherine Hepburn. It was called Desk Set. And it the whole story revolved around this computer that was huge. It took up an entire room. And back then, those computers used to be really big, and they they needed to have a lot of ventilation and cooling because they would overheat. And the whole storyline was this comedic situation that happened and it involved this computer. And then years later, we see the computers get smaller. And another movie that was very iconic of how home computers would affect everyone, families, was You Got Mail, one of my favorite movies with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. You see a different dynamic, another layer of complexity, you might say, with home computers. And I even remember, you know, our home computer, we were all wondering why would you need a home computer? And then everybody thought, oh, it's educational, right? You don't need a Britannic encyclopedia. You can just get a computer. So we all started getting computers and we had AOL and we would dial up and you'd hear it go the ding ding-ding ding-ding, and then you got mail. So the computers evolved, and then they got to where they had more storage, then they got smaller, then they ended up with laptops, and then we ended up with tablets. How would all this affect everyone? Nobody knew. They just knew it was something new, and everybody had one, so we needed to get one. Did it save us time or complicate our lives? Interesting question. You are the only one that can answer that for yourself. And then we see in the music industry, same thing happen. Change, change, change, right? I'm bringing this up because all of a sudden we see this. Well, it's not really change because we've had AI for a long time, but now this particular tool I'm thinking of has created such a buzz, you know, like this AI tool is going to take over the world. But in the music industry, we had records and we had cassette tapes and we had CDs. And nowadays, you know, progress has led to music channels where people can select what they can listen to, right? And have it right on their phone. Even with that, many have gone back to records. And they love records, the vinyl records, and they get record players. They've kind of gone gone back old school. So it's interesting to see these trends and these changes, and then they go back to some of those things that just seemed more personal, where you're actually holding a record and putting it on a record player. It's different. Movies that has evolved as well. I remember when I was a kid, our TV, it had these tubes in it. And don't ask me how it worked. I have no idea. I was a little girl. We had very few channels, right? We had Walt Disney and I think Bonanza. That was it. And we had very few channels. And when the TV got funky, my dad said, Well, it's time to go check the tubes. So we would take the TV, pull back the back panel, and then we would grab all the tubes, put it in a shoebox, go to some store, RCA or something, put it on this machine that tested the tubes, and when you found a tube that was bad, you'd replace it with the number of the tube and get a new tube and put them all back into the TV, put the panel back on, and your TV was good to go. That's what we did back then. And then when we had more channels, we needed a TV guide so we could see what was playing. TV Guy had a little title, little description, not miss the show that you want to watch. And then, of course, we had cable and then satellite, and even now we've gone from VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, all kinds of streaming, right? So change has been going on all the time. So when it comes to AI and when it comes to technology, it's only natural that more of this would come out. We already have tools that autocorrect when we're writing narrative. We have tools that check grammar and things like that. So this stuff has been around. It's just now the magic of sitting there watching, you know, sentences be formed with a push of the button is something that's just, you know, fascinating to people, I suppose. But does it have the human touch, right? These AI tools are not competitors because they can't think or reason. It doesn't have a heart, nor does it have critical thinking skills. And we're going to talk more about that. So do readers love automated messaging? Now, when I think of automate, I think of chats. I don't know if you've ever gone into a chat, like their customer support is an automated chat, a bot of some sort. Even the ones you see on social media, you could tell it's a bot. You could tell it's not a real human being. It says the same thing. And then those bots are saying, can you rephrase that so I can understand what it is you're asking? And then it's saying, Can you rephrase that again? And then it finally says, Do you want to talk to a human? Do people like interacting with content that's produced by a machine? It's a good question to ask, right? In addition to that, one of the things I will say if you're service-based and you're a copywriter, you always need to be thinking how to diversify and not just look at one stream of revenue. There's affiliate marketing, there's different things you can do, there's coaching. You need to see how you can diversify or how you can even create residual income. You always, everyone for that matter, needs to be innovating and figuring out, you know, how they can grow their business and not just have it all in one product or one way that you serve your clients. You need to diversify. So that's all I'll say on that topic, right? We always need to be diversifying. So another question to consider too is our business owners ready to learn another tech tool? Because a lot of these AI tools, they don't all work the same. And you have to learn how to use a device and teach it. You know, there's a learning curve for you, and there's some work that you need to do for it to produce what you want it to produce. And so you'll have to go into the support section or the help section or the tutorials to figure out how to best maximize the tool. And that could be a pain. A lot of my clients and people in my coaching programs, they hate technology. That's the last thing they want to do is have one more thing to have to learn and you know, manipulate. So to be able to have one of these tools, even if it's free, it's going to take so much time to get it to say what you want it to say. It'd probably be faster just to write it yourself, right? Just write it yourself. So the one question, you know, that I want to propose here too is why do you feel that you have to write so much content? Why do you feel you have to write so much content? Some people maybe they're using it for social media, but I think there's this pressure that you've got to be everywhere all the time, posting, posting, posting, posting, writing, emailing, you know, all of these things that you need to do. And it's almost like let's throw it up against the wall and see what sticks. And we'll use these AI tools to generate all this content so that we can just be everywhere. And so to me, that just says there's a lack of strategy and clarity as far as who they're serving and how they're going to reach those people, and some strategy that's going to be seamless where there's less marketing and it's going to help them be able to gain that residual income that they need. So they're not starting from scratch every month. So, you know, the pressure to produce content, yes, we have to produce content, but it shouldn't take that long. I mean, I produce content for LinkedIn and it takes me about within an hour, I get a lot of things done for LinkedIn, you know, and you don't have to post long things because people don't have time anyway. So I'm not sure. And for a landing page or a sales page, once you write it, you're gonna relaunch and use it again. Once you write those emails, you can just tweak them next time. So I'm not sure why there's this pressure to write so much stuff. If you're a blogger, you probably enjoy writing, you probably have a lot of personal stories, things, real life things that you apply as metaphors, or you know, those people are gonna love to write. They're not gonna want some AI tool to try to produce something. So I'm just not sure what the pressure is to write all this stuff. And the copy and paste, I'll tell you right now, that's why I'm not a fan of templates, because it makes everything sound the same. Copy and paste makes everything sound the same. And these AI tools, they're sourced, they have one source where they're gathering this stuff. And I'll tell you, some of it, you know, because I've tried some of these, it sounds like something that came out of Wikipedia. So, you know, everything is gonna sound very stale. And I can tell when people are using copy and paste templates, especially like during the holiday season, you get all those emails and you see everything sounding the same. Everything sounds the same. That's why I'm not a fan of templates. And when I teach copy, I use prompts, but not templates. On occasion, I'll use a template and share a template just to save time, but most of it, even within the template, there's prompts in there to get to extract the content that's needed, not to copy and paste. There's such a thing in copywriting called pattern interrupt. And because everything sounds the same, you want to write something that's extremely different, almost, you know, a polar perspective where it's so different that it will stop the scroll, that people will stop and look at it again, give it a second look, or click, or open it, whatever it might be. It's called pattern interrupt because we're used to seeing the same old thing. So an AI tool is not gonna be intuitive enough to do that, it's just gonna produce the same old stuff that's already there. So there, right there, is gonna cripple the effectiveness of it. So let's look at some of the things that AI tools can't do. There's no personality, there's no creativity, there's no stories, there's no unique perspectives, there's no emotional connection, there's no life experiences, there's no humor, there's no entertainment, there's no unpredictable content like pattern interrupt, there's no metaphors, good grief. A world without metaphors, I mean, are you kidding me? I love metaphors. What AI tools can't do is important to note. And humans do this very well. And the one thing that they will not do that is so critical to your copy is market research. It will not do that for you. So if you want like a quick fix with an AI tool, it's not gonna do the market research. Maybe the market has changed and the copy needs to be different, right? So it will not do market research, and that's one of the things copywriters do so well is that they spend a good chunk of the time before they even write the copy. They spend it with market research and competitor research and industry research to make sure they understand and they try to find voice of customer, which an AI tool will not do that. Voice of customer, what is the market saying today? Not a year ago or three years ago, what are they saying today? Find the voice of customer and then craft your copy in a way that makes sense so that when they read it, they say, Oh, you get me. They feel seen and they feel heard. So you have to uncover the language that they're using, and there's a process for that. And AI tool is not gonna do that, especially if you're B2C, you don't want to have jargon or stale content, like something that came out of Wikipedia or something that came out of a dictionary. You want to be able to be able to write in a way that's gonna resonate with your audience. So a lot of people are you know playing around with these AI tools, especially because there's there's one in particular. I don't know if I should name it or not. Yeah, why not? Chat GPT. That's one of the ones that people are, you know, going Google over. Um, that one's free, but you know what? Free tools don't stay free. You start getting addicted to those things, producing all this stuff, and guess what? To maintain your addiction, all of a sudden there's a price there and it's gonna be some kind of subscription, and then you're gonna have to pay for your copy. So you're gonna have to pay anyway. Why not pay somebody to write it well? So, because in the long run, month after month, after using it and paying for it, you're gonna pay a copywriter to write it better. So, in any event, I just wanted to point out some things that if you want to use it for social and you don't care what you put on social, and you just want to, you know, put stuff in there, and you don't care about some of the things we we talked about. If you don't care about personality and humor and creativity, and you don't care about adding stories, and you don't care about adding emotional connection, life experiences, you don't care about humoring or entertaining or any of that, then sure, go ahead. You can use it for social and just post something and see, you know, how well it does. But you can also use it maybe as a way to brainstorm some ideas, but it's not going to be what most people think it's gonna do, and that write everything you need to write, your blog posts and everything. It's just it it will maybe do it, but will it be effective? Will it really change the numbers, right? Will it really cause somebody to click or download and get on your email service provider? Will it cause them to click and register to for something? Will it cause them to click and buy? Will it cause them to book that appointment? I guess that's what we really have to test and see. If it does, then more power to it. And that's great. If it doesn't, we have to see that it's not a panacea for all our marketing, it's not a solution for everything. So one of the things I want you to remember there's never lack. Don't think there's lack. You can write, you can express yourself, communicate. We're in the people business. You have creativity, you have wisdom, you have experience. Don't sell yourself short. You can communicate to your audience in an authentic way, human to human. Don't think like an employee that gets their assignment and they're just buried in task and they're just trying to crank it out and produce it out. You're not an employee, you're an entrepreneur. So don't think like an employee, think like an entrepreneur. And here's the little truth: what has been will be again, what has been done will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun. So if you think I just need new ideas, I need new ideas. There's nothing new under the sun. Just share from your heart. Share something that's helpful. Even if you're sharing something in an email, just talk about your struggles. You know, just share from your heart. Just say, today, this email was really hard for me to write because I've been thinking about this. And you can tell a story. And then maybe in that process you'll find your answer, right? You can be authentic. People want to work with people that are real, right? Not perfect people. I don't know that there's perfect people, but I'll leave you with this one last quote. Our only limitations are the ones we set up in our minds, and that is from Napoleon Hill. So with that, are you gonna use AI tools, not use them? Well, you should probably learn how to write copy anyway. And I always tell people that, even if if you're gonna hire somebody, you should know a little bit about copy so you know that you're not getting ripped off, so you know what it's supposed to look like. But typically when I I teach with copy connection, it's it's not open right now, so I'm not promoting it right now, but when I open copy connection, it's a way for you to be able to learn the main things that you need to know about copy so that you're armed and dangerous, so you can tell what's good copy, what's bad copy, and you'll be able to improve your existing writing and write like a pro. So I'll let you know when that is released again and I'll give you the details to that. But it's very affordable, and I think everybody should have some knowledge of copy, especially if they're in the online space. So, with that, I will leave you with my little two cents about AI tools, and I hope that helps, and I hope that encourages you to just don't think you have to write so much. Like, what should you write? And can you get in a rhythm of picking a day or a time of day? I usually do it early in the morning, and I will write early in the morning, or I'll write if I have time at night, I'll create a post for the next day, but I'll find my rhythm depending on my my schedule, and I just go with that. It's already scheduled and I do that. And some of you might want to batch, and maybe that works for you. Um, I don't batch because spending one day doing one thing is boring to me. I don't like doing the same thing all day long. I like variety, so it doesn't work for me. But if it works for you, great. Find your own rhythm, find your own pace. Think like an entrepreneur, not like an employee. So until next time, take care. Bye bye.