So, you’ve finally got ChatGPT, Claude or whatever shiny AI toy your niece told you about. Congratulations! You are officially part of the future of marketing!
That’s right. Not really. Not the way you do it.
Here is the most played scene lately. Someone types “I wrote a LinkedIn post about title insurance” into their AI field of choice. Thirty seconds later, they have 200 correctly formatted words. They are well written – fancy, even. Maybe a long time on Instagram, but well written, nonetheless. They are quickly cut and pasted in the right place, and then sent. The proud writer then sits back and waits for the wedding to take place. Otherwise, it will never happen.
Here’s what’s happening across LinkedIn, blogs and all other content channels right now. Too many professionals, even marketers, are using AI as a glorified content marketing machine. Connect the article. Exit the post. Rinse and repeat.
The real problem is that there is no editing and no personalization. Zero thought your output actually sounded like something a human would say, let alone a writer.
And the kicker is that the audience knows. They can smell it. The moment they start reading this AI-generated art, something is tangible. It’s too polished, predictable, and completely inauthentic.
Since the AI uses these specific patterns, people can hear when it’s used, even if they can’t identify the rhythm. And when everyone uses the same tool in the same way, we all end up sounding like we have a ghostly robot. Because, maybe, we did. That’s why scrolling doom has become like dying in the same ocean.
Deja vu. It’s only worse.
It wasn’t that long ago that every single marketing post started with “Imagine the world where…” or opened with a vague question. There was also a time not so long ago that every piece of content had to include a numbered list because some of the big names said that lists get more clicks. Of course, we do it too. Except this time, it’s worse.
AI tends to pump out the same predictable phrases and sentence structures over and over again. It is accurate. Works great, perfect. As a writer, I can tell you that more than once I have been surprised by the turn of phrase that the AI has written for me. But when people scroll through hundreds of posts a week, they start to feel that. They can hear a certain rhythm that screams, “I didn’t write this.” Think bold frames, string overloads or too many ems or dashes—a big pet peeve of mine (I loved using those long before AI did…along with brackets and ellipses).
Professionals must remember that their audience is not stupid. They probably read five (or 15!) other posts today that sound exactly the same. Sometimes, they just start scrolling past them all.
Authenticity, who?
Authenticity is one of those timeless concepts around which your marketing should be built. That has been true since the beginning of marketing. It works. You have always been, and always will be. People want to do business with people they know and trust—not content companies or any agency that hires a quick developer.
When someone reads the content, they should hear the voice of the author (or of the product, in some cases), which means the author’s personality, real thoughts and expertise. After all, if one’s posts could be written by any of your competitors, why would you choose a writer over any of them?
Good marketing has always been about communication. It’s about showing the possibilities that the content creator understands their world and their challenges and showcasing the technology in a useful way rather than simply promoting it. It’s basically the same tried and true marketing method that has worked in our industry forever.
AI can’t do that for you. After all, it doesn’t know your clients. And it doesn’t really understand your market the way you do. He hasn’t spent 25 years learning the nuances of your industry.
But if you have, why let the computer speak for you?
Use AI. Don’t let it use you.
Please don’t get me wrong. This is just a suggestion for people to turn off AI completely and go back to the old days of staring at a blank screen for three hours.
AI is an amazing tool. It can help brainstorm ideas or overcome a writer’s piece. It helps many to organize their thoughts and clean up their grammar. It will also write an original version that can (and should) rewrite the author’s own voice.
That last part is very important. Complete rewrite. That’s the step most people skip, and it’s the only step that matters.
A smart way forward is to use AI in the framework. Then make it your own by adding your stories or adding your industry knowledge. Thought leadership is a powerful form of marketing communications. Additionally, don’t be afraid to inject your personality. Start by saying things the way you would say them to a client over coffee.
Most importantly, ditch the “AI-speak” and corporate fluff. Break out those phrases that sound like they came from a marketing textbook written in 2015. And, whatever you do, remove the content frame – start by putting that right away. Make it sound like you, because the way you write is a big part of how people will perceive you and/or your product.
Your move
Your competition is already using AI, and they’re probably doing it the same way, as you are. That opens up a huge opportunity for differentiation. Start by being the one person who sounds like a person. That means sharing real insights from real experiences and writing content that hasn’t been written by anyone else in your niche.
Right now, our industry, like most, is drowning in the noise generated by AI. It completely shuts people off from going to platforms like LinkedIn to look for real, authentic content. They crave something that doesn’t sound like it was written by a robotics committee. So, why not be the one to do that and see what happens?
Or, then again, feel free to keep doing what you’re doing. Keep posting content that feels like everyone else’s content. And keep wondering why no one engages with those AI-generated posts.
Brian Rieger is the principal of True Impact Communications.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of HousingWire’s editorial department and its owners. To contact the editor responsible for this piece: [email protected].
