A week or so ago, I delved into some of the copywriting trends set to shape 2019. And, Artificial Intelligence is without doubt the one that intrigued me most.
It seems that Artificial Intelligence (if you’re not exactly sure what it means, I found this definition helpful) is already giving marketers a helping hand with an array of tasks ranging from engaging with users via chatbots to carrying out predictive analytics campaigns.
When it comes to creating content, it’s tempting to think that machines couldn’t possibly master such a creative process.
Yet, this notion is already being turned on its head by a number of apps and start-ups that use machine learning and Artificial Intelligence to improve, amend and summarise existing content.
This writing assistant uses an AI system to mimic the way we write through a combination of machine learning capabilities and natural language processing.
This Natural Language Generation (NLG) platform developed by Narrative Science is used by enterprises to create “comprehensive narrative reporting” and deliver tailored customer communications.
This “content strategy alignment tool” uses AI technology to read and amend content to fit a brand’s guidelines based on factors like tone of voice, style and approved language.
The next AI copywriting steps…
But, it doesn’t stop there. AI copywriting is being taken even further by the likes of ad tech startup Persado, whose software supposedly creates automated copywriting for marketing campaigns. A wild idea? The company already snapped up $30 million of financing led by Goldman Sachs back in 2016!
If you look on the Persado website, here’s what the company has to say for itself:
“Persado’s revolutionary Message Machine leverages the world’s most comprehensive marketing language knowledge base of over one million words and phrases, powered by AI and data science. Persado unlocks the power of words to engage consumers like never before, one by one, moment by moment, across every marketing channel, driving improvements in brand engagement and revenue performance.”
Not convinced, some big clients are already on board including hotel.com. The company highlights the advantages of more precise, personalised messages that leverage the power of language:
Alimama, the digital marketing arm of ecommerce platform Alibaba, is also on the case. The brand has released an artificial-intelligence-enabled Chinese language copywriting tool that the company claims passed the Turing Test and can produce 20,000 lines of copy a second.
Meeting the growing demand for ultra-personalised content
Today, many companies face the challenge of producing high-quality, personalised content on an ever-larger scale across ever more channels without busting their budget.
Could Artificial Intelligence tools like Persado be the solution? Here’s what some of the experts think:
Let copywriters focus on being creative
“Humans will always have value in content marketing; however, computers will not complain about having to add metadata, they will not try to avoid it, and they will work just as hard on the 100,000th image as on the first one, leaving more time for you to get creative.”
Elliott Sedegah, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Adobe
Add value with data and insights, but not (yet) ready for satire
“AI could start to help copywriters with things like analysing market data and audience insights to suggest everything from photography guidelines to the tone of voice, to aspects of design. Critical components of content such as satire, metaphors and the nuances of humour are well out of reach of AI and maybe for some time yet.”
James Gill, head of content marketing at Further
Detailed data, SEO and analytics to drive personalisation
“More hyper-tailored, real-time and data-driven…Machine Learning will enable large amounts of customer data to be stitched, analysed and used for marketing purposes. There will be higher usage of chatbots, predictive analytics along with machine-enabled SEO optimization and curated content.”
Preeti Adhikary, VP marketing at Fusemachines
What do you think the future holds for copywriting? Will machines ever be able to fully replace humans in developing creative concepts and strategies? I’d love to hear from you.
