The Democratisation of Content: How AI is Empowering Small Business B2B Marketers (Like Me)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkg3wZq0cdo
It was a Tuesday afternoon September 2020, in the middle of a COVID-induced lockdown. I was sitting at my desk scrolling through LinkedIn. I was part of a group that would spend a few minutes each day liking and commenting on each other's posts to help increase our visibility on the platform. How’s that for a story to tell my grandkids when they ask what it was like living through a global pandemic?
As I continued to browse, my curiosity (and the guidance of LinkedIn’s UX) got the better of me and I opened the “messages” popup on the right of my screen. Among a sea of DMs from people who wanted my money (whether through outsourcing my work or providing a service) was a message from someone who was building something called an AI writing tool. They were looking for digital content writers to give feedback on the platform, and make suggestions on new features.
Curious, I took up their offer and trailed the platform, working with them to make it fit-for-purpose for writers like me. What followed was a year and a half of exploration and collaboration that ultimately led to me pivoting my freelance content writing practice and founding Digital Writing in March 2022.
Compared to the capabilities of ChatGPT’s initial release in late 2022, let alone what AI writing tools are capable of today, the tools back then weren’t great. But I could see their potential. The ability to generate all kinds of content, from blogs and website copy to digital ads and social media posts, was revolutionary. Enthusiastic, I showed these AI writing tools to my colleagues in the industry. I was lucky enough to be working with some seasoned content writers at the time, among them award school graduates, ex-journalists whose words have been read by millions, and former CMOs. The response was dismissive. To them, this was a tool struggling to replicate the quality of a first-time content writer. It was fanciful to think it would get to their level in their lifetime, let alone in a few years. The very thought was as absurd as thinking people would prefer a relationship with a robot to one with a fellow human.
But a few years later, the dominos started falling. ChatGPT burst onto the scene, and the media was inundated with stories from professionals who were out of work because of it. Given their closeness to the media, it was often content writers given the spotlight.
I found myself in a unique position. I wasn't a traditionally trained writer. I was a marketer who could communicate my expertise through writing. My strength lies in understanding business objectives and translating them into marketing strategies. Communicating that expertise saw me carve out a lucrative niche as a content writer. So, when AI writing tools burst on the scene, I saw it as an opportunity. Time is telling me I was right to do so.
https://www.digitalwriting.com.au/blog/ai-writers-its-not-if-its-when
I started Digital Writing hoping to leverage the new found scalability of the AI writing tools I’d been using. The efficiencies created by AI made taking on small businesses with limited budgets profitable. AI would do the grunt work, and I’d spend the rest of my billable hours adding the personal touch that made businesses want to work with me in the first place.
For me personally, AI wasn't a threat; it became a powerful enabler of business scalability. Suddenly, businesses that might have previously looked past me because I wasn't a full-time writer started to see immense value in my combined marketing acumen and AI-assisted content creation capabilities. Being half the writer of some meant nothing when I could be 1000 times the marketer, leveraging AI to bring my strategic insights to life with an efficiency that simply wasn't feasible before.
AI-Enabled Content: The New B2B Marketing
For years, small business marketers faced a familiar dilemma: the critical need for consistent, high-quality content versus the often prohibitive costs and complexities of creating it. Many felt forced to choose between budget-friendly “content mills" that lacked strategic depth, or expensive copywriting agencies that, while skilled, could strain limited resources. This often left a significant gap. The marketing expertise residing within the business owner or their team wasn't always effectively translated into compelling content that drove results. To make matters worse, changes to search engine algorithms over the years means that half-baked content stuffed with keywords no longer gets you anywhere either.
As AI tools improve in real time, the landscape is shifting dramatically. And it’s heralding a new era – one where small business marketers, and marketers like me, are increasingly empowered to translate their own deep understanding of their market, customers, and unique value proposition into a scalable content engine.
AI is doing to knowledge workers what automation has been doing to manufacturing in various waves over the last few centuries. All you need to do is look at what happened to manufacturing businesses that didn’t see the need to automate their processes, because their craftsmanship delivered a better result. Sure, some were able to survive and carve out a niche, but they were the exception. If that’s what you want to be, fine. But good luck convincing businesses to pay a premium for “artisan marketing services” in ten years time (let alone today).
This isn't to say that human creativity and strategic oversight are becoming obsolete. Far from it. Instead, AI is acting as a powerful co-pilot, augmenting marketers’ capabilities and freeing them from the more time-consuming and repetitive aspects of content creation. Think of it as having a tireless assistant who can rapidly draft blog posts, social media updates, and even initial versions of website copy, all while adhering to the brand's voice and style guidelines.
Marketers: You’re the New Content Writers
The traditional content creation process often involved a significant handover. Marketers would brief external writers, hoping their vision and expertise would be accurately captured. This process could be time-consuming, prone to misinterpretation, and ultimately, less authentic than content crafted directly by someone deeply embedded in the business.
AI changes this dynamic by placing the power back in the hands of the marketers themselves. They can now leverage their intimate knowledge of their target audience's pain points, their company's unique solutions, and the nuances of their industry to guide AI tools in generating relevant and engaging content.
How AI is Transforming Content Marketing for Small Businesses:
Scalability: AI allows small teams to produce a significantly higher volume of content without a proportional increase in workload or cost. This enables consistent engagement with their audience across multiple platforms.
Efficiency: Tasks like initial drafting, keyword research, and even basic SEO optimisation can be streamlined with AI, freeing up marketers to focus on higher-level strategy, creative direction, and audience interaction.
Consistency: AI can be trained on brand guidelines and tone of voice, ensuring a consistent message across all content outputs. This is crucial for building brand recognition and trust.
Accessibility: High-quality content creation is becoming more accessible to businesses of all sizes. AI tools offer a cost-effective alternative to expensive agencies, allowing even startups to compete effectively in the digital space.
Data-Driven Insights: Many AI tools offer analytics and insights into content performance, allowing marketers to understand what resonates with their audience and refine their strategy accordingly.
The Human Touch Remains Essential
While AI offers incredible potential, it's crucial to remember that it's a tool, not a replacement for human expertise. The strategic thinking, creative spark, and nuanced understanding of human emotion that marketers bring to the table remain invaluable.
Small business marketers must embrace AI as a partner, guiding its capabilities with their strategic vision. This involves:
Defining Clear Objectives: Understanding the specific goals each piece of content aims to achieve.
Providing Context and Expertise: Feeding the AI tool with detailed information about the target audience, key messages, and brand voice.
Reviewing and Refining: Critically evaluating AI-generated content to ensure accuracy, authenticity, and alignment with the overall marketing strategy.
Injecting Creativity and Personality: See the personal story that frames this piece? Sure, AI could do that, but it wouldn’t be real. Adding the human touch that makes content truly engaging and memorable.
If you’re a marketer worth your salt, none of these tips should come as a surprise. These are things you’ve always had to consider when briefing human writers, or planning your own work.
The Future is Hybrid
This may seem hypocritical, given I’ve built a career educating businesses on how technology can help them make more money (including by eliminating manual work done by people), but I’m very pro-worker (human workers, that is). I feel guilty thinking about the possibility of my work starting a ripple effect that ultimately led to people being made redundant. That’s why I’m passionate about helping marketers like me understand how to manage AI.
Until the promised utopian future where AI does all the work for us and we get to sit in the sun all day materialises, the future of content marketing for small businesses is likely a hybrid model, wherethe efficiency and scalability of AI are combined with the strategic thinking and creative flair of human marketers.
That said, given the myriad AI tools specifically designed for marketers, such as copyai and Jasper, it’s not hard to imagine a not-too-distant future where marketing teams have a “system administrator” skilled in extracting maximum value from AI tools.
By embracing these new technologies, small businesses can finally unlock the power of content marketing to build their brand, generate leads, and ultimately, achieve sustainable growth – often leveraging the unique skills of marketers who, like me, bridge the gap between strategic understanding and the power of AI-driven content creation. The power to tell their unique story and connect with their audience is now more accessible than ever before
