Business content-writing in the age of AI (or, how to stand out for the right reasons)

Similar businesses say a lot of the same stuff.  You might think it’s because there’s only so much you can say about flooring, or socks, or career-coaching, so everybody ends up saying it.

You’d be wrong, though.

Similar businesses say a lot of the same stuff precisely because everybody else is saying it.  Those words and phrases are tried and tested.  They work.

Don’t they?

In particular, I notice these similarities when I’m working on web copy or an article, say, with a new client.  As part of my research I’ll look at a range of competitors’ sites, only to find them all speaking politely in unison.  Only rarely will any stand out.

This issue has worsened with AI, because chatbots write what people expect to read.  There is nothing new or surprising about the way bots  ‘think’.  There can’t be, or what they say wouldn’t make sense.

What this means is, asking ChatGPT or Claude (other bots are available) for business content* will give you a reliable rundown of what currently passes muster in your industry.

It’ll do the job adequately enough. The resulting content will be clear, legible, and easy for people to take in.  Whether they’ll remember those words 24 hours – even 24 minutes – later is debatable, though.

Excerpt taken from Guy Browning’s brilliant book, Innervation: Personal Training for Life and Work

If you want fresh content, you need fresh thinking.

More often than not, that will take a creative writer who – shock, horror! – DOESN’T have “industry experience”.

As Guy Browning wisely says above, “how much creative thinking are bankers going to bring to banking?”  I’m not saying bankers can’t write, but writing about banking when you’re already a banker feels a bit… dry.  How can you avoid the jargon and clichés you use unthinkingly every day, but not all of your ideal customers will ‘get’?

(This doesn’t just apply to bankers, by the way.  Swap your chosen profession for “bankers”, “banking”, and “banker” above, if you must).

Meanwhile, a good writer will add their creative thinking to your business knowledge and personality, then mine it all for words that won’t read like the usual, tired, script.  They’ll naturally think about your ideal customers, because they’ll be thinking like them, only without all the industry blindness.

They’ll achieve this by invoking that old-fashioned writers’ rule: ask lots of obvious questions.  Even if I do have some “industry experience”, I’ll act like I haven’t.  My job is to adopt the inquisitive persona of an annoying eight-year-old: “why” this, and “what about” that, “how does that thing work?”, and “what for?”

These “silly” questions often spark a great deal of creative thought.  Not just for me, but my clients.

Some tell me that they know their businesses much better now, or that my questions have shone light on an unconscious or under-appreciated area of their work.  Regardless, the resulting content always feels fresh, and it always reads memorably.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

For more information about my writing services – as well as kind words from clients past and present – click here.

*I never say “content” because I can’t stand that word, but I wrote this piece because I’d quite like people to find it, read it, and then want to work with me.  “Content” is best-suited for that particular goal, but I hope you’ll forgive me for not using it in any email or conversation we may have later on.