It’s safe to say that we are well and truly in the digital age. The progression of technology has significantly accelerated in the space of just a few months, with the rise of programmes such as ChatGPT, the Metaverse and Google AI, you really do have the world at the end of your fingertips. Many people in digital industries such as digital marketing and lead generation are worried for the future of their jobs – concerned that automation will take over and leave the industry obsolete. However, at The Lead Gen Specialists, we disagree. We believe that if your business is passionate about creating true, authentic and original content, you will not be left behind. Why? Because people want to deal with people, not robots!
In this article, we share our secrets of how you can keep it real in 2023 by producing original, heart-felt messaging that will resonate with your audience, generate leads and in turn, accelerate your business growth.
Don’t Be a Copy (Writing) Cat
In 2023, it’s all too easy to simply Google the topic you wish to write about and within the space of two seconds, you’re delivered with pages upon pages of articles that show you just what you’re looking for. It’s even easier to take a paragraph from one article, another paragraph from another article and so on until you have curated (not created!) a piece of rip-off content that you feel as though you can call your own.
Now, this section of the article may feel like you’re back at your school desk with your teacher yelling at you, telling you not to cheat on your exams and if you get caught, you will be removed from the course. However, the same rules apply today when writing copy. Plagiarism is a serious offence and can result in legal action. Do you really want to get sued because you tried to cut some corners?
There’s a common misconception that if a piece of content does not display a copyright notice, then it’s ‘for the taking’ so to speak. This is not true. Every piece of original content, regardless of whether it has a copyright notice or not, is protected under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Not only can you face serious legal action, your brand can also lose credibility and respect as nobody likes a copycat.
The Importance of Independent Research
Now, if you’re a professional copywriter (we’re not talking about professional copyrighters) you will understand the feeling of writer’s block all too well. Sitting at your desk for what feels like hours on end trying to come up with the first sentence to a 1500-word blog.
If you work for a company like a lead generation agency or a digital marketing agency and have a client who is in a niche sector, you may need to conduct some research to get a better understanding of the industry to assist you in your copywriting process.
There is nothing wrong with looking to similar articles to gain some inspiration and further your knowledge on the topic. If no one took inspiration from others, we would have never experienced some of the best movies, books and bands of all time.
The difference between inspiration and outright copying is how you take a piece of information and put it into your own words.
This leads us to our next point.
Be Original – No One Likes a Fake
Do you remember the spine-tingling, hair-raising Anti-Piracy ad at the beginning of every late ’90s/early 2000s DVD?
If you had that advert appear on your TV screen, chances are your DVD was genuine and not pirated. If you buy a genuine handbag from a major designer, you receive an authenticity card stating that the accessory is original and not a counterfeit.
Where are we going with this?
Be original with your copywriting because no one likes a fake!
Brand Identities
If you’re working for a company, nine times out of ten they have an established a brand identity, accompanied with a set of brand guidelines. If your organisation already has this, great! You’re one step ahead. Having a pre-existing brand identity makes it a lot easier to produce genuine, authentic copy as you will have a certain tone of voice that you will need to adhere to.
If you’re a start-up or an established business and do not have a brand identity, it may be a good idea to develop one to ensure your employees are on the same page when it comes to producing collateral for the company.
When deciding on your brand identity, you may want to analyse your audience, dependent on whether you’re a B2B or B2C organisation, your tone will differ. If you’re a B2B organisation, you will want to adopt a more of a ‘corporate tone’. If you’re a B2C business, you will have a bit more free reign in terms of how you want to communicate with your audience. Although, throughout this process, you need to keep your target audience at the centre of your identity, because ultimately, it will be them who drive your business growth.
AI is Not Your Friend
Picture this. You’ve established your brand identity, and have a blog title, but no content. You’re at capacity and don’t really have 90 minutes to put aside to write an article as your day is consumed with meetings. Then, you have a lightbulb moment.
“I’ll just pop the title into an AI chatbot and let automation do the work for me!”
That sounds like a great idea in theory, however, you should not be relying on artificial intelligence to produce authentic content. Most AI tools produce content by trawling the internet for information similar to the question it has been asked and will pull content from various sources to amalgamate a solution for you. The worst part? It’s virtually impossible to find out where the software has sourced the information from and you could open yourself up to countless copyright claims.
Many organisations have already caught onto this and thus have begun implementing policies around the usage of AI in the workplace.
The usage of AI chatbots certainly holds its place in the digital world. They can provide you with a great framework for your content and get you past that initial writer’s block. However, we do not recommend that you just copy and paste the entire blog into a Word document and pass it off as your own.
The key to writing captivating content is drawing from your personal industry experience and adding something of value to your audience. If you want to build trust, respect and rapport with your customers, writing original, captivating copy aimed at showing off your knowledge and setting you apart from your competitors is the key to keeping it real in 2023.
If you would like to find out more about how we can help you create original content to assist you with your email marketing campaigns and lead generation, get in touch with The Lead Gen Specialists today by calling 03332 400 054 or emailing enquiries@leadgenspecialists.co.uk
