Pamela Wilson, Author at Pamela Wilson

Man leaning over typewriter as dozens of papers float above it. This is how to use AI for faster content production.

3 Ways I Use AI for Faster Content Production

Step aside, caffeine: There’s a new way to speed up content production. And when used in moderation — with the advice below — it doesn’t give you the jitters.

We’re about to explore how to use AI to turbocharge your content production as a small business owner.

Fasten your seatbelt — let’s do this!

Hold on — is using AI for faster content production ethical?

Let’s address the elephant in the article here at the start:

In today’s high-speed digital universe, content needs to be created efficiently. And if you want to see a return on your content marketing investment, it must be high quality.

Is making content production efficient with AI the way to go?

Owners of fast-growing businesses who commit to using a content marketing strategy to reach their prospects may hesitate to use AI.

They’ve dabbled with low-quality content and gotten burned:

They may have tried hiring writers from freelancing sites to crank out content, only to see their search engine rankings plummet.
They’ve heard the horror stories about how using AI for faster content production ends up tanking website traffic.
They simply don’t know where to start. There’s a sea of information about AI, but not many experienced content marketers are talking about it.

That’s why I’m writing this article.

I have been using content marketing to grow businesses since 2010
I wrote two popular books about content marketing: Master Content Marketing and Master Content Strategy
I’m managing a team of content marketers in a corporate setting and we’re using AI for faster content production every week

The question you may have is whether making content production faster with AI is ethical. Is it OK to lean on artificial intelligence to help us create something to communicate with humans?

I believe it is. But the key phrase above is “help us create.”

You see, we’re not giving over the entire content production task to AI tools. We’re using them as an assistant. AI is a caffeinated intern, who’s available to help any time you need, but who can’t do the entire task alone. AI needs guidance before, during, and after it does the parts of the task you assign to it.

That means small business owners will still need an experienced content marketer to head up their content marketing efforts if they want to use AI for faster content marketing results.

Not sure how to find the right person? Read on to learn more about how an experienced content marketer can use AI writing tools.

Slow down to speed up: Don’t use AI for Step 1

I’m about to share how I’m using AI for faster content production with the marketing team I manage today. This will help you understand the kinds of skills needed to make content production efficient with AI tools.

To start, my team and I use a completely manual process to decide on the topics we’ll create content around.

I know — so inefficient!

But this is crucial — only the people in the business fully understand what the business’s current marketing needs are.

That’s why we have a monthly content planning meeting.

Here’s how we plan our content:

We capture ideas as we have them: Over the course of a month, marketing team members note how the business’s goals have changed, what we need now to hit our financial goals, and which lines of business require special attention. We bring those ideas to our content planning meeting and use them as a starting point for our discussions.
We discuss ideas and add observations: Together, we talk over our ideas, trends in our industry, time-based events we want to feature, and opportunities to collaborate with other content creators.
We select the best ideas, polish them, and build one list: After we’ve refined our ideas together, we capture them in a single list.

Once the “human overlords” (aka marketing team members) have decided what we’ll have the AI work on, we move to the next step. In this step, we begin allowing AI into our content production process, but only a little.

The thesaurus on steroids: Open the door to AI tools in Step 2

In this step, we’re opening the door, just a crack, to a chat-based AI writing tool like ChatGPT.

But the human content marketer is running the show!

Every piece of content we create starts with a Content Brief that’s unique to our content. The content brief encourages us to break down our content into distinct elements and to craft each element carefully.

Our content brief contains prompts for:

The page and meta titles
The meta description
The keywords we’ll target
The target audience for the piece of content
The stage of understanding (more on this in Master Content Marketing)
The category/categories we’ll assign to the content
Our unique point of view on this topic

Before anyone on our content team makes a move to work on the first draft, their content brief is reviewing by someone else on the team.

Where does AI fit in to this step? I believe using AI for faster content production in this stage means seeing it as a thesaurus on steroids.

The content brief outlined above obligates the content creator to thoroughly think through the content structure and goals.

You can ask AI to assist in building out your content brief in so many ways! Here’s how AI can be a thesaurus on steroids and help you write a winning content brief:

Page and meta titles. Tell an AI writing tool to Act as a copywriter and write 25 options for headlines using the phrase [KEYWORD PHRASE]. This will generate raw words and phrases you can use as inspiration.
Meta description. Tell an AI writing tool to Act as an SEO expert and write 10 options for a meta description for an article about [TOPIC], using the phrase [KEYWORD PHRASE]. Note: As always, the AI writing tool will need human guidance to create a meta description that’s accurate, easy-to-understand, and not too long.
Keywords to target. Your AI writing tool of choice can help you generate alternate keyword phrases to target. Note: The only way to know if these keyword phrases are viable is to plug them into a tool like SEMRush or Ahrefs.
Target audience. Lean on an AI writing tool to help you brainstorm what might be going through the heads of your target audience before they find your content. You can ask a chat-based tool: You are an experienced market researcher. Please provide information about what audience would be most interested in a piece of content about [CONTENT TOPIC]. Note: if the AI writing tool suggests an entirely different audience than the one you were hoping to reach, this is a red flag! Consider clarifying your content topic so it’ll appeal to the group you want to reach.
Stage of understanding. In a nutshell, these stages represent moments in a buyer journey and reflect levels of understanding around your topic. At each stage, prospects are asking different questions. Beginners prospects ask “What is [YOUR TOPIC]?” Intermediate prospects ask “How do I do [YOUR TOPIC]?” Advanced prospects ask “How can I use or buy [YOUR TOPIC]?”
Category for your content. No AI tool needed here! Simply review your current categories and find one that’s the best fit for this new piece of content.
Unique point of view. No AI tool here, either. This is where you and your content team need to decide how you want your business to speak on this topic. What’s your stance? How can you explain your unique take?

Once your content brief is finished and reviewed by a human, move to Step 3, Draft Zero.

The “Draft Zero” writer: Making content production efficient with AI in Step 3

The first draft you write, record, or film is — by far — the most time-consuming part of the content production process.

How can you use AI for faster content production in this stage?

Use an AI writing tool to generate a “Draft Zero.”

Draft Zero: (noun) An initial draft of a piece of content that’s not quite up to standards for a human-generated first draft. But it’s a starting point that a human content creator can shape into something that’s worthy of submitting to an editor.

How can an AI writing tool write a Draft Zero for you?

Go back to your human-created content brief and use the thinking you did there. Here’s how I recommend you structure your prompt:

1. Start with a ROLE.

Act as an [DESCRIBE AN EXPERT].

2. Tell the tool WHAT you want it to do.

Write a [CONTENT TYPE] for [WHO?].

3. Describe exactly HOW you want it to do the task.

The [CONTENT TYPE] should be [DETAILS ABOUT THE QUALITIES OF THE CONTENT HERE] (Add details here about the format, brand voice, structure, and tone you want the content to take.)

4. Tell it to ASK QUESTIONS FOR CLARITY

Before you start, please ask any clarifying questions that will help you perform this task.

5. Answer the questions in DETAIL.

Number your answers, and share specific information.

6. Check facts and edit the output to add your expertise and style.

Edit line-by-line, correcting mistakes, adding your expertise, and eliminating repetitive sections.

Engineering a prompt using this format will generate a decent Draft Zero.

From here, it’s back to your human content marketing expert to shape the output until it’s strong enough to submit to whatever editing process you use.

How AI improves content production speed

I’ve been obsessed with how to make content production more efficient for years.

To quote myself from the article linked above:

“Your content marketing plan shouldn’t be a marathon or a sprint. It should be a simple relay race.”

Using AI for faster content production doesn’t mean the tools operate by themselves. They require our help.

Alone, AI writing tools won’t create accurate content. AI-created content won’t sound like the humans behind our businesses.

But even with those faults, when you use AI for faster content production as outlined in this article, you’ll see that for all its drawbacks, it’s a powerful way to get content created faster, more easily, and more effectively.

For more on using AI for faster content production, read this post:

YouTube thumbnail with photo of Pamela Wilson and text: Endless CONTENT Ideas!

Unleash Your Content Potential with This 1 “Content Pillar Example” Strategy

It’s frustrating when you feel like you’ve exhausted every topic and you’re scraping the bottom of the idea barrel.

But there’s a silver lining on this gloomy content cloud: I have an enticing content pillar example that’s going to revolutionize your content planning!

In your journey through content marketing, you’ve undoubtedly come across the term ‘content pillar.’ Essentially, it’s a comprehensive piece of content based on a topic you want to gain recognition for.

This pillar can then be fragmented into smaller, more digestible subtopics and used across different platforms.

As a business owner, you understand the value of content marketing. You’ve probably already invested considerable time and resources. But somehow, the results don’t always meet expectations. Sounds familiar, right?

It’s not uncommon to struggle with content ideas. There’s always a temptation to cover a wide array of subjects. But here’s the catch:

To truly harness the power of content marketing, it’s critical to focus on one core subject, not 37.

Spreading yourself thin across multiple topics often results in unfocused and confusing content. These are common content marketing mistakes — and the results aren’t particularly useful for your audience.

The remedy? A structured approach to content generation that maintains a clear focus on your core topic, positioning you as a respected authority in your field.

Read on, or watch the video above.

Let’s examine this approach using a relatable analogy – dinner. And while we’re at it, we’ll also delve into a practical “content pillar example” to illustrate the process.

Oh, and did I mention the approach involves a tree? You’ll love it, I promise!

Photo of Pamela Wilson and her books Master Content Marketing and Master Content Strategy.

When I started my online business, I didn’t think of myself as a writer. Since then I’ve written hundreds of thousands of words and two books about content marketing — Master Content Marketing and Master Content Strategy.

If I can learn to do this, so can you!

Read article …

A CMO smiling as she learns how to use AI in content strategy so her team becomes more efficient.

AI in Content Strategy: 3 Game-Changing Tips for CMOs

I’m currently serving as the Chief Marketing Officer at DCS. These days, I’m using AI in content strategy and content production with my small content team. This article shares some of our hard-earned tips.

Are you ready to allow AI in content strategy plans you make?

Picture this: You’re directing an orchestra, which in this case is your marketing team. But you’re not just working with violin and trombone players. You have a futuristic synthesizer sitting in the orchestra — Artificial Intelligence (AI).

This synthesizer allows the orchestra to create music in all-new ways. But it doesn’t work on its own — it’s a tool that needs a smart human to run it, and to coax the best output from its limited capabilities.

This is a way to think about the role of AI in content strategy: Your orchestra’s synthesizer is like AI on a marketing team. AI doesn’t take over marketing. It doesn’t replace a person on your team. But, in the hands of the right “player,” AI can contribute meaningfully to the content strategies you implement.

The importance of AI in content strategy for CMOs is no longer a question. AI in content strategy is a must-have. Read on to learn why.

AI in content strategy: A temporary distraction?

We’ve heard the rumors of impending doom for marketers.

“The robots are coming for our jobs!”

But how important is the role of AI in content strategy, really?

I believe the introduction of AI is equivalent to the introduction of home computing, or the mobile phone — technology innovations which were introduced in my lifetime.

Here’s why CMOs should use AI in content strategy:

Personalization: AI-powered personalization can tailor content to individual user behavior. Your marketing campaigns will fit your prospects’ like a bespoke, custom-tailored blazer. Nice!
Analytics mastery: AI goes through data faster than a toddler through a bowl of olives (or was that just my toddler daughter?). AI takes your columns and rows of data and helps you understand your audience’s preferences and predict future trends.
Quality control: Ever wish you had an extra set of eyes to check content quality? With AI, you’ve got them! This is a powerful way to use AI in content strategy — as a first-line proofreader for the written content you create.

If you’re this far into this article, you must be at least “AI-curious.” Read on to learn how to use AI in content strategy in a few simple steps.

3 steps to start using AI in content strategy today

For marketers, AI goes beyond writing help and can assist you with content strategy decisions, too.

You can share your current content results and — with a tool like ChatGPT — ask it to share guidance.

As mentioned in this article about getting started with AI in content creation, there are a few parameters to feed your AI tool so it can provide on-point answers about content strategy:

Relevant parameters for content strategy questions

The target audience for your content
Your industry and your niche
Your most urgent business goals
Your long-term business goals
Relevant industry or customer data

Here’s a three-step prompt you can try in a tool like ChatGPT. Fill in the bracketed phrases with your own information.

Step 1: Provide context to the AI tool

You are a [ROLE] in the [INDUSTRY/NICHE]. Your business has a short-term goal to [ACHIEVE WHAT?]. Your business has a long-term goal to [ACHIEVE WHAT?]. In the industry, [CURRENT STATE OF INDUSTRY]. Your current customer base is [CUSTOMER DATA HERE].

Step 2: Ask a question of the AI tool

What content strategies would help my business achieve the goals above?

Step 3: Encourage the tool to ask clarifying questions

Please ask any clarifying questions required to answer the question fully.

Don’t skip the last question! Any chat-based AI tool will be able to ask questions that will provide more context and information — and allow it to provide a much better answer.

As your AI tool begins displaying its recommendations for your content strategy, stay with it. Ask clarifying questions back to it.

Then — and this is crucial:

Ignore the answers that don’t work
Consider the answers that are surprising, but may be useful
Re-combine ideas as-needed

The key to using AI tools for content strategy is to think of them as brainstorming partners. You never use the first, unpolished idea that pops up in any brainstorming session. But those ideas are sparks that lead to revenue-producing strategies once team members get involved in making them a reality.

CMO-to-CMO

It’s decision time, my CMO friend. If you’ve been hemming and hawing about whether to adopt AI into your content strategy, here’s your wake-up call.

I’m the author of the popular Master Content series of books, and I’m here to say that using AI in content strategy is smart.

It’s not perfect. It’s certainly not human. But the role of AI in content strategy is just beginning. Embrace it and be fearless!

– Pamela

Why CMOs should use AI in content strategy

If you haven’t started yet, I encourage you to find a place to use AI in content strategy today — before your competition masters this tool.

Remember: In the world of marketing, standing still is going backward. Put on your futuristic hat, embrace the potential of AI, and lead the way for your team.

Your content strategy (and your ROI) will thank you for it.

Disclaimer: Experiencing mind-blowing efficiency, impressive ROI, and heightened creativity may be a side effect of integrating AI into your content strategy. Use wisely, enjoy responsibly.

Brand Equity: 5 Essential Steps to Build a Memorable, High-Value Brand

Do you ever feel like you’re constantly battling against the odds, striving to make your mark in the business world? A high-value brand can set you apart from the competition.

Let’s talk about the essentials of building a brand that has both value and authority.

Why is brand equity essential for small businesses?

Brand equity refers to the inherent value that both your brand name and image hold in the marketplace — and in the minds of your customers. Here’s what that looks like in action:

You can command premium prices
Brands with high equity have the advantage of charging premium prices for their products or services. Communicating greater value positions you above your competitors in the minds of your customers.
You stay top of mind
High brand equity makes your business both recognizable and memorable. Customers will instinctively think of your business first when they’re ready to make a purchase.
You inspire trust and confidence
Recognized brands are seen as established and trustworthy. By creating a sense of trust in potential customers, you give them the confidence to invest. And you build customer loyalty with the value that you deliver — which means repeat business, referrals, or both.

When you fully understand the power of brand equity, you can build a business that’s recognized as an industry leader.

If you’re uncertain about your existing brand equity, or if you’re a startup looking it get it right from the beginning, you’re in the right place. With my extensive experience advising local, national, and international businesses, I have resources to help you build your brand equity starting right now.

Read article …

Black man in business suit, sitting on bench, looking toward words that say Leveraging AI in Your Content Strategy.

Small Business, Big Impact: Leverage an AI Content Strategy to Dominate Your Market

I’ve been a cheerleader for the small business underdogs of the world since I started my business more than three decades ago.

You’re at a disadvantage from a marketing standpoint because you’re competing against established, well-funded brands.

Good news! A smart AI content strategy will change that.

You may think it’s impossible to compete because your big business aspirations aren’t matched with a big marketing budget.

If “over-extended and under-funded” sounds like your marketing strategy today, buckle up. I’m about to introduce you to all the advantages of using an AI content strategy in your marketing.

AI is the Aladdin’s lamp of the modern marketing world. Grab it, ask it for a piece of marketing, and — like magic — it’ll spit out something you can use as a starting point.

Here are three ways that leveraging AI in small business content strategy skyrockets your brand visibility and impact. Let’s dive in!

Tactic 1. Customer insights on steroids

Imagine if you could read your ideal customer’s mind.

Creepy? Maybe a little. Useful? Absolutely!

AI, with its superpowered data analysis, is like an espresso shot for market research.

It can decipher patterns in customer behavior, revealing their preferences, needs, and pain points.

Now, doesn’t that sound like a secret weapon for a small business — and a great way to have impact with an AI-driven content strategy?

Here’s Zapier’s article on how to use AI to gather insights about your prospective customers.

Think of AI as your savvy — if not always 100% accurate — social media strategist.

By analyzing content performance across various platforms, AI can suggest the best places to post for maximum reach and engagement.

No more shooting in the dark — with AI, you can make educated guesses that actually work.

More on using AI to improve your social media results.

Best of all, once you know what to post, where, and when, you can use AI to help you generate the content itself.

You’ll feed it prompts and sit back as it generates:

LinkedIn posts
Facebook posts, or stories outlines
YouTube scripts or descriptions
Instagram captions, or reels outlines
Threads posts

You won’t want to use anything straight from the AI writing tool. But you’ll get a decent “Draft Zero,” as I call it, that you can use as a starting point for the social content you need.

Tactic 3. Your personal content optimizer

Wouldn’t it be remarkable to have an eagle-eyed editor checking your blog, video, or podcast content for SEO friendliness and clarity?

AI’s got your back!

From catching pesky typos to suggesting powerful keywords and smoother word choices, AI helps ensure that your content is both search engine and reader-friendly.

Here’s a prompt you can try in ChatGPT to turn it into a basic editor:

PROMPT: Please review the content below. Check for any grammatical errors, suggest improvements, and provide the changes in a table format. Column 1 is the paragraph where you are suggesting an edit, column 2 is the original text, and column 3 is the suggested edit. [PASTE CONTENT HERE.]

This prompt will generate a table that shows exactly where you could edit and improve your written content, paragraph by paragraph.

This AI content strategy uses ChatGPT to edit written content and produce a table with suggested changes, paragraph by paragraph.

Formulate your AI content strategy now

In this digital age, being small doesn’t mean being invisible. You can show up on a level online playing field and compete with the largest players in your industry — especially if you harness the power of AI to help your marketing efforts.

Your competition is already formulating their AI content strategy — if you don’t have one yet, the time to start is now.

With AI at your side, your small business can create a content strategy that generates high-quality content with smart input from you on the front end (with smart prompts) and on the back end (with savvy edits and polishing).

Ready to uncover more about AI in content strategy for small businesses?

Your wish is my command! This is the first of a series of posts that will help you transform your small business into a content powerhouse with the help of AI tools. Watch this space!

A marketing team gathered at a table in a bright, sunny room, learning how to automate content creation using AI tools.

Manage AI Tools to Automate Content Creation: A Practical Guide for Powerful Results

These days, I’m serving as the Chief Marketing Officer for a fast-growing business in the healthcare industry.

My small team has discovered how to automate content creation using AI tools in a very particular way.

We’re treating AI like a suit of armor we step into whenever we want content superpowers.

All by itself, the suit of armor is useless.

But with a smart marketer guiding it, our “AI suit” allows us to create high-quality content faster than ever before.

How my marketing team uses AI tools for content creation

You know that feeling when you’ve just finished folding the last piece of clean laundry, and then you discover there’s another pile of dirty clothes waiting to be washed?

That’s what content generation feels like some weeks — like it’s a marketing team’s never-ending task!

But what if you could step into a suit of armor that would make everything easier, faster, and (dare I say it?) — more fun?

AI writing tools are like that suit of armor.

This article is a practical guide to automating content generation with AI.

Ready. Set. Automate!

Step 1: Automate content creation using AI

Step 1: Know the potential — and the limitations

The first step in how to automate content creation using AI tools is understanding that automating content generation means you’ll work side-by-side with your AI tool of choice.

You’ll use AI to make your content creation process smooth and fast — but you’ll draw on your personal creativity, specific data, and human-centered experience to improve your results.

AI is not a DFY (Done For You) tool. It’s a DWY (Done With You) tool.

Remember: AI tools can analyze data, identify patterns, and generate content based on the insights you give them.

When you feed AI tools your data, observations, and experiences, they will generate content that’s based on your own human experience.

Step 2: Automate content creation using AI

Step 2: Decide what’s the best AI tool for content creation (for your needs)

It took weeks, but after testing the best AI writing tools I could find, I finally discovered the one that works best for my marketing team.

We’re drowning in new AI content creation software right now. It’s your job to research, compare, and select the one that suits your marketing team’s needs best.

After plugging in the company credit card to get paid trials on several of the “best AI writing tools” available today, I came to a startling conclusion.

Don’t laugh …

We didn’t need anything more than a paid ChatGPT plan.

Yes, there are free AI tools for content creation, but I focused on paid tools, because the business I’m marketing needs to be competitive online.

That doesn’t mean we had to pay a lot for our chosen AI tool.

Here’s what I noticed immediately as I researched “the best” AI content generators available right now:

Most of the AI tools I reviewed simply added a layer of user interface on top of a Large Language Model engine like ChatGPT. I found them annoying at best, and downright confusing and clunky in most cases.

Coming back to the original AI tool I fell in love with felt like slipping into a familiar pair of shoes.

Good ol’ ChatGPT: You’re all we need!

Step 3: Automate content creation using AI

Step 3: Feed the caffeinated intern

Here’s the analogy I use with my team:

Your AI tool is like an overly caffeinated intern.

Your AI tool is super enthusiastic and has a ton of energy to burn.

But it’s … (how shall I say this diplomatically?) … not always accurate. Or insightful.

Just like an intern who’s had three-too-many espressos, your AI tool needs guidance — human guidance.

If you want to automate content creation using AI tools, be prepared to feed them the right data to produce high-quality results.

What does this mean? Simply put, you need to be prepared to feed it relevant parameters if you intend to automate content creation using AI tools.

Relevant parameters for AI tools

The target audience for your content
Your industry and your niche
Your brand voice
Relevant industry or customer data
The action you want the audience to take
The result you want to see from the content

You’ll automate content creation using AI tools — but only after feeding those tools plenty of relevant information so they can create content you can use as a starting point.

Step 4: Automate content creation using AI

Step 4: Tweak and test

It’s time to let your preferred AI content creation tool out of the cage and watch it fly. Be ready to test — and to feel disappointment at your initial results.

Like any new tool, AI has a learning curve. Be open to starting at the beginning — you can look forward to seeing improvement as you build your skills with the tool.

Let AI generate content, but be ready to tweak and adjust the settings as needed.

Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day. You won’t automate content generation using AI tools in a day, either.

CMO-to-CMO

You’re entering the future of content generation.

AI is not a magic lamp that takes care of your content creation automatically with no human input (wouldn’t that be nice?).

But used strategically, AI tools will free up significant time and energy that will allow you to focus on the broader aspects of your marketing strategy.

Pro Tip: While AI is a game-changer, remember that it’s there to complement your strategy, not replace your smart human touch. Using AI for content generation automation helps you move fast and do big things. It’s up to you to guide your AI content, give it a human soul, and show your AI tool where to focus its power.

–Pamela

Step into the future and give your content strategy an AI advantage

Remember, automation is not about replacing the human touch, but about making your life as a Chief Marketing Officer easier — and more interesting!

Watch this space for more articles on this topic. I’m just getting warmed up.