If the goal is output, stop paying copywriters
I have a saying that I think I came up with about 10 years ago, but honestly I'm not 100% sure it's mine:
"Content might be king, but context is G-d."
I'll try not to devolve into cliched takes, but I feel like it's even more relevant these days.
AI has been a godsend for content output. Whatever you need - a website, brochure, flyer, sales deck, etc. - AI can get it done in minutes, if not seconds.
And in the process, I feel like content has accelerated its descent from king to peasant. It's just so cheap at this point.
But context - the framing for the content - remains ever more critical.
If you're a marketer, copywriter, strategist or anything of that ilk, I mean let's face the reality: the general perception is that you're not really needed as much anymore.
And perception is, unfortunately, reality.
Why pay someone to write a newsletter when AI can generate it?
Why pay someone to write a brochure or deck when AI can generate it?
Why pay someone to write web copy when AI can generate it?
I'm sorry to say - and this has been tough for me to accept - in many cases the answer is simply you shouldn't pay someone to do something AI can do.
If output is the goal, there is no reason on Earth to be paying someone like me. AI can generate output better and cheaper than any human can.
BUT
Context is still very much in demand. Context-driven output is needed more than ever. Understanding and communicating a brand's uniqueness is still very much in demand.
There are still those brands (and people) who need humans to analyze, capture, and communicate their unique position, voice, tone, and overall strategy.
That's something AI will never take. And for the reading literacy-challenged, that is not me "fighting technology".
It's me, an avid AI user, understanding the nature of this tool and where its deficiencies and limitations lie.
Tools are there for output, humans are there to set the context for the output. That will never change.
So as AI continues to make Content the king of an increasingly bankrupt nation, the ability to understand and generate Context remains as all-powerful as ever.
