2023 Wrap-up: Generative AI and the Future of Content Marketing

As the CEO of a human centric writing company, Sue dives deep into some of the most trending topics of 2023.

Do you think we can work in a world where there's room for both writers and ChatGPT?

I think there's definitely room for both. Generative AI is an impressive tool that has come to the forefront. It's not robust yet, but it's getting there quickly. But even then, the type of content that it generates is not necessarily the type of content our clients’ request. And that's why we're still in business. It has a tone of its own that makes a lot of content generic.

It certainly can’t interview your executive team or subject matter experts. It doesn't have a lot of the controls and trust factors yet that humans can provide. I think we will definitely have a place in a ChatGPT world.

What do you think the future of content marketing will look like in five years?

That’s a long time horizon. Content marketing follows trends in distribution. So if there are new platforms or technology, any new kind of distribution channel, whether it's Slack, or LinkedIn, or a type of content, such as an ebook, it will morph and change along with audiences.

I have a feeling we will not be so desktop focused (yes, even now in 2023) and will be very mobile, if not more so, maybe with even more wearables or “companion tech” to assist us. And so, I actually think we should be looking two years ahead, maybe, instead of five, for trends towards different distribution channels.

Has our fixation with SEO and ranking highly on Google led us to write pieces differently?

No. Different industries need different levels of search engine optimization. The average consumer needs to search for the answers to their questions. However, there are some industries that are so niche and unheard of – people don’t know what to search for. So I think Google is not going away anytime soon but niche products and services will be discovered on what I call discovery engines.

Discovery engines are tools and platforms like Generative AI and also, advertising within apps. Amazon is also a good example of a discovery engine: it puts new products up in your face and you're exposed to new things. SEO will change when people don’t search in the same way.

Word of mouth still exists. And if people don't know what they're searching for, and you have something new and exciting to share, then SEO won’t help you very much.

There’s always a formula behind a Google SEO search with headings and subheadings. You also have to consider and publish metadata and the way you structure a website to be SEO compliant (which I refer to as being Google compliant).

No one really knows what Google compliance actually means because we don't have access to their algorithm. And that's why SEO is a constant changing thing and why it’s hard to keep up with. So we really don't have a change in our approach for that. We take the keywords the clients would like, and we use the structure our clients would like. Writing for humans always trumps writing for robots. Robots don’t have money.

Has the recipe for writing content changed over time?

HeadStart has been around for 11 years, and I believe, the structure of content has not changed. People are looking for interesting things to read. As a writer, you want to hook them in so that they read your call to action - get people to share and do things.

So it's amazing how everything is changing, yet everything stays the same. Because ultimately, humans are reading and sharing stories. That hasn’t changed and is very unlikely to change.

Are there any recent innovations that have inspired you, and to give us an example of how you have utilized the tech that has inspired you in your business?

There have been a lot of innovations over the years, and I have seen a lot of new and exciting things come into play. It inspires me because I'm realizing how much we still need a human touch. And it's like a bubble has emerged (this time AI), and it's going to get very good very fast.

Yet, how can we compete on that stage? I say I go the opposite. It's this kind of innovation that inspires me actually to double down on quality, and the human side of things, which seems a little contrarian. It also seems a little old school, like I'm not really thinking forward.

But ultimately, a human brain has to put it all together. I think that innovation and technology, come and go, so you need to evaluate what is right for your business. And what ultimately the marketplace wants/requires, which is sometimes against the exciting trends that business has to offer.