AI and the press releases: Friend or Foe?

Creative communications is no exception to the AI generated waves crashing over every digital industry at the moment. The question of whether or not AI can actually help you craft a compelling press release has been on our minds so let’s talk about it.

Some may already be asking: “If AI can just write the release, is it helping us or replacing us?”

Branding and marketing guru Seth Godin says only mediocre creatives should fear AI. On the Brand Master podcast he says tasks that could be performed by AI should be done by AI “so you can get back to the work we need to pay you for”.

AI is a collaborative springboard, not a way to replace communicators. But we have to be careful as we use it because it doesn’t churn out pristine content.

In this edition we pull back the curtain and share our firsthand experiences on this pressing topic. There are pros and there are most definitely cons, so let's reveal where generative large language models shine and where they fall short.

First we need to discuss the prompt

Writing a good prompt is comparable to writing a clear and detailed brief. The core messaging, relevant client offering and all essential info should be clear. In our experience, asking AI to “role play as an expert writer,” can give you more descriptive results with better adjectives and improved sentence flow.

The positives of AI

Good headlines and subheadings: For some of us developing headlines and subheadings takes forever. AI can help get creative ideas flowing quicker.

Overall structure: Some releases have a familiar structure and having AI lay this out for you does save some time. You’ll definitely get better results with a model trained on in-house data.

Speed: Anything that saves you time, saves you money. Once carefully edited, an AI release can give you more time to pitch, build strong networks and get your client’s perspective out there.

The downsides of the AI approach

Sometimes there’s just no substance: AI can give you sentences that don’t mean anything making it crucial to check its outputs before hitting send. Niche audiences know their stuff and can smell a fake from a mile away.

AI doesn’t do calls to action well: There is a subtle art to writing at CTA and in our experience AI misses the mark more often than not.

It can’t write quotes for you: The AI generated quotes often have words that no real person would actually say, so it's up to you to think like a human so your clients don’t sound like robots.

Let’s recap

AI could help you quickly structure a release and give you headline ideas.

It can help get the ball rolling quickly but you have to take the time to review it.?

It can return results that don’t have substance so check your AI generated content.

AI quote’s will struggle to capture your client’s voice so review, review and review!

The verdict

Should you be using AI in releases? Yes, if the content lends itself to it, these tools can save you time and free you up for pitching, network building and finding opportunities.

Developing an in-house model trained on internal data, will yield better prompt results and protect proprietary information from your clients.

But without savvy content strategists reviewing your AI content, you could end up with egg on your face.