AI vs. Freelance Marketer: Which to Choose?
It’s not an either-or decision—you can combine a freelancer’s expertise with AI to enhance your marketing. Hiring an experienced marketer who leverages AI offers the best of both worlds while saving you money. Here’s how I use AI to give my clients a win-win solution.
AI and Copywriting
Even experienced professionals occasionally get writer’s block or tend to often use the same phrases. AI blasts away those obstacles to aid brainstorming, refine copy, adjust the brand voice, tone and style, or tighten copy. Less time. Faster results. My clients save money and enjoy quicker turnarounds.
If AI is so capable, why do companies still need a professional copywriter?
AI lacks the human touch — the intangibles that only a human can add to create copy that sings and stays in tune.
- A marketer’s understanding of human behavior. What motivates buyers or what turns them off? A human marketer writes copy that leads a buyer through the journey from casual interest to buying.
- Institutional knowledge. A marketer knows where your company has been and where it’s going. AI doesn’t know you like your marketing consultant does.
- Heart and soul. This is the biggie. Your company has a soul, heart, personality, and a vibe. A human copywriter captures these attributes.
Humans craft better copy and get better results.
AI and Graphic Design
AI tools are built into my graphic design tools. Adobe Illustrated, InDesign, Photoshop and Canva. While AI can generate graphic design images and artwork there is usually something a bit “off.” AI robotically follows rules and patterns but misses the nuance that only a human can add.
- Needs a tweak to meet design principles: AI doesn’t understand the four principles of graphic design – contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. A trained human graphic designer incorporates these principles.
- Is it believable? Some AI-created art doesn’t look “real.” It doesn’t look believable. AI generated graphic design lacks emotion. Soul. Humans add this ingredient.
- Storytelling: AI can create images but it is limited by algorithms and the database behind the AI. It takes a human to weave the images into a narrative that makes sense.
- On-brand? Is the art consistent with the brand? An AI graphic design tool needs to be fed the correct specifications to be on-brand. This requires marketing and design knowledge to get it right.
- It looks like other designs: Because multiple people use that same AI-powered graphic design tools it’s possible the tool will create identical or similar artwork. This complicates rights to exclusivity or claims of originality.Copyright Issues: AI-only generated designs aren’t eligible for copyright because an organization can’t claim exclusivity rights to the artwork. AI produced art may contain graphic design elements that are copyrighted. A graphic design tool that uses AI for graphic design may have rules about who owns the copyright, either the graphic design to
How I use AI for graphic design
AI helps me brainstorm but I create original artwork using elements that may be created by AI. But less than 25% of the graphic design I craft is AI-generated.
AI and SEO
AI can analyze a website to suggest SEO-friendly content, recommend keywords, optimize content, analyze competitors’ websites, and identify technical issues that hinder website performance and identify link building opportunities.
Here are the SEO tools I use:
- Google Lighthouse
- AISEO
- SpyFu