Hey Warrior,

We’ve all seen posts like these..

They’re massively cringe-inducing and honestly it’s a bit sad to see it.

Because these people have the right intentions: They know that using AI in their business will be the key to get ahead in the coming decade.

But unfortunately they’re doing it in the wrong way.

The one fundamental thing you need to understand about using AI in content creation is this:

Use AI as your EDITOR, not as the CREATOR.

You see, the problem with those posts is that AI was the creator of the entire thing.

• It generated the idea

• It used a very bad prompt

• It wrote these cringey words

This strategy will backfire and you will get blocked, which is the opposite of what you wanted.

Here’s what you should do instead:

You (the human) should stay in control of creating the post...

And to get an edge, you should use AI to help you speed up this process. Because when done right, you’ll speed it up by 50-80%.

Today we’ll talk about the 3 things you can do to keep the originality of your posts, while using AI to speed up the process:

1. Using AI for ideation

2. Collecting and creating templates

3. Always do some manual edits

Let’s jump in!

Read time: 4 minutes

1) Using AI for ideation

I sometimes think of AI chatbots just as “word jumblers”. You put something in and then they just twist and turn some words around, so that it makes sense (most of the time).

And that’s also the reason why it’s so effective to use AI for ideation and brainstorming.

Because what are creative ideas really? Their just combining two things that haven’t been combined before.

So just let AI do all the crazy “combining” and you’re sure to find some gems in whatever it puts out.

For example, here’s a prompt I like to use that takes existing blog post titles and remixes them to create new ideas for you:

Your task is to generate 20 blog post titles that are inspired by the provided examples and tailored to resonate with the specified target audience and help them achieve their stated goal.

<audience>Target audience: {$AUDIENCE}</audience>
<goal>Audience goal: {$GOAL}</goal>

<example_titles>Example blog post titles to draw inspiration from:
{$EXAMPLE_TITLES}
</example_titles>

<title_generation>
Using the examples as a starting point, generate 20 new blog post titles designed to appeal to {$AUDIENCE} and provide value in relation to {$GOAL}. Each title should be attention-grabbing, clearly communicate the key benefit or takeaway, and compel the reader to click through.

Present the titles in a numbered list, like so:

1. [Title 1]
2. [Title 2]
3. [Title 3]
...
20. [Title 20]
</title_generation>

Some tips for crafting strong blog titles:
- Incorporate powerful, emotionally resonant words and phrases
- Highlight the unique value proposition or key benefit the reader will gain
- Tap into the audience's core desires, aspirations, pains, or fears
- Use numbers, questions, or curiosity-provoking statements to stand out
- Ensure the central theme aligns with the {$AUDIENCE}'s interests and {$GOAL}
- Study the patterns and tactics used in the {$EXAMPLE_TITLES} and adapt them
- Aim for a mix of title styles (listicles, how-tos, questions, statements, etc.)
- Keep the titles concise - typically under 60 characters
- Make a bold promise or statement that the post content can deliver on

Remember, the title is the first and possibly only thing a potential reader will see. It has to work hard to cut through the noise, clearly communicate value, and persuade them to engage. Put yourself in the shoes of the {$AUDIENCE}. What titles would make them stop scrolling and compel them to click? 

This prompt has 3 variables that you’ll need to enter:

• Target audience: Your target audience (e.g. entrepreneurs)

• Audience goal: Your audience’s goals (e.g. to grow their business)

• Blog post titles: Sample blog post titles. Either things you’ve written about in the past or someone else in your niche has written about

Use this prompt and you’ll get a whole list of new ideas for your content. Then all you need to do, is cherry pick the ones you like.

2) Templates

Templates are the best way to get AI to write anything that is not generic nonsense.

Why does this work?

Well you’re essentially giving instructions that are just specific enough for AI to not run off the rails, but also leave enough variability for AI to do most of the heavy lifting.

So here’s what you should do:

Whenever you see good content on the internet that you would like to use at some point, save it, and then use it to create a template.

Then when you want to write something similar to that, use AI to fill out that template, by adding the the new topic you want to write about.

Here's an example for a content template. This is a tweet:

And here I turned that tweet into a template:

Now I can plug any other topic into that template and get a first draft generated in seconds.

You can do this with all kinds of other, longer form content as well.

(Btw, my new product the AI Growth Kit, launching on 2nd of May, is a huge collection of these templates, that are optimized to be used with AI. Stay tuned for more!)

3) Manual edits

Finally, you have to understand that anything AI creates should be seen as a draft and not as a final piece of content.

Yes, sometimes whatever comes out for some reason is just perfect. But often it is not 100% there yet.

And this is where you (human) need to come in and make some manual adjustments:

• Add some personal anecdotes

• Change some words to sound more natural

• Delete sentences that sound off

The good thing is that this is really not that hard or time-sucking to do.

Staring at a blank page and writing the first draft, that’s the hard part.

When you have something there that is 80-90% done, it gets really easy.

Thanks for reading!

If you enjoyed this email, consider forwarding this newsletter to a friend or colleague.

See you in the next one!

Moritz

P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here are two ways I can help you:

1. Get your product in front of 20,000+ solopreneurs, business owners and professionals. Sponsor this newsletter here.

2. You’re a maker, content creator or solopreneur and want to accelerate your product growth? Pre-order my AI Growth Kit here.