Ceci Dadisman posted some guidance on LinkedIn for arts marketers using Ai to write promotional copy. She talks about creating different messaging for each segment of an audience. In this case, Insiders, Recent Buyers, Lapsed Buyers, and Cold Prospects.
The basic approach is the AI agent is writing the four different sets of copy you would write if you didn’t have the time. This is different from having AI writing copy for you because you are taking responsibility to review the copy and revise parameters so that there is basically no commonalities between the message for Insiders and Cold Prospects.
Ceci walks through the steps of writing a comprehensive prompt that ensures that messaging is crafted specifically for each audience. This requires providing details about the audience, what they know, what they don’t know, the voice to use, and most importantly; what concepts, words and jargony terms not to use.
For example from her prompt instructions:
When rewriting, do:
-Lead with what the reader will experience, not what we are offering
-Use “you” more than “we”
-Define any word a smart friend outside our industry wouldn’t recognize
-Keep sentences short. Sixth-grade reading level or below.
When rewriting, never:
-Use the words: [list of terms — e.g. “transcendent,” “iconic,” “immortal,” “unforgettable”]
-Assume the reader knows any staff member’s name
-Reference internal season structure or programming language without translation
-Add urgency the original draft didn’t have
She includes tons more insight and instructions, including how to test and evaluate what AI produces against itself and content a human has written.
Sounds like more effort than just hiring someone who can write. Are people who can write so scarce these days?
Possibly skilled writers are scarce. More likely the funds to pay them are scarce. I am definitely skeptical about AI and concerned about the resources the data centers consume. But I am intrigued by the prospect that the tool can help you write four different, possibly effective, messages for different audiences.
While I think people could learn and hone their writing skills by studying different approaches that prove effective, I am not going to hold my breath that they will take the time to do so.
A lot of actors (particularly young ones) are disgusted by theaters using AI for marketing—they see AI as an existential threat to art, which they take very personally. After all, screen actors are seriously threatened by AI right now (verticals have been stealing performances and likenesses already, and AI “actors” are beginning to be used in commercials to replace real actors).