Look — AI isn’t the enemy. As a content marketer, tools like ChatGPT and Claude have become indispensable in my daily workflow.
But here’s the thing:
AI can’t fix what doesn’t exist.
If you’re relying solely on AI to solve your content bottlenecks — or if you don’t have a clear strategy — all AI will do is help you scale mediocrity.
Let’s break down why your AI content isn’t landing — and what to build first so the tools can actually work for you.
Why AI-Generated Content Isn’t Moving The Needle
Contrary to popular belief, AI isn’t a magic content machine — it’s a tool. And like any tool, its output is only as good as the system behind it.
Here’s why your AI-generated content isn’t delivering results — and what could be missing under the hood.
1. You’re Using AI Without Building a Solid Foundation
AI is great at scaling.
But scaling what?
If you don’t know your audience, your messaging, your positioning—AI will only help you create more noise.
Without these fundamentals, you’ll end up with generic, disconnected content that doesn’t convert or even resonate.
| 💡 QUICK CHECK Can your team clearly articulate who your audience is, what they’re struggling with, and how your solution stands out? If that’s fuzzy, even the best prompts won’t save your content. |
❇️ What you can do
Now, it’s not all doom and gloom. You can easily fix this by getting your foundations down pat.
Before throwing more content into the void, spend time building the following foundations:
- Your ideal customer profile (ICP)
- Brand voice and tone
- Unique selling proposition
- Buyer’s journey
- Existing content and insights worth repurposing
Remember: AI helps you scale, not steer.
If you’re not clear on direction, you’re just going faster in the wrong one.
2. You’re creating cardboard cutout content
Surprise: your audience can tell when content is AI-generated—and most of the time, it turns them off.
Generic = forgettable.
And in this fast-paced digital world (😜) forgettable means ineffective.
When you’re creating cardboard cutout content, you’re not just blending in—you’re training your audience to ignore you.
❇️ The fix:
To resonate with humans, AI content needs a human layer. Before you publish AI-generated content, make sure to:
- Develop and enforce clear content guidelines and brand voice
- Fact-check everything. AI has a tendency to spew information with 0% accuracy at 100% confidence. Let it assist, not dictate.
- Make someone accountable for editing and shaping output to match your standards
AI can help you move faster—but without human judgment and empathy, you’re just shipping fluff at scale.
3. You’re Going All-In on the Machine (And Ignoring the People)
Here’s a hot take for ya: AI doesn’t replace a content team.
It supports one.
Companies that try to run entire content programs through AI alone often end up disappointed. Because while AI can assist with drafts, outlines, and repurposing, it can’t:
- Interview your customers
- Understand your market shifts
- Connect dots based on intuition and experience
- Strategize based on outcomes and goals
You still need people to prompt, refine, decide, and adapt.
❇️ The fix:
- Train your team to integrate AI into their workflows
- Empower them to use AI for efficiency
- Don’t cut the humans who bring creativity, clarity, and context
The best content today? It’s AI-assisted, human-led.
Related: How To Prevent AI From Taking Your Writing Job
4. You’re Not Creating the Content Only Humans Can
Here’s something AI cannot do yet:
Tell your unique story.
Sure, it can summarize the internet. But it can’t replicate your company’s internal expertise, lived experience, or proprietary processes.
Which means if all you’re doing is using AI to churn out “5 tips for X” type content—you’re wasting your most valuable assets:
- Founders’ stories
- Team insights
- Behind-the-scenes lessons
- Customer case studies and social proof
- Frameworks, tools, processes
This is the stuff your competitors can’t copy. It’s also the stuff AI can’t create. Use these assets to create bottom of funnel content to help you stand out.
❇️ How to leverage your human assets with AI:
- Source stories, data, and insights from your internal team and customers
- Use AI to polish, package, and repurpose real expertise—not to invent it
- Build a library of owned content you can continuously refine, remix, and reuse
The goal isn’t to replace your team — it’s to make your most irreplaceable content go further.
So… How Should You Use AI?
If it isn’t clear yet, I like AI, but I don’t use it for writing sales pages or for doing audience research.
Instead, I use it where it shines best: operations, repurposing, and automation.
Here’s what that looks like:
✅ Content Ops Assistant
AI is a godsend for busy founders or content leaders wearing all the hats in their business. If you’re running a lean team, you can use AI to:
- Organize content calendars
- Generate briefs for your writers
- Document SOPs and workflows
- Draft internal documentation
By getting these things out of the way, you can help your content team run better, not just write faster.
✅ Tech support
Tech not your strong suit? Don’t worry – there’s a GPT for that. 😉
AI can help you figure out spreadsheet formula, generate basic codes, and troubleshoot technical tool issues.
When you use AI as your personal tech support agent, you can buy back your time and focus on content marketing tasks that need your specific expertise.
Reminder: Take care not to share sensitive or confidential information with AI tools! Use placeholders for info like company names or clients.
✅ Brainstorming Partner
For many remote teams, AI can be a great tool for brainstorming.
Whenever I hit a wall or feel my personal biases creeping into my copy, I use ChatGPT to help me get unstuck.
Caveat: it still can’t beat a good ol’ brainstorming session with real humans (or a nice long walk), but it’s pretty helpful in doing tasks like:
- Turning voice notes into structured outlines
- Reframing a blog angle
- Reviewing and rewriting existing copy
- Analyzing content for gaps, redundancies, and areas for improvement
- Brain-dumping ideas and asking it to summarize key takeaways
💡 PRO TIP
AI tools are notorious for producing overly optimistic fluff. Add prompts like “Be pragmatic” or “What am I missing?” to get more objective results.
✅ Repurposing Engine
One of my favorite AI use cases is content repurposing. If you’ve got high-quality content sitting around, AI is perfect for turning it into:
- LinkedIn carousels
- Email summaries
- Quote graphics
- FAQs
Here’s an example repurposing workflow using AI tools like ChatGPT:
- Copy and paste an existing blog post to ChatGPT
- Ask it to turn the blog post into carousel copy. Specify the # of slides (e.g. 10 slides). Include specific formatting instructions (e.g. limit to 100 words per slide, use bullet points, etc.) to get the best results.
- Alternatively, you can also ask it to turn your long form post into a content suite that includes:
- 1 LinkedIn thought leadership copy
- 5 short-form copy for Threads or X
- 5 lines that you can turn into quote cards
AI extends your content mileage. Start with something real—and it’ll become your content multiplier.
✅ Tedious Task Automator
“OMG, writing meta descriptions is my passion” — said no one ever.
Instead of wasting creative energy doing technical — and often tedious, repeatable — tasks, let AI do the heavy lifting.
Ask it to:
- Write product blurbs
- Generate alt text
- Draft template copy
Let the machine write for the machine and save your energy for tasks that need a unique human touch.
Final Thoughts
AI can absolutely help you fix your content problems—but not in the way you think.
It won’t replace strategy.
It won’t magically make your content resonate.
It won’t save your content marketing efforts if you haven’t nailed your fundamentals.
But if you use it wisely?
It’ll help your team run sharper, faster, and freer. 💪🏽
PS. Want help building a content engine that actually gets results—with or without AI?
I help lean teams get their strategy and systems in place so content works for them, not against them. Get in touch by filling out this form and let’s create content that fuels growth. 🚀
