#21: Robot vs PMM

This week I was in Cleveland speaking at the Creator Economy Expo.

If you’ve been to Cleveland, you’ll know that it’s a bit gloomy this time of year. But, I left with my spirits bright after several days of discussion on how AI is powering the future of content creation.

Product marketers are no strangers to content. 72% of product marketing leaders say that product positioning and messaging is a core responsibility of their role. But, when you’re in a high growth tech company, this task can sometimes feel endless. Pendos, emails, positioning frameworks and GTM briefs abound.

Most PMMs want to spend less time on content creation and more time on strategy. With the introduction of accessible AI tools, this is starting to feel less like an “OR” (content or strategy) and more like an “AND” (content and strategy).

Today, there’s a lot of fear around AI. Some believe it will lead to a high volume of low quality content, while others believe it will replace us entirely. I don’t believe either of these are quite right. I think AI is here to help, not harm. Especially if we learn how to use it right.

When PMMs partner with AI, we unlock a world of possibilities. We’re able to:

• Increase productivity

• Save time and money

• Spark creativity

• Accelerate time to a first draft (which we can then polish!)

Here are two ways I use AI regularly to help me optimize and scale my content efforts so I can spend less time writing and more time designing the future.

Idea Generation

How many times have you sat in front of a blank Notion page just waiting for inspiration to hit? With remote work, it’s not possible to turn to the coworker next to you to bounce ideas back and forth. Think of AI like that coworker.

It can spark ideas for almost anything, including:

• Feature names

• Product taglines and descriptions

• Blog post topics

• Customer interview questions

Let’s double click into this last one. Earlier this week, Jess Petrella (creator of PMM OPS) shared a great template on LinkedIn for generating customer interview questions using AI. Her process was simple - provide the interview topic, duration and how you’ll use the research, and AI will draft your entire interview guide for you. What a time saver.

By leveraging tools like this, I’m able to spend more of my time on high value activities like talking to customers, and less of my time on the admin side.

Content Creation

When AI copywriting tools first hit the market, we were all skeptical. The quality of the output was low, and the results were hit or miss. It’s been incredible to see how these tools have evolved in just a few short years. Now, products like Jasper and Copy.ai can get you to an almost publishable draft with the right prompts.

Once you’ve worked with AI to spark an idea, you can generate full copy for:

• Competitive intelligence summaries

• Landing pages

• Community posts

• Customer lifecycle emails

I’ve tried testing an AI-written email vs a 100% human-written email against each other, and the results are surprising. They key to a quality email is the right prompts - quality in equals quality out.

First, I provide the machine some context - who I am, what I’m trying to communicate and why it matters. The most important part is providing an in-depth description of your target customer segment. Help the AI understand who your customer is, what their problems are, and how your product can help.

Once the email’s been written, provide feedback - just like you’d do with a human copywriter. Ask the AI tool to revise the email with the feedback you’ve provided, and you’ll get a higher quality result than the first pass. You can even ask it to revise the tone - make it more professional, or wittier, or more friendly.

What AI tools are bookmarked on your laptop? What products should I incorporate into my robot toolkit?