Most copywriters are using AI WRONG… because they are using the wrong AI copywriting tips.
I’ve spent the last couple of years carefully navigating the role of AI in the copywriting and content creation process.
I’ve built custom assistants for copywriters, marketers, service providers, and business owners inside my private memberships.
And I’ve designed simple AI secrets to help my students free up more of their time, energy and mental load… so they can double down on truly mastering their copywriting craft fueled by empathy, humanity and creativity.
And writing copy that actually connects and converts.
Today, I’m going to share with you 4 secrets to help you become a better copywriter – even if you’re a complete beginner. And trust me, it’s not what you think, so keep reading to check out my AI copywriting tips.
Secret #1: Stop Obsessing Over AI Copywriting Prompts
I know, I know, everyone’s obsessed with getting their hands on the right “prompts.”
But the REASON you’re not getting useful output with tools like ChatGPT is because you’re asking it to write copy FOR YOU. Big mistake.
Even with the most brilliant prompt in the WORLD… AI will always fail you. You need to lower your standards.
Because AI can’t create, it can’t feel, and it can’t think.
It can’t share your unique ideas, stories or lived experiences, and it certainly can’t fake empathy, authenticity, or connection.
At the end of the day, AI is just rapid pattern recognition at scale. That’s it.
And while it’s definitely impressive, let’s not confuse impressively fast word generation with anything that remotely resembles intelligent copywriting.
What AI can do for you if you’re stuck staring at a blank page, is generate rough copy concepts that you should then tweak, edit and refine.
And while having great prompts is certainly helpful, that alone is not enough.
Before you even think about the prompt, what you should be doing is training AI on the foundational information it needs to give you the best possible output as quickly as possible.
And to do that, you need to create what I call a Customer Codex.
What’s a Customer Codex, you ask?
A Customer Codex is essentially a document you create that outlines your customer personas. No, not your customer avatar, which is a static snapshot of your customer with unchanging characteristics and traits.
What I’m talking about is a detailed breakdown of your audience’s fears, desires, and goals at every single stage of their growth – over time.
Imagine this: you’re working with a copywriting assistant who knows everything about your customer on their journey with you.
From the moment they first found you, to the moment they become a raving fan.
And imagine that copywriting assistant truly understands what their biggest challenges are, what keeps them up at night, what they desperately want, and even how they communicate at each stage.
Yeah, that’s what creating a Customer Codex does.
AI can only produce useful output if it knows all the information about who you’re writing for… and how to speak to them.
So instead of trying a useless prompt like “write me an email about [topic]”… which we all know will end up being the most boring yet overly overdramatic email ever written.
You could try, “Referencing my Customer Codex for an overwhelmed business owner, create a detailed email outline about [topic]. Include subject line options, a personal story or concept I could write about, the main takeaway of the email, and a pivot to the offer. The messaging should speak to their fear of sounding salesy.”
The difference in output is night and day.
Of course, still not “publish ready” but way better than what you got before. Now all you gotta do is re-write this email and inject your own stories, personality and voice.
As copywriters, we know that actual writing is only 20% of what we do, and we don’t want to mess with that magic.
But when you can train AI to accelerate 80% of the work that happens before you ever strike a single key on your keyboard? That’s when the real advantage comes into play.
And I’ll show you how.
Inside my brand new mini-course, BRAINSTORM, I’ll show you how to create your own Customer Codex and turn AI into a highly trained copywriting assistant who is always on call – ready to instantly retrieve customer insights, help you brainstorm ideas, and generate rough copy concepts.
So you’re never again starting from scratch or stuck staring at a blank page.
You can find more information about BRAINSTORM by clicking the link here.
Alright, let’s move on to my second ai copywriting tip.
Secret #2: Train Your Copywriting AI Assistant
The Customer Codex tells AI who your audience is and how to communicate with them on every stage of their journey with you. But remember – at the end of the day, AI is simply a prediction tool.
I asked ChatGPT to describe itself in simple terms and here’s what it said. “It looks at a lot of information — like words, pictures, or sounds — and studies how all the pieces fit together. Then, when you ask it to make something new, it uses what it learned to predict what should come next, one tiny piece at a time.
For example, if it’s making a sentence, it guesses the next word based on all the words before it. If it’s making a picture, it guesses the next bit of color or shape that makes sense.
It doesn’t think or understand like a person — it just follows patterns it learned from everything it studied to create something new that fits your request.”
Let that last sentence sink in. “It doesn’t think or understand like a person — it just follows patterns it learned from everything it studied to create something new that fits your request.”
If you’ve ever used AI – like at ALL – then you already know that…if you give AI garbage, you’re going to get hot flaming garbage right back.
This is exactly why AI can never be a replacement for copywriting, strategic marketing or critical thinking.
I see this ALL the time. Someone will show me their AI output and say, “See? AI sucks at copywriting!” And honestly, I don’t know what’s more surprising.
How bad the AI-generated copy almost always is…
Or that you’re actually surprised that it’s bad. I mean, of course it is.
However, training AI properly will at least give you better than average results to help you get started faster. So here’s what you need to do.
Upload your Customer Codex along with your prompt to generate rough copy concepts for you…
Then you can continue to refine it and refine and refine it – right there inside the ChatGPT conversion.
You’re going to give it feedback, ask for revisions, changes, updates, and tweaks to get it closer to a useful first draft.
Just like a conversation you might have with a real copywriting assistant.
Then you can ask it to write the prompt that would have generated that “better first draft” in the first place.
That way, you’ll end up with a super detailed prompt structure that you can come back to next time to save even more time.
But remember, you’ll always have to edit, refine, tweak, and most importantly… add YOU into the copy.
But this is what it actually means to “train your AI”.
It’s about opening a continual feedback loop so it can get you closer to where you want to be faster.
If you’re arguing with AI every time you use it… It’s because you’re expecting too much.
AI isn’t supposed to do your job for you. It’s supposed to make your job easier and faster.
Secret #3: Stop Starting Copywriter AI From Scratch
Most people have messy conversations with ChatGPT that feel like they are all over the place simply because they’re starting new chats every single time.
When you do this, you lose all the context and training from previous chats.
What you want to do is create projects within ChatGPT – so you have dedicated workspaces (where you’ve already trained AI) that you can return to again and again.
You could have one for each Customer Codex, one for every client, or one for every project you’re working on.
You should always come back to that dedicated workspace, every single time – so all of the context and training you’ve done is right there.
The best part about this is that every new conversation in that chat will build upon the previous conversations.
So AI is always getting more “training” and your output continues to get better and better.
Such a simple secret and it feels so obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people are wasting hours and hours of their time because they don’t do this!
Secret #4: Create Custom GPTs To Replace Your Current AI Copywriting Tools
Custom GPTs are designed for serious ChatGPT users who want to collaborate more efficiently with team members, streamline their creative process across multiple clients/projects, and get more consistent, targeted, and reliable results with AI.
They are like having specialized AI assistants for specific tasks.
And the best part is, Custom GPTs are shareable so anyone on my team can turn to these AI assistants to find answers or personalized insights in seconds.
We have created countless custom GPTs to help with everything from answering customer questions, to understanding our email and YouTube analytics & performance, to crafting hooks targeted to our customer personas – and many more.
To create one, just go to ChatGPT, click on the “explore” tab underneath GPTs, then hit “Create”.
You can upload your Customer Codex along with any additional information needed or reference knowledge you have like your brand voice, offers, and SOPs.
And then give it the specific instructions it needs to generate the most useful output.
Here’s the thing: the smartest business owners and copywriters aren’t afraid of AI.
And they aren’t wasting hours of time and resources by using incorrectly.
Instead, they are curious about ways they can leverage it ethically and responsibly to get even better and faster at what they do.
When used the right way, AI can be the best brainstorm buddy you’ve ever had.
Allowing you to free up more of your brain space, creativity, and strategic thinking to produce better results, even faster. Without sacrificing your voice, personality or credibility.
I want to help you learn how to do this.
I’m here to lead the charge in educating copywriters on how they should be using AI.
And how they should NOT.
That’s why my team created BRAINSTORM: The Human Copywriter’s AI Handbook.
In this new mini course, you’ll get:
- My exact Customer Codex template so you can create your own for every client and project moving forward.
- Step-by-step training on how to train AI the right way to help you produce better results faster.
- Specific prompt formulas for generating rough copy concepts of headlines, emails, ads, and social content…
- PLUS a bonus training on how to create your very own custom GPT.
This isn’t about “prompt hacking” or trying to trick AI into giving you publish-ready copy.
This is about building a systematic approach that gets better over time.
You can learn more about BRAINSTORM and grab it for just $27 by clicking this link here.
My AI copywriting tips are definitely good but my BRAINSTORM course is even better.
Until next time, I’m Alex. Ciao for now!
