How to Supercharge Your Content with AI

Over the past year, platforms like ChatGPT have become go-to tools for marketers, helping teams move quickly from idea to draft. But with all the good of that progress, there has been a downside. Speed has led to a wave of content that all feels the same — and what’s glaringly missing is the most critical element: perspective.

Without clear direction and thoughtful editing afterward, the AI outputs tend to lack focus, personality and brand relevance. So, if you’re starting to explore new tools for your content writing, here’s how to ensure it stands out in all the right ways.

Start With Concrete Rules

Before you generate a single sentence, create guardrails reflecting your preferred voice, tone and editorial standards. Think of it like onboarding a new copywriter and provide it with good references and a playbook for your brand:

Define voice and grammar preferences: Clarify how formal your tone or conversational should be, if you use the Oxford comma and how you want facts or opinions handled.
Share numerous examples: AI performs better when it can reference strong samples of your brand's successful content. Give it at least 10-12 blog posts, product descriptions or internal docs that reflect the style you prefer.
Direct how information is sourced: Accuracy matters so direct the tool to include sources or citations so you can verify claims before hitting publish.

The more direction you give upfront, the more useful the output will be. Let AI learn from what’s already working and build stronger content. Don’t just let it start from scratch.

Always Ignore the First Draft

AI can output copy quickly, but consider that draft as a starting point. Even well-prompted content tends to be surface-level, overly wordy or missing key context. Like any rough draft, practice makes perfect — and that’s why human oversight makes all the difference.

Spot the gaps: Evaluate whether the copy is actually saying something useful, or if it’s just filling space. Look for missing context or meaning that need clarification.
Push for depth: Prompt AI to go further by asking it to expand a point, provide an example or offer an alternative view. In most cases, it’s just rewriting what it knows from information it’s learned. Don’t let it stop short of better, stronger points.
Consistently verify facts: AI can generate data points that sound accurate — but aren’t. If you want facts and source references, be sure to say so, but also follow up on what’s provided.

Edit, Edit, Edit

When you rely on AI to do all the writing, your content risks sounding like it came from a machine. Without a human perspective layered in, you might publish something that sounds polished but lacks authenticity — and doesn't connect with your audience.

Review for tone: Take time to rewrite copy that feels generic or templated. Make adjustments where your brand feels lacking or absent.
Add what AI can’t: Real insight, firsthand experience, even a little personality — these details give content life and can be a defining difference for readers.

Quality Still Trumps Quantity

The ease of AI can tempt marketers to publish more, more often. But without an actual strategy, that can backfire quickly. Publishing dozens of blog posts that barely scratch the surface or don’t align with your brand’s expertise isn’t helping your SEO, or your audience. In fact, it’s probably putting your website in a position to get deindexed as quickly as you’re posting bland content. Instead of aiming for output, focus on impact.

Stick to topics where you have authority: If you wouldn’t write about it on your own, don’t let AI write it for you either. This has been a “no-no” from SEO’s and content marketers for years. Just because content can get generated even faster now, doesn’t mean the rules have changed.
Let AI support your SEO goals (not lead them): Get help structuring meta titles or meta descriptions or building out primary keyword lists.

In the end, content creation with AI should be a collaboration between the system and the writers and editors, not a shortcut. The brands using AI effectively aren’t skipping steps — they’re making the most of them all.

Swanson Russell, the Nation’s Leading Agency for Brands That Work and Play Outdoors, is a full-service advertising and marketing agency in Lincoln and Omaha, NE. We’re on a mission to Make Belief™ by uncovering a brand’s reality, unleashing creative possibilities and building trust over time. See the work we’ve created, get to know our approach — then, contact us to see how we can help.