Is It Possible to Use AI As a Brainstorming Partner?

You've got your AI trained with your brand voice and messaging, but you're still just using it to write social posts. (Sound familiar?) But what if you could actually use AI as a brainstorming partner?

If you did the foundation work from last week's episode, your AI actually knows your business well enough to help you think through bigger challenges.

In this episode, we explore how to brainstorm strategically with AI—not just content topics, but messaging angles, audience concerns, and potential blind spots in your approach. 

And don't worry, I also cover AI's significant limitations that most people ignore, like its built-in biases and tendency to tell you what you want to hear. The goal is using AI to think more thoroughly while staying in control of all strategic decisions.

You in? Great, let's start talking copy.

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EPISODE 161.
Read the show notes and view the full transcript here: Coming Soon

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Here's info on your host, Erin Ollila
Erin Ollila believes in the power of words and how a message can inform – and even transform – its intended audience. She graduated from Fairfield University with an M.F.A. in Creative Writing, and went on to co-found Spry, an award-winning online literary journal.

When Erin’s not helping her clients understand their website data or improve their website copy, you can catch her hosting the Talk Copy to Me podcast and guesting on shows such as Profit is a Choice, Mindful Marketing, The Power in Purpose, and Business-First Creatives.

Stay in touch with Erin Ollila, SEO website copywriter:
• Learn more about my VIP intensive options or just book a strategy session to get started right away
• Visit Erin's website to learn more about her business, services, and products

Transcript

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You've trained your AI with your brand voice and messaging, but you're still just using it to write Instagram captions. Sound familiar? If so, you're missing the real opportunity, and that is having strategic conversations with an AI that actually, let's throw some quotes on here, knows your business. Last week we talked about working with a copy coach to develop your brand foundation and train your AI properly. This week is about what becomes possible once your AI actually understands your business goals and how you want your messaging to appear. Because here's what I see when I work with my clients on AI training. Once they have that strategic foundation in place. Again, their voice, their audience insights, any type of messaging frameworks, their AI stops being just a content generator and has the potential to start being a thinking partner. Today we're exploring how to use AI for strategic brainstorming, not just for content creation. We will talk about having real conversations with your ai, using it to challenge your assumptions and leveraging it to explore angles that you may not have considered. But we'll also talk about AI's limitations and why you need to stay in control of any strategic decisions, and shall I say, why you don't wanna trust AI to do all of this for you. So let's talk about how we can move away from just using AI as a content generation tool to actually use it as a strategic thinking partner. Most people are still using AI to write things like social posts, but if it does know your business, wouldn't you think it would be a good tool to help you think through some bigger challenges? What I see a lot in my copy Hoing work is that some of our most valuable time, it's not even spent writing the copy. Actually, I. Most of our valuable time is spent in strategic conversations. There are things that we talk about, like what angle should we take for this campaign? What objections are we not addressing here? How can we position this service differently from competitors who are doing the exact same thing? Those are questions I talk to with my clients. They're questions that I talk to my, my business colleagues that I brainstorm with. And your AI could be, could be part of those conversations if it has the right context. So instead of just using it, let's say as like a launch content generator, you can ask it. Let's say as an example, I'm launching this service and I'm positioning it around time saving. But I'm really worried that it's sounding like it's too good to be true. Can you help me explore how to make this key benefit, feel more authentic and credible? Think of it right there. That is a difference between using it as a tool or a strategic partner. But, and I think this is important, I just wanna start this episode being clear that for me. AI is just a tool. It is a tool that may help you think, but it is not a person who can help you make decisions. It is a tool. So, we'll, we'll start with my huge disclaimer in the beginning that. I don't think AI can replace any brainstorming partner that you currently have or, or should it, but I think that you are, you have a great opportunity to have it check things on you or , use it to develop, to grow and to bounce ideas off of. So let's talk there though. Let's stay quickly in the why you can't rely on it alone. Obviously AI has its limitations. It isn't a neutral thinking partner, although it appears to be it actually has built in biases based on its training data. It is also designed to be more agreeable with its end user, which means it's much more likely to support your ideas, then challenge them in meaningful ways. AI also doesn't have access to all of the current marketing conditions, your specific industry dynamics or real time customer feedback, you know, so it might suggest strategies that worked a while ago, but may not be immediately relevant. It may miss cultural shifts that are affecting your audience. And I, I, I mentioned this briefly, but I really want the key part here of why you should be cautious using AI as a strategic brainstorming tool is AI is trying to please you. It is not necessarily trying to give you the best strategic advice. So if you're asking leading questions or if you seem attached to a particular direction. AI is gonna go along with that route that you're taking rather than push back, push back, or share tough truths with you, which is exactly why you need to stay in the driver's seat and use AI as a thinking tool, filtering everything through your own expertise about your business, your market. And your customers, because you are the expert on your business. AI is just helping you explain the ideas more thoroughly. And since we've been talking about copy coaching regularly, we can use that as an example. When I'm working with copy coaching clients on strategic thinking. Part of my job is to push back when something doesn't make sense. Um, it's my job to challenge the assumptions that they may have that is limiting their success to their marketing campaigns. You know, because again, this is human judgment here. Um, so it's easier for me to just bring up an example of the weight of things that I'm doing. Through copy coaching. But if you're using an AI tool, you wanna acknowledge the the limitations right in order to prompt it better to, to be a better strategic thinker for you. And so that I don't start this entire episode just by terrifying you and saying AI is not a strategic brainstorm storming partner when that's what this whole episode is about. I wanna phrase it like this. If you were talking to one of your best friends or your best business colleagues, and you shared an idea and you know, you bounced off each other, this grand idea that you have for your business, and, , let's say your friend does not necessarily see it as positively as you, or maybe points out a few gaps in, , your readiness for doing this. You would absolutely take their feedback to heart, but you are still in control of the decision making, even with a real person. So as long as you go into these AI conversations thinking the same thing, I am in control here. I am the one with the expertise, and I am gonna trust myself. It can be a very good strategic brainstorming partner with you. So now that, now that we've established the good and the bad, , all of this many minutes into this episode,, let's talk about how to have productive strategic conversations. Just like my copy coaching clients, you know, when we're working together, we're not just brainstorming a content topic, we're exploring what the messaging challenges are underneath that topic. You know, what are we trying to accomplish by creating some piece of content that, uh, for this topic. What assumptions are we making that we might need to address? Where might the approach fall short? All of those conversations can also be had with AI if it understands your business context. So start with bigger questions before you get to tactics. And I guess we're kind of just jumping in here to the like, how to do this, how to use AI as a strategic brainstorming partner., We will stick with content for a second. You could say, . What did I say? I had an A DHD example. A DHD coaching. Yeah. Yes, I think I did right in the last episode. So let's just try something. Based on what you know about my A DHD coaching business and perimenopausal woman audience, what challenges might they be facing that I am not addressing in this current blog? Blog post or. I think there was a photography business in the other one. You could say something like, I'm focusing my photography marketing on technical skills, but the response has really been lukewarm. What motivations does my audience have that would drive them to choose a nature focused photographer? Over a photographer with a more modern style or over a, a regular photographer that does not niche based on like location or environment. Okay. Let's try to think of a few other ways that we could use it as a brainstorming partner. You could say, help me think through potential objections to my premium pricing. You know, what concerns might busy execs have that I should, address upfront if you're working in consulting. Because the key here is actually asking for strategic thinking and not asking for output. So when AI gives you suggestions, build on them, one way to do that is using the, yes, excuse me, let's be able to speak this correctly. One way to do that is using the yes. And approach. So take I AI's ideas as starting points for deeper thinking, not as final answers. And you can say, let's say if it, you know, suggests focusing on a particular pain point for something, you could explore it further. Say you. That's a great idea, or that's very interesting about, you know, the overwhelm factor that they have. How might that show up differently for someone who has been in business for a long time versus someone who is just starting? Again, these are all made up examples. How would I address each of the situations because. That's the yes and right, like, yes, I agree. And can we discuss this further? Like, yes, let me add more context to see what your, your thoughts are now and if they have or have not changed. You can also use. AI as a strategic brainstorming partner that challenges assumptions because one of the most valuable things I do is push back on my client's assumptions. For example, and this is always on audience. Everyone thinks they know who their clients and customers are, and it's, I feel like I'm lecturing and I'm telling everyone things they don't wanna hear in these past few episodes. That is probably true. You probably have an overall good idea of, of who your audience is, however, it's. An assumption based on data that you have on purchasing, right? Unless you've done client interviews and things like that, then obviously you have much more, um, context on your audience. But when I'm working with clients, that's usually what I push back on a lot is their assumptions for their audience. So they might say something like, oh, my audience won't pay premium prices. Okay. What, what evidence do you have that states that, um, this is me being a strategic partner for them? Or for example, they might insist that they, oh, this is something that happens all the time, especially on websites. They'll, a lot of times people want to over explain things like, like saying they need to have every feature listed. And I challenge that because there is a difference between providing information and providing the information that motivates buying decisions. Social media clip right there. Let me say that again. There is a difference between just providing information and providing information that is going to push someone closer to making a decision. Because these are two things I focus on. I bring them up because I think that your AI can help with this process, but it's only going to do that if you are specifically asking it to challenge your thinking. I do this almost every time I use ai. I will always say things like. I don't need you to be kind to me, like please be as, uh, clear and blunt as you can because I would much rather receive, uh, criticism or a critique, let's say, than I, I want you to compliment me because again, AI wants to be agreeable, so you have to work against that tendency. You could say something like, I'm planning a webinar series to generate leads,, for your consulting business. You know, what could go wrong with this approach? What am I not considering? Or you could say, I've been assuming my wellness coaching clients want detailed meal plans, and it's making me nervous because I'm not a nutritionist. I. A coach that focuses on wellness, , how can I approach nutrition support without acting as if I have the expertise that I don't? Another thing you could say is,, challenge my assumption that price is the main objection for pre my premium.\. Wedding event planning packages, you know, what are some hesitations couples have about investing in a event planner for their wedding? You know, again, these are all examples.'cause I try to be example heavy, especially for something like this, where you really get to understand as you're doing and seeing. But the whole point is that this kind of strategic questioning is revealing insights that completely change your approach. But remember, you are the one who decides whether AI's challenges are valid based on your own knowledge of your business and your customers. All right. We've talked about assumptions, so let's move on and think of other ways that we can use AI as a strategic brainstorming tool. And one of those ways is exploring audience insights. I just told you how lots of the times when I work with my clients, they have a lot of assumptions about their audience or. They have a lot of fears that they don't understand who their audience is, that they just have a more I know generic idea of who they think their clients are. So when I'm working with my clients, we spend a significant amount of time to understand that. A lot of times that's with client surveys, customer surveys, lead surveys. A huge amount of the time in a full copywriting project is actually spent on research. Beyond basic demographics. So what, what's the language they use and not the actual word language that they're speaking, but like the tone, the messaging, you know, what are their real concerns? How do they say those concerns? How do they make decisions? Buyer psychology plays really well into audience insights, and I said a huge amount of time goes into this for like a copywriting project, and that's because. There's a lot of research I do, but one of the true beauties of AI is how fast it processes things. So research can be pretty helpful if it has quality information, not fake, fake research, right? Um, so AI can help with this exploration of audience if it knows your business's context. Ask it to think through some audience perspectives, which we kind of talked about for assumptions, but, um, let's say you could say something like, what concerns would someone have about hiring a service provider type, whatever you are that I might not be thinking about. Um, you could say, how might a product based business owners, um. Challenges with social media differ from those who have a service-based business? Should I be segmenting my messaging? And that's particularly helpful if you are even someone like me who has products and courses in addition to the service-based work that they do. You could say if someone has been burned by someone in your field before, like coaches, for example, I hear this a lot. If someone's been burned by a coach before, what would they need to hear from me to trust working with me? You know, in that same way or in in, in a similar approach. This isn't about AI making up information. Again, we're not thinking of the word output here, we're you we're thinking more research, we're thinking about how to use it. To learn more about your audience based on foundations you've already established, but always make sure to still validate these insights against your actual customer interactions and feedback. All right. Let's talk gaps in opportunities because one thing I've found is that AI can be very good at spotting patterns and identifying especially things that are missing. I love talking about content gaps. I'm I, I'm constantly reminding myself that I need to do a podcast episode on content gaps. But I do find AI tools can help me identify those gaps quicker for my clients, and I think that they could help you if you're looking to use AI as a strategic brainstorming partner to do the same. So. What I'm doing in copy coaching is helping my clients see where their messaging is incomplete or where there are missed opportunities. You can use AI to analyze your current approach and identify gaps in the same way. So say something like, you know, look at my com, my website and recent content about whatever topic, what questions am I not answering for? Your audience type who are considering your services, you could say, based on my positioning, what seasonal opportunities might I be missing? I keep thinking about that nature photographer, that would be a perfect one. Like what seasonal opportunities are they missing because they, if they truly are nature based, they could have four full seasons that are so different and provide them so much more content for their audience. You could ask about, you know, if there's the wedding planner, like what topics are people in my area covering that I don't, and are there any gaps in the topics that they're sharing? Once I worked with a client who was really, really great at explaining what she did, but she never at all in any of her content actually explained why or showcased. You don't even have to explain Showcased. Why someone in her audience would choose her over someone else or choose her over even doing it themself. So once we were able to strategically analyze the, her website and some of her other marketing materials, and I was able to point that out to her, like, you have no USP, you have nothing that's making you stand apart from competitors or stand out as. Being hired though, you do a lovely job explaining this. That was the key insight needed for her to adjust the copy so that it was clear on why someone would hire her. You know, it, it truly actually changed her entire content strategy instead of everything just being educational and. Everything was educational because she was a very smart, and she did a great job of explaining her industry and topics within her industry. She was able to position it different in a more marketing approach, in a more, in a, in an approach that would encourage people to purchase and work with her. So if you can't work with a copy coach, or if you want to use AI more as a strategic, brainstorming partner, you can use your AI tools to spot similar gaps in your own business If you're asking the right questions, again, just make sure to evaluate those suggestions based on your market knowledge and your audience knowledge. And let's talk about making it more effective, because the better it understands your context, the more helpful it becomes for strategic thinking. This is why foundation work is so important. And we talked about that last episode, so I won't get too far into it. But I will say, keep refining the context you give ai. That might mean updating like a physical brand guidelines, physical meaning it could be in Google Documents, however you wanna keep it, but. Update it. Don't just keep the knowledge in your head if a brainstorming session is revealing something new about your audience or your positioning that you feel strongly about. Update those guidelines because as the foundation evolves in your business grows, you need to continue to pro, provide more and more context for you and again. It's not thinking for you. You are still making strategic decisions based on your knowledge of your business and your market. But think of it like having a really enthusiastic brainstorming partner who just never gets tired and always has a different angle to explore. That's so much better than staring at a blank page, right?. So AI really can be part of this process because that combo of human strategic guidance and AI thinking support is powerful. You get expertise to ask the right questions and capacity to explore ideas more thoroughly, but you have all of the control of strategic development, of strategic direction, so. That's it for today, folks. Next episode we're gonna talk about content repurposing by using ai, you know, and that's taking content and adapting it for different platforms, different audiences, , you know, reduced, reuse, recycle, whatever that saying is. But as I've said in this episode many times in last episode, episode, this is why having a really well-trained AI shows its value. Because in repurposing content, you want it to maintain your voice and strategy, but save you time. That's it for today. Thanks for listening to Talk Copy to Me and I'll see you next week, or we keep talking copy.