I’ve been writing web copy for over 23 years. The biggest challenge that every one of my clients has faced over the years is trying to generate quality content – at scale.
Yes you can write one blog post a month. Will it put you on the map? Eventually. Will it skyrocket you to the top? Not so much. At that speed, it’ll take a long time to make an impact and your competitors will zoom past you.
They say the race to the finish line is long – it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Which is true. But there’s still a good argument to be made for speeding things up. It’s a fast-paced world, and if you’re not moving with the pack, you’re falling behind. Period.
Striking the Balance Between Quality and Speed – On a Budget
So you know you need to create quality content. You know it has to resonate with your audience, and you know it has to stand out from all the other noise polluting the ‘interwebs.’
Now – can you do it without breaking the bank? Let’s look at the price of content marketing before artificial intelligence.
Kelly the Copywriter has been writing for more than a decade. She’s highly capable, and has previous experience writing for your niche. She has great references and she promises to generate high-quality, 100% unique content from scratch. These are her fees:
| Service | Cost |
|---|---|
| Long-form Article | $450 (1500 words) |
| Blog Post | $150 (500 words) |
| SEO Web Copy (Writing New Copy) | $100 (per 300 words) |
| Press Releases | $250 (per 400 words) |
| Email marketing / Newsletter Copy | $90 (per 250 words) |
| Social Media Post | $15 each |
| Case Study | $995: (1500 words – interview and research materials provided by client) or $1795 (1500+ words – interviews and research conducted by Kelly) |
Those are fair prices for an established copywriter. They’re in line with the industry standard, and they may even be within your budget. Kelly will even go as far as to give you a discount on bundled services on a long-term contract. Let’s see what a typical month might cost.
| BLOG BUNDLE #1 | BLOG BUNDLE #2 | BLOG BUNDLE #3 |
|---|---|---|
| $275 | $550 | $1100 |
|
1x 1000-word article |
4x 500-word articles |
1x 1000-word + 4x 750-word articles |
At those rates, you’re creating some content and you’re not breaking the bank. But you’ve only generated a handful of blog posts. You haven’t done any content promotion (like email campaigns or social media marketing), and you haven’t created any types of content, like landing pages, case studies, infographics, videos, newsletters, how-to guides, FAQs … to name a few.
After all, there’s more to a well-rounded content marketing strategy than writing a few blog posts.
How much might a comprehensive content marketing strategy cost? Let’s see a modest monthly plan.
| Blog Bundle 2 | $550 |
|---|---|
| 1 case study w/ research | $1795 |
| 2 landing pages | $200 |
| 1 weekly email blast | $360 |
| 3 weekly social posts across 3 platforms | $540 |
Now you’re up to $3,445 per month. Plus tax = $3,962.
But wait … you still need images to go with the blog posts, emails and social posts. And someone has to actually format and optimize the content in a CMS like WordPress or Shopify. And you’ll also need someone to analyze the data to show your ROI. Oh, and of course, you’ll need someone to spend the time managing the content calendar and adjusting the content strategy based on those results. So let’s call it $6,000 a month for the sake of easy math.
Now you’re starting to see how quickly it all adds up.
THERE IS ANOTHER WAY
It’s called artificial intelligence, and it’s not the devil incarnate.
A lot of writers (maybe even most writers) will tell you that AI cannot, in any way, shape or form, take the place of a real writer. And while there is some truth to that, it’s not the whole story.
Don’t kid yourself, writers use all kinds of tools when crafting your copy – from Grammarly, to Thesaurus.com, and from Google suggestions to Keyword Planner. When used properly, AI can actually be used as a powerful tool in a writer’s kit.
Here’s what I mean.
Kelly the Copywriter bases her pricing on the amount of time each task takes her to complete. She works in the cost of doing business and comes up with a pricing schedule. But what if Kelly could cut her time significantly? I don’t mean cut it in half, I mean really cut her time.
Suppose a 500-word blog post takes Kelly 2 hours to complete from research to full completion.
What if Kelly knew how to properly use AI tools to cut that time down to 30 minutes? Well, at $75/hour ($150/ blog post), your price for a blog post could now be $37.
But like I said earlier … content strategy is about far more than just writing blog posts. All that other stuff (the analytics, calendar, creative assets, social posts, etc.) – it’s all sped up with the help of AI.
TIME IS MONEY. An AI content expert knows how to use the tools to get results – FAST.
What about the human element?
It’s still there. AI will never replace human writers. But when you pair AI tools with a human touch, you get top-quality results at a fraction of the price.
Still unsure if an AI content expert is the right choice for your business? Give me a buzz, I’ll walk you through it and answer any questions you might have.
What can an AI content expert do for your business?
Having an AI content expert as part of your content marketing team can provide you with the best of both worlds: the efficiency of AI-driven content generation and the creativity and strategic thinking of a human expert. This combination can significantly improve the quality and impact of your content marketing efforts.
Ready to get started? Let’s talk.
