Ever been to a family gathering where light conversation takes a sharp turn towards career anxieties?
My most recent holiday gatherings this past December were filled with the usual cheer… and a dash of existential dread.
Nothing like your Uncle Dan asking “So, are you still writing those blog things? Seems like a computer could do that these days.”
Yep, the whole “Is AI going to kill your business?” question.
Let’s just say my spiked eggnog wasn’t enough to drown that out.
Hereʼs the thing… itʼs all about mindset.
Could AI make my business obsolete? Maybe.
But could I also leverage AI to make my business twice as efficient and produce better results for my clients? Definitely.
So instead of freaking out about robots taking over the content marketing world (or, let’s face it, any other profession at this point), I figured it’s high time we talk about something way more useful: the awesome AI tools I keep in my digital back pocket that elevate my game and help us better serve our clients.
Here are the 3 AI tools I use daily:
1. Transcription AI services
Let’s be honest, Netflix who?
My team spends more time glued to recorded meetings, demos, sales calls, and interviews than your average couch potato.
So, this first tip isn’t about a specific tool — just praise for any video or audio platform smart enough to embed AI right into its recording features. These near-real-time AI smarts have helped my team consume content at ninja-speed.
That transcription ability is a game-changer. Here’s a taste of the magic:
- Loom: It auto-magically creates chapters in your recording to help you hop from topic to topic, just like following a choose-your-own-adventure book.
- Microsoft Teams: You can search transcripts and jump straight to the juicy bits you need to rewatch. I see you, Teams, you sneaky time-saver.
- Zoom: Its AI Companion can summarize recordings (more than just transcribing), sometimes saving my team from another rewatch altogether. The ability to use summaries to strategize how to repurpose longer content into short-form bits is a plus, too.
Say goodbye to the days of paying $30 on Fiverr every time you need a video transcribed. If you know, you know.
2. Custom-built ChatGPT Editor
So maybe “software engineer” isn’t on my business card just yet. But tinkering with OpenAIʼs GPT builder makes me think I could have gotten that engineering minor at Purdue a decade ago. 😉
One of my favorite things to tackle with new clients is building a rock-solid content style guide for their brand. It’s like whispering the secret sauce recipe for future writing success.
We’re talking about nailing down all the nitty-gritty details — things like:
- Do we say farmer or grower, or both? A tiny question that seems to spark hot debate.
- The fancy legal stuff, like trademarked and copyrighted brands or programs. You know, to keep the lawyers happy.
- All things grammar — including the spicy Oxford comma decision, among many others.
- First person or third? Technical jargon or plain English? A guide confirms how you want your brand to show up on the page.
- The big kahuna: tone of voice. Are we aiming for approachable and chatty, or informative and dripping with B2B authority? A style guide helps steer the ship.
By hammering out these choices up front, we streamline the editing process for everyone involved. My team can whip up content faster, and there’s less back-and-forth with clients when drafts hit their inbox. Win-win.
So, how do we make sure everyone sticks to the plan? Enter our new AI friend…
The process is actually pretty simple (big thanks to Zapier for breaking it down so well here).
Basically, you feed a custom-built GPT your brand’s voice and style guide, along with a bunch of content examples that capture your brand’s tone, essence, and grammar choices.
It’s not magic, and it might need some fine-tuning. But let me tell you, this AI editor has become a go-to “first pass” before my amazing human editor and the client ever see a draft.
P.S. If you’re curious to see this AI editor in action, hit me with a reply! If there’s enough buzz, I’ll whip up a video of me building a sweet prototype.
3. Perplexity.ai
There are a few hangups I have with most of the AI content writing tools today:
- It takes a lot of time to recraft and edit most output to get it to any readable, digestible form.
- I have no idea where it pulls information off the web, which often makes me question the accuracy of what it feeds me. And don’t get me started on its hallucinations either… woof.
But then there’s Perplexity AI. This is where things get interesting…
Perplexity AI is a conversational search engine marketed as an “answer engine.” It responds to queries using natural language predictive text, generates answers using web sources, and cites links within the text response.
It’s like Google Scholar on rocket fuel, way faster than sifting through a library of dusty old research papers.
Now, the tool isnʼt perfect. There are definitely some segments of agriculture where it is a stretch for the tool to provide quality research. But itʼs a start, and Iʼm sure some future custom versions will enable industry-specific insights.
Some added benefits: it can keep a library of past searches, or you can “focus” your research on specific sources.
Perplexity AI might just be the first step towards a future where AI research assistants are an essential tool for any information worker. Buckle up; it’s goin’ to be a ride.
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So there you have it—the three AI tools I love these days. Iʼm curious, though. What tools am I missing? Whatʼs saved you hours of time and made your work 10x better? Just reply here—Iʼd love to chat.
