Tag: writing

Popular AI tools that work like your personal assistant

bungalowwriter
computer screen

I didn’t think I needed a Roomba until I spent three hours one afternoon meticulously vacuuming every floor of my house, throwing out my back as a result of my productivity.

Likewise, I didn’t think I needed AI productivity tools until I had too many overlapping deadlines and not enough time to accomplish my administrative tasks. Suddenly, my fear of turning over my work to a robot turned to relief when I realized how AI tools could free up my time for higher-order thinking, creativity and strategy.

Why it matters

As a marketing professional, you know that creating high-quality, impactful content and managing campaigns can be time-consuming and challenging. By using the power of advanced software, you can work faster, more efficiently and with greater accuracy.

Think of these digital assistants as your own expanded marketing team. They can help you with everything from catching mistakes in grammar, spelling and punctuation to capturing meeting notes, scheduling appointments and suggesting optimal times to post on social media.

Popular tools to check out

Here are a few popular automated and AI-driven options to consider:

Calendly: A scheduling automation tool that streamlines the process of booking meetings, Calendly relies on sophisticated logic and integrations to connect to your calendar, understand your availability and send automated reminders.

Fireflies: This note-taking tool can record and transcribe meetings, making it easier to review discussions and capture key information without having to manually jot everything down. Bonus: The app makes a to-do list, sorted by each person responsible, for all tasks discussed.

Grammarly: By identifying grammatical mistakes and suggesting corrections, Grammarly helps to ensure that your writing is error-free. Other features include a plagiarism checker and style guide.

Hemingway Editor: By identifying and highlighting complex sentences, passive voice and adverbs, Hemingway helps you write clear and concise prose. It’s a good option if you want to make your writing less wordy and more readable.

Sprout Social: A robust social media scheduling platform, Sprout Social has AI-powered features including optimal send times. The app analyzes your audience’s engagement patterns and historical data to recommend the best times to post your content for maximum reach and engagement. This takes the guesswork out of scheduling.

Writerly: To help writers improve their craft, Writerly provides feedback on grammar, style and clarity. If you’re wanting to more efficiently polish your prose, Writerly could be a good option for you.

Digging deeper

From automating administrative tasks like scheduling and note-taking to intelligently optimizing your social media presence, AI-driven tools empower you to achieve more.

As you free up valuable mental space, you’ll be able to channel more of your energy into the truly strategic and creative aspects of marketing, ultimately leading to more impactful campaigns and better results.

Featured image above: Photo by Carl Heyerdahl on Unsplash

Writing with Smart Brevity: When less really is more 

bungalowwriter
woman writing on paper

Whenever I hear the phrase “more with less,” I remember a colleague years ago in a meeting grumbling, “You can never do more with less. You can only do less with less.” 

While that is the case with budgets and FTEs, it’s also true that fewer words can have a bigger impact. That’s where Smart Brevity can help. 

Why it matters

In an era of information overload, it’s more important than ever to communicate in a concise and impactful way. Smart Brevity, created by the founders of news outlet Axios, is the ability to convey complex ideas in a simple and straightforward manner, using language that is both easy to understand and persuasive.

Ways that Smart Brevity can help

  • Increased attention and comprehension: When you use clear and concise language, your audience is more likely to pay attention to what you’re saying and understand your message.
  • Improved communication and collaboration: Because it distills text to key points, Smart Brevity can help break down barriers and foster better communication and collaboration between team members, clients and other stakeholders.
  • Enhanced credibility and influence: When you can articulate your ideas clearly and persuasively, your organization appears more knowledgeable and trustworthy.
  • Increased productivity and efficiency: Most writers agree that it’s harder to write shorter than longer. But eventually, you’ll develop a cadence and need less time to write each article. Shorter word counts also translate into less time conducting interviews and research.
  • Stronger impact and memorability: When you can convey your message in a concise and memorable way, it’s more likely to stick with your audience and have a lasting impact.

How Smart Brevity increased one team’s impact

In my capacity as a content director recently, I was charged with greatly increasing productivity and impact in a short time period among the members of a creative team. After team members read the Smart Brevity book and took a training course with Axios, I tasked them with immediately deploying its principles in content development. The result: increased efficiency, better audience engagement and enhanced brand recognition.

Here’s how we did it:

  • Eliminating unnecessary details: Smart Brevity helped us identify and remove irrelevant information, ensuring our stories focused on the core message and resonated with the audience.
  • Highlighting key moments: By concentrating on critical turning points and emotional peaks, we crafted narratives that were more engaging and memorable.
  • Structuring the story: Smart Brevity’s emphasis on clear structure helped our team organize our stories effectively, leading the audience on a journey with a satisfying conclusion.
  • Using active voice: By replacing passive voice with active voice, our stories became more dynamic and engaging, capturing the audience’s attention.
  • Employing concise language: We replaced jargon and complex sentences with clear, concise language that everyone could understand, regardless of their background.
  • Writing with vivid imagery: Smart Brevity encouraged us to incorporate vivid imagery and sensory details, making our stories more immersive and bringing them to life for audiences.

By boosting efficiency in writing, our team’s storytelling went from good to great, leading to supercharged productivity and impact. I encourage anyone who wants to improve the results of their storytelling to explore Smart Brevity and discover its transformative powers.