Why does so much AI content sound exactly the same?

AI is a hot topic among small business owners at the moment.

It comes up regularly on LinkedIn and during networking sessions. Some people are excited about the possibilities. Others are cautious about using it.

And then there are the AI-generated images.

You know the ones.

It’s not that businesses should never use AI-generated images. There may be times when they are useful. But when so many people use the same tools, prompts and styles, everything begins to look alike.

I've noticed the same thing happening with written content too.

I can often spot that AI has played a fairly big part in writing it. It may be the overly polished language or a phrase that do not sound natural or anything like the person or business sharing it.

AI is not necessarily the problem.

The problem is often how little information it has been given.

AI does not know your business yet

AI tools can be incredibly useful, but they cannot automatically understand what makes your business different.

They don't know your experience, customers, services or tone of voice unless you tell them.

Tools such as ChatGPT use large language models, aka LLMs, to generate responses based on patterns in language. They can produce ideas quickly, but broad instructions usually lead to broad answers.

Ask an AI tool to write a social media post about sports massage and it has very little to work with. Who is the audience? What are they struggling with? What should they do next?

Without that context, AI has to fill in the gaps.

Better prompts can lead to much better results

One of the biggest concerns I hear is that AI-generated content does not sound like the person using it.

People sometimes publish the result because they are unsure how to improve it. It may be grammatically correct, but it does not reflect their personality or expertise.

Your customers are not only choosing a service. They are deciding whether they understand you, trust you and feel comfortable taking the next step.

AI should support those things, not flatten them into the same wording everyone else is using.

A prompt is simply the instruction or information you give an AI tool.

The clearer and more specific that information is, the stronger the starting point is likely to be.

That could include who the content is for, what they are struggling with, what the business offers, the purpose of the post and how the business normally communicates.

AI can also help you develop ideas, organise notes, repurpose content and review your marketing results.

Whatever the task, or whichever AI tool you use, the quality of the result still depends on the information you provide and your own judgement.

The conversation that changed my first course

I have wanted to create online training courses for around 12 months.

I had plenty of ideas, and Better Prompts, Better Posts was not originally going to be the first one I created.

Then AI kept coming up during a networking session.

Business owners talked about trying ChatGPT and not knowing what to ask it. They were frustrated that the posts sounded nothing like them. Others were avoiding AI altogether because they were worried it would take the personality out of their content.

As I listened to the conversation, I realised how much I could help.

I've been testing AI in my own business for some time, alongside nearly 20 years of experience in comms and marketing. I knew I could help people combine this technology with the audience knowledge, clear messaging and human judgement that good content still needs.

It gave me the push to stop keeping "create an online course" on my to-do list and finally develop my first one.

Introducing Better Prompts, Better Posts

Better Prompts, Better Posts is practical, self-paced training for small business owners who want to use AI to support their social media without losing what makes their business sound like their business.

It is not about letting AI take over.

It shows you how to give AI stronger information, write clearer prompts and use the results as a starting point that you can review, refine and make your own.

AI has not delivered your service or worked with your customers. You still need to check the facts, refine the wording and make sure the final content genuinely represents your business.

Welcome to Between the Thorns

Better Prompts, Better Posts is the first course on my new online training platform, Between the Thorns.

The name comes from the practical side of marketing that people do not always see - and obviously links to red roses.

This is only the beginning. I already have plenty of ideas for future training, covering different areas of digital marketing to help small business owners build their confidence and skills.

Is there a marketing topic you would like me to cover? I'd love to hear your ideas, so please get in touch. Your suggestion might even become the next course.

Ready to get better results from AI?

I'm so excited to finally share my first online course after talking about creating online training for so long.

I really hope you enjoy Better Prompts, Better Posts and find it useful in your business. When you've completed it, please let me know how you get on. I can't wait to hear what you think and see what you create.