Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?
It’s easy to answer this question saying that I’ve always loved writing, but really…
It was my undying curiosity, my love for solving problems through creativity, and my nerdy brain that loves data and optimising everything.
After over a decade as an architect, I got curious about copywriting and realised that it wasn’t just my skills that transferred really well — my personality was MADE for marketing.
As soon as I took the leap, I started working in a female-led agency, supporting the founder’s mission to close the gender gap by putting more money in the hands of female entrepreneurs. That opened my eyes to how deep of an impact my work could have, and the rest is history.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Good copy sells. For that, you need a good strategy.
Great copy sells AND makes your brand stronger in the eyes of a consumer. For that, you need a good strategy + a captivating story.
Telling goosebump-worthy stories is in my DNA, and it’s always made me stand out from other copywriters when brands are looking for something beyond the classic copy formulas that every other company is using.
Just this year I increased a clients’ email Click Rates by roughly 4% just by weaving in stories from her everyday life.
And this has a LOT to do with the impact of AI in copywriting.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
My strategic mind is definitely #1. It’s what landed me a role as an in-house copywriter even though I lacked any prior experience. As soon as I completed the test project, the founder chose me over other applicants and got on a call with me to let me know. That was the start of an amazing work relationship and a friendship that has lasted until this day.
Believe it or not, I’d say being a disorganised person was one of the other keys to my success.
As someone who can’t deal with routines, I built a business that allows me to travel the world full time, and I unknowingly set myself up for almost daily adventures that fuel my creativity big time. Creativity is the key differentiator between copy that sounds like “I could swear I’ve read this before, but who was it?” And copy that stays in the back of your consumers’ minds, like a Coca Cola jingle.
The third trait is one every copywriter should have: empathy.
Empathy helps you get in people’s minds so much quicker than if you had to ONLY go with research. Don’t get me wrong — research is imperative for successful copy — but how long it takes you to process that research and the quality of your writing based on it will vary greatly depending on your level of empathy for the consumer.
As a bonus tip for entrepreneurs looking to hire copywriters: make sure they could be your consumer. (I’ve seen tampon companies hire male copywriters 😂)
Let’s now move to the main point of our discussion about AI. Can you explain how AI is disrupting your industry? Is this disruption hurting or helping your bottom line?
AI has disrupted the marketing industry, especially copywriting, because for a second a lot of brands thought it would be the solution to cutting costs in copywriting and still seeing results.
A lot of aspiring copywriters messaged me and asked if I thought copywriting was dead. And unfortunately, a very well-known copywriter preyed on fresh copywriters with the idea that if they didn’t adapt and learn how to use AI, their career was over. (Of course, he was the one teaching how to use it… For a fair price.)
Needless to say, all the apocalyptical predictions missed.
Every time someone asks me if AI is replacing copywriters, I chuckle and think of a hair salon I saw on a trip to Indonesia. There were basically two salons in front of one another. The first one had a sign that read “Get your haircut for $5. The second sign read “We fix your $5 haircut for $10”.
AI has disrupted copywriting, but in a completely different way.
I use AI to quickly transfer marketing strategies from my mind to easy-to-digest flows and graphics. I also use it to break past blocks when I’m stuck, to think of things from a different point of view, and even to research statistics and studies that inform my copy.
And the best part is that AI has made my work even more meaningful (I’m sharing more about this below).
Which specific AI technology has had the most significant impact on your industry?
ChatGPT, hands down.
Small (and sometimes not-so-small) business owners have spent the past year using ChatGPT to write their website, social media captions, landing pages, emails, and recently I’ve even seen social media comments. (I mean, whyyy?)
The obvious disadvantage is that it shows.
But the really, really sucky part is that it destroys any level of personality you actually have in your voice as a brand.
You don’t need to be an expert to realise when someone has used ChatGPT because it sounds like the same thing over and over again. Same structure, same words, same everything.
That’s terrible for small business owners because the very thing that could help them stand out is the thing they can’t get with ChatGPT.
Can you share a pivotal moment when you recognized the profound impact AI would have on your sector?
Being a non-native speaker, I often find myself trying to say things as I would in my first language (Spanish) and failing miserably.
Not because I don’t know the words. But because there’s a certain music to idioms, sayings, and unwritten rules that can’t be replaced with simple translations. The same language can sound radically different in different countries, and copy needs to do the same.
I’ve always watched a ton of series and read a ton of books (in English) so the words were always there, they were just… A little inaccessible when I was in a rush.
ChatGPT changed that.
In the flick of a switch, I can have 50 synonyms, an idiom, and 2 metaphors to say the same thing. And the second I realised it could do that, I understood how much more productive and creative I’d be.
How are you preparing your workforce for the integration of AI, and what skills do you believe will be most valuable in an AI-enhanced future?
When it comes to copywriting, AI will always be behind in creativity and originality because it’s a learning machine, meaning it learns from what humans have created but it can’t produce original thought like we can.
That’s why the two biggest things you should focus on as a copywriter are learning how to capture your clients’ voices accurately and learning how to tell stories that people love to read (and I mean really love).
Stories are improving metrics in almost every piece of copy and that’s only gonna grow because consumers are tired of reading the same thing over and over again. Especially Gen Z is looking for creativity, personality, and connection — 3 hallmarks of great stories.
What are the biggest challenges in upskilling your workforce for an AI-centric future?
While I haven’t hired other copywriters, I do feel that the bulk of the work in upskilling needs to be done outside of AI to better leverage AI.
Let me explain:
People say “the output is only as good as the input” and they’re right. Of course, you can’t expect ChatGPT to throw you a high-converting sales page that makes your brand stand out, no matter how good your input/prompts.
But for everything you use AI for, you’ll need to be as specific as possible to get the most accurate results. If you want to replace a question because it sounds cliche, you need to know where to pull inspiration from to make it sound less cliche. If your email structure is wrong, you need to understand why it’s wrong to tell AI to fix it, otherwise it’s the blind leading the blind.
To leverage AI, optimise your work, and make it more “you” than ever, you must first understand what good copy is made of.
What ethical considerations does AI introduce into your industry, and how are you tackling these concerns?
The biggest ethical problem with AI in our industry is how marketers are taking advantage of the “AI apocalypse” to prey on new copywriters who get scared AI will take their jobs.
As a copywriter with a growing business myself, I’m planning to launch resources this year that will help new writers stand out through storytelling, personality, and data-driven results. Hopefully, I’ll be able to help others become assets to any business that AI can’t replace.
What are your “Five Things You Need To Do, If AI Is Disrupting Your Industry”?
1. Look for all the reasons why AI can’t do your job, or it can’t do as good a job as you. Then focus on upskilling on one or more of those areas. For copywriters, this could easily be storytelling and knowing how to bridge the gap between ANY story and a sale.
2. Build a strong personal brand! No matter what industry you’re in, this is the most important time ever to build a personal brand. With the growing use of AI, people are looking for connection and authenticity. A personal brand allows you to grow your business and work with people who share your values simply by being yourself, sharing personal stories, your take on different things, and being true to your voice.
3. Get familiar with different AI tools others are using in your industry and try all of them. You can get really creative on how you’re using AI and the point here is to either speed up your work or improve it. Things like fact checking, synonyms, translations, and generating ideas can help you do both and change the way you’re working for the better.
4. Develop your marketing strategy skills. The most effective copy is the one that stems from well-researched, effective marketing strategy. If you’re able to offer both to your clients, you can put your copy in a better position for conversions. Another thing you could do, if you like it, is offer complementary services as a done-for-you package.
For example, I offer clients email strategy, email copy, and email list management as a package so they can hand everything over to me and not worry about anything. And because I’m very strategic, creative and data-driven, there’s no way AI could do anything remotely similar to what I offer.
5. Always keep learning. Marketing is always changing and evolving. There are new trends all the time but the core principles remain the same. The more you learn about how every piece of the puzzle works and connects to each other, the better you will get at writing copy for each. If you’re always learning, you’ll stay updated with the trends and behavioural psychology changes in society that AI will take longer to recognise.
What are the most common misconceptions about AI within your industry, and how do you address them?
Most common misconception: AI and you (a copywriter) can write at the same level.
Recently, a client’s designer replaced her Home Page bio with a ChatGPT blurb. Needless to say, the result was a train wreck. Instead of my client’s voice, this seemed written by a high schooler with no personality, understanding of basic grammar, or will to write… And to make it worse, the rest of the page still had its original copy, so the contrast was glaring.
My advice? Don’t take things personally, remember that you and your clients have a very different skillset, and explain what the problem is so your client can see the difference themselves.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?
“To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, to draw closer, to find each other and to feel. That is the purpose of life.”
This is actually a fictional magazine motto from a movie, but it’s very much the motto of my life.
I have built a business that not just allows me to stand by it, but depends on it. Living life to the fullest has led me to diving head first into copywriting without fear, developing an incredible bond with nature that made me vegan, and experiencing emotions in a powerful way that then translates into my copy.
Off-topic, but I’m curious. As someone steering the ship, what thoughts or concerns often keep you awake at night? How do those thoughts influence your daily decision-making process?
When you have a brain that thrives off optimisation AND you’re a marketer, it’s easy to find yourself coming up with ideas ALL. THE. TIME. 😂 And while it’s a good thing, it’s often the very thing that will keep me up at night.
Then there’s always the classic “What if this launch doesn’t go as planned?” And that applies to everything, not just launches.
That doesn’t change how I make decisions but it does make me a very data-driven copywriter!
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
As a former architect and NGO volunteer, I’ve thought many times of creating a worldwide network of architects that could show up as volunteers to help in crises, such as natural disaster relief and rebuilding. After some years in marketing, I now believe this network could go far beyond architecture.
How can our readers further follow you online?
You can follow me on http://www.instagram.com/the.ethicalwriter, where I’m most active. You can also connect with me on https://www.linkedin.com/in/carinaarrigoni/ but it may take me a while to respond!
Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!