Avoiding bland B2B content: Use AI tools wisely

AI tools like Grammarly can be useful for a final polish of writing, but use them with a healthy dose of caution.  

These tools are clever, not just spotting typos but also things like repeated words or wrong words. They also take a stab at grammar.

But some tools try to be a bit too clever.

Grammarly, for example, makes suggestions for writing improvements. It works by giving the most likely or common words or phrases. In essence, it’s delivering the median version of any writing.

The danger of blindly following all the AI suggestions is that your writing ends up bland and lifeless. 

Grammarly can also tend towards brevity, which might make writing sound too clipped or robotic. 

Everyone has access to the same AI tools, which make it easy to churn out copy. 

But to help it stand out, writing needs to be above average, have points of difference and sound human. 

Word choice, phrasing, tone and pace of writing play a huge part in this. 

It makes writing more individual; it’s a way of showing personality and helping your audience get to know you or your business.

To illustrate what I mean, I plugged bits of my LinkedIn content into Grammarly and accepted all the suggestions.

Example 1

Original text:

I used to travel around the country a lot for work, including regular visits to Manchester, but I didn’t really get a chance to do anything cultural. 

That’s often the way with work travel, isn’t it? You arrive, peg it to meetings, then head home again.

Grammarly’s version:

I used to travel extensively around the country for work, including regular visits to Manchester, but I didn’t really get a chance to engage in any cultural activities. 

That’s often the way with work travel, isn’t it? You arrive, attend meetings, and then head home again.

The differences are only subtle, but Grammarly has made it sound formal and, well, a little bit ‘blah’. It changed ‘do anything cultural’, which was intended to sound conversational, to ‘engage in any cultural activities.

I wanted to paint a picture in the mind of the reader, so I chose the phrase ‘peg it’, which Grammarly changed to ‘attend’.

Example 2

Original text:

This morning, I spent 40 minutes carefully crafting the post directly in LinkedIn and was just doing final checks, and it blipped. It was all gone.

Grammarly’s version:

This morning, I spent 40 minutes carefully crafting the post directly in LinkedIn and was just doing final checks when it suddenly disappeared. It was all gone.

Grammarly didn’t like the word blipped. I used it partly as a sly reference to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but also because it was a little more fun and vivid than ‘suddenly disappeared’.

Example 3

Original text:

I can’t draw at all, and I’m pretty rubbish on Canva and anything that involves visual design.

Grammarly’s version

I can’t draw at all, and I’m pretty unskilled with Canva and any other visual design tools.

‘Pretty rubbish’ is a phrase I use in conversation, and I want to sound authentic on LinkedIn. My version makes sense, but while ‘unskilled’ is technically correct, it’s safe and bland.

Final thoughts

Writing is liquid; use AI if it’s helpful, but don’t forget your readers are human. 

Related articles

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