Does your AI know how you write copy? When I started moving my copywriting work from ChatGPT and Claude projects to AI agents, I noticed something I hadn’t expected: the voice wasn’t really aligned with the materials I’d shared. Before, I’d create a project, put the research and strategy documents there, and prompt the model to help me write. In my experience, it was pretty good at drawing on those materials. I still had to make decisions and edit, but the project gave us a place to work...
about 19 hours ago • 6 min read
What should B2B companies steal from creators? I read Ian Vanagas’s piece on why companies should market like creators this week, and I agree with a lot of it. If you only compare your marketing to your competitors, you’re often setting the bar too low. Instead, look at what today’s creators do, steal what works and adapt it. Yes, even to B2B. Caveat though, when I think about what this means for messaging and copy, I wouldn’t start by copying a creator’s hooks. I’d look at what they know and...
8 days ago • 3 min read
The two-minute value test Later today I’ll have two minutes to explain an AI workflow that took months of experiments, failed runs and head-scratching decisions to build. I’ll be one of seven speakers at an Exit Five live event, with more than 1,000 people registered. Each of us gets two minutes to walk the audience through an AI agent build. If I make it through to the next round, I’ll get an additional four minutes to go into more specifics and share a case study. Have you ever tried to...
15 days ago • 4 min read
How to write human again The first time a copywriter used this line, they must have felt like a god. “Cancel anytime. No questions asked.” It’s conversational, light, direct, and simple. It reduces signup anxiety by making you feel like you can undo whatever you’re about to do. Then, of course, every copywriter and their mom started using it. Now, most people probably overlook it. This week, I stumbled on a great example of how to fix that. More importantly, it points to where marketers and...
22 days ago • 3 min read
What should you build when you can build anything? “You can’t take nothing and make anything. You’re not God.” — Eugene Schwartz, legendary copywriter Read that quote again. Ol’ Eugene had a point, and it’s more true now than ever with AI dominating our lives. I was lurking in a community earlier this morning and stumbled on this post: You get the idea. This person, while very well intentioned, built an impressive machine: sophisticated dashboards, automations, and a comprehensive ICP study...
29 days ago • 5 min read
How I use AI “If a reviewer asks, ‘What did you mean by this line?’, it’s not acceptable to reply with ‘Oh sorry, AI wrote that, just ignore it.’” It’s what Sophie Alpert wrote in Clay’s AI writing policy. When I read it, I was like, “Wait, WTF, people actually do that?” It’s crazy to me that anyone would leave AI copy unchanged and then use the model as an excuse. As the copywriter, my job is to bring the expertise clients need to turn their internal thinking into something customers can...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Are you helping AI find you? Over the last couple of weeks, I reviewed 20 B2B websites for members of Exit Five. The companies were completely different. Healthcare software, enterprise AI, video production, financial services, event marketing, access control and more. But the questions in their submissions sounded familiar: Does our new story actually land? Which product should lead? Do buyers understand why we’re different? Are we trying to say too much? Why do people seem to understand the...
about 1 month ago • 7 min read
One product story can hide two buying jobs Ok, picture this: your product has outgrown the neat little category that first got it traction. What started as one useful tool now handles a much bigger workflow. Then you add a higher-ticket offer for teams with more data, more people involved, and more at stake. The business has expanded. The homepage, however, still tells the old story. That was the situation with a recent client, Findymail. It had grown beyond an email-finding tool into a full...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
“That's a lot of work, Chris” I was describing how I run research to someone running an established positioning consultancy. Depending on the decision, I may interview customers and stakeholders, review sales calls, run website polls, and study competitors and category conventions before I write the positioning, messaging, and copy. “That’s a lot of work, Chris.” Fair, I thought. Their old research-heavy process had become expensive and slow, so they now move faster by extracting what the...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Hey friend! Welcome to the new Unpacking Meaning look. Let me know what you think, but I wanted to create a cohesive style with me new website I just launched (this email design was made by my AI agent Travis too btw). Anyay, on to today's topic... A synthetic customer will never (for now) cancel your interview, misunderstand your questions, or tell you your new positioning makes no sense. That is exactly the problem. Over the past year, I’ve watched synthetic research move from an...
2 months ago • 4 min read