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This feature was published in the September issue of NWPPA Bulletin magazine. Pioneer’s utility storytellers will share these highlights and more at meetings with Utility Pioneers in Georgia, Tennessee and Indiana this fall. To request a storyteller from Pioneer, fill out the form at pioneer.coop/training.
Science fiction stories often predict humanity’s doom when artificial intelligence takes over —hello, Hal and Skynet. While it’s not the end of the world, at least not yet, many communicators and marketers met the release of ChatGPT last fall with wariness. It’s the end of the world as we know it, but that might be fine.
AI can help you brainstorm ideas, develop a strategy and shorten existing content. But never forget bots are tools, not all-seeing forces for good or evil. AI sifts through online information, both true and false, to generate content. A real flesh-and-blood storyteller should hold the reins or bot-generated content can hurt your brand.
The trick is to embrace — rather than run screaming from — AI. More than 100 million people use ChatGPT every day, and other bots including Bard, Bing and Claude are available, too. No matter which bot you prefer, everything hinges on prompts.
Prompts are the directions or questions you give AI. The more specific the prompt, the better the results. AI learns from past prompts, too, so content quality should improve over time. And if not, it’s easy to hit the ‘Regenerate’ button to ask the bot to try again.
Use four tactics to prompt AI and boost your productivity:
1. Rethink
We tell versions of the same stories each year. Finding new, engaging angles can be challenging. Bots offer fresh crowd-sourced perspectives.
If you know what you need to talk about but are not sure where to start, prompt the bot to offer a list of story ideas about the topic. If you have utility goals or calls to action in mind, include those in your prompt. It beats staring at a blank page.
2. Refine
While you should not trust all of the information AI pulls from outside sources, bots make it easy to refine and improve original content. Once you have a story written, refine it with these prompts:
- To make sure content is easily accessible, prompt the bot to rewrite your story for a fourth grade reading level.
- Ask the bot to identify any repeated phrases or words and offer replacements.
- Need it shorter? Give it your target word count and prompt for a shorter version of the article.
- If the content is a how-to article about efficiency tips or a rebate program, prompt the bot to create key takeaways or to suggest subheads and bullet points to create several ways for readers to enter the story.
- Want a different take? Prompt AI to rewrite the article in your brand’s voice. Be specific: Is your tone friendly or professional?
- Jargon sneaks up on everyone. Ask AI to identify industry jargon and technical terms and suggest easy-to-understand replacements.
- Want to reach readers in another language? Prompt the bot to translate the content into both the language and, if needed, the specific region your consumers prefer. Always have the content reviewed by someone who reads that language.
3. Repurpose
Often utilities need several versions of the same information. Who has time for that? Once you write content for a consumer print publication, prompt the bot to rewrite it as:
- A one-paragraph synopsis for the e-newsletter
- A shorter, search engine optimized version for your website
- Social media posts with related trending hashtags in your area
- A two-sentence message for bill or on-hold messages
- A radio script
- You get the idea. Insert any other communication channels here.
Be as specific as possible with this prompt. Provide character limits if you have them.
4. Review, review, review.
AI tools don’t really know anything; they pull information from everything posted on the internet. And not everything shared online is true. Check all AI-generated content. Period.
When I started using ChatGPT, I got a warning.
“The system may occasionally generate incorrect or misleading information and produce offensive or biased content,” OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, stated.
When Alphabet launched Bard, the first ad showed the chatbot in action. But there was an error — the James Webb Telescope did not, as claimed, discover exoplanets. The company’s market value dropped by $100 billion the next day.
We’re public power. Always ask a trusted source to review your content. Don’t lose $100 billion.
More than Words
While bots generating text dominate the headlines, pay attention to artificial image and voice generation tools, too. Earlier this year I blogged about an ad where:
- The script came from ChatGPT.
- Images were from MidJourney. (DALL-E will blow your mind, too; try it in Microsoft Designer.)
- Video was generated by Runway Gen2.
- Voicing came from 11ElevenLabs.
The future of AI-supported marketing lies in how we write and refine prompts — but prompts don’t fix everything.
You can ask AI for ad copy or a radio script, don’t expect brilliant prose. The results, though helpful, will need to be edited to match your tone and core message.
At the end of the day, you are the trusted energy and broadband provider in your community. An artificial storyteller might create a stronger, more clickable headline, but it can’t replace your expertise or the strategy you’ve developed behind your storytelling. You know your community. You know your programs. You will always be the best storyteller for your utility.
It’s the end of the world as we know it, but you’ll be fine.