How we write can be heavily influenced by who we’re writing for, the type of content we’re writing and what we read. For marketing content, the audience will likely be the biggest factor in how you approach writing, as getting tone and style of writing for the audience can then be applied to multiple different content types.
Changing your writing style is also considered quite difficult for many writers as we all become accustomed to writing and thinking in a certain way. If you can nail down the audience approach, what then changes is the depth, detail, examples, anecdotes or even brevity of the content, depending on the format that the writing is being used for.
What we read also influences how we write, and if the content we consume uses a certain style of writing that we admire or find easy to understand, then we can learn from that and apply it to how we write. Reading is also how we learn different grammatical structures and vocabulary that we can then use to develop our own writing.
No matter how good a writer you are, there’s always room for improvement!
A few words on AI content
Before we dig into human writing, let’s not pretend that AI doesn’t exist and is voluminously creating new content like there’s no tomorrow.
AI does a very good job at writing content, especially if the brief is solid and the information sources provided are reliable, and where possible, unique. It’s particularly good at writing simple blogs, guides and information that is generally explaining something or introducing a topic. That’s why so much of the ‘awareness’ and ‘top-of-funnel’ content you read might feel like it’s been written by AI.
The more that people use AI to write content, the easier it has become to spot, with certain language, words and phrases and writing structures generally being recognised as AI-written content. Let’s delve into… this underscores the… that being said… therefore… in conclusion…
That’s not to say human writers don’t also use this language, but the combination of such phrases and words often points to AI written content.
Of course, it does leave us writers in somewhat of an awkward position as the more AI content that gets published, the more we have to try and seem… human. Afterall, generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT have been designed to ‘sound’ human in the way they write.
With AI content being so commonplace in not just marketing, but web content generally, how do you actually write good human content that people want to read and engage with?
3 tips for writing marketing content in 2026
Read everything you write out-loud
This was one of the first lessons I was taught during my journalism degree. It might make you seem crazy, but it’s an important step that writers should take to ensure their copy is error-free and readable. It’s very easy to get drawn into the writing process, writing long, elaborate prose that would make Tolkien proud, but does it actually read well?
When reading text, our brains are very good at “auto-correcting” mistakes, especially if most of the word is spelt correctly. For example, deos it mttaer taht some of the ltteers in this statement are spelt incrroectly?
This is obviously a little extreme, but the point is just reading mistakes can mean missing typos and grammatical errors. By reading out loud, you’re more likely to stumble on words that are misspelt, spot sentences that are too long, or find grammar that doesn’t quite work.
So when you’re done writing, find yourself a nice quiet room and read out loud everything that you’ve written.
As a personal anecdote, I still remember being in a university newsroom 14 years ago with a room full of people reading outloud, either their own work or other people’s - it felt somewhat chaotic but fascinating at the same time.
Include quotes from relevant people
People like to read about people. It adds authenticity and human interest to any story or piece of content. It can also make the content stand out as being more authoritative, especially if the person quoted is well-known or has good credentials within the industry.
If you can’t find quotes that are relevant, then consider interviewing people to really strengthen the content.
Interviewing is a very different skill to writing, but even a short 15 minute interview can produce a transcript of more than 2,000 words.
If you haven’t interviewed someone before, then think carefully about the questions you ask, do some research in advance, know who you are interviewing, record the interview if you have permission (much easier to transcribe), and most importantly: listen carefully.
One of the most common interview mistakes people make is to just push through the questions without really listening to the answers. More often than not, what someone says in their answer will open up more questions on a topic, and this can make the whole process far more interesting and you’re more likely to get something good to write about.
Make sure the content flows
Writing for AEO will teach you that each paragraph should stand up on its own without the context of the rest of the content, which is true if you want the content to be cut out and used in AI results without additional context.
But not everything we write needs to be for AI to consume, and humans like to read content that flows from one part to the next, continuing the story and ideas that you introduce. A healthy flow stops the content being repetitive, but still allows you to reference other parts of the content. In a longform piece, a ‘throwback’ to something that’s already been covered is simply a way to remind the reader of the context, without having to repeat and break the flow of the writing.
As you end one sentence or paragraph, consider how you can make it flow into the next, and when you feel like you can’t, use the structure of the content to define a new section that starts with a related, but different, opening thought.
Writing is a skill
Don’t underestimate the fact that some people are better at writing than others, and words can be extremely powerful, both in storytelling and in helping people to understand something.
The biggest difference you can make to your writing is by reading. Read outside of your usual comfort zone. Read the news. Read in-depth opinion pieces. Read books of different genres and writing styles. But failing this, hopefully some of the tips in this blog will help you.
This blog was read out loud multiple times in a room where only a dog was listening.
Sadly, he had nothing to add.
