My clients are always shocked when I point out which of their content is human-written and which is AI-written. “How could you possibly know that?” they ask, eyes wide with the kind of panic usually reserved for realizing you’ve been walking around with toilet paper stuck to your shoe.
The answer is that I spend my days neck-deep in writing—both my own and AI-assisted—so spotting the “tells” has become second nature. Right now, your general audience probably isn’t consciously noticing these patterns. At least, not yet.
But here’s the thing that’s been keeping me up at night: your customers are starting to catch on. And soon, they’re going to start caring.
There are two main ways AI writing reveals itself. One is in the lack of emotional and personal connection, and the other is in those little “tells” it leaves behind. Let’s dig into why both are problems and how to fix them.
Marketing Without Feeling Misses the Entire Point
If you’re treating marketing like checking “post something on LinkedIn” off your weekly to-do list, you’re approaching it like an admin task instead of what it actually is: relationship building.
And listen, I get why business owners do this. You didn’t start your business to become a content creator. You’re a consultant, a service provider, a coach—whatever your actual expertise is. Marketing probably feels like that subject in school you had to take but never quite understood (which I’ve been told many times is “English,” much to my disappointment).
The problem with the checkbox approach is that marketing isn’t meant to just inform people. It’s not about announcing “here’s your problem and here’s my solution.” It’s about saying, “I see you struggling with this exact thing, and I understand what that feels like because I’ve been there too. But there’s a way to feel better.”
Think about the last advertisement that made you actually stop scrolling. It wasn’t the name of the product or what it did that made you stop; it was how they made it seem like that thing was created specifically for someone like you. That moment of recognition where you think, “Finally, someone who gets it.”
That’s the human part of marketing that AI can’t replicate on its own, and unfortunately, it’s exactly what I’m seeing missing from most AI-generated content right now.
Here’s what’s showing up in my inbox and social feeds these days (and what we need to avoid):
- Blog posts that sound like they were written by an overly enthusiastic intern who hasn’t left their parents’ basement yet.
- Social media captions that feel like motivational quotes you’d find in a middle school guidance counselor’s office.
- Email sequences that are technically perfect but missing any element of storytelling.
- Website content that dumps information but creates zero opportunity for genuine connection.
The sad part is that I meet the humans behind this copy in real life—actual people providing real value to real customers—and their generic content is robbing them of the authentic connections their businesses deserve.
When was the last time you read something that made you think, “Yes! This person actually understands what I’m going through”? I guarantee it wasn’t purely AI-generated. Or if it was, it came from someone who knows how to use AI as a sophisticated tool rather than a digital shortcut.
The Dead Giveaways That Your Marketing Has Gone Full Robot
Beyond the emotional disconnect, there are those little linguistic habits that make AI writing stick out like a sore thumb (and I apologize in advance, because now that I’ve pointed them out, you can’t unsee them).
The Emoji Explosion 🚀✨🎯💯
When every single sentence in a social post ends with an emoji, it’s like watching someone try to be funny by shouting “GET IT? GET IT?” after every joke. We get it. Please stop.
Words That Scream at Nothing
This isn’t necessary for emphasis when the content itself should carry the weight. It’s the written equivalent of that person who talks loudly because they think volume equals importance.
The Motivational Poster Syndrome
“Transform your potential.” “Take your business to the next level.” “Achieve breakthrough results today.” If your content sounds like it belongs on a poster next to a stock photo of someone standing triumphantly on a mountaintop, that’s your cue to start over.
Bonus Tells
Here are a few other patterns I’ve started noticing (and now I can’t stop seeing them):
The Sarah Phenomenon
Suddenly, every case study, example, or client story that ChatGPT generates is about someone named Sarah. I thought it was just me being weird until my friend who runs her own business pointed it out in her copy, too. Apparently Sarah is very busy having breakthrough moments in everyone’s AI-generated content. Lucky woman.
Power Words like “Unlock”
This one drives me wild. Everything in marketing (especially when you ask for ad copy) is about “unlocking” something. I mean, I get it. It’s powerful. But not when it’s everywhere.
“The surprising reason” is a phrase that comes up all the time. Ugh… How many times can people be surprised in a day?
Industry-Specific Buzzword Overload
In marketing, AI is convinced that everyone is either “screaming into the void” or “throwing spaghetti at the wall.” I promise you, marketing doesn’t actually feel like either of those things when you’re doing it right.
Here’s the kicker: the original AI draft of this very blog post included three of these tells. Sarah made two separate appearances, we “unlocked” some things, and there was definitely spaghetti involved. No joke.
The Foundation That Changes Everything
Before you swear off AI forever, let me be clear: there’s absolutely nothing wrong with using AI as a tool for content marketing. In fact, I think everyone should be using it. But like using a chainsaw the wrong way, there are some consequences that come with using a tool without fully understanding it.
The main problem isn’t AI itself. It’s that people are treating AI like their entire content strategy and process rather than one part of a larger system. They’re typing in a generic prompt, copying and pasting the result, and calling it a day.
There are lots of ways to fix this, but the most important one is surprisingly simple: teach AI what makes your brand voice unique.
Some people are catching on to this. They’re writing more detailed prompts, having back-and-forth conversations with the AI. The problem is that this approach completely eliminates the time-saving benefits of using AI in the first place. If you have to provide proper context every single time, you’re not actually making your life easier.
Here’s how we solve this for our clients: we create what we call Foundational Brand Messaging. This document includes every piece of context AI typically gets wrong—your actual tone and voice, your specific way of explaining things, your service offerings, even your pet peeves about industry jargon that you never want to see in your copy.
It’s like giving AI a crash course in being you, so when it writes, it sounds like the version of you that shows up to networking events—knowledgeable, personable, and genuinely helpful.
When you have this foundation in place, AI becomes genuinely useful. It can help you create content that’s personalized, story-driven, and actually connects with people instead of just existing in the world.
My Challenge to You
We’re at a turning point. Right now, most people can’t consciously identify AI-generated content. But that’s changing fast, and when it does, businesses using generic AI are going to find themselves in the same category as those websites that still look like they were built in 1999 (yep, they’re still out there).
AI isn’t the enemy here—lazy AI strategy is.
So here’s my challenge: look at the last five pieces of AI content you published. Would someone who knows you personally recognize your voice in them? Would they think, “Yep, that’s definitely [your name] talking”?
If the answer is no, it’s time to fix this before your customers start consciously noticing what their subconscious already knows.
Foundational Brand Messaging is the number one step you can take toward better AI content for your brand. We want to show you (and everyone else who publishes anything AI-written) how to do it. Book a free content marketing assessment, and I’ll walk you through creating a foundational messaging template that turns AI from “meh” to “wow, did you really write this yourself?” Plus, I’ll show you the three easiest tweaks that make AI sound like you instead of everyone else.
