In the time it takes to watch five episodes of Succession, Sarah Campbell, owner of New West’s brand new content marketing studio, Studio3, came out with an e-book about the basics of, you guessed that right, content marketing.
Content Marketing 101 was co-written by Campbell and ChatGPT in about five hours.
At first, Campbell was “petrified” to use the technology that has been rumoured to replace humans for content creation. Nevertheless, she decided to dip her toe in the lesser-known world of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ask ChatGPT to write a book with her.
In less than one minute, ChatGPT wrote a three-chapter book (about 1.5 pages and 515 words) with an intro and conclusion, she said.
Following that first stint, “I tried a variety of different tactics — evolving the instructions I gave to ChatGPT,” she said.
“After version seven, I edited and wrote more myself.”
In the process, Campbell realized that though ChatGPT was helpful in “outlining, and creating the basic bones and some of the meat,” she said, “it definitely had limitations when it came to real life examples, modern benchmarks, etc.”
In the end, while it saved her about 10 to 25 hours of time doing research and compiling information, a book entirely written by the AI bot would have been “boring and basic,” as per Campbell.
The writing process reassured Campbell that AI is just a tool to create content; and wouldn’t replace humans, especially in the stage that it is in now, she said.
“I think that there is a level of human connection that's missing.”
However, Campbell believes those in the creative field such as hers would do best to embrace the new technology — just as she did to write an e-book that aims to expose small businesses to the basics of content marketing.
The book is only one of the many projects that are planned by her two-weeks-old studio to help out local entrepreneurs.
Helping local companies create content
Studio3's “creative collective” includes eight local subcontractors besides Campbell who are experts in digital ads and writing, social media, photography and more.
“Depending on what your project is, we will be able to build your team,” she said.
“The biggest thing that really made me want to start a studio now was that I felt like there was a gap between how the agencies and the businesses were functioning,” she said.
The businesses would pay to get content from creative agencies but would fail to get any ROI (Return On Investment) on it. These businesses needed more than "cool" content; they also needed the strategy to display and distribute that content, she said.
Studio3's focus is small- and medium-sized businesses in New Westminster. Having worked at the BIA (Business Improvement Association), Tourism New West and the Arts Council of New Westminster, Campbell has seen the city's start-up terrain change over the years.
“When I first started working here 10 years ago, we had a lot of wedding stuff. But now, there are some new restaurants, and we have two breweries. And there are all these cool little dessert places, and merch companies. There's just such a breadth of awesome people doing awesome things,” she said.
Through her fledgling studio, she plans to offer a range of services besides workshops, webinars and free resources like the soon-to-launched e-book to the new up and coming businesses.
“What better place to set up shop, help empower and grow the small companies that make New West what it is.”
Log in to Studio3’s website to join the LinkedIn Social Selling Workshop and more; keep an eye out for the studio’s soon-to-be-released e-book on content marketing co-authored by ChatGPT.
