When to Hire a Copywriter (And When to Just Use ChatGPT)

Let's be honest: ChatGPT is fine for some things.

First drafts. Internal emails. Blog outlines. The stuff nobody reads too carefully anyway.

But if you're using it for the words that actually matter—your homepage, your pitch deck, the campaign that needs to land—you're leaving money on the table.

Here's when AI is enough, and when you need an actual human copywriter.

Use ChatGPT When:

The stakes are low and speed matters more than impact.

You need 50 meta descriptions by tomorrow. You're drafting internal process docs. You want to test three different email subject lines quickly. You're brainstorming headline variations to show a client.

AI is a decent production assistant. It's fast, it's cheap, and it doesn't complain about boring work. Just don't expect it to solve strategic problems or sound like an actual human wrote it.

Sometimes good enough is simply good enough. When it's those times, use the robot.

Hire a Copywriter When:

1. You're launching something that matters

New brand. New product. New website. These aren't the moments to wing it with a chatbot.

You can't make a first impressionstwice. And if your launch copy sounds like everyone else's launch copy (which AI copy inevitably always does), you've already lost.

2. You don't know what to say

ChatGPT can rewrite what you give it. It can't tell you what your brand actually stands for, or why anyone should care.

That requires thinking. Strategy. Someone who asks annoying questions about your audience and positioning until the right idea emerges.

3. Your current copy isn't working

If people are bouncing off your site, not clicking your CTAs, or asking "wait, what do you actually do?"—that's not a wording problem. That's a clarity problem.

You need someone who can untangle the message, not just rephrase it.

4. You need a voice, not just words

AI writes in the same flat, inoffensive tone every time. Not to mention, it hedges. It uses phrases like "cutting-edge solutions" and "seamless integration" because it's been trained on a gazillion websites that sound exactly the same.

A copywriter gives you a voice that's yours. (If you haven't outsourced that voice work to AI...) One that works across your website, your emails, your social, your sales decks—and sounds like the same company every time.

5. SEO actually matters

Yes, AI can stuff keywords into sentences. But good SEO copy does two things at once: it ranks and it converts.

That requires understanding search intent, user psychology, and how to write for humans who've been conditioned to ignore anything that smells like SEO spam.

How to Know If You've Found the Right One

They ask questions you don't want to answer.

Good copywriters are annoying at first. They want to know about your audience, your competitors, your metrics, your positioning. They don't just take your brief and start writing.

If someone's ready to write after a 10-minute call, walk away.

Their work doesn't sound like everyone else's.

Look at their portfolio. If every piece reads like it could've been written by the same person, that's a problem. Good copywriters adapt. They sound like you, not like them.

They can explain why they made the choices they made.

Ask them why they led with that headline. Why they structured the page that way. Why they used that word instead of another.

If they can't tell you, they're guessing. Or worse, they used AI and didn't tell you.

The Real Question

It's not "Can I afford a copywriter?"

It's "Can I afford to launch something important with words that don't work?"

If you're building something that matters—something people need to understand, remember, and choose—then the answer is no.

If you want to talk, let's talk.