Thinking and Strategy: The New Gold in
Copywriting
Brace yourself—I’m about to hit you with a truth that’ll shake you up. Copywriting, as you’ve always known it, is on the brink, staring into a void where it could fade into history.
The reason is simple:
Because AI—yeah, those fancy-pants algorithms like ChatGPT—can spit out slick, shiny copy faster than you can say “headline.” They’re churning out blog posts, ads, and social media blurbs that look good, sound good, and don’t cost a dime more than a subscription fee.
If you’re just a word-slinger, a keyboard jockey hammering out clever phrases, you’re already halfway to the scrap heap of history. Done. Cooked. Toast.
But here’s the kicker: you don’t have to go down with the ship. There’s a way to not just survive but dominate in this AI-riddled world. And it ain’t about writing prettier sentences or flashier taglines.
It’s about thinking. It’s about strategy. It’s about being the sharpest, savviest persuader in the room—the one who can see the game board, read the room, and move the needle like nobody’s business.
That’s the new gold in copywriting, and if you don’t get hip to it, you’re gonna be left eating AI’s dust.
AI’s Got the Pen, But It Ain’t Got the Brain
Let’s get real. AI is a beast. It
can crank out a 500-word blog post in ten seconds flat, optimized for SEO, sprinkled with keywords, and polished to a high sheen. It can mimic your brand voice, churn out variations, and even throw in a call-to-action that’s technically “correct.”
Businesses are drooling over this stuff—cheap, fast, and scalable. Who needs a copywriter when a bot can do it for pennies?
But here’s where AI trips over its own circuits:
it’s got no soul, no gut, no
instinct. It can string words together, but it can’t think. It can’t sit back, squint at the situation, and figure out what’s really going on. It can’t read the room, smell the fear, or sense the unspoken desires of an audience.
And it sure as hell can’t persuade like a human who’s been in the trenches, who knows what it’s like to win a mind or break a heart.
That’s where you come in, hotshot. If you want to stay in the game, you’ve gotta be more than a writer. You’ve gotta be a strategist, a thinker, a persuader who can outmaneuver any algorithm. You’ve gotta master the art of
seeing the “available means of persuasion”—like Aristotle said, but with a street-smart edge—and then use ‘em to grab your audience by the collar and make ‘em feel something.
Thinking and Strategy: Your Secret
Weapon
Persuasion ain’t about words. It’s about power. It’s about knowing your audience so well you can crawl inside their heads, see what makes ‘em tick, and flip the switch
that gets ‘em to act. AI can’t do that. It’s just a glorified pattern-matcher, regurgitating what it’s been fed. You, on the other hand? You’ve got the edge—if you’re willing to sharpen it.
Here’s what sets you apart:
- Deep Thinking: Stop skimming the surface. Great copywriting starts with asking the tough questions. What’s the audience really afraid of? What do they want so bad they can taste it? What’s the one thing nobody’s saying out loud? A deep thinker doesn’t just write; they solve. They dig into the muck of human behavior and come up with insights that make people go, “Damn, that’s me.”
- Killer Strategy: Forget one-off ads or cutesy slogans. You’re not a copywriter; you’re a campaign general. You see the whole battlefield—brand,
audience, goals—and you map out a plan that hits hard and keeps hitting. That tagline you wrote? It’s not just a tagline; it’s a spearhead for a story that runs through every email, post, and billboard. That’s strategy, baby, and it’s what makes you indispensable.
- Gut-Level Persuasion: People don’t buy with their brains; they buy with their hearts. You’ve gotta know how to stir ‘em up—make ‘em laugh, cry, or get mad as hell. AI can fake emotional language, but it’s like a robot trying to flirt. It’s
hollow. You, with your human scars and stories, can craft arguments that land like a punch and emotions that linger like a first kiss.
Winning Minds, One Gut-Punch at a
Time
Let me paint you a picture. Say you’re writing for a sustainable clothing brand. AI might spit out something like, “Go Green, Wear Clean!”—safe, predictable, and about as
exciting as a wet sock.
But you?
You’re smarter than that. You dig in. You find out the audience is sick to death of brands pretending to be eco-saints while cutting corners. They want real. They want raw.
So you come up with a campaign that says, “We’re Messy, But We’re Honest.” You back it up with stories of the brand’s struggles, their screw-ups, their wins. It’s not just copy; it’s a movement. That’s persuasion. That’s winning minds by hitting ‘em where it hurts and where it
hopes.
This is what Aristotle was yammering about with his “available means of persuasion.” Every situation—every client, every audience—gives you a toolbox. Logic, emotion, credibility. You pick the right
tools, you swing ‘em with precision, and you make magic happen.
AI? It’s got no clue how to weigh the stakes, read the vibe, or know when to go
for the jugular. That’s your job, and you’d better be damn good at it.
How to Be the Last Copywriter Standing
If you wanna come out on top, you’ve gotta level up. Here’s your playbook:
- Get Obsessed with People: Study psychology, sociology, even body language. Learn what makes humans tick,
what scares ‘em, what lights ‘em up. The more you know about people, the more you can move ‘em.
- Think Like a Boss: Don’t just write; strategize. Learn branding, marketing, positioning. Be the one who can walk into a room and say, “Here’s how we’re gonna own this market.” That’s the kind of copywriter clients beg to keep.
- Stay Hungry: Curiosity is your fuel. Read everything—novels, history, X posts, cereal boxes. Stay plugged into the culture. Know what’s trending, what’s fading, what’s about to explode. The sharper your radar, the better your
aim.
- Take Risks: AI plays it safe. You don’t. Try the bold move, the weird angle, the line that makes people gasp. Sometimes you’ll flop. But when you hit, you’ll hit hard.
The Bottom Line
AI’s coming for the low-hanging fruit, and that’s fine. Let it have the grunt work, the boilerplate, the boring stuff. You? You’re playing a bigger game. You’re not just a copywriter; you’re a persuader, a strategist, a thinker who can see what’s
invisible to machines and make it real for humans. Thinking and strategy—that’s the gold, and it’s yours for the taking.
So stop whining about AI. Stop polishing your portfolio. Start
sharpening your mind. Get out there, see the game, and play it better than anyone else. The future’s wide open, and the copywriters who’ll own it are the ones who think hard, fight smart, and persuade like their life depends on it.
That’s you, right? Prove it.
All good wishes,
Doug D'Anna
P.S. Make no mistake about it: The copywriting world’s splitting in two—one side’s sinking into the poorhouse, the other’s swimming in gold.
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