Of course, this issues goes way beyond marketing and marketing technology roles. Both EU and national governments prioritize gender pay gap reduction in their gender policies. But has there been tangible progress? Many would say, not enough.

Dig deeper: MarTech Salary and Career: The meritocracy myth vs. the real gender pay gap

The psychology behind the gender pay gap

Women who experience the gender pay gap regularly may become frustrated and feel helpless to change it. This frustration can quickly escalate into stress and depression.

Regrettably,  research suggests that many women persist in attributing these circumstances to themselves instead of recognizing the need for reformative action from the system.

The link between the gender wage gap and depression/anxiety in women

A recent large scale survey from Columbia University reported a connection between women’s anxiety and gender pay gaps. From the executive summary: “The study authors suggest that these findings could indicate that underlying structural discrimination — rules and practices that disadvantage specific groups of individuals, such as women or ethnic minorities, and exemplified in this case by wage inequality — contributes to women’s disproportionate reports of depression and anxiety, particularly if women are internalizing discriminatory acts as a reflection of their low worth rather than that of biased institutional practices. “

Note that if women earn equal or more than their male counterparts, their risk for depression and anxiety becomes similar to that of men. Conversely, when female earnings fall below male ones, depression and anxiety risks increase more to than double.

The fear of asking for a raise

As a young entrepreneur, I believe the gender pay gap is not solely about employers exploiting women in tech. Women should become more self-assured and confident of the value they add to their field.

Based on my own observations, and five years of experience in managing positions, women tend to negotiate their salary during job offers less frequently than men do. I’d also been tackling this problem throughout my first three years of a corporate career. It wasn’t that an employer refused to give me more money. It was I who was afraid to ask for more generous pay due to a lack of confidence, impostor syndrome, and plenty of other prejudices.

The book “Women Don’t Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide” sheds light on the disparate experiences between men and women when it comes to initiating negotiations over what they want. According to research conducted, men are twice as likely as women to voice their demands and initiate negotiations directly.

There has also been progress made toward narrowing the gender gap among younger women. They become more assertive when asking for salary increases and are increasingly the main providers of income support to their families.

However, women are still a considerable distance from achieving equal pay through effective negotiation. 

The gender pay gap for marketing professionals

Our 2023 MarTech Salary and Career Survey showed that women in marketing earned, on average, 24% less than men. That is an improvement on last year’s 30% disparity. Marketing technologists had an average salary of $138,000, with higher compensation available in larger companies and to more experienced professionals.

The takeaway: Although the pay gap persists, we can see women beginning to bridge it by taking action and showing their value.

In contrast, the gender pay gap across the healthcare industry must be eliminated on the governmental level as it demonstrates a horrible disparity. Health Affairs published a study demonstrating that women working as physicians with the same credentials and skills make an estimated $2 million less than their male counterparts earn over a simulated 40-year career, leading to an alarming gender pay gap in this profession.

What’s worse, a critical 64% gender pay gap in this sphere was noticed long before in 2016 by the Wall Street Journal.

The connection between gender and racial pay gap

Women of color face two simulatenous obstacles of course — racial and gender pay gaps.

Black and Hispanic, or Latina women earn less than men of the same race/ethnicity. Annual income for women also varies across different races. For example:

• White women — $47K per year.
• Black and African American — less than $40K.
• Latina women — less than $37K.

Contrastingly, Asians outearn any other ethnicities, with women having higher compensation than men.

How can women bridge the gap and earn more?

Reducing the gender pay gap requires a collaborative effort from individuals, employers, and policymakers alike. Although no single solution exists for closing this chasm, women can take steps to increase earnings and career opportunities.

Negotiating salary

According to Beverly De Marr’s “Negotiation and Dispute Resolution,” 20% of the women won’t negotiate their salaries at all. But they should. If they did, DeMarr suggests, they could earn around $7,000 more in the first year.

A woman who refuses to negotiate her salary will lose between $650,000 to $1,000,000 over a 45-year career.

So, negotiating salaries can have a substantial impact on women’s earnings over time. To prepare for negotiations, it is essential to conduct thorough market research and craft a compelling argument. The book “Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In” may help you with the latter.

By approaching negotiations with a clear and concise argument, women can take a proactive step toward narrowing the gender pay gap.

Building a network

Expanding their network within the industry can help women find new jobs or connect with employers. Joining social media like LinkedIn, participating in events, and joining organizations are all ways to improve professional contacts. Joan Budden, former President and CEO of Priority Health, has said: “I strongly believe that in order for women to rise in the workplace, we, as leaders, need to provide ample opportunities for networking and mentoring so professional relationships can flourish.”

Being more confident

Women who fail to reach their career goals often receive criticism that accuses them of lacking confidence despite demonstrating it through assertive behavior. Such comments may lower self-esteem and worsen the perception of confidence.

Women should remember that they are valuable members of their teams and that their contributions matter. By recognizing their worth and taking steps to build their confidence, they can position themselves for success. Ultimately, they make meaningful strides toward closing the gender pay gap, both in marketing and beyond.

The post The gender pay gap in marketing: Should women be more assertive or the market be more responsive? appeared first on MarTech.

4. WriteSonic

WriteSonic is one of the most affordable AI writing tools designed to generate long-form pieces of up to 3,000 words. You can find helpful comments about it on the software review site G2. The kicker is that you can find pretty much the same reviews for each tool on the list, so let’s test WriteSonic on a real task.

How to generate a B2B blog post with WriteSonic

What sets WriteSonic (WS) apart from other tools is that it prompts you to use SEO-ready templates (workflows). It’s suitable for straightforward content like “How to grow avocados at home” but is more limited for B2B pieces, where you must constantly tweak your content or ask AI to rewrite paragraphs on the fly.

That said, I’ll use a template to craft a 3,000-word article.

Step 1: Find your keywords

WriteSonic puts content optimization front and center. First, the tool asks you to specify a topic for the article and automatically puts together a list of relevant keywords. Select those you want to optimize a piece for.

Step 2: Get ideas for a title and generate an outline

The set-up process is similar to other tools, but WriteSonic limits you to choose only one tone of voice for title ideas and content generation. It cannot combine and write in different styles like Jasper or ChatGPT. 

Regarding outlines, WriteSonic offers six options revolving around B2B appointment-setting services. However, I’ll go with my initial outline and see whether it can best human-written content. 

Step 3: Generate a whole piece

WriteSonic did strictly follow my outline and expand on all my given points. Unfortunately, it was too repetitive and created a piece that would be easier to trash rather than edit. Read the text in the red boxes.

That’s not a usable result. But let’s give WriteSonic one more try and see what content quality we’ll get for a simple B2C piece like “How to Pick a Ripe Pineapple.“

Sadly, the tool continued to generate repetitive, slightly paraphrased paragraphs, though they certainly don’t lack sense. If I wrote a piece about pineapples, I could use this text as a rough draft and quickly extract usable ideas.

But let’s admit it, long-form content is not WriteSonic’s strong side. Jasper can do way better.

Although these comments sound like a solid “no-go” for WriteSonic, I recommend you try it for other copywriting tasks like creating social media copy or landing pages.

Pricing

• Try all features for free until you reach 2,500 words.
• Paid plans start at $19/month with 19,000 words and one user.

5. Copy.ai

Copy.ai is a one-stop shop for long-form and sales copywriting. It generates full product descriptions, landing pages and emails. The system remembers your writing style and preferences.

Copy.ai has a set of features for blog post creation. It can:

• Generate titles and meta descriptions in seconds.
• Check for duplicate content.
• Generate FAQs and listicles in one click.
• Pick up the tone to match your brand voice.
• Help with search engine optimization.
• Create “cliffhangers” for your copy.

How to generate a blog post with Copy.ai

Copy.ai offers two ways to write a blog post: Freestyle and Blog Post Wizard. The Freestyle mode suggests related ideas for paragraphs or sentences based on the purpose of a piece and its title. After testing this feature, I didn’t see much practical value for long-form content.

Blog Post Wizard mode follows a step-by-step process for generating blog posts. It starts by giving you an idea, follows by writing the outline and creating talking points and ends with an industry-standard article. 

Craft an article with Blog Post Wizard

First, I haven’t seen a tool that would give talking points to an outline before composing a whole piece. Copy.ai has generated surprisingly solid talking points for B2B appointment setting. Check it out.

What’s more, you can generate more talking points for a heading and pick the best ones. Likewise, you can rewrite the output or add/edit a talking point.

Here’s the final draft. 

This is actually good. An uncanned intro, short and on-point paragraphs without awkward or repetitive blocks. Highlighted in green is auto-completed text chosen from four Copy.ai suggestions.

I would use this copy for the rough draft without second-guessing. What’s left for a writer is to piggyback on ideas and bridge the gap with insights, real-life examples and visuals.

What else can you do with Copy.ai for blog post writing?

• Develop a relevant and engaging story about a topic in two sentences.
• Find stronger alternatives to verbs and adjectives, like using a thesaurus.
• Make up relatable analogies for any topic.

Pricing

• Freemium up to 2,000 words/month.
• A 7-day free trial of the Pro plan.
• The Pro plan costs $49/month and comes with unlimited words.

The verdict

All tools have their target audiences, but Jasper and ChatGPT (see part one) beat any competition for blog post writing. They give you full control over composing paragraphs and rewriting, which the other tools do not.

If you are looking for a cheaper alternative, try Copy.ai. As you’ve seen in the samples, it can deliver high-quality results for one-shot articles and comes with engaging features for storytelling. And let’s not forget that Copy.ai offers unlimited words on the Pro plan.

The post Two afforable AI writing assistants in action appeared first on MarTech.

ChatGPT’s launch in November 2022 spurred a debate among marketers. Proponents of generative AI envision a future where these highly sophisticated tools will replace human writers. Some are confident in AI’s capability to deliver high-performing copy for ads, landing pages and even white papers and ebooks.

In turn, more realistic marketers and copywriters assert the stark superiority of human writing over AI. “It cannot connect the dots like we can. It can’t be personal like us, human like us. It can’t feel the gravity of a profound moment like birth. These are uniquely human things. And so, AI cannot write like us,” wrote Eddie Shleyner, founder of VeryGoodCopy.

But there is a middle ground. We can leverage generative AI tools to level up the content creation process. It takes considerable time and effort to write high-quality blog posts. Using AI tools as writing assistants can potentially save costs and resources.    

Because not all tools are created equal, we tested five popular AI writing assistants today. While some results were impressive, the outputs tended to be repetitive. This is a key theme across these generative AI tools, highlighting the need for human oversight and careful editing.

Here are the five AI writing tools we’ll cover:

1. ChatGPT
2. Writer
3. Jasper
4. WriteSonic
5. Copy.ai

1. ChatGPT

ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pretrained Transformer) is a high-profile natural language processing (NLP) model that enables AI-powered, real-time conversations. It is great for generating short content, like creative ads, persuasive copy, scripts and more. 

But there’s a caveat to generating blog posts: you never know what outcome you’ll get, its length and completeness. Aside from that, you will have to deal with repetitive word patterns and identical sentences.

To some extent, you can bypass the limitations with creative prompts and by “writing” your piece in several rounds with follow-up questions.

Dig deeper: ChatGPT: A marketer’s guide

How to write a blog post with ChatGPT

Step 1: Write a title

ChatGPT works great in generating creative headlines. Here’s a sample prompt to get started:

• “Act as a copywriter. You’re writing a piece about [your topic]. The goal of the piece is [your goal + target audience]. Adopt the tone of voice of [a particular person or your company] and create 5 engaging headlines to stand out in the SERPs.”

Step 2: Craft an engaging introduction and outline

ChatGPT can help here if you prompt it well, for example:

• “Write an engaging intro to the article [your topic] following [your company] tone of voice. Use American English, conversational and informal style. Start with [your target audience] familiar pain points and provide a short solution. Generate three outputs. Separately, utilize the AIDA and PAS frameworks and write the 4th and 5th intros accordingly.”

And you’ll get something like this.

Not bad for an AI tool, but it’s still raw. Your next move is to try different prompts and specify which parts you don’t like. If you stay in one chat, it will pick up your writing style and adjust its responses accordingly.

To achieve the best results, run several rounds of prompts and take the most compelling parts from each intro to create an effective opening line. Then, repeat this process to develop an outline.

You might think it’s a lot of work to write the lead — you’re right. Initially, writing with ChatGPT can eat up your time. But after some trial and error, you’ll eventually develop better prompt templates and save time.

Step 3: Generate an article

Try writing in blocks. For starters, take one heading and ask ChatGPT to expand on it. Specify the following:

• The outcome you expect to get.
• The goal of the heading.
• Structure (i.e., list best practices in bullets).

For instance, I asked it to put together best practices for visuals for florist websites, and here is what I’ve got.

All the points are valid, so you can piggyback on some of them as a writer. 

Note: You can also ask ChatGPT to back up its outputs by referring to research, case studies, customer success stories, etc. The caveat: it often makes up stats and research, so it’s better to leave this part to humans. 

Pro tip: Make ChatGPT provide fresher data from the web, research, case studies and more with the WebChatGPT Chrome extension. (It’s also available for Firefox.)

What else can you do with ChatGPT blog post writing?

• Create hooks for repurposing your article on social media.
• Generate catchy SEO titles and meta descriptions.
• Summarize any content with the Summarize Chrome extension.
• Proofread a piece/paragraph.

Pricing

• Free for all users. Available when demand is low. Some countries currently do not have access.
• The Plus plan costs $20 per month. Available even when demand is high and comes with faster response speed.

2. Writer

Here’s what you can do with Writer:

• Get real-time feedback on grammar and style.
• Generate synonym recommendations for better rephrasing capabilities.
• Create catchy titles and headlines from prompts or already existing content.
• Generate a blog post from an outline or step-by-step from scratch.
• Transcribe and summarize audio and video recordings.

Writer also tries to mimic human writing style by understanding the context behind every sentence and generating natural-sounding suggestions accordingly. It can also pick up your brand voice and style guides to ensure consistent content.

How to generate a blog post with Writer

There are two ways to start crafting an article with Writer — from scratch or with an outline. Since content writers are usually given an outline to work with, let’s see how Writer can fill in the gaps.

Choose the Blog posts template and fill in the working title, summary, and headings. Click Generate content. Wait for a while and enjoy the generated article. 

Unfortunately, I ended up with an article full of fluff, general statements and an overblown intro. I might salvage a few paragraphs. 

Here’s the intro:

And here’s some of the body text:

The first two paragraphs were good, but the rest didn’t bring real value to the reader. In comparison, here’s a human-written version. 

Easy summary

Extract the juice from your article in bullet points for a TL;DR section or social media in one click. This feature saves heaps of time in summarizing text. 

Event takeaways

The Event takeaways feature is impressive. It transcribes and summarizes podcasts, webinars, and other video and audio content types in minutes. 

Keep writing

Enter a sentence and prompt Writer to help you get started. I like to use this feature for generating examples or completing simple sentences. For instance, I can start with “Email marketing is …” and make Writer craft the whole paragraph. 

See how it works.

Pricing

• Start with a 14-day free trial.
• Upgrade to the Team plan for $18/month. Allows 1-5 people.

3. Jasper

Since its launch in February 2021, Jasper has become a vital tool for many writers and content creators. In less than two years, it claimed Unicorn status after a $1.5 billion valuation.

This is my preferred tool among all AI writing assistants alongside ChatGPT. 

How to generate a blog post with Jasper

There are several ways to create an article. You can opt for template-based writing if you’re a beginner or use its advanced features to get creative and develop unique content ideas. 

Tip 1: Generate a full blog post with one click

Template-based writing with the One-Shot Blog Post feature enables you to generate a blog post from an outline. Just feed Jasper the main topic (a brief), select the tone of voice and target audience. Watch Jasper craft a complete article in minutes. 

I used the same prompt from the Writer example: “Write an article about B2B appointment setting.”

The following sample is what you can expect for B2B content. It serves as a good outline with talking points that still need a human writer to fill in the gaps and expand on ideas. Jasper can also help with the latter in Commands mode (more below).

Tip 2: Assemble a blog post from intro to conclusion with advanced settings

Once you have keywords and the blog post’s objective, you can turn it into an engaging B2B article with a title and an outline. To do this, head to Documents in Boss Mode (find it in Templates).

Now, choose Blog Post or Blog Post Starter from Workflows, and start guided writing with an AI assistant. 

First, generate 3-5 or more intros in one click and regenerate the content if you don’t like it. Below is a generated version from the first attempt, and it’s reasonable to keep it as a skeleton for further edits.

Pro tip: Set your company’s tone of voice and audience to write as closely to your brand style as possible. You can specify several tones, like conversational, informative or persuasive.

Next, create an outline in one click. Not sure whether you should keep it? Copy and save it before commanding Jasper to try again.

Here’s the first version of the outline (see below). 

You can start filling in the gaps with the tool. At this point, Jasper has already remembered the content structure and is ready to generate paragraphs for each subheading.

Switch to Focus Mode and co-write a piece using commands and auto-completion. No other AI writing tools offer these features of similar quality. Co-writing with Jasper can take the words out of your mouth.

Pro tip: Use commands to enrich your piece with relevant examples in seconds, e.g., “How to calculate ROAS” or “Create an example of a curiosity-driven outreach email to sell [your product].”

What else can you do with Jasper for blog post writing?

• Generate FAQs.
• Rephrase your content to make it simpler, more engaging or funnier — or tailor it to a specific tone of voice.
• Generate listicles.
• Get the key points (or TL;DR) from a piece.
• Create snappy SEO titles and meta descriptions.

Pricing

• Access all features with a 5-day free trial.
• The price starts at $59/month and includes 50,000 words/month.

In part 2 of this two-part series, we’ll look at AI writing tools WriteSonic and Copy.ai.

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