Most marketers flinch at AI - Audrey Chia rebuilt her entire consultancy around it
Audrey Chia is the founder of Close With Copy, a hybrid AI-and-human conversion copywriting consultancy whose work spans global campaigns for Nike and IKEA and go-to-market strategy for startups
She is not hedging on where this goes. While most of her peers treat AI as a threat to the craft, Audrey treats it as leverage - - cutting a two-week landing page to two days and building bespoke tools that generate conversion copy at scale
For any operator weighing how to fold AI into a creative function without gutting the quality, this one is worth your time
Key takeaways:
Strategy comes before the prompt - - AI without positioning and insight produces volume, not conversions
Treat AI like a sharp intern - - give it clear direction and it returns up to 70% time savings and 30% cost savings
For solopreneurs, you are the product - - brand positioning, market fit, and relentless testing decide whether you grow
The winners compete on quality, not output - - content marketing only matters if it delivers results
🔗 Connect with Audrey
Audrey, give our readers a quick intro - - and a fun fact
It's great to be here! I'm Audrey, founder of Close With Copy - a hybrid AI X Human copywriting consultancy. My experience spans crafting global campaigns for Nike and IKEA, GTM strategies for startups, and building a business with AI.
Most marketers are afraid of AI, but I adore it.
I see it as an opportunity to supercharge growth. By combining higher-level thinking and strategy with a tailored AI execution, I'm here to help businesses scale quickly.
Fun Fact: My mum is a fast learner, and she has been secretly using it to develop presentation decks and employee programmes.
What did you learn going solo?
Lots. You only need to focus on doing a great job when working for someone else. You must do much more when working for yourself - personal branding, networking and pitching.
These are my three key lessons:
1) You are the Product
Figure out your brand positioning. What makes you different, what makes you better and what makes you necessary? Develop a Go-To-Market strategy and focus on 1 - 2 key investment channels. Time is money.
2) Find your Market Fit
You want to offer X. But that doesn't mean everyone is looking for it or willing to value your work at that price point. How do you define your value proposition and demonstrate your worth? Find the right audience and create an irresistible offer.
3) Test, Fail & Optimize
I attended all sorts of networking events in the early days, but it was time-consuming with little results to show. I then pivoted to TikTok, hoping for virality and soon found that it was the wrong crowd. Finally, I found my unlock - Linkedin. In just two months, I tripled my following, amassed 27K+ post impressions and got +10% more inbound leads than before.
Think of AI as a highly intelligent intern. You need to give it a clear direction to achieve maximum value.
What is Close With Copy?
Close With Copy is a hybrid AI X Human conversion copywriting consultancy.
We work with businesses to develop their brand strategy, audience insights and market positioning. These are then translated into high-conversion landing pages, sales decks, emails and ads.
But here's the fun part. AI has made this process 10X faster. We're now building bespoke tools tailored specifically for each business that can generate similar results.
This means we can create conversion-optimised marketing content with up to 70% more time savings and 30% cost savings at scale. We're currently co-piloting our MVP with a circle of 3 - 4 clients and gearing up for launch in Q4.
Although it's my first swing at building a business, I wouldn't necessarily consider it a startup.
I'm just doing what I love every single day.
How does AI actually slot into your workflow?
Without the right strategy, content is nothing. That's why I built a hybrid approach:
Step #1 Develop your insights, positioning and overall strategy
Step #2 Tailor your prompts with this framework in mind
Step #3 Review and refine the work for maximum conversion
Think of AI as a highly intelligent intern. You need to give it a clear direction to achieve maximum value.
The true test is never one of quantity but of quality.
What has AI done for your productivity - - and your work-life balance?
AI has freed up my time to focus on higher-level strategy and needle-moving priorities. To give you an idea of how much time I have saved:
- Landing Pages: 2 weeks > 2 days
- FB/IG Ads: 1 day > 1h
- Socials: 60 mins > 5 mins
In terms of work-life balance, not so much. I'm so excited to be building the AI part of my business that I have not been sleeping much. But it'll be worth it.
Are there any AI tools or platforms you find particularly beneficial in managing your time and energy?
- ChatGPT: Copywriting
- Pebbely: Product Shots
- Notion: Brainstorming
- Taplio: Linkedin branding
- Lemlist: Cold Emails
- TL;DV: Meeting minutes
P.S. I reviewed the top 8 AI copywriting tools in the market; check it out here.
How do you see AI reshaping content marketing?
With the rapid AI advancements, there'll be a lot more content generated at scale. We're already seeing a flood of SEO-optimised articles and ads generated by tools like adcreative.ai.
But I believe that the jury is still out.
The true test is never one of quantity but of quality. Content marketing is only valuable if it delivers results. You must find a seamless integration of strategy, experimentation and iteration with AI execution.
That's what will set the winners apart.
For anyone starting with AI today - - too late, or just beginning?
As someone who believes in growth, I don't think it's ever "too late". Now's the best time to start experimenting. This is just the beginning of an incredible tale, and you can decide which character you want to play.
I'd love to help other new marketers and copywriters on this journey by sharing my insights, experiences and prompt hacks on Linkedin.
"Just keep swimming."
As silly as it sounds, I love Dory's sing-songy quote from Finding Nemo.
If I keep going, I'm confident I'll find my way.
AI Central Voices is where the AI Central team sits down with the founders, executives, and builders shaping AI - going behind the scenes of how they operate, what they're betting on, and where the industry goes next.
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