Em-dashes Are Not The Problem

Last week, one of Implementum’s experienced copywriters drafted an email for a client who hired us to create content for her.

The client liked the email except for one thing…

“It has an em-dash,” she said.

We didn’t have to ask her why that concerned her.

The em-dash — seen here — is common fare in AI-generated content. So common that it’s now considered a dead giveaway: A robot did the writing.

“Get rid of them dashes,” warn the goo-roos. “You don’t want readers knowing a robot wrote that email!”

OK. Fair enough. If your copy is littered with em-dashes, that may be a sign.

But scanning for em-dashes (and other “AI signals”) misses the point.

The best way to robot-proof your copy is to write great copy.

Robots can write polished copy. But it’s rarely great.

The problem with AI-generated copy is not the em-dashes. It’s the content quality. It’s usually rotten, paint-by-numbers slop. From a distance, it looks good. Look closely, though, and you see it’s just fill-in-the-blanks garbage.

If you want your robot to write quality, client-getting content, you have to train it properly.

That means learning proven copywriting frameworks that you can pass along to your robot — or working with someone who understands the frameworks and has already trained robots for you.

Next week, I’m hosting a small-group, hands-on workshop where I’ll show you the framework I use to create client-getting content — consistently without writer’s block. And I’ll show you how I trained my robots to use the framework to evaluate and improve rough drafts and help you write authentic, high-quality, human content that sells.

If you’re interested in a seat for this complimentary event (or the replay video if the timing isn’t right), reply to this email with “em-dash,” and I’ll send you the details.