Everyone's doing it. That's exactly the problem.
Cast your mind back to when everyone started adding "synergy" to their LinkedIn bio. Remember how that word used to feel fresh, then aspirational, then deeply cringe-worthy every single time you saw it? Well, AI lead magnets are having their synergy moment, and it’s happening fast. What used to take months to trend now happens in weeks. (Thankfully, that means the embarrassment should be quick, too.)
If you've spent any time in the online business space recently, you've probably noticed the pattern. Someone says: "Tell us what you do, who your audience is, and what results you get — and we'll create everything for you!" Sounds great, right? Until you realise that approximately every coach, consultant, and course creator in your feed is doing the exact same thing.
I’m calling it: we've hit peak AI lead magnet. And if you don't want your freebie to drown in the sea of sameness, it's time to get clear and explicit about how you're using AI, because it’s the fastest way to lose trust.
AI content has levelled up (but it’s dumbing us down).
I’m saying this as an AI luddite. Let's give credit where it's due. AI isn't just spitting out clunky blog posts anymore. It’s creating clips, audio, full landing pages, ads and lead magnets from scratch — often to a pretty decent standard. It also does something genuinely useful: it kills blank page syndrome dead.
For anyone who's ever stared at a blinking cursor for 40 minutes trying to write the intro to a freebie, that's not a small thing. AI can generate ideas quickly, draft your structure, and help you move from "where do I start?" to "okay, let's edit this."
And yes: big names in the industry are using these tools.Check out Hubspot, Marisa Murgatoyd, CopyHackers and Amy Porterfield. I’ve seen the same offer (build your lead magnets) no less than 4 times this week. The promise is always the same: plug in your niche, your audience, your outcome, and let the machine do the rest.
I’m not sneering at any of these marketers doing it, by the way. I incorporate AI prompts into my courses in the same way: as a sidekick. However, it comes with a massive caveat:
When everyone uses the same machine with the same prompt structure, you get the same flavoured outputs. Even with your brand looped in. To stand out, you need to be more than “ChatGPT average.”
Don’t be sludge.
Think about it this way: AI is a pattern recognition machine trained on millions of terabytes of existing content. It finds what's common and serves it back to you in a nicely packaged format.
That's useful for efficiency. It's damaging for differentiation.
Think of a hotdog.
Now think of a premium butcher’s sausage.
They both look like sausages and they both fill you up. However, the hotdog is processed to within an inch of its life, with the focus on convenience. The butcher’s sausage has fewer ingredients with a focus on quality and taste.
It’s the same with information. When you feed people a steady diet of hotdog content, you get people switching off. They’re exhausted by the firehose of information - and they can spot the AI phrasing a mile off.
The bottom line: if your lead magnet sounds like it was written by an algorithm trying very hard to sound like a person, people will notice, and they won’t be impressed.
Don't Outsource Your Thinking
Pin this to your computer, highlighted and underlined.
Do not abdicate your thinking to AI.
AI can generate. It can remix. It can help you take a rough idea and build it into something. But it cannot think for you — and it certainly can't replicate your experience, your perspective, or the way you see a problem. (It’s also too polite: try adding slang or swearwords to your blog and see what it does).
Instead, I recommend the following: Brainstorm. Choose. Use. Edit.
You bring the thinking. The AI brings the speed. If you skip the first two steps and just plug a vague prompt into a tool and ship whatever comes out, you're not building a brand. You’re turning yourself into slop.
I use AI - and I have an AI policy. You can read it here.
I use it to:
- Repurpose existing content (e.g., turning a Loom walkthrough into an SOP)
- Process and restructure material (turning an article into a structured list)
- Handle repetitive formatting and execution tasks
What I don’t use it for: ideas, brainstorming, strategy and emails This blog article can from a video transcript, where I blurted out my thoughts, then edited into what you see today. That process has saved me three hours of work, but I still get the joy from writing for you.
I consider AI writing my emails a bit like outsourcing my sex life to a robot. If my husband wouldn't be impressed (even if the robot looks better than I do), why would my customers prefer AI to my words?
You can see my past newsletters here and sign up for next week’s (slightly sweary car crash) nuggets of marketing wisdom at the same time.
You Need an AI Policy
Decide your limits before the AI does it for you.
Nobody turns around to their clients and says, "I created this wholesale with AI." Not the coaches. Not the consultants. Not the marketers selling the AI lead magnet tools. The whole ecosystem is quietly using it and quietly not mentioning it. I don’t see authors proudly saying “Written by AI” on Amazon, or “AI-only music” on Spotify.
Anything generated entirely by AI cannot be copyrighted. If you want your logo, your process, your framework, or your methodology to be legally protected, it needs to come from you. AI-generated content sits in a copyright dead zone that can cause legal headaches down the line if you're building assets you intend to protect or sell.
So, be transparent about what you do, or don’t do, with machines. It builds trust, stops confusion and shows you’ve actually thought about your value in your business. When you are transparent, you build trust - and that’s the way you get clients.
The Return of humanity: going face-to-face in 2026
We got burned out by webinars after Covid, which is why we’ve seen the pivot to hands-off tools and short videos in the past two years. Now -thanks to AI - I think we're about to see a new wave of webinars, video calls, and face-to-face interaction in the online space.
AI can do the grunt work. It can build the framework, write the first draft, handle the workflows. But the part where someone feels seen, heard, and connected requires a human touch.
The people who will win in 2026 are the ones who figure out how to combine both approaches:
- Use AI for execution — the copying, the workflows, the repurposing, the pattern recognition
- Show up as a human — the strategy, the access, the connection, the perspective
If your lead magnet delivers a list and waves goodbye, you're leaving your work unfinished. The magnet is the entry door. What people really want is the next step — with you.
How to stand the fuck out
(With thanks to Louis Grenier).
AI = useful.
AI without thinking = slop.
What do you actually do with this information?
Here's my practical framework:
1. Do your audience research first. No, really — do it. Everyone skips this step. Most people either feel shy about reaching out directly, assume their audience is too busy, or simply don't bother. This is the step that separates generic content from content that lands. Know specifically what your audience needs before you ask AI to generate anything.
2. Decide the topic, the format, and the end result.
What transformation does this lead magnet deliver?
What does someone know, feel, or be able to do after consuming it?
These answers should come from you — and only then should you hand the brief to AI.
3. Let AI generate, then edit ruthlessly.
Your AI-generated draft is a starting point, not a finished product.
Add your examples.
Add your voice. Cut the filler.
Check the facts (AI does make mistakes — sometimes embarrassingly large ones).
Your reputation is on the line, not the algorithm's.
4. Add the human layer. Can you do a live walkthrough?
A Q&A? A video that shows your face and your process?
Offer something that simply cannot be replicated, because scarcity is still your most powerful conversion tool.
5. Consider where AI genuinely earns its keep.
Workflows. CRM patterns. Updating records. Repurposing existing content. Shortcutting repetitive tasks. These are the areas where AI delivers real ROI — not as a replacement for your brain, but as a very efficient assistant to it.
The Hotdog Test
Before you hit publish on your next AI-assisted lead magnet, run it through the Hotdog test
- Could someone else in your niche have created this with the same prompt?
- Does it sound like you, or does it sound like a bland version of everyone else?
- Have you added anything — an example, a story, a perspective — that only you could add?
- Would your existing audience recognise your voice in this?
If you're answering no to most of those, go back in and add yourself to it. That's not extra work — that's the actual work.
Go further
Want more leads, more sales and more effortless communication with your people?
Check out my mini-courses.
Book a twenty-minute call to chat about strategy
Check out testimonials from my past clients.
Natalie Phillips is a digital marketing strategist with 20+ years of experience in email automation, communication, and digital marketing. She works with businesses of all sizes through her agency, Write-Click-Sell.
