In a world where AI can churn out thousands of words in seconds and competition is fiercer than ever, business owners have one major challenge: how to stand out. The secret? Positioning and strategic storytelling. 

Sales copy can already feel like a challenge for a lot of business owners: avoiding using sales-y language, captivating your customers’ attention, being clever with your SEO… it’s a lot of work. But If your sales copy isn’t converting, if people are landing on your website and then clicking away, or if you find yourself struggling to explain what makes your offer unique… you don’t actually have a copy problem. You have a positioning problem. 

And there’s no one better to help you fix that than Ashlyn Carter, one of the top conversion copywriters in the business! She’s a creative mastermind and has helped brands (like mine!) refine their messaging to actually drive sales, and now she’s teaching a free masterclass on the five essential messaging pieces you need in your copy kit. (Spoiler alert: this isn’t just about writing, it’s about making your business irresistible.)

So, let’s get your business away from churning out content merely for content’s sake. (And let’s save you some stress trying to assume how your audience WANTS to hear from you!) Turn your content creation process into a smartly positioned, goal-oriented system that saves you time and tells your story clearly to the right audience. It’s easier when you know how to leverage AI tools well! 

What Is Positioning in Sales Copy (and Why Should You Care)?

We know copy matters. We know words sell. They’re how your customers primarily engage with you! Everything you create, from ads to webpages to sending your newsletters means you need to have the right words plugged in and ready to sell well and in your brand’s voice. But before you even think about writing your next sales page or email sequence, you need to have 100% confidence in what you’re saying, why you’re saying it, and how it sets you apart.

Positioning is how your audience categorizes you in their mind. It’s the story they tell themselves about what you do, why you do it, and why you’re different from the competition. When done right, positioning removes confusion, builds trust, and makes buying from you a no-brainer.

A Positioning Example: The Makeover That Drove Real Sales

While the shifts in sales copy positioning can be subtle, even those small nuances make a world of difference in how your dream customers are hooked by your words. Let’s look at a few quick real-life examples of how small positioning tweaks can drastically improve sales copy that leads to big wins.

Sales Copy Before and After

Before: A wedding photographer’s website said: “Capturing your special moments with professional photography services.”

Sounds fine, right? But it’s vague. It doesn’t stand out. It doesn’t make you feel anything.

After: With a stronger positioning strategy, it became: “Emotive, documentary-style wedding photography for couples who want to feel their day all over again—every time they look at their photos.”

Now, the message is clear. It targets a specific type of bride, someone who values emotion over stiff, posed portraits. The result? More inquiries from dream clients who immediately resonated with the brand’s positioning.

The takeaway? If your copy feels “blah,” chances are, your positioning needs sharpening. Your audience should instantly understand what makes you different.

Sales Copy Before and After

Another easy example (simply because we’ve all got a shower routine!) is these two different shaving companies. These are competing razor brands with, frankly, similar products, but both have very different positioning when it comes to how they talk about their product and brand! 

Gillette: “The best a man can get.” (Premium, high-tech, sophisticated.)

Dollar Shave Club: “Our blades are f***ing great.” (Casual, humorous, budget-friendly.)

As Ashlyn explains, “Your marketing, reels, emails, and PR just hold a mic up to the messaging and positioning that was already there. If it’s clear and compelling, it amplifies that. If it’s weak, it amplifies that, too.”

RELATED: My Storytelling Secrets That Connect and Convert

The 3 Biggest Mistakes in Sales Copy and Positioning

Before you dive headlong into asking AI to write everything for you, learn from some copywriting mistakes from the creative copy genius herself, Ashlyn Carter. She’s watching copy go from a blinking cursor and a blank page to a full website, successful social media campaign, and bestselling digital course. Leverage these three important lessons to make sure your content can be as powerful as possible! 

1. Outsourcing Positioning to AI Too Soon

AI tools can be great for generating ideas, but they can’t replace your unique perspective and insight. “People crave insights, not just information,” Ashlyn says. If you rely solely on AI for copy without first crafting your positioning manually, you risk sounding like everyone else. AI is useful for optimizing, but you need to add your unique human element, which AI cannot fully replicate without cheapening.

2. Forgetting That Positioning Evolves

For us, positioning isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it situation. As a brand that has literally not added a new offer in nearly six years, we are constantly evaluating our positioning in the market and tweaking it and the messaging to match the market’s needs. We launch the same offer with zero need to start from scratch and revisit all the supporting copy using Ashlyn’s tools and frameworks. It’s a launch-and-learn cycle we see work really well!

3. Not Addressing Different Buyer Types in Your Sales Copy

Most entrepreneurs tend to sell how they like to be sold to, but that can ignore 75% of potential buyers. So, how do you learn new ways to sell? Ashlyn’s framework identifies four types of buyers: the fact-driven, the plan-oriented, the socially motivated, and the big-picture thinkers. If your copy only speaks to one, you’re leaving money on the table.

Before you start using AI to streamline your copywriting process, remember this: AI is only as good as the foundation you give it. Your positioning, messaging, and buyer awareness strategies set the stage for compelling, high-converting copy. When you get those right, AI becomes a powerful tool to refine and enhance your messaging—not replace it. So how do you strike the perfect balance between human creativity and AI efficiency? Let’s dive into why AI and copywriting can work together so perfectly.

RELATED: AI Can’t Do THIS for Your Copywriting Strategy

AI and Sales Copy: A Winning Combination?

AI isn’t the enemy. It’s a tool. When used intentionally, it can enhance your sales copy without replacing your unique voice. As Ashlyn puts it, “AI is a junior assistant, not the CEO of your messaging.” The key? Knowing how to use it strategically while keeping your brand’s heart and humanity at the forefront.

Here’s how Ashlyn recommends leveraging AI copywriting:

• Brainstorming hooks and angles to uncover new positioning ideas.
• Testing different tones and styles to refine brand voice consistency.
•  Building a copy library to store effective phrases and snippets for reuse.
• Enhancing clarity and conciseness without stripping away the human element.

AI’s output is only as strong as your input. If you don’t guide it well, you might end up with a generic word salad instead of compelling messaging. That’s why injecting your personality, starting with human-led ideas, and ensuring your fingerprint is on every piece of copy is crucial.

Will AI Replace Copywriters?

At first, I hesitated to use AI. But the more I experimented, the more I saw how it could support my message without diluting the heart behind it. AI can write words, but it can’t craft connection. It can’t tell the story of my first $300 Craigslist camera or the moment I knew my business was meant to exist. It could never truly capture the feeling I had when I booked my very first client—when I sat in my car afterward and thought, ‘Wow, this is really happening.’ That’s the kind of story that connects, and that’s what makes human-led copywriting irreplaceable. That’s where YOU come in.

RELATED: 10 Non-Intimidating Ways to Use AI for Your Business TODAY

How to Fix Your Positioning and Sales Copy Today

Feeling like your messaging isn’t hitting the mark? It can be hard to know when you’re so close to the work and can’t tell what wouldn’t land for a customer who is totally new to YOU. Don’t stress. The fixes are often much easier than you think, usually needing a few adjustments to your process. Here’s how to sharpen your positioning and make your copy actually resonate:

1. Listen Like a Detective

Your audience already tells you what they need; you just have to tune in. Dig through customer reviews, DMs, social media comments, and survey responses. What are the exact words they use? This is a goldmine for positioning.

2. Nail Your One-Liner

Can you explain what you do, who you serve, and why you’re different in one sentence? If not, work on refining it. The more concise you get, the easier it is for your audience to know what you do without having to figure it out themselves. 

3. Test and Tweak

Throw your messaging into the wild (emails, sales pages, social posts) and watch how people react. Do they get it immediately, or do they look confused? If it’s the latter, keep adjusting until it clicks. Messaging is a living, breathing thing. Let it evolve.

AI in Copywriting: What Works and What Flops

AI is powerful, but it’s only as good as how you use it. Here’s a quick cheat sheet to make sure AI enhances your copy—without turning it into a robotic word salad.

AI Copywriting Do’s:

✔ Use AI to brainstorm hooks, angles, and fresh positioning ideas.
✔ Let AI help you refine clarity, conciseness, and tone, but add your human touch.
✔ Build a copy library of phrases, taglines, and high-performing sentences AI can pull from.
✔ Treat AI as a tool for speed and inspiration, not as the final writer of your brand voice.

AI Copywriting Don’ts:

✘ Don’t let AI replace your unique insights, experiences, and personality.
✘ Don’t rely on AI to create positioning from scratch, you must define it first.
✘ Don’t assume AI knows your brand’s humor, storytelling, or emotional triggers, it needs guidance.
✘ Don’t publish AI-generated copy without editing, it often needs polishing to sound human.

Bottom line? AI is your assistant, not your CEO. It’s great for optimization, but your voice is what sells.

Learn the Five Messaging Must-Haves from Ashlyn

By now, you know that high-converting sales copy isn’t just about words. It’s about positioning, clarity, and connection. The best messaging makes buying from you a no-brainer because it speaks directly to your audience’s desires, needs, and decision-making process.

Here’s the bottom line:

Positioning matters. If your audience doesn’t instantly understand what you do, who you serve, and why you’re different, you’ll lose them.

AI is a tool, not a replacement. It can refine, optimize, and brainstorm, but your voice and your experiences are what truly sell.

Good copy isn’t set and forget. It’s a living, breathing thing that evolves with your audience, so test, tweak, and fine-tune until it clicks.

If you’re ready to finally lock in your messaging and turn your words into a sales-driving powerhouse, check out Ashlyn’s FREE Copy Clinic Masterclass. She’s breaking down the five must-have messaging pieces every business owner needs to attract, connect, and convert. Because the right words don’t just sound good. They sell.

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Want sales copy that actually sells? 

Learn the five must-have messaging pieces in Ashlyn’s FREE Copy Clinic Masterclass!