How You Pictured It

How to make ai sound like you

• Kate Hejde

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In today’s episode, I’m sharing how you can use AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude to actually amplify your voice, not replace it. Whether you're a coach, creative, or personal brand, these simple strategies will help you collaborate with AI in a way that sounds like you and connects with your dream clients.

We’ll cover:

  • Why AI content often sounds so generic (and how to fix it)
  • How to feed AI your real voice and context
  • Easy prompts that help AI collaborate with you—not take over
  • How to use AI for brainstorming, decision-making, and content planning
  • The tool I use to make every AI interaction faster and more accurate

Plus: I’ll show you how to get started today without feeling overwhelmed—and how to build your own Marketing Field Guide when you’re ready to level up.

🔗 Links Mentioned:

Follow Dear Kate Brand Strategy on Instagram
Learn more at Howyoupicturedit.com


Kate (2):

Have you ever tried writing something for your business and immediately thought, Ew, this sounds nothing like me. I would never use that rocketship emoji or say synergy or elevated. Yep. Same if you're a coach, creative or service-based business owner, that robotic vibe is enough to make you close the tab and swear off AI altogether. But here's the truth. AI can actually help you sound more like yourself, not less if you know how to use it the right way. So let's talk about it. I am Kate, and I help small business owners, DIY websites and marketing that actually feel like them. We create messaging and visuals that reflect their personality and connect them with dream clients who love what they do today I'm sharing how to use AI without losing your voice. Whether you felt totally overwhelmed by it or you've tried it once and said, no thanks, this is your fresh start with real tools that won't make you sound like everyone else on the internet. So why does AI miss the mark? Here's the thing. Most people open up chat, GPT or Claude, and go write me an Instagram caption about my new offer and it spits something back. That sounds like it was written by a robot intern with a LinkedIn addiction. And that's because AI doesn't know you. it's not magic. It's just really good at guessing based on what you give it. So if you don't give it anything personal, it's going to default to bland and boring. But if you treat it like a collaborator instead of a copywriter, it can actually help you sound more like yourself, clearer, quicker, and with way less overthinking. Before we move on, I wanna throw in a quick note that AI isn't just for writing. Sure, it can help you draft content, but it can also help you organize your thoughts, create actionable to-do lists, make decisions faster, and even look at your message from totally different perspectives. like? Would my ideal client get this? It's like having a second brain or a sounding board that's available 24 7. I created a free prompt guide for you in the description below called the AI Weekly. It includes five prompts I use in my business every week, and it shows you how to start using AI beyond the basic. Write this for me, stuff with quick, simple ways to get real support in your business that you may not have had the budget or the skillset for without ai. but I get it. The reason a lot of people don't use AI is that fear that it won't sound like them. I've heard it again and again from friends, clients, people in my audience. One person said it takes too long to explain everything, every time. And another said, I wish I could just give it a set of things about me, but I never know what that should be. And that's totally fair. It's frustrating to have to start over every time, especially when you have your tone, your audience, your offers, your vibe, all living in your head. that's where brand guidelines come in. It's a central place to store everything that makes your brand sound and feel like you. My version of that is called Your Marketing Field Guide because just like any good field guide, it gives you direction, what to say, how to say it, and where to take your message. When it's time to talk about your offers. It's basically your brand brain in a document. You can upload it to chat, GPT or Claude and say, here's a guide to my brand and business. Now let's work together. It includes your voice, your go-to phrases and ones to avoid, like that rocket ship emoji. Your ideal client info, your offers, your favorite stories, and even your visuals If you wanna go that far. Once you have it, every single interaction with AI gets easier, more accurate, more you. And if you ever decide to hire a va, outsource your copywriting or bring on a team member, you've already got a guide that helps them hit the ground running with your voice and message intact. But I don't want creating that document to stop you from getting started. that's why I'm also sharing a few super easy, low lift ways you can try AI today. No fancy setup, no overwhelm. When you've seen what's possible and experienced that little spark of, oh wow, this just saved so much time. then you can come back and get your marketing field guide in place. So let's get into the strategies you can try right now. First up, start with your real voice. So many of us don't see ourselves as writers. We sit down to the blank page and immediately freeze agonizing over every word. Second, guessing our tone and wondering if it sounds professional enough, but talking that's easier. That feels natural. So let's start there with your actual voice. To get AI to sound like you, you need to give it real content and context to work with. that could be a transcript from a coaching call, discovery call or podcast episode. So something that shows how you naturally talk about your work, solve problems, and connect with your audience. Or maybe writing isn't really the problem and you have a piece of content that just nailed your tone. feed that into your AI tool and say, write more like this. Personally, I love using discovery called transcripts because they're packed with gold. They capture how I explain what I do in real conversations, and they show me exactly what my potential clients are asking and thinking so I can reflect that back to them in my content. and if you don't have anything like that handy, there's no problem This is where the chat GPT mobile app becomes a total game changer. Open it up and just talk. You can ask it to act like your ideal client or a podcast interviewer. There's a voice mode that actually talks back to you and it'll transcribe the whole thing. This is one of the lowest pressure or highest payoff ways you can get your thoughts out of your head and into something you can use. You're literally giving AI the raw material it needs to collaborate with you. Let me show you how this works.

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So we're going to play in chat, GBT. I've got a new thread open and we've got two choices. You can either choose the little microphone, which is going to basically send a voice memo to chat GBT, and it will respond with, um, written text. Or you can use the circle with the, like a waveform in it. And that's going to be a two way conversation. So it's gonna be an AI voice talking back to you. Um, that's what we're gonna use today so you guys can also hear it and play with this, uh, this idea. But you can use either honestly. Hi. In this thread, I want you to act like you're my ideal customer, and you've contacted me for a discovery call. In this call you're interested in figuring out. What I offer and how I can help you. You need a new website and you know that I offer both done for you services and done with you services as well as templates, and you're just trying to figure out what the right fit for you is. You're a female entrepreneur in the like 35 to 45 age range, and you have a small business that is service-based, something like a bookkeeper or a photographer. Hi, I am excited to chat about how you can help me with my website. I run a small bookkeeping business and I'm looking to revamp my online presence. I saw that you offer different services, but I'm not sure which would be the best fit. Could you give me an overview of your done for you services and templates? Sure. Can you tell me right now though, like what is your current status? Do you have a website? You've never had a website or what? What's the current situation? I do have a website right now, but it's pretty basic and doesn't reflect my brand. I'm looking to upgrade it so it feels more professional and aligns with the services I provide. Okay, perfect. So how did you get that website? Did you DIY it or did you hire someone? I hired someone a few years ago, but it was a simple design and I haven't updated it much since I'm ready to level up and bring it more in line with my brand. Okay. Can you tell me what, what it is that you like about your website and then what you don't like? I like that my current site is clean and easy to navigate. However, it doesn't capture my brand's personality and the design feels outdated. I love to make it more visually appealing and engaging. Okay, perfect. So what we've got are a couple of different options. I can either, um, work with you to do it together if you want kind of that control over the situation. You wanna learn your brand messaging, figure out more about who you are as a business owner now, now that things have changed and you're shifting what your messaging is going to be going forward, and how you're gonna connect, like those strengths and skills that you have into. What your people want and need, um, and into your offers. So how to kind of figure out. What it is that you bring to the table and how to stand out by just emphasizing your zone of genius, your natural skills and your past experiences and stuff, um, into a brand messaging that connects with people so that they're really excited to work with you over anyone else. Um, so that is the first step of brand-based camp. And then, um, from there I would help you with designing the site in Show It, which is my preferred platform. It's super user friendly, drag and drop. Um, and then, um, from there we would work on SEO. So making sure that the site gets seen. Uh, the other option would be a done for You option, which is, um, you just basically answer some questions about your business and I help you figure out again. More of that messaging piece, but turn it into the copywriting and the website for you. It's a more hands-off, um, approach for you. So if you don't have the time and you don't need like that specific feeling of control over everything, don't wanna learn how to build the site and you have a little bit more money on hand, then that's an option for you. Those options sound great. I like the idea of learning more about branding in the Done with You approach, but I'm not sure I have the time for that. How involved would I need to be in the Done with You process? Let's go ahead and stop there I am just gonna say, can you gimme the full transcript of both sides of this conversation, photo discovery call, and it's gonna pop that out and then I can take that, um, text and copy and paste it in to something else to help, uh, with, to help with that context and content.

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From here, you can start asking AI to write things that actually sound like you, or we can move on to the next strategy, which is asking AI to collaborate with you instead of taking over the whole process. so instead of saying Write this term scratch, we can try different prompts, Like, help me make this thing that I've already written more clear. Help me edit it or asking it for feedback. So what could I do to make this more compelling to my ideal client? Or what could I change to encourage them to take action? Another idea is to copy and paste in an email template and ask AI to populate it and rewrite it in your voice. In a prompt like this, I'll often add, ask me any questions you need to complete this task so it knows. It can clarify before diving in. The third strategy is to use AI for perspective. As small business owners, especially solopreneurs, it's easy to get stuck in our own heads. sometimes we don't even realize what we're missing because we're so close to our own work. That's where AI can be really helpful. I love using it to shift my perspective and help me see through the eyes of someone else. One of my favorite prompts in the AI Weekly does exactly that. It helps me look at a piece of content, a sales page, or even a design through the lens of my ideal clients, not just one type either. It lets me explore how different buyer types at different stages of the customer journey might react. It's a bigger prompt, but so worth it. If you wanna try it for yourself. Grab the free guide and the description below. The final strategy is to treat AI like a creative partner. when you're using prompts, I want you to keep going back and forth. It's not one and done. If your tool gives you something that's close, but not quite there, just say so. Tell it what you liked and what felt off. It learns quickly and you're always in control. These kinds of conversations where you refine, adjust, and clarify are where the real magic happens. they help stretch a small spark of an idea into something polished, purposeful, and powerful. this kind of co-creation helps me pull together all the loose threads in my brain, get clarity on what I actually wanna say, and amplify my message in a way that still feels like me, but gets through to who it needs to And when it works, it's not just faster, it's better. AI doesn't have to erase your voice. In fact, it can help you find it and use it with more clarity and confidence than ever. If you wanna explore how AI can support your business in a way that's aligned, intentional, and actually helpful, download the AI Weekly. It's five thoughtful prompts I use every week to brainstorm ideas, organize my thoughts, create stronger content, and move faster without sounding like anyone else. It's totally free, easy to try, and a perfect next step. if you're ready to use AI in a way that feels like you, the link is below. I'd love to hear what you create.