Checking the work · for marketers
Checking AI output in marketing
AI writes fluent copy, and fluent copy is easy to trust. The errors that matter in marketing are rarely grammatical. They are an invented statistic in a blog post, a feature the product does not have, a quote attributed to the wrong person, or a claim legal never cleared.
Checking the work means reading AI output as an editor would read a new writer’s draft. You verify every fact and number against a source. You confirm every claim is one the company can support. And you notice what the output left out.
Where it comes up
A blog post with statistics
Every number in an AI draft needs a source you have opened yourself. If the model cannot point to one, or the source does not say what the draft claims, the number comes out.
A summary of customer reviews
Compare the summary against a sample of the actual reviews. Summaries tend to flatten mixed feedback into a cleaner story than the data supports.
Product claims in campaign copy
Check each claim against current product documentation and your list of cleared claims. Words like "only", "first", "fastest", and "best" need particular care.
What it looks like at each band
E1 · Foundational
Reads the output for tone and typos, and catches errors that are obvious. Tends to trust facts and numbers that sound plausible. May publish a statistic without opening its source.
E2 · Proficient
Verifies facts, numbers, and quotes against sources before use. Checks product claims against documentation. Removes anything that cannot be confirmed instead of hoping it is right.
E3 · Distinguished
Checks in proportion to risk: a social caption gets a read, a comparison page gets line-by-line verification. Looks for what is missing as well as what is wrong, such as a dropped caveat. Asks the model to list its own uncertain claims, then checks those first.
E4 · Exceptional
Sets the review standard the team follows, such as which content types need a second reader and which claims need legal sign-off. Can explain why an output is wrong, not just that it is. Catches the subtle errors others miss, like a real statistic quoted for the wrong year or market.
Common mistakes
Trusting a citation without opening it
Models can produce citations that look real and are not, or real sources that do not support the claim. Open the link and find the sentence.
Checking only what you asked for
If you asked for a summary of positive reviews, the output will not warn you that most reviews were negative. Read what came back against what you gave.
Editing for voice before checking facts
Polishing first makes errors harder to see and more painful to remove. Verify, then edit.
A worked example
Reviewing an AI-drafted blog post on email marketing benchmarks before it is published.
Read the draft, fix two awkward sentences, confirm the tone matches the blog, and publish. The post says the average open rate in your industry is 38% and cites "a recent industry report".
The figure may be invented, outdated, or measured in a way that does not match the claim. "A recent industry report" is not a source. Publishing it puts the company’s credibility behind a number nobody checked.
Before editing, list every number and named source in the draft. Find each original. The 38% figure has no traceable source, so remove it or replace it with a figure from a report you have opened, stating its year and sample. Confirm the product mentions match current features. Then edit for voice.
The reviewer separates fact-checking from editing, traces every number to a source, and removes what cannot be supported. The post that ships is one the company can stand behind.
The full study guide for this skill, for every role, is Checking the work. The other five skills for marketers are on the AI skills for marketers page. A one-page summary is in the AI fact-checking checklist.
See where you stand
The free check grades checking the work and the other five skills in about fifteen minutes. Nobody sees the grade but you.
Then build the skills and prove it. The three steps for marketers list the courses and templates that fit the work.