3 Ways to Use ChatGPT for Your Marketing (and 3 to Avoid!)
Everyone is talking about the life-altering magic of ChatGPT, but how can you use it and similar AI tools to help with your digital marketing? It definitely has some potential as long as you know what you’re doing. Here’s how to use it and how you shouldn’t if you want to avoid plagiarism and copyright issues.
We’ve seen countless videos proclaiming how ChatGPT can do absolutely everything you don’t have the skills or time to do, but the truth is unsurprisingly much more nuanced. If you’re a small business owner hoping to utilize AI tools to shortcut your digital marketing, here’s what we recommend… and what we don’t!
How to use AI tools for Digital Marketing
1. Blog and newsletter ideas
AI tools are a great place to start if you’re suffering from a lack of inspiration. Try a command like “Give me ideas for a newsletter dedicated to nutritional supplements.” ChatGPT and its kin will happily give you a list of ideas. Not satisfied? Just ask for some more options. You can repeat or tweak until you find what you need.
2. Market research
While most AI tools are limited to historic data, some are able to use up-to-date information, which means they are great for market research for small businesses. Tools such as Synthetic Users will let you test your product or service with a set demographic of AI users. Our advice, however, is to confirm your findings with a handful of real people too.
3. Headline creation
Writing a headline that grabs attention is challenging, even for a seasoned writer. Many writers spend as long on their headlines as they do on their outlines. If you struggle to create a headline, AI can be a powerful way to generate an engaging one-liner.
4. Bonus option: Simplifying content
While we wouldn’t recommend using an AI tool to add complexity to your text (if you can’t write at the same level, you may miss imperfections and inaccuracies), if you have something written in language suitable for experts, AI tools can do a great job of rewriting it into a more digestible form for those less knowledgeable in that area. This can be helpful when presenting the information, but be cautious of using it as outward-facing content (see below).
How NOT to Use AI Tools for Digital Marketing
1. Article creation
People are busily creating articles using AI tools for everything from essays to web content. There’s one catch! AI tools use existing content and rewrite it to create something fresh. Many claim they are plagiarism-free, but industry professionals have been running AI articles through plagiarism tools, and the results are predominantly unfavourable. For content that is truly yours, stick to internally created or professionally written copy.
2. Graphic design
Copyright battles have already begun due to a similar issue with graphics created by AI tools. If you are hoping to create something for your branding, chances are you will get much more success with a professional designer who can take on board the nuance of your branding and audience. If you want to create a design to sell something, for example, a t-shirt, you open yourself up to copyright issues as you weren’t the one to technically create it.
3. For precise research
Surprisingly, AI is not yet a great way to research topics when accuracy is required. Examples we’ve heard include citing research papers that didn’t exist, confusing people with the same name from very different eras, and even a biography search misrepresenting a professor as a sex offender when they had no such record. It’s worth noting that you can always ask an AI tool to name its sources, but by the time you do that and dig into whether or not they are relevant, it may have been simpler and less stressful just to Google!
Is it the future?
ChatGPT and other AI tools have exploded in recent months. There is no doubt that they are going to change the way we do (or don’t do) some things. But they are not yet in a place where they can be trusted implicitly, so when it is related to your business, we recommend caution. Get ChatGPT to tell you what pages to put on your website? Go for it! Get an AI to give you an outline for your sales page? Definitely! AI is a great way to generate ideas and get your creative juices flowing, but when it comes to creating words or graphics that will be associated with your brand, it just isn’t time to dive in yet.
We’re watching this field with great interest! If you want to stay in the loop on AI and how it could help your business, join our mailing list.
Cyber PR Army Solutions Inc. Digital Marketing Made Easy.
