It’s time to talk about the elephant in the room, y’all.
That’s right, today we’re focusing on ChatGPT.
Released at the end of November 2022 by OpenAI, this highly evolved chatbot has exploded into the mainstream and according to the latest data, ChatGPT currently has over 100 million users. The website itself currently generates 1 billion visitors per month.
These numbers, of course, or expected to rise exponentially in the coming months. And to be fair, its popularity makes sense.
In the digital age, businesses are constantly seeking innovative ways to engage and connect with their customers. ChatGPT offers a range of possibilities for marketing efforts, enabling businesses to provide personalized and interactive experiences.
But, as with anything, there are definite pros and cons to this chatbot. In this blog post, I will share the pros and cons of using ChatGPT for marketing and examine its potential impact on customer engagement and brand communication.
1. Research like never before (with a catch…)
Many have said that ChatGPT is poised to replace Google eventually and while we don’t entirely agree with that theory, ChatGPT can be a fantastic tool for research.
This Moz article titled, “ChatGPT Won’t Replace Google Search (Yet)” is a fabulous read — check it out after you’re finished here!
Due to ChatGPT’s conversational nature, it’s easy (and honestly fun!) to go back and forth with questions and snag near-immediate answers. Gone are the days of scrolling through Google search results to find the answer you’re looking for.
Instead, just pop in a question like:
“What’s the definition of a Marketing Qualified Lead?”
And you’ll quickly receive an answer along the lines of:
It’s almost too good to be true! Because of course…there’s a catch (and we’ll discuss this in the cons section of this piece).
Overall, ChatGPT can be a wonderful tool to cull a ton of research and information into a simple, easy-to-read format that you can then use for larger projects (like a blog post or a whitepaper).
2. Increase your brainstorming capabilities
Need a framework for a blog post or ebook? Want help figuring out your talking points for your next presentation at a company meeting?
ChatGPT has your back!
If you’re running low on creative juices (what content creator hasn’t been there?), ask ChatGPT to give you 10 new blog post ideas about XYZ.
Don’t like the suggestions it gives you? Ask it to give you 10 more! The brainstorming aspect of ChatGPT is our favorite feature here at Net-Results, especially in our marketing department. The ideas and inspiration it offers are truly endless!
This YouTube creator has plenty of great videos all about brainstorming prompts for ChatGPT — here’s a great example of one we love that you can use for all of your content brainstorming needs:
3. Conduct basic market research
This TikTok does a great job explaining how to do this, but we’ll break down the steps for you here just in case!
- Log in to ChatGPT and enter the following prompt:
Here are the names of my top competitors in [enter industry]: Competitor #1, Competitor #2, and Competitor #3. Generate an analysis of their strengths, weaknesses, and market position. - Once you get the results, you can then respond with:
What kind of content do my competitors publish and how can I leverage social media to compete with them? - From there, you can ask ChatGPT to come up with a content schedule and/or strategy along with social media captions & hashtags to better compete with your industry competitors.
You can conduct even more in-depth market research with ChatGPT, but this should get the ball rolling!
There are an infinite amount of ChatGPT prompts out there, so be sure to look around Reddit threads and marketing discussion boards to glean even more insight on how to use this handy little chatbot for your market research needs.
This is a great list of ChatGPT prompts for bloggers, marketers, and social media users!
To keep this blog post from being 10,000 words, we’ve narrowed down the top 3 pros of using ChatGPT for marketing purposes. There are plenty of other ways in which ChatGPT can be of use to marketers just like you. But to keep things moving…it’s time to jump into the cons of this AI service.
1. Biased or inaccurate responses
As hinted at in point #1, ChatGPT has some serious limitations when it comes to research.
You see, ChatGPT learns from the data it’s trained on which can include biased and frankly completely inaccurate information (don’t you know not everything on the internet is true? 😂).
Here’s a little real-life example of how unreliable ChatGPT can be:
A few weeks ago, one of our engineers here at Net-Results wanted to conduct an experiement with ChatGPT. You see, there was a certain action he’d been trying to code for and no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t get the code to do what he needed. He was at his wit’s end!
He had scowered the internet for hours at this point when he had the brilliant idea to consult ChatGPT — this (at the time) “all knowing” AI creation.
So in desperation, he wrote to the chatbot and asked it to write the code he needed, hoping that this advanced AI would be able to solve his day-long problem. And sure enough, almost immediately it generated in-depth, expertly written code and assured the engineer that this was the solution he was looking for.
Relieved and inspired, this engineer took the code, plugged it in, and…
It was complete rubbish.
ChatGPT had given him gibberish and tried to pass it off as a solution.
It tried to pass it off as truth.
Make your way through a few Reddit threads and you’ll quickly realize our engineer’s experience is all too common when it comes to ChatGPT.
To top it off, ChatGPT also lacks real-time data. The chatbot is trained on existing data up until September 2021 — that’s almost two years ago! As a result, it does not have access to the most recent information and is likely unaware of current market trends, events, or developments.
This limits the relevance and accuracy of its responses when it comes to real-time marketing insights.
Fast Company wrote this brilliant piece back in January about the factual inaccuracies of ChatGPT if you want more examples!
2. Drastically limited context awareness
Remember—ChatGPT is not human (yet—just kidding! Or are we?) and therefore, it often struggles with context.
It doesn’t have any real-world experience or the ability to understand emotions, cultural factors, or nuances that often impact marketing and buying decisions.
After all, marketing is compiled of human art (writing, design, & psychology) and as of now, ChatGPT isn’t incredibly skilled in the world of artistic, creative, and thoughtful human expression.
Give it time, of course, but as of now, ChatGPT frankly lacks nuance and context which leads us to…
3. Lack of empathy and human connection
Let’s be frank: ChatGPT is an AI model and as a result, it grossly lacks empathy and human connection. Sure, it can sprinkle in some “humor” when asked to do so. It can tell you a joke or two and even make your copy a little more “fun.”
But marketing is all about understanding customer emotions, motivations, and sentiments. ChatGPT cannot do this and likely never will (yay, job security!).
In that same vein, ChatGPT has plenty of limitations when it comes to tone and voice. Again, sure, you can tell it to write something that sounds “intellectual, but not too stuffy” or “humourous, but informative” and it will do the job quite well.
However, it cannot completely replicate your voice as a human digital marketer or the voice of your human brand. And as you already know, all of your copy should match that carefully curated and unique voice.
So if you’re looking to mass publish hundreds of ChatGPT-generated blog posts to rank for highly competitive keywords, you may want to think twice as this tactic likely won’t look good for your brand reputation long term.
On this note, it’s important to also realize that ChatGPT is nowhere near replacing thought leadership and for marketers looking to separate themselves from their competition, this is a huge deal. Since we’ve already determined that ChatGPT just recycles ideas, concepts, and information from content that’s already available online, it cannot come up with any original ideas.
Therefore, if you use it for all of your content creation and/or marketing needs, your voice will quickly get lost in the noise. It won’t be original and it won’t distinguish you and your brand as an original contributor in your industry.
In my opinion, that’s not a chance I’m willing to take.
As you can see, ChatGPT provides marketers with convenient opportunities to streamline their marketing efforts, stimulate their creative juices, and gain a better understanding of their competitors.
That being said, it’s imperative to be mindful of the potential shortcomings and challenges that come with using ChatGPT.
So what are your thoughts? Write to me and let me know how you and your organization use ChatGPT! I’m highly curious and greatly appreciate your unique insight and perspective.
And as always, should you feel the urge to schedule a Discovery Call with our team to learn how Net-Results Marketing Automation can take your marketing efforts further, please do so.
Cheers to your success,
Lexie Robbins
Marketing @ Net-Results
