What Is ChatGPT & 6 Ways to Use It as a Marketing Tool

What Is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is an advanced chatbot developed by OpenAI that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) to generate relevant, human-like responses to prompts.

What that means for you is that you can ask ChatGPT questions. And it’ll answer you in a conversational tone.

More specifically, the tool can:

• Answer questions (and follow-up questions)
• Generate content ideas
• Create marketing content (e.g., emails, website copy, etc.)
• Write business emails and cover letters
• Explain difficult concepts in simple terms
• Translate text into different languages
• Create Excel formulas
• Summarize long passages of text
• And more

For example, here’s how ChatGPT responded to the command, “Give me a quick overview of how ChatGPT works:”

ChatGPT was first made accessible to the public in November 2022 with the GPT-3 (and GPT-3.5) model.

Since then, OpenAI has also released a newer version of the product that runs on GPT-4.

But what’s the technology behind this conversational chatbot?

And how can you use it to boost your marketing efforts?

Let’s find out.

How Does ChatGPT Work?

ChatGPT was developed by the AI technology company OpenAI in November 2022.

Like other AI chatbots, ChatGPT uses a type of machine learning called a large language model (LLM) to analyze and understand patterns in the data it’s fed. 

GPT stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer:

• Generative. It generates new information
• Pre-trained. It goes through pre-training to understand large amounts of data and respond to specific tasks
• Transformer. It uses deep learning to track relationships in words or tokens and predict what’s next

OpenAI trained its AI system on internet content (e.g., books, blogs, news articles, etc.) up to 2021—comprising 100 trillion parameters and 300 billion words.

That means GPT-4 is essentially the world’s largest encyclopedia.

Ask ChatGPT a question or give it a prompt and it uses its dataset, combined with its AI “brain,” to generate an instant response. 

And it’s not just churning out random information.

Using its deep learning capabilities, ChatGPT will also remember what you say and self-teach based on human feedback. 

Is ChatGPT Free? 

The basic version of ChatGPT is free to use with no limit on usage.

But it runs on GPT-3.5, OpenAI’s older LLM.

It’s also worth noting that ChatGPT doesn’t always know what it’s saying—especially GPT-3.5. Since it only has data until 2021

In addition to that, ChatGPT’s free version has a word and character limit for responses. And ChatGPT might stop producing content if the request is too complex for its AI to handle.

And when the system is overwhelmed, it will deny access to free users.

OpenAI also offers a ChatGPT Plus subscription plan that costs $20 per month.

This is similar to the free version of ChatGPT, but it runs on GPT-4. The Plus subscription also gets you priority access at busy times, faster responses, and exclusive access to new features.

6 Ways to Use ChatGPT in Your Marketing (+ Prompts)

Like any AI tool, ChatGPT is best used as an assistant to increase productivity and improve efficiency. 

Here are six ways to use ChatGPT to support your marketing efforts.

1. Generate Content Ideas

ChatGPT can’t replace creative thinking, but it does work as a reliable starting point for ideas. 

Ask ChatGPT: 

• “Can you provide some ideas for [marketing channel] about [topic]?”

For example:

• “Can you provide some ideas for blog posts about growing your audience with influencer marketing?”
• “Can you provide some ideas for LinkedIn posts about creating content for a local business?”
• “Can you provide some ideas for newsletters about training a ?”
• “Can you provide 10 ideas for a podcast about self-development?”

ChatGPT returns some suggested titles and talking points:

If none of these spark your interest, ask ChatGPT to suggest more until you have a list you’re happy with. Within minutes you’ll have dozens of ideas to create content around.

What ChatGPT can’t tell you is whether these ideas will resonate with your audience. 

To validate an idea, run your keywords through Semrush’s Topic Research tool. 

Topic Research compiles the top-performing content for your ideas, including:

• The most popular topics
• The most shared headlines
• Questions searchers ask about the topic
• Topics that rank for your competitors

To get started, enter a topic and click “Get content ideas.”

Click on any topic card to find popular content for that keyword. Cards with a flame icon are subtopics that are currently trending. 

If an idea suggested by ChatGPT shows up as a high-ranking topic in Topic Research, you should probably create content about it.

Learn how to generate content ideas with Topic Research. 

2. Generate Compelling Marketing Copy

As with ideation, stick to using ChatGPT’s generative AI as a starting point. 

ChatGPT can write copy for any marketing channel: 

• Emails
• Product descriptions
• Ad copy
• Headlines
• Landing page copy
• Social media posts

You can ask it to: 

• Generate copy
• Edit existing content to change the tone or style (e.g., make it more concise or exciting)
• Improve existing content to suit a goal (e.g., add keywords or CTAs)

While it creates bespoke content with each prompt, the results can lack originality. That’s a symptom of recycling the same content over and over again.  

For content to engage your audience, it needs a human touch to nail the delivery. 

Always edit and proofread the text before publishing. And note that ChatGPT can sometimes make false claims, so check for accuracy. Where necessary:

• Revise copy to suit your tone
• Include real-world examples
• Add personal experiences
• Use relevant data 

For example, here’s ChatGPT’s response to the following prompt: 

“Write a Google ad for the ‘Easy Project’ project management tool with a free trial. Keep the headline to 30 characters and the description to 90 characters.”

That isn’t quite right. But it gives you a foundation to work with.

You can ask ChatGPT to include or remove certain parts of the generated text. Like:

“Include ‘never miss a deadline’ in the generated copy.”

That is closer to what you want, so tweak this copy to suit your needs:

Never miss another deadline.

Streamline your work and be on time, every time with Easy Project. Grab your free trial.

Here are some prompts to try:

• “Write a [X] minute YouTube video script about [product, topic, company, industry]”
• “Create a Twitter (now X) thread about [topic]”
• “Create 10 Twitter (now X) hooks about [topic]”
• “Write a 100-word [Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok] caption about [topic] in a [X] tone”
• “Write a blog post outline about [topic]”
• “Write a [X] word blog post about [topic]”
• “Write an email to [audience] about [topic, product, offer, etc.] in a [X] tone”
• “Write a Google ad for [product]”
• “Write [X] greetings for a chatbot on a website for a [industry] company”
• “Write a product description for [product]”
• “Write a script for a [X] minute podcast on [topic]”
• “Make the following copy more engaging: [copy]”
• “Suggest subheaders for this blog post: [content]”
• “Suggest [X] Tweets from this blog post: [content]”
• “Add these keywords [keywords] to this content: [content]”
• “Write [X] headlines for [topic]”
• “Rephrase this copy”
• “Translate this copy into [language]: [copy]”

To speed up editing for longer-form content like blog posts or articles, paste your content into Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant. 

The tool scans your content and makes recommendations based on the top-performing content in Google search results, including the following:

• What keywords to add to your content
• Which sections lack originality
• Where you can improve readability
• Where you can make your tone of voice more consistent

Following its suggestions will help ensure the final version of your content is competitive in search results. 

Learn how to use the SEO Writing Assistant.

3. Come Up With Content Outlines

ChatGPT can kickstart the writing process by suggesting an outline.

For the best results, make your prompt as specific and detailed as possible. Break out sections and subsections to show what the article will cover. Clarity is key.

Let’s say you want to ask ChatGPT to create an outline for a piece on influencer marketing.

Here’s a prompt you can use:

“Write an outline for a blog post about growing your audience with influencer marketing. Include dedicated H2s and H3s about how to grow your audience, choose the right influencers, build relationships, and create campaigns.”

And here’s ChatGPT’s response:

In seconds, you get a thorough outline to guide you. The problem is, this generated outline isn’t optimized for SEO. Or based on top-ranking results.

If you want an outline that will help you rank better, use ContentShake to generate your outline.

Simply enter your keyword or topic into the field provided. And click “Start for free.”

Then, describe your business type. And hit “Start writing.”

The tool will automatically generate some ideas that you can start with.

But you can also generate your own ideas by clicking on “My own idea,” entering your idea into the field provided. And then clicking “Start writing.”

The tool will generate a broad outline. Including a suggested structure in the right-hand menu.

Of course, then the hard work of writing begins. But now you have a great head start. And you can focus on the human expertise you bring that will set your piece apart.

4. Get Past Writer’s Block

There are some days where you just don’t know what to write about. But ChatGPT can help the creative juices flow.

If you’re having trouble writing an intro, for example, you can ask ChatGPT to get you started. Here’s a prompt:

Write a 250-word introduction on an article about [topic].

For example, here’s what ChatGPT produced for the prompt, “Write a 250-word introduction on an article about ‘what is chatgpt.’”

You can then tell ChatGPT to tweak the introduction however you’d like.

Or use the copy as a starting point for your own introduction.

After you write your introduction, run your content through the SEO Writing Assistant for more specialized help.

The tool has an AI rephraser to change sentences that don’t seem right.

And can check your introduction for readability, originality, SEO, and tone of voice.

Remember to always check content for accuracy. But ChatGPT definitely gives you a great head start.

5. Create Click-Worthy Page Titles and Descriptions 

A catchy title and description can increase your click-through rate (CTR) and brand awareness.

So if you’re stuck, definitely ask ChatGPT for help.

Ask ChatGPT to create a page title and description from a passage of text. Be sure to make the prompt specific so it gets the right length and tone and includes your keywords. 

For titles, you can use the following prompt: 

“Create a click-worthy page title of no more than 60 characters from this text including the keyword : [text]”

For meta descriptions, you can do something similar:

“Create a click-worthy meta description of no more than 160 characters from this text. Make it friendly. Include a call to action and the keyword : [text]”

Edit the title and meta description for tone of voice. And add them to your article.

6. Improve SEO

To improve your search rankings and drive more traffic to your website, pages need to fulfill users’ search needs. 

Here’s how ChatGPT can help you save time by making pages more search-friendly:

Generate Schema Markup

Schema markup is structured data that helps Google better understand the information on your website so it can serve more relevant results. 

There are different kinds of schema markup. For example, this is what recipe schema looks like in search results:

And this is what “how to” schema look like in search results (on the left) and in code (on the right):

Use ChatGPT to create structured data quickly.

Tell it what type of schema markup you want it to create. And then give it a topic, title, and suitable description. And ask it to complete the rest of the fields. 

For example, this is a prompt asking ChatGPT to create “how to” schema for an article on how to make movies on an iPhone:

“Write structured data for “how to” markup. The title is ‘How to Make Movies on iPhone.’ The description is ‘Make an iPhone Movie in 6 steps.’ Complete the rest of the fields.”

You can then copy and paste this to your content management system (CMS) code to improve how your pages appear in Google searches.

Make sure you also run the generated structured data markup through Google’s markup validator.

Just to make sure that everything is accurate

Learn more about Schema markup and how to implement structured data.

Find Seed Keywords

A seed keyword is a word or phrase you enter into a keyword research tool to find other relevant keywords to target. 

You can ask ChatGPT to generate a list of potential seed terms to start your keyword research. 

For example: 

“Give me some technical words uniquely related to influencer marketing.”

Make sure to add “uniquely” in there, otherwise the ChatGPT just generates a random list of words.

You can then use these seed keywords to kickstart your keyword research using Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool: 

But don’t use ChatGPT for keyword research beyond that. 

Why? 

Because its inability to search the internet means data is going to be out of **** and unreliable. 

For example, here are some long-tail keywords related to coffee that ChatGPT came up with: 

The list looks promising. But running the results through Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool shows no real world demand: 

If you want quality keywords that drive traffic, stick to tools like Keyword Overview or Keyword Magic Tool that use real-time search data.

Improve Productivity With ChatGPT, Improve Results With Semrush

OpenAI’s ChatGPT is a valuable tool for marketing. You can use it to increase productivity and automate routine tasks, allowing you more time to do creative work. 

But remember that it isn’t perfect. Sometimes it will get things wrong. So it’s important to fact check responses and make tweaks where needed.

And if you want a more powerful ChatGPT alternative, altogether, then check out ContentShake.

The tool can do the following:

• Generate multiple search-optimized titles
• Write out SEO outlines for your next article
• Give you AI-generated text
• Check your content for SEO, readability, and tone of voice
• Integrate with WordPress so you can publish with a single click

Use AI to get more results from your marketing efforts.