ChatGPT: An Introduction To The Tool + Tips To Use It In Marketing

There was a time when every year, a technological marvel made an entrance and became the talk of the town. This seems to be happening every month these days. After all, we live in a world where technology is evolving at an unprecedented pace. And one such tech wonder that recently broke the internet is ChatGPT. 

chatgpt
Design by Kimp

If you haven’t already lost yourself in conversation with this conversational AI bot you’ve at least heard about it, we’re sure. 

Wondering if ChatGPT is just another fad or a tool worth exploring? Here’s a quick fact that points to the latter. ChatGPT gained 1 million users in just 5 days since its launch. If that’s not the definition of “going viral”, what is?

Want to know more about OpenAI’s viral chatbot that seems to have the world’s attention right now? You’re in the right place. In this blog, we’ll give you a solid introduction to ChatGPT, and what the tool means for marketers. 

First, introductions 

To know about ChatGPT, you should understand GPT 

In the world of AI research & development, OpenAI has been marching ahead steadily. It created ripples with  DALL·E, its neural network that converts text to image. When it arrived on the scene, the internet was suddenly flooded with AI-generated images and debates on how AI designs are similar to, or different from, human-generated designs. 

The other hot topic related to OpenAI is GPT (Generative Pretrained Transformer). In AI, the Transformer model is a type of machine learning model that incorporates deep learning. And what’s so interesting about deep learning? Well, it has the capacity to imitate how the human mind works by “learning” from large amounts of data.

The 3rd version of GPT, GPT-3 was introduced in 2021. The model soon gained popularity and by March 2021, there were about 300 applications in various industries incorporating GPT-3 in the most creative ways. 

One of the biggest advantages of GPT-3 is its capacity for unsupervised learning. This complements the pre-training with massive internet databases. The model learns from every interaction and incorporates all of those lessons. 

GPT-3 is primarily about language generation. For any content creation task where there is the need to generate text, GPT-3 can be creatively incorporated. Some of the applications of this AI system include (but are not limited to):

  • Creating stories, poems, and other text in human-like language 
  • Summarizing text 
  • Translating input text 
  • Completing text based on prompt 
  • Categorizing and labeling content 
  • Generating codes 
  • Creating captions for images 

As you can see, there are many faces to language generation. There are several apps that leverage these capabilities of GPT-3 and ChatGPT is one among them. But if you’re like many others eager to explore the tool you might have come across this page while trying set up an account or use it:

So, we’ve rounded up some of the Top Apps using GPT-3 that you might want to consider apart from ChatGPT:

Top GPT-3 Apps that are alternatives to ChatGPT 
  1. Writesonic 

Writesonic brings together over 80 writing tools for entrepreneurs and marketers. These include blog posts and outlines, product descriptions for ecommerce pages, ad copies, social media captions, and paraphrasing tools among others. In addition to all these features, you can also create AI-generated art based on text prompts. 

  1. Copy.ai

Copy.ai is a content generation tool powered by GPT-3. It can be used to create various types of marketing content like blog posts, sales copy, social media copy, and so much more. 

  1. Copysmith

Copysmith is an AI-based copy-creation tool that uses the capabilities of GPT-3 to quickly and easily create human-like text. Its applications span features like brainstorming content ideas for a brand, creating product descriptions, writing marketing emails, enhancing content creating social media captions, and more. 

And now, let’s get back to ChatGPT

Conversational AI is not a new concept. We’ve had chatbots for a long time now. But what makes this chatbot from OpenAI a head-turner? It’s the natural language processing model that ChatGPT integrates. 

Have you tried raising a complaint through a customer service chatbot only to be frustrated because of the monotonous replies that lack a human touch? Well, incorporating ChatGPT into your workflow is one way to put an end to such hassles. 

The benefits of automation in content creation but without machine-like language is definitely something that grabs attention, right? And as people have been searching and talking about this powerful chatbot, there are a few common questions that arise. Let’s address these basic questions first and then talk about the possibilities that ChatGPT brings to the marketing realm. 

Answering common ChatGPT questions 

Are ChatGPT and GPT-3 one and the same? 

Put simply, ChatGPT is only a small portion of what GPT-3 can do. It can generate text in response to prompts but cannot be used in multi-step applications involving media like images and videos. 

So if you’re looking to build an app using ChatGPT or GPT-3, keep this distinction in mind:

  • If you have an image and you need to do something like generate captions for it, the superset GPT-3 is what you need to incorporate. 
  • But if the application is confined to questions and answers, and for generating text based on the given prompts, ChatGPT is the chatbot you need. 

To perform the same task using ChatGPT your app would have to include separate image detection and classification models that help extract the features of the image. Captions can then be generated based on these extracted features. So, if you are building a tool that is meant to generate content based on existing media files, the GPT-3 API is what you need. But for text-content generation, ChatGPT is the better option. 

Will ChatGPT replace Google? 

While talking about this chatbot, one common question that pops up is about the possibility of ChatGPT replacing Google in the future. Well, here’s what ChatGPT had to say about this:

And the reply makes perfect sense. Because comparing an AI learning model that’s meant to be integrated into more complicated workflows with a standalone search engine just does not make sense. So for the foreseeable future, when in doubt you’ll still be Googling the answers to your questions. 

How much does it cost to use ChatGPT? 

For now, ChatGPT is free to explore. But there are talks about a Pro version and that maintaining a free version forever may not be feasible. 

So, knowing about the pros and cons and the various use cases of ChatGPT will help you understand how and where you can incorporate it into your business. And it will be a good starting point when the day comes for you to decide whether or not to purchase the Pro version. 

Moreover, ChatGPT is not an independent tool. When you choose to blend it into your organizational workflow or even in your marketing workflow, you need to incorporate additional computational resources. Take the image captioning example we spoke about earlier. ChatGPT is a chatbot. A well-trained one, yes, that works with unsupervised learning but that doesn’t mean it’ll be able to take all of your marketing tasks off your plate. 

ChatGPT in marketing – a few use cases to explore

ChatGPT is available as a Research Preview right now and the API is still not available. But it will be soon. Microsoft recently announced that it’s coming to Azure OpenAI Service. 

Similarly, there are many applications of ChatGPT being discussed and explored by brands and consumers around the world. So how can you use this chatbot for your brand? Let’s talk about the marketing side of it in particular. 

Did you notice that we have been talking about content creation, blog posts, ad copies, and copywriting for the most part so far? All of these are topics concerning marketers and all of these can be simplified and made more effective using ChatGPT. 

1. Content creation for an active blog site 

Blogs help drive traffic to your website. They also help your website rank better in search. But if you are finding it difficult to automate the blog creation process for your business, ChatGPT can step in to get the ball rolling. 

At the same time, it’s important to keep in mind the limitations of AI-content creation tools – like data inaccuracies, formatting inconsistencies, and others. So, this cannot be an autonomous system but rather a starting point for you to:

  • Gather ideas on the kinds of blog posts to create for your website
  • Create a blog outline for the chosen topic 
  • Quickly simplify particular topics when you do not have enough time to spend on research 

In short, this OpenAI chatbot can help you simplify blog creation and also save time. 

2. Generate ad copy for product promotions 

If you have a particular product you wish to promote and you want to create the copy to use in your web ads or print ads, you can use this tool to generate it. The length of the copy, and the details included all depend on the kind of information you provide in your prompt. 

3. Find colors that suit the mood of your ad

We asked ChatGPT to suggest a HEX code for a color that captures the warm colors of the sky at sunrise and here’s the response we got. 

One of the biggest challenges that a marketer faces while creating designs is finding the right combination of colors. And while you can outsource the actual design it can still feel tough to land on the right colors. You may know the exact emotion your color should evoke but you cannot provide the exact name of the color or the color code. Has that happened to you? ChatGPT can solve this. 

Kimp Tip: Choosing colors for your marketing designs involves a series of steps. This includes understanding the overall mood of the design, your goal for the design, and your brand colors. Multi-level decision-making is better left to human content creators and designers at the moment. 

And if you need help with identifying the right colors for your brand, or putting together your brand guidelines, a Kimp design subscription is just a free trial away.

4. Strengthen your email marketing 

About 65% of marketers have already automated their email marketing efforts. The number has been steadily on the rise because automation helps save time and increase the efficiency of email campaigns. But not just any email marketing campaign will succeed. Personalized emails tend to work much better. For this, a human-sounding email copy is a must. That’s where ChatGPT can help. 

Create a prompt that includes the details of the product or category you wish to promote, the sale details, discount codes, and other information that needs to be there in your email. The more elaborate and resourceful your prompt is, the better the email copy generated. 

5. Customer service chatbots 

Responses that do not add value can hamper customer experience. But that’s a gap most chatbots face. ChatGPT can help fill that gap. Creating a chatbot powered by this tool helps in creating more human-like conversations with your customers. This helps improve customer satisfaction and enhances the overall experience in the long run. 

In addition to providing responses that sound natural, this tool also lets you integrate translation into your chat interface. As a result, it becomes easier to provide multilingual support as well.

But, ChatGPT does have its limitations 

This conversational AI bot from OpenAI is in its nascent stages – there’s no denying that! So, we cannot expect it to be perfect. Not at the moment at least. So, what are the limitations of this chatbot that you should be aware of? Let’s find out. 

Difficulty in creating and maintaining a brand’s tone of voice 

The burning question of whether there will be job losses due to tools like ChatGPT is much-talked-about. One huge advantage a human content creator has over AI copywriting and AI-based language generation tools like this one is the ability to create and maintain a brand’s tone of voice. 

You get witty human-like responses. There’s no doubt about that! But there’s no distinguishable tone to these responses. 

In marketing, a catchy copy that’s on-point is not enough. Emotions make your copy stand out. Emotions make your copy look, feel and sound like your brand. After all, language is more than just words and sentences. It is about tone – the style of delivery. It is about how you give nuances to your content based on the people you are talking to. 

If you have created short articles, captions, or any other marketing content on ChatGPT you might have noticed that the content sounds natural. It is also almost always semantically correct. But what’s lacking is a distinct tone. 

The grave issue of Plagiarism 

The topic of AI plagiarism is something you cannot take lightly. If you’ve created blog posts and articles on ChatGPT, remember to run a quick plagiarism scan before you use the content on your website. Machine-generated content is not 100% plagiarism free though most tools promise unique content and originality. There tends to be some overlap in the content created on the same topic on different occasions. 

The output is only as good as the input 

In spite of the sophistication it packs, this chatbot is a “bot” at its core. So, the accuracy depends on the accuracy of training data and the clarity and details in the input. In other words, if there are gaps in your prompts, then the content the tool generates is not to the best of its capabilities. 

When it comes to content, quality matters more than quantity. Quality here depends on your prompts. There are several places where you can find prompts to use in ChatGPT. Some even provide paid and free resources for prompts. And all of this is because the responses depend entirely on the prompts. 

There can be some inaccuracies 

Remember that ChatGPT, or any other pre-trained model for that matter, is only as accurate as the training data used. The difference here is that this chatbot is backed by a sophisticated training database and therefore it’s much better than most others we have seen so far. But that does not mean it’s flawless. 

There are several discussions on Twitter regarding the brilliance of responses and the nuances of the content created by ChatGPT. But there are also others that point out some flaws in the tools. Like the Tweet below for example. 

While not all of these flaws pointed out might be genuine, one thing is for sure. ChatGPT is in its learning phase and we can expect improvement in accuracy and conversation styles in the near future.

Leverage AI in marketing beginning with ChatGPT 

ChatGPT brings a variety of benefits to businesses, particularly in the marketing segment. It helps personalize conversations and helps in humanizing automation in several use cases. But the tool is not perfect. Human interference is required at several stages to customize the content for the brand and the audience. However, it’s still a really good idea to leverage the benefits of this tool! By doing so you’ll cut back on dependencies, eliminate bottlenecks, and reduce the time and money spent on additional resources at various stages. Streamlining your content creation workflow is about to become a reality. All you have to do is give it a try.