Marketing: More Than Just ChatGPT Content
ChatGPT has been around for a while now. And at the beginning of it's rise to power, many people were concerned that it was going to "replace" marketers.
Well, only the people who didn't really know what marketing IS. Or still don't.
And while the creation of content is still a thing that falls under Marketing's purview, it's by no means EVERYTHING.
But for a lot of people, entrepreneurs and small businesses included, it can seem that way. So today I want to talk about all of the things that Marketing IS that CAN'T be replaced by ChatGPT (and other automations). Let's go.
Marketing: A Definition
Let's start with a definition, shall we? Let's go with the American Marketing Association's definition for today:
Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
Also, when we start to break this down, there are SO many sub-categories of marketing, some of which include:
Market Research
Brand Creation
Inbound Marketing
Outbound Marketing
Search Engine Optimization / Keyword Marketing
Content Marketing
Relationship Marketing
Influencer Marketing
Email Marketing
Product Marketing
Pricing
Placement Strategy
Promotional Strategy
Yeah, I'm gonna stop there. Point is, Marketing is HUGE. And content is a TINY part of it. Let's break down the definition into it's parts to see where Internet Generic Content (aka ChatGPT Content) plays a role.
Creating Offerings
The first part of the definition speaks to creating offerings that have value for customers and others. As in, WHAT are we offering to the market?
The interesting thing about this is that rarely does offer creation originate in the Marketing Department. If you're a product brand, you likely have buyers buying product who then tell the Marketing Team what should go in the flyer and for what price. If you're a technology brand, developers create tech and then it's the Marketing Team's job to promote it in the market.
But creating the offer IS a Marketing Activity. Which is why, in a start-up, Product-Market fit is pretty much the first thing you need to prove💡
Now, let's imagine that we are using ChatGPT to create our offering. What might it tell us? Assuming we ask the right questions?
P.S. For sake of this article, I used my favorite AI search tool, Perplexity.AI.
Prompt: What's a good product offering for a new Email Marketing Tool? (Based on a question I actually heard once in a coffee chat)
Results: I got Forbes Advisor's Top Picks for Email Marketing Tools, including all of the competitors in the arena.
So, what could I do with this? I could check out all the competitors and see what THEY are offering, and then...likely copy it.
Awesome...now I look exactly the same as my competitors when it comes to offer. Now there's even MORE pressure on my Marketing to deliver.
Communicating Offerings
Ok, let's imagine that we DIDN'T use ChatGPT to create our offerings, and we DO actually have a unique offer in the market. Now, we need to effectively communicate that offer to the market.
And what does "effective communication" look like?
Often, people interpret effective communication as COMMON communication. As in, I'll use words that everyone can understand. Ever heard that website advice about writing for a 3rd grade level. Yeah, precisely.
That's writing for COMMON communication. Which doesn't, by nature, make it effective.
You see, when it comes to effectively communicating, it's not just WORDS that go into that. There's FEELINGS, CARING, a whole bunch of Human-y things.
Now sure, ChatGPT might do a good job at generating WORDS. Maybe even the most common words that people in your industry search for (be honest, you've done that search, right?)
But how about the FEELINGS?
Let's try a test for this one:
Prompt: Write me an email subject line that would attract 40 year old women
Results: I got 5 email subject line samples that are pretty much as generic as you can get (Expert Tips for Navigating Your 40's, Embracing Change: Thriving in Your 40's).
Yup, no one has ever addressed THOSE topics before.
So, what could we try instead?
Well, how about defining the feeling you want people to FEEL when interacting with your content, and using what YOU know to generate that feeling?
Honestly, this is one of the missing skills in today's Marketers. Since we NEED to create so much content (we don't), we don't have TIME to think about how we would initiate a feeling (we do actually, if we're being intentional).
So, instead of addressing the REAL problem - that we're not giving people the time required to do a good job - we "solve" the problem by creating tools that do the things faster.
Except it DOESN'T solve the problem. It makes your brand MORE generic.
Deliver Offerings
This one generally gets removed from Marketing's hands as well, once you're big enough to have a Customer Experience or Account Team. But because Branding is about an entire Brand Experience, and since a lot of "products" today are digital, delivery matters.
Even if we looked at this solely as the DELIVERY of the message we developed in the last stage, we're talking about a Brand Experience.
So, where are people seeing YOUR communication?
Notice how I used the word "communication" instead of narrative?
I do that because a narrative is a recitation of a one-way message. Whereas communication indicates, very minimally, a desire for two-way engagement.
This is where delivery usually fails. In an assumption that because we DELIVERED it, that you RECEIVED it. And this is what KPI's are usually based on too...delivery.
I'm not going to do a sample prompt for this one, because I think we all know that content CREATION tools DON'T actually distribute any messages. So, you might be able to find a list of places to distribute your message, but it can't actually service you in this part of the process at all.
Exchanging Offerings
And here's where we come to the actual sales process, the exchanging of value. And while this might live in the hands of sales reps in some organizations, specifically if people can buy stuff from you online without contacting, a person, this generally still falls under Marketing.
And I would argue that if Marketing ISN'T generating sales, then it's not doing it's job, but that's for another article.
And again, while ChatGPT can probably get you a list of eCommerce sites, or pricing strategies that you can implement, it's all just Internet Generic.
Which means, your offer looks the SAME as your competitors.
Which means, it's more difficult to choose one.
Which means, people usually end up competing on price.
Which they ALSO copied, from their competitors.
Leaving ZERO reasons for a company to choose you.
Which is pretty much the precise OPPOSITE of what Marketing sets out to do.
Your Real Value is in Your Uniqueness
The reason why people choose you as a brand? It's because you're unique in some way. In a way that you talk about the industry, or a way you've developed a solution. Maybe it's a company value. Maybe it's the way people show up to serve your clients. The important thing it, it's something that's uniquely YOURS.
Which you CAN'T find on ChatGPT.
No matter HOW good of a prompt engineer you hire.
That's why Marketing IS, and always will be, about MORE than content.
So sure, did Perplexity.AI help me to create this article? In part. It helped me speed up some research, it helped me create some examples.
But it DIDN'T create this article.
I did.
With my unique thoughts and experiences.
Which will attract some people. And repel other people.
Which is the fastest way to find YOUR people.
You know...the people who want YOUR help. Your product. Your solution.
And hey, they might not even KNOW your competitors exist.
Wouldn't that be amazing?
If you're looking for ways to bring this level of thinking into your Marketing Department, let's chat.
