You have surely heard the gloom and doom headlines predicting that using ChatGPT for copywriting will put copywriters and marketers out of their jobs.
The reality is that it can be a powerful tool to both shorten the copywriting and content creation process and also provide direction and feedback on your work – if you use it correctly.
In this article, I’ll outline some considerations for using ChatGPT in your work, along with some ideas on how to use ChatGPT for copywriting.
A note before we get started: I want to be clear that due to privacy and plagiarism concerns, I do not utilize ChatGPT in my client work or in my freelance business. I address some concerns in this article, but you are welcome to contact me directly with more specific questions on this.
What is ChatGPT: A Marketing Perspective
ChatGPT is a free chatbot driven by generative AI technology that was developed by a company called OpenAI. Simply put, it is an application that is “trained” on a large amount of written text and can generate new data (in the form of written text) in response to prompts.
You can interact with it in a similar way you’d search something on Google – ask a question and it delivers!
(And speaking of Google, there are other tools, like Google Gemini, that work the same way.)
But unlike Google, which is sourcing its result from the entirety of the internet, ChatGPT only knows what it was trained on, and continues learning based on its users’ prompts, or inputs.
And it only provides responses as text, not images or videos – but there are other generative AI tools that can do that!
I have heard people describe it as “humanlike” in its ability to respond to a series of prompts, as if you’re having a conversation. That’s a bit of a stretch – I’d describe it more like a phone tree – but it is able to refine its output based on your continued prompting.
Meaning if you don’t like the response, you can provide more direction until you’re satisfied with the output.
How ChatGPT is changing the marketing landscape
When ChatGPT first gained popularity in late 2022, people lost their minds. Is ChatGPT going to replace copywriters? Are we all going to lose our jobs to AI?
I’m a firm believer that technology and innovation fuels the economy and creates new industries and opportunities. And while yes, some jobs and industries may “go extinct” as a result, the world doesn’t fall apart.
The net impact on the economy and labor market is a positive one, and it is the people who embrace these new technologies and skills who will succeed in the end.
Change is good. The robots are not taking over.
As marketers, it’s our job to understand these technologies, their pros and cons, how we can best utilize them – and if we should.
Can I use ChatGPT at work?
One of the biggest considerations when using ChatGPT at work is that it learns from its inputs, meaning any information you provide can be recycled as a response to another user.
And similarly, it could provide information to you that was originally submitted by another user.
It’s for these reasons that ChatGPT output content cannot be legally copyrighted.
The privacy, plagiarism, and copyright concerns are very real, and your employer might not even allow you to use it.
It’s for this reason that I do not utilize ChatGPT in my client work or in my freelance business.
I would never recommend publishing a ChatGPT response as your own, or assuming the data is even accurate. (It might not be!)
While I don’t recommend feeding any proprietary or confidential information into the application, it’s still a tool you can use for brainstorming, ideation, initial research and getting over the dreaded writer’s block.
How to use ChatGPT for copywriting
The best ChatGPT use cases for copywriting are during the brainstorming and ideation phase of a project, helping you refine your copy before hitting publish, and repurposing content in new ways.
You’ll notice that the tool often gives generic answers that are lacking in context or originality.
My top tip for using ChatGPT for work is to take it all with a grain of salt, and keep asking questions – or asking the same question in new ways – to get the best result. It takes a while to learn which prompts will get you the information you seek, but that is part of the fun.
You’ll get better at it over time – this is called “prompt engineering.”
Here are my top ChatGPT use cases for copywriters:
Idea Generation and Brainstorming
Before you get started writing, ask ChatGPT to provide you with top examples of your content topic. You can provide your target audience and then ask for top concerns for this audience, or what questions/concerns this audience might have.
You can ask it to generate a list of ideas, an outline for a blog on a specific topic, or provide examples of something specific.
Get creative – You can even ask ChatGPT for a full marketing plan!
You may have to refine the response a bit, but that’s the point. We’re not looking for answers, we’re just getting started with some ideas to run with or expand on.
This is my favorite use case because it doesn’t require you to share any proprietary information. We’re basically using ChatGPT as a virtual whiteboard.
You can even ask for the top questions you should be asking yourself before getting started on your project!
Content Summaries
If you’re analyzing a large amount of data (remember: not confidential or proprietary data) like news articles, interview transcripts, or product reviews, you can ask ChatGPT to summarize the data and give you the top key points or recurring themes.
Remember that ChatGPT is lacking context and doesn’t understand your angle (and every good writer should have an angle!) so you might not like what is provided.
And that’s ok! The purpose here is to speed up our own brainstorming process and get your wheels turning.
Repurposing Content
Your marketing content is worth nothing if it is not shared, so it is best practice to repurpose it across all channels: blog, email, social media, etc. You should always be recycling your best content and give it new life in the form of infographics, blogs and videos.
ChatGPT can take existing content and craft social media captions, write summary paragraphs, create an actionable checklist or reformat the content for an email campaign.
You’ll need to provide clear instructions for stuff like character counts, but using ChatGPT can save you a ton of time here.
Competitive Research
Copy and paste a body of text from a competitor or a brand you love, and ask ChatGPT to provide a summary of its brand voice and tone. Or, ask it to give you an estimate of the ideal customer persona who would respond to that kind of marketing. Or provide a list of SEO keywords based on the competitors’ copy.
This guidance can help you decide how to position your own product in relation to your competitors.
Content Outlines
If you’re really stuck, you can give ChatGPT your topic, target audience, and marketing objective, and ask it to write a blog or presentation outline for you. Again, the intention here is not to copy and paste this information and pass it off as your own, but instead to use it as a starting point.
What do we like about it? What’s missing?
You can even ask ChatGPT to provide a sample meeting agenda or writing process that you can then follow.
SEO Guidance
You can ask ChatGPT for high purchase intent keywords for your product or target audience.
You can provide an article and ask it to re-write it with your target keyword in mind.
You can use it to write meta descriptions or ask for feedback on how to better optimize your content for SEO.
The possibilities are endless on this one.
Feedback and Editing
Utilize ChatGPT as a resource to become a better copywriter by asking for direct feedback and suggested edits.
You can also ask ChatGPT to review your finished work and tell you: What ideas require more explanation? Where would a visual be helpful? Is there anywhere in this content that the tone of voice becomes inconsistent?
ChatGPT can even re-write a piece of content with direction from you, for example, to give the content a new tone of voice or cut back in areas that are too wordy.
Sample ChatGPT prompts for copywriters and marketers
The key to getting the best results from these tools is to refine your prompt. Here’s a list of prompts that can get you started.
Key words here: get you started. Your unique use case will require more details and context; otherwise you’ll get a painfully generic result! (Cringe.)
Best ChatGPT Prompts for Copywriters
- Provide some headline ideas using X keyword
- Provide some engaging email subject line ideas to promote topic X in fewer than # of words
- What are some new Call to Action button copy ideas to get someone to download a new whitepaper about product X
- Generate some SEO-friendly meta descriptions for a website landing page on X topic using X target keywords
- Write a conclusion paragraph for this content: [copy & paste the content]
- Turn this article into ten tweets: [copy & paste the content]
- Give me the main ideas and key points from this piece of research: [copy & paste the content]
- What are some arguments against X content topic?
- Suggest some variations of X content for X use case.
- Edit this content to have more X tone of voice.
- Write a blog post outline about X topic.
- Shorten this headline to X word/character count.
- Rewrite this email copy to resonate with a new customer segment: [define the segment]
Best ChatGPT Prompts for Content Creation
- Provide a list of high purchase intent search keywords for someone looking to buy X product
- Provide a sample customer persona description for someone looking to buy X product
- Give me some adjacent topics or keywords related to X product.
- Provide a content strategy for: [define the product/service you are promoting]
- What questions should I be asking my target audience to understand their needs?
- Summarize these product reviews and provide a list of the top reasons customers love this product: [copy & paste the reviews]
- Provide a list of blog topic ideas related to X product.
- Turn X article into an actionable checklist: [copy & paste the content]
- Give me the top ten main points of this article, summarized in one sentence each: [copy & paste the content]
- Adapt the tone of this content to: [define the tone]
- Provide a sample agenda for a customer insights panel on X product.
- What words and phrases would you use to describe X topic or product.
- What are some unique ways I can use customer feedback in my marketing content?
- Write an outline for a piece of content about X with the goal of X: [describe your project objective]
Best ChatGPT Prompts for Marketers
- Provide some A/B test ideas on how to optimize the open rates for these subject lines: [copy & paste the subject lines]
- Provide a marketing plan for X product with the end goal of X.
- Write product descriptions for X products highlighting the benefits of X features.
- Suggest some promotional strategies to promote a new product launch: [describe the product]
- Suggest ways to differentiate X product in a saturated market.
- What are some sample questions or data points I need to know before putting together a SWOT analysis?
- Suggest some ideas for leveraging social media to promote content.
- What are some engaging social media hashtag ideas around the topic of X.
- What are some engaging poll questions I can ask my social media followers to get them talking about X product/topic?
- What is the recommended character count for a successful social media caption?
- Give me an example of a company mission statement.
- How can I turn these company values into engaging content on my company website: [copy & paste the values]
- What edits would you recommend to these LinkedIn post ideas if I were repurposing them for Facebook?
- How would you suggest making this website copy more mobile-friendly: [copy & paste the content]
Conclusion: Using ChatGPT for Copywriting
Marketers can use ChatGPT and other generative AI chatbots as powerful tools for copywriting, identifying search keywords, getting started with an outline, brainstorming content ideas, repurposing high-performing content and editing their work.
It can get you started faster and save time in your copywriting and content creation process.
The key to getting the best results from these tools is to refine your prompt. You can use my prompt ideas to get started.
Do you have any other copywriting or marketing prompts for ChatGPT? What is your favorite way to use ChatGPT for copywriting or in your marketing work?
Let me know in the comments!