“Create a list of competitors for [my company] and their estimated monthly paid search spend.”
This prompt is courtesy of Albert Somlith at PPC Ad Editor. I’ve never been able to get this prompt to return a value, but Somlith shares his results here.
Even without specific financial data, you can use ChatGPT to flesh out details on your competition.
Prompt 9
“Please create a list of competitors to clickup.com. List the name of the company, the location of their headquarters, the size of the company (small, medium or large) and whether they are a direct or indirect competitor. Please compile the results in a table format.”
Dig deeper: How to use ChatGPT to boost your PPC efforts
Augment Auction Insights data
In the last prompt, we asked ChatGPT to come up with a list of competitors. But what if we want the intel for our own Auction Insights list?
You can use ChatGPT directly in Sheets to streamline your data. To get started, you’ll need an API key and the GPT for Sheets and Docs extension.
This prompt is from James Hebdon (my business partner at Paid Search Magic) and combines Auction Insights details with ChatGPT info to return consolidated business information like so:
Prompt 10
These are the formulas you would enter into your columns to create the sheet above:
ColumnFormulasB=GPT(“What is the business name for this domain?”, A3, 0.8, 500, “text-davinci-003”)F=GPT(“Are they a direct competitor, indirect competitor or not a competitor with”&A1&”?”, A3, 0.8, 500, “text-davinci-003”)G=GPT(“Where are they headquartered. Give me just the name of the location”, A3, 0.8, 500, “text-davinci-003”)H=GPT(“Are they a small, medium or large company?”, A3, 0.8, 500, “text-davinci-003”)
We’ve barely even scratched the surface of how you can use ChatGPT for research and planning.
Keyword research, campaign buildouts, target market needs and pain points – there’s no limit to how AI can help here.
Dig deeper: Using ChatGPT’s Advanced Data Analysis plugin for PPC
Drive deeper insights and reporting analysis
You can set up AI to evaluate engine performance directly. Still, when you describe the results in the chat interface, you can provide context and background that drive more informed recommendations and build your own critical thinking skills in the process.
Investigate performance change
When performance shifts dramatically, people want to know “why.” Get some investigative help from ChatGPT.
Prompt 11
“My conversions from paid traffic are down 20% month over month. What metrics and dimensions should I look at to find the cause?”
Generate an experiment or report summary
Translating test results into paragraph form can be an arduous task. Eddie Laing, Senior Media Buyer at NextAfter, provides this prompt for creating an Experiment Summary.
Prompt 12
“You are documenting a channel experiment where you tested the hypothesis that by [testing X] will achieve [desired outcome]. These were the results [Insert test results]. Write me an Experiment Summary answering the question, “What are the big takeaways from this experiment?”
Jim Flint, founder and president of Local Search, feeds ChatGPT a pdf of his standard reporting along with this prompt:
Prompt 13
“Analyze the data with 3 key bullet points to share with executives in a succinct email format. Use numbers.”
Stress-test your assumptions
Don’t fall victim to lazy thinking! If you struggle to draw conclusions from the data, use ChatGPT to help you think things through before you present your findings to stakeholders.
Prompt 14
“I’m going to tell my client that paid search performance is down month over month because of seasonality. How might they respond that would challenge my conclusion?”
ChatGPT doesn’t let my prompt off the hook here, and my reporting will certainly be better.
By default, ChatGPT tries to give you the response it thinks you want, whether or not it’s true, accurate or helpful.
You can also ask ChatGPT disconfirming questions to challenge assumptions and get deeper insights.
Remember the two-door riddle from Labyrinth? One guard always lied, and one always told the truth. Sarah solved the riddle by asking which guard wasn’t telling the truth.
You can get great insights from ChatGPT by asking disconfirming questions like:
Prompt 15 (After entering your initial ideas)
“How might this fail?”
“What am I overlooking?”
“Where are the blind spots?”
The next time you’re struggling to find the story behind your data, consult with ChatGPT for new ideas on how to approach your analysis.
Improve your client management skills
If you ever watched Mad Men, you know that managing an account and managing a client are entirely different skill sets. Here are some prompts to close that gap and keep your clients happy.
Create a budget request email
Pacing hot? Don’t let your account go dark before the end of the month.
Prompt 16
“Write a brief email to a client asking for a $15,000 additional budget because there’s opportunity to increase lead volume below the target CPA.”
ChatGPT makes a fairly strong case for a budget increase. Whether it lands will depend on how the decision-maker receives it and ChatGPT can help with that too.
Customize communication for personality type
This prompt is based on the previous example, but punches it up with personality profiling.
Prompt 17
“Using the DiSC profile, write one email for the Dominant personality and write another version for the Steady personality.”
ChatGPT generated a new response, modifying each email to hit the notes that would matter to the client.
For the Dominant personality, it concludes the email with some very decisive language:
“I suggest you act fast, opportunities like this don’t come around often. I am more than happy to discuss the details with you and provide more information. Let’s make it happen.”
Whereas the Steady personality gets a relationship-building call to action:
“I would be happy to discuss the details with you and provide more information. Can we schedule a call for later this week?”
Beef up your communication skills and make it easier for your stakeholders to understand and agree with your recommendations with some assistance from AI.
Get the most from ChatGPT
It’s been the subject of many debates, but ChatGPT clearly isn’t just hype.
Treat ChatGPT as a precocious intern: prepare to spend some time reviewing the work and expect mistakes, but don’t underestimate its potential. This is only the beginning.
Dig deeper: 4 advanced GPT-4 capabilities to level up your PPC efforts
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