A look into Google’s August 2023 Core Update
September 19, 2023
Google announced they were updating their algorithm in August. This article will explain the potential impacts and how you can fix any problems.
How to Use ChatGPT to Inform Your Brand Strategy
I recently discussed the differences between brand and performance marketing. With that in mind, it’s a good time to talk about how advanced language models like ChatGPT can help in developing your brand strategy.
Until recently, the model was only trained on data up to 2021 but thanks to a major update, it’s now connected to the internet. This means ChatGPT Plus users have access to current information – free users are still limited to information no later than 2021, but for $20/month, it may be worth seeing what ChatGPT Plus is capable of.
In this article, we will explore how to effectively use ChatGPT to inform your brand strategy while saving time and resources.
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How to Use ChatGPT for Competitor Research
ChatGPT can assist in conducting competitive analysis, monitoring market trends, and helping identify gaps in the market. It can highlight areas where competitors excel, and provide recommendations for differentiating your brand and refining your value proposition.
Step 1: Plan
Before you set ChatGPT to work, make sure you clearly define your research goals so you can come up with helpful and relevant prompts. Also note that, before you start asking questions, it needs to know about your business so it has a basis for comparison. Thanks to the aforementioned update, you can input your website address; free users will need to give it a summary explaining your products/service, pricing, target audience, and so on.
Step 2: Identify Your Competitors
You likely already know your key competitors, so make a list that you want ChatGPT to analyse. Of course, you can also ask ChatGPT to provide a list of competing businesses to give you a more comprehensive foundation. You may also want to take note of any specific aspects of their strategies you are particularly interested in.
Remember to include both direct competitors (offering similar products/services) and indirect competitors (offering alternative solutions to the same customer needs).
Step 3: Ask ChatGPT for Insights
Interact with ChatGPT by providing specific questions and prompts. For example:
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of Company X compared to Company Y?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of my company compared to Company X?
- What type of content does Company Y publish?
- What are the main products/services offered by Company X?
- What is the pricing structure of Company X’s offerings?
- What marketing channels and strategies do they employ?
- How do they position themselves in the market?
- How do they engage with their customers or target audience?
- What is the customer feedback and sentiment towards my company compared to Company X?
- What are the key partnerships or collaborations of Company X?
- How does Company X handle customer support?
- What marketing strategies do successful companies in [industry] employ?
- How do competitors in [industry] differentiate themselves?
- Compare the headlines used in Company X and Company Y’s Google Ads and present some examples in a table.
Step 4: Analyse the Responses
Despite ChatGPT’s recent update, it’s still essential to critically evaluate the information it provides. Cross-reference the insights with other reliable sources, such as industry reports, market research, news articles, and competitor websites, to validate and complement the information. You may pick up on information it misses and vice versa.
Look for recurring themes, patterns, or strategies mentioned across multiple responses. Also pay attention to aspects such as product features, pricing, target audience, marketing channels, branding, customer reviews, and unique selling propositions. These patterns can help you identify successful strategies and potential gaps in the market.
Analyse the strengths and weaknesses of each competitor based on the insights gathered, then identify areas where your brand can excel. (You can also ask ChatGPT to provide an analysis based on its previous responses. But, as mentioned, always perform your own assessment as well. In fact, it’s best conduct your own analysis first so that you’re not swayed by ChatGPT’s interpretation.)
Step 5: Monitor Changes Over Time
Competitor analysis is an ongoing process and the market is constantly evolving. Continuously monitor and update your competitor information to stay informed about new developments, shifts in strategy, emerging trends, and potential threats or opportunities.
How to Use ChatGPT for Keyword Research
While I don’t recommend replacing your other keyword research tools with ChatGPT, it can certainly help you get started quickly. Below are a few ways to use it for this purpose.
Input Seed Keywords
To start the keyword research process, give ChatGPT a few seed keywords or topics related to your content strategy. For example, if you run a fitness blog, you could input keywords like “healthy eating,” “weight loss tips,” or “workout routines.” After mentioning these seed keywords, you can prompt ChatGPT to generate additional keyword ideas and related concepts.
Trend Analysis
Another way to get started is to ask ChatGPT about trending topics or recent developments in your industry so you can gain insights into emerging keywords and popular search queries. It can provide you with information about current trends, recent events, or popular discussions related to your niche. From there, you may have more ideas about seed keywords.
Keyword Expansion
Once you have received suggestions based on the seed keywords, you can expand your keyword list by asking follow-up questions. For instance, you can inquire about specific subtopics or frequently asked questions related to your niche. ChatGPT can also provide you with alternative keyword variations, long-tail keywords, and related phrases or questions that users commonly search for.
Analysing Competitor Keywords
ChatGPT can assist in analysing your competitors’ content and keyword strategies. You simply need to provide the names of your competitors or mention specific URLs, prompting ChatGPT to generate insights regarding the keywords and topics they are targeting. This information can help you identify what’s already working and what your audience wants to know about. It may also reveal gaps in their content strategy and untapped keyword opportunities that you can leverage in your own content creation.
ChatGPT can provide valuable insights, but it’s always recommended to cross-reference the generated keywords with established keyword research tools and search engine data to validate their search volume and competitiveness, as ChatGPT cannot provide this information currently.
Also try to use Surfer SEO to write and optimize your content faster than ever.
How to Use ChatGPT to Create Content
As mentioned, ChatGPT can help you uncover trending topics and keywords which can help you get started with your content strategy. As well as helping with the planning stage, it can be used like other AI writing tools to help generate the content itself, whether that’s curating content for blogs or writing social media posts and advertising copy.
For businesses that are short on time or resources, it helps them to maintain an active and consistent presence across various channels.
Inputting your brand guidelines will ensure that the brand voice, tone, and messaging remain consistent across any content it generates (you can also ask it to edit any text so that it’s more on-brand).
If you decide to develop a custom chatbot for your website using ChatGPT, you can train it on your brand guidelines to ensure a cohesive, on-brand experience at all touchpoints.
How to Use ChatGPT for Sentiment Analysis
Sentiment analysis helps you to understand customer attitudes towards your brand and competing brands. If the analysis reveals negative sentiment towards your company, you can start analysing why that may be and work towards improving it.
Some businesses are developing sentiment analysis tools with ChatGPT. This requires using Python to send requests to OpenAI’s API – but if you’re not interested in writing any code, you can still use the model to analyse sentiment.
If you’re using the free version, you’ll need to gather the reviews, social media comments, customer emails or other text you want analysed. Next, ask it, “analyse the sentiment of the following text”, then input the text. If you use ChatGPT Plus, you can direct it to the source, such as the URL of your Google reviews or your Trust Pilot page, for example.
If needed, engage in further conversation to refine or explore specific aspects of the sentiment analysis. You can ask follow-up questions to gather more details about the sentiment or seek additional insights related to the text.
How to Use ChatGPT to Refine Your Positioning and Messaging
As well as helping conduct qualitative research, ChatGPT can help you explore different aspects of your brand identity and refine your positioning strategy.
Brand Identity Exploration
Engage ChatGPT in conversations about your brand, values, mission, voice, and unique selling points based on your research and desired positioning. It can provide alternative perspectives, suggest ideas, and ask probing questions to help you articulate and refine your brand identity. This exploration process can contribute to developing a clear understanding of what makes your brand unique and how it can stand out in the market.
Communicating Your Value Proposition
ChatGPT can help you refine your brand’s value proposition and provide insights on how to communicate it more effectively. It can help you craft compelling messaging that highlights the specific benefits your brand delivers and positions it as the solution to your target audience’s challenges or desires.
To use it for this purpose, ask questions focused on positioning language. Describe the key messages you want to convey and seek suggestions on how to communicate them clearly and persuasively. It can also provide alternative phrasings, creative taglines, or selling angles that you hadn’t thought of before.
You can even ask it to create a brand guidelines document for you based on your conversations and the information it has about your business.
Brand Storytelling
Yet another way ChatGPT can assist with your brand strategy is by helping with brand storytelling. It can provide creative suggestions for story concepts that align with your brand identity and resonate with your target audience. It can also offer fresh perspectives on your existing story and suggest ways to make it more powerful.
To create compelling narratives, describe the core elements of your brand’s story to ChatGPT, such as its history, founding story, or any unique experiences relating to the company’s development. It can then assist in refining and enhancing the narrative, making it more memorable and impactful.
Wrapping Up
ChatGPT can be a game-changer for businesses looking to inform and refine their brand strategy, speeding up the process of content planning, competitor analysis and much more.
However, always supplement it with real-world data, critical analysis, and your own creativity. Use it as a tool to generate ideas and perspectives, but make sure to exercise your own judgment when making decisions for your brand strategy.
If you need any assistance with your marketing strategy, feel free to get in touch – my team and I would be happy to help.
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