I Asked ChatGPT Marketing Tips And I Was Shocked With The Result

Many of us expected robots to be a part of our future, but maybe not in the way we thought. Instead of doing our jobs and giving us hors d’oeuvres (like Rosey the Robot from The Jetsons), AI wants to think about us.

ChatGPT and other virtual assistants can give us mountains of information on any topic under the sun in seconds – but how useful are they?

I wanted to see what ChatGPT has to say about marketing. My business, PostcardMania, has helped 118,342 small business owners nationwide with effective marketing strategies for over 26 years. How does ChatGPT’s advice compare to what we’ve read?

Related: ChatGPT Is Powerful – And Can Cause Violence If You Don’t Know Its 5 Deadly Flaws

I entered this information into ChatGPT and was surprised at what I found.

Notify: Recommend marketing strategies that will generate new leads and small business sales in 100 words or less.

Here’s what ChatGPT advises:

1. Content marketing: Create valuable content (blogs, videos) that address customer pain points.

2. Social media marketing: Targeted campaigns on platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

3. Email marketing: Engage potential customers with personalized newsletters and discounts.

4. Referral programs: Encourage current customers to refer others.

5. SEO and optimization: Improve search engine ranking with targeted keywords.

6. Partnership: Partner with related businesses to be promoted together.

7. Local events: Host or participate in community events to build local awareness.

It’s a good start. However, ChatGPT missed out on these three recommendations that can improve the bottom line of your business (I know because they were key to my journey to $100 million in annual revenue).

They neglected reputation management and social proof, which 93% of consumers check before buying

A large number of people check Google reviews. Another report found a whopping 93% of consumers look at them before making a purchase. This means that you could be losing 93% of your prospects if generating positive reviews is not a priority.

The good news is that it’s not as complicated as you might think. People often go out of their way to leave a negative review – 95% – while only 47% take the time to post a positive review.

The key is just to ask! And this is not even a challenge if you can make requests by email or text message. According to research, 70% of consumers will leave a review if asked.

Podium’s online platform has changed our game because you can submit review requests for several different platforms from one central dashboard.

After we started using Podium in 2020, our number of reviews increased by 250% from 2020 to 2022. As of July 2024, PostcardMania has over 2,795 five-star reviews on Google, BBB and Trust Pilot.

Related: 6 Effective Ways to Promote Positive Reviews and Supercharge Your Online Reputation

They didn’t recommend direct mail marketing, which generates 6 times more revenue per lead than digital sources

Since 1998, I have sent postcards every one week to generate leads and connect with clients. Since then, I have only increased my postcards, and now we reach 232,000 postcards a week. The only time I cut back on my direct mail marketing was in 2008 during the recession, and that mistake hurt our revenue until we adjusted our mailings.

I also tracked the growth created by the postcards. From 2019 to 2023, I increased our mailing volume by 16%. At the same time, our revenue has grown by an average of 15% each year. This is a great example of how the value of output marketing directs your returns.

I’ve also found that direct mail leads make six times more money than digital leads. We analyzed 114,373 leads that converted to sales in 2023 and found that postcard leads generated 600% more revenue per lead ($229.41) than leads from digital sources ($37.09).

There is a science behind how direct mail works, though. One study that tracked each participant’s eye movements and heart rate while engaging with mail found that people experienced greater excitement and desire when engaging with print ads as opposed to digital.

Because of the physical nature of mail, people also remember print ads better than digital ads. One study found that when asked to name the type of ad they had just seen, 75% of participants could remember the type behind the direct mail piece. Only 44% of recipients can recall the product behind a digital ad — a 70% difference.

With so much information supporting direct mail, leaving it out of your annual budget can be a huge mistake.

They failed to mention the biggest success factor: how much you have to be marketing – a big amount

ChatGPT neglects to inform readers how much time, money and effort they should allocate to marketing.

In my decades of experience running a business with over 380 employees, I understand that marketing plans can end up on the back burner. There is so much that goes into running a business that often entrepreneurs think that a simple marketing plan is enough. This is far from the truth.

In fact, most of my clients hate it when I tell them this…

Marketing is the big difference between struggling and successful businesses.

Related: The Growth Hack My Clients Hate The Most That Promises Big Financial Rewards – Here’s What You Need To Know

You need to market yourself as if you are an athlete training for one last chance at an Olympic gold medal. The survival and longevity of your business is on the line; why would you market like you play T-ball?

Even if you have a limited budget, put as much money into your marketing as possible. I even suggest that you find areas where you can cut back and reinvest in your marketing (as long as it doesn’t put jobs at risk).

Whatever you decide to do – whether it’s social media ads, SEO, direct mail – just give it your all. You won’t regret it, and you’ll probably not only beat your competition but win the gold … that is, the gold of extra income.