ChatGPT for Marketing: Is AI’s future in B2B Mkt and PR secure?

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by Lindsey Francy May 30, 2023 News
ChatGPT for Marketing: Is AI’s future in B2B Mkt and PR secure?

It has become the fastest growing web platform ever, with 100 million users in less than a year. What does this mean for B2B communications? Here, Judith Ingleton-Beer, CEO of IBA International, argues that B2B PR and Marketing pros have three issues to contend with following the emergence of ChatGPT and its fast- moving updates and developments.

The world of B2B Marketing and PR is taking off with the launch of the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot. It soon came to light that the start-up did indeed start up as a not for profit organization with a star studded list of benefactors.

Bing was bottoming out as a search engine when Microsoft made its first billion dollar investment in the company. As the war for artificial intelligence-driven search is well and truly on, it has caught Google napping, as it tries to bring its own solution.

There is an interesting ripple effect in the world of marketing and PR. In January of 2023, PR News conducted a survey asking how respondents would use a marketing tool. Would they allow it to write press releases? Social media copy could be written. Some PR pros don't like it. Some of the top media outlets are testing out the idea of having a chat with people.

While keeping an eye on legal and copyright aspects, how can communications pros learn some valuable lessons without overstepping the mark.

1. The ChatGPT for marketing and PR pros

As B2B PR and Marketing professionals, our attention should be on human generated copy and how marketing speak has grown into what already sounds like computer-generated discourse. Humans are writing like machines, not machines. It's time for PR and Marketing professionals to stop writing in marketing jargon and start using words to convey ideas and thoughts.

Artificial intelligence has gotten better, but not fundamentally changed, from an infinite number of monkeys writing Shakespeare to the first Buzz Word Generator.

A phrase often used in my company is 'I see the words, but what do they mean'. Many writers and content creators are not interested in the topic of the copy. It is possible for a machine to do that.

2. What ChatGPT can’t and won’t do

PR and marketing agencies are more than just wordsmiths. We try to deliver subliminal corporate messages in our press releases that get across more than just a product launch. Communication is more complex and precise due to coherence.

B2B professionals have unique skills and perspectives that can't be replaced by artificial intelligence. A single piece of content is often needed to support a number of different audiences. Tell that to the person.

There are three components of effective PR and Marketing that the tool lacks.

Humans are born with the ability to think outside the box. It's impossible to think outside of the box for the company, it's limited by the box it's in.

Artificial intelligence and human B2B professionals are related. The human brain has a unique skill set that is important to effective marketing and PR practices.

The human brain can figure out the difference between truth versus their truth, but critical thinking is fundamental to understand causes from correlations, understand where bias is and remove it.

Targeted copy is required for selling new and original solutions. Critical thinking is needed to make this happen. Artificial intelligence can't read into situations. Our human emotional intelligence allows us to understand and communicate with others in a more emotional way.

Emotional intelligence isn't all it's cracked up to be.

3. The legal and ethical lens is on ChatGPT

The user needs to trust their generated text to be accurate. With people and machines creating tens of millions of new web pages daily, will using machine-generated content be pivotal in enabling your organization to stand out from the rest?

Companies that use artificial intelligence to improve their ranking in search results will be in violation of the policies of the internet giant. Where should B2B PR and marketers go? Trust is the biggest weakness of the organization. You can't judge based on the experience of the author or the type of website you are on. Quality is based on the number of citations of an article, but not currently. People will return to trusted sources and experts once more research is done.

The U.S. Copyright Office has launched a new initiative to examine the copyright law and policy issues raised by artificial intelligence. The Copyright Office said the initiative was launched in response to the recent advances in generative artificial intelligence. The input stage is where this starts.

Text, images, and code are used in the creation of new work. The technology needs to get its ideas from somewhere and then use it to make money. Many lawsuits have been brought against OpenAI and similar alternatives for using other people's work to build their platform.

The only thing we can do is wait for official guidance and standards on the use of artificial intelligence in public relations. Communications pros are urged to be careful with any external use of output.

ChatGPT for Marketing: Working collaboratively with AI – should B2B communicators ride the AI wave?

B2B PR and Marketing professionals can reap many benefits from the phenomenon that is Openai's ChatGPT technology, from providing valuable data-driven insights to streamlining repetitive tasks, and it certainly presents a prime opportunity to keep evolving as the technology matures.

A higher level of consumer engagement can be achieved with the use of artificial intelligence.

To stay ahead of the competition, good PR and Marketing Pros need to foster imagination and creativity, strategic and critical thinking, and emotional intelligence.