I asked ChatGPT for marketing tips and was shocked when I saw the result

Many of us expected robots to be a a part of our future, but perhaps not in the way we imagined. Instead of doing our chores and serving us appetizers (like Rosey the Robot from The Jetsons), artificial intelligence desires to think for us.

ChatGPT and other virtual assistants can provide us with a wealth of knowledge on virtually any topic in a matter of seconds — but how useful are they?

I desired to see what ChatGPT needed to say about marketing. My business, PostcardManiahas helped 118,342 small business owners nationwide with effective marketing strategies for over 26 years. How does ChatGPT’s advice compare to what we have learned?

I added this prompt to ChatGPT and was surprised by what I found.

Hint: Recommend marketing strategies that can attract recent customers and sales for your small business in 100 words or less.

Here’s what ChatGPT advises:

1. Content Marketing: Create worthwhile content (blogs, videos) that answer customer questions.

2. Social media promoting: Campaigns targeted at platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

3. Email Marketing: Encourage potential customers to send them personalized newsletters and offers.

4. Referral Programs: Encourage current customers to recommend your organization to others.

5. web optimization Optimization: Improve your search engine rankings with targeted keywords.

6. Partnerships: Collaborate with complementary corporations to cross-promote.

7. Local events: Host or attend community events to boost local awareness.

That’s a good start. However, ChatGPT missed these three recommendations that may improve your organization’s trajectory (I know because they were key to my journey to $100 million in annual revenue).

They neglected fame management and social proof, which 93% of consumers check before making a purchase

An enormous number of individuals check reviews on Google. One report found a whopping 93% of shoppers take this into account before making a purchase. That means you possibly can be missing out on 93% of your potential customers if generating good reviews isn’t a priority.

The excellent news is that it’s not as complicated because it could appear. People most frequently go out of their method to leave a negative review — 95% – while only 47% please take a moment to post a positive review.

The key is to easily ask! And that’s not even a challenge when you may automate requests via email or text message. According to tests70% of consumers will leave a review if asked.

The Podium web platform has been a real game-changer for us, because it permits you to submit review requests for several different platforms from one central dashboard.

Since we began using Podium in 2020, our review volume has increased by 250% between 2020 and 2022. As of July 2024, PostcardMania had over 2,795 five-star reviews across Google, BBB, and Trust Pilot.

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

Since 1998, I have been sending out postcards every week to generate leads and connect with customers. Since then, I have increased my mailings and we currently send 232,000 postcards per week. The only time I have reduce on junk mail was in 2008 during the recession, and that mistake crippled our revenue until we improved our mailings.

I also tracked the growth that sending postcards generated. From 2019 to 2023, I increased our mailing volume by 16%. At the same time, our revenue increased by an average of 15% per 12 months. This is a great example of how the amount of marketing you send affects your return.

I also found that junk mail leads generate six times more revenue than digital leads. We analyzed 114,373 leads that converted to sales in 2023 and found that junk mail leads generated 600% more revenue per lead ($229.41) than digital leads ($37.09).

There is, nonetheless, science behind the effectiveness of junk mail. One study that tracked each participant’s eye movements and heart rate while interacting with mail found that folks felt more excitement and desire when interacting with print ads than digital ones.

Due to the tangible nature of mail, people remember print ads higher than digital ads. One study found that that when asked to call the brand of the ad that they had just seen, 75% of participants were in a position to recall the brand behind the junk mail piece. Only 44% of recipients were in a position to recall the brand behind the digital ad—a 70% difference.

With so much data surrounding junk mail, it could be a huge mistake to go away it out of your annual budget.

They didn’t mention the most vital factor for success: how much you need to advertise – and there’s a lot of it

ChatGPT didn’t inform readers how much time, money, and effort they need to devote to marketing.

In my many years of experience running a business with over 380 employees, I have learned that marketing plans can get sidetracked. There are so many things that go into running a business that too often entrepreneurs assume a easy marketing plan is enough. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

The truth is, most of my clients hate it when I tell them this…

Marketing is the biggest differentiator between corporations that survive and those who thrive.

You have to market yourself such as you’re an athlete training for your last probability at an Olympic gold medal. The survival and ultimate longevity of what you are promoting is at stake; why would you market yourself such as you’re a T-ball player?

Even if you have a tight budget, put as much money into marketing as you may. I even suggest you discover areas where you may cut and put money into marketing (so long as it doesn’t put jobs at risk).

Whatever you choose to do—whether it’s social media ads, web optimization, junk mail—just give it your all. You won’t regret it, and you’ll likely not only beat the competition, but you’ll strike gold… I mean, the gold of increased revenue.