I have never advocated for AI-generated content.
I have never advocated for using ghostwriters either.
Why?
By writing, you learn and get better at your craft.
You also start building a tone of voice that people will hopefully recognize further down the line. You get none of that if you outsource content production, regardless if you’re using human writers or AI.
It does not look like AI-generated content is going away or even slowing down.
In the absence of any regulations around AI-generated content, we will get flooded with content we have no idea was not human-made.
So. I decided to join the party, and boy is this thing insane!
I mean, you still have quite a bit of work to do to make the copy usable, but for idea scoping or even building a draft version of the ad copy you are looking for, it does a great job.
I spent quite a bit of time playing around with ChatGPT4 to generate high-converting ad copy and decided to share what I learned with you.
For the sake of this article, I will use GhatGPT4 to build ad copy for an omnichannel advertising campaign built for “Distinct”.
We will be targeting SAAS startups that are post-revenue and looking to scale fast.
1. The “Act as a" ChatGPT4 prompt.
I found a huge list of “Act as a” prompts on this GitHub repo for awesome-chatgpt-prompts
Interesting.
There is a lot you can play with there.
Let’s start with the obvious one.
Not bad at all.
I think some of the messaging is usable and you can work to expand on what you like.
I felt like I would need a “long-form“ ad so what I used was.
It’s safe to say it didn't work out.
The content was at a solid place to start of with, but what I got was an 800-word article.
So when doing long-form make sure you give ChatGPT precise instructions on length.
This brings me to our next prompt.
2. The ”List of specific items” prompt”.
One thing that is quite important is to use different chat trends if you are not happy with the results. If you are trying to go down a different path you need to start fresh.
Ok, let’s say we want to get specific.
If we are trying to generate Google Ads headlines that have a character limit, we need to be very specific.
Now, ChatGPT is not good at keeping within character limits. Sam Altman briefly talked about this in his recent appearance on the Lex Fridman podcast.
Which is batshit crazy!
The most powerful AI language model available for commercial use can’t count.
So you may need to correct it a few times to get what you need.
What I usually find useful is to emphasize the importance of sticking within limits.
The below worked for me well.
3. Do one, then ask for more.
If you are not happy with the list you have been getting, as I have been often.
There is a better way to do it.
It takes more time but you will be getting better results which I imagine will be your focus as you are already saving a lot of time just by using AI to do your job for you :D
“Develop a Google Ads headline that will draw in SAAS startup business owners and persuade them to apply for a free consultation using 30 characters or fewer for each headline.”
It will probably do a poor job at it so now you can provide more guidance like: make it longer, focus on the user, use compelling language, make it sound smart etc.
Once you get to the one you like you can use it as an example and use the prompt below:
“Now get me 30 headlines similar to what you just created”
4. Lead by example
Ok so let’s say you tried the above examples and things are not working out.
You feel the results you are getting are way off the mark, and you can’t edit things up to a point where the copy is usable.
Another way you can approach things is to write your examples and ask ChatGPT for alternatives.
I did just that and WOW. There are a few here I like a LOT.
If you are writing Google Ads headlines, and if you are too lazy to write a few headlines. :) this one is for you.
You can use a spy tool like SpyFu.
Find a few competitors online.
Place their link in the PPC Research Tool.
Look at the headlines they are using. The headlines they spent a big effort to create and money to test out.
You get them on a platter.
Find what you like.
Copy!
Paste it in ChatGPT and say: “get me more of these please”
It is as simple as that.
5. Use a URL in your prompts.
This one is pretty straightforward. If you have a landing page built around the campaigns, you are looking to do ad copy for….just drop the link in the chat box and ask for what you need.
6. Copy and Paste Text From Other Sources.
Sometimes when you provide a link to a page, ChatGPT will not read it as well as it could if you just paste the text in the chat.
Also, the page you’d like to use may have content that is irrelevant or you don’t like.
Copying what you think will help the AI and pasting it as a block of text is an alternative to using a URL which most often helps ChatGPT give better responses.
And that’s it.
Congratulations, you are now a copywriter.
Just kidding copywriters :)
You’ll probably find a lot of prompts templates you can use online by now, but understanding how to think about things and how to build prompts on your own will give you a lot of freedom and speed when using language models in the future.
