Thoughts on Marketing
Have you missed the boat on ChatGPT?
If you’re worried that you’ve missed the boat on AI because you haven’t mastered ChatGPT, don’t be.
[Originally published as The Marketing Mix newsletter on Substack]
It’s an interesting tool, and with OpenAI’s latest announcements on building task-specific bots, it’s going to continue to change how we work. But learning how to prompt ChatGPT directly is not how AI is going to transform daily life.
For most of us, we’ll get value from AI in two ways – embedded in the tools we already use; and in new apps that weren’t possible before Large Language Models appeared on the scene.
How will AI tools impact Sales & Marketing?
In the short term – beyond generating a ton of junky web content and bad email copy – I think we’ll be using them primarily to improve our efficiency.
For example: My podcast editing process has gone from 6+ hours per episode down to a couple of hours, by using the AI-boosted features in two existing tools (Riverside.fm and Descript); and with new AI apps like Deciphr.
[The main image for this article wasI generated from DALL-E for a ‘Salesperson using AI’. Which proves the point that a simple chatbot isn’t really the best tool for most of us😉 ]
For Sales Managers, there are now apps like Wonderway and Attention that ingest your sales calls and generate call reports; draft emails to the prospect based on the conversation; and even claim to populate the CRM. And they then analyze the transcripts – in context – to help you coach your team based on their actual conversations.
They’re not perfect yet. But we’ve seen AI tools get better, fast. And these will become big time savers.
Beyond these new apps, your existing tools like Salesforce and Gong are already incorporating a lot of AI features. So you may not even need to add more subscriptions to your tech stack – they’re already at your fingertips.
I’m not dismissing the advice you see about the “best ways to prompt the AI Bots”. It’s always good to experiment with new tools, to understand them – in fact, here’s a good intro series from Wired to help you out.
But the real way to tap into AI for most of us: Be open to the new features and new apps that have been developed on top of the chatbots, specifically to make our lives easier. Let the app developers do the heavy lifting for you!
Adding some muscle to A/B Testing
Customer research is no longer restricted to big-budget marketing teams. With online panels and DIY platforms, any company can run simple studies to decide the best name for your new product, or which product image to use on a webpage.
It also helps out with A/B testing. As much as we love to A/B test everything in a marketing campaign, the reality is that we often don’t have enough data to make it significant. So combining with a customer research test can give you a much stronger basis to make your decisions.
On this episode of The Marketing Mix podcast, I talk with Justin Chen, co-founder of PickFu, a platform that lets companies do their own cost-effective research online.
In addition to A/B testing, we talk about the types of decisions that can be supported by customer research. And how AI is starting to change how the process works.
Drink of the Week
Justin’s go-to drink is an Old Fashioned. So let’s talk about this classic cocktail.
It’s traditionally a simple combination of Bourbon, sugar and angostura bitters. Every decent cocktail bar has their own take on it. In Wisconsin, however, an Old Fashioned is made with Brandy – and local lawmakers are trying to make it official.
I’m not sure I can tell you where I had the best-ever Old Fashioned. But last weekend, I was at the Strip House in Manhattan, and had a really tasty version, with Fort Hamilton Rye and orange bitters.
If you’ve enjoyed this article, please consider subscribing to The Marketing Mix newsletter – my thoughts on B2B marketing, sent out every 2 weeks.
Cheers!
Steve