How I use ChatGPT for starting a new business

With the boom of ChatGPT last November I became obsessed with figuring out how this technology could help me work better

I already knew of its existence and the possibility it brought for copywriting But I guess I hadn’t thought it had such potential to advance a lot of the first setup for my business. When I was presented with the opportunity to start something new, I jumped at the chance and promised myself I would use it every step of the way, in order to see it’s true potential.

I worked in digital marketing and business development for many years, so I had a rough idea of everything I wanted to do to launch a new Chrome extension I’m working on, Get Directo (bit.ly/41JuWsw). I also knew how much work it takes, and this time around I was the only on to do it.

Things I’ve used it for so far in this project:

💥 Market Research

When I was just starting to explore building this extension that lets you find the direct website of travel accommodations. I wanted to understand what would make someone want to book direct.

So that is literally what I asked: “Hey, what would make a user choose to book directly instead of through airbnb?”. It gave me a list of reasons, so then I asked it to give me more reasons.

Another thing I asked was: “What type of content would these people be interested in” and it gave me a list of ideas, including different formats of things they could be interested in. This is specially cool when first starting your content marketing strategy, but also in getting a deeper understanding on your potential user.

💥 Finding and expressing the Value Proposition

From the market research, I started working on the key points I wanted to present on our website and our Chrome Store Landing pages. I took these insights and rephrased them, to make up generally what I wanted to say.

With that, I used the following prompt:

“Write this a couple of different ways and style for a landing page copy: we all know the hack for getting a better price on our vacational rental bookings. Search for the direct webpage. We want to save you a step, by giving you the direct link. For Free. So you can find a better deal, faster, and by doing what you always do.”

I got the first 10 results and asked for 10 more. I grouped together the different and specific value propositions, so I had a couple of phrases that would convey in different ways the same message.

When I asked for it to make up the landing page, with a title, subtitles, and how to distribute the information I did not get very good results.

So, with all of these phrases, I was able to work out what I wanted to say throughout Get Directo’s website. In my case, there is also a B2B side of the business, so I used the same process to get insight into that and work out what I wanted to say.

For the Chrome Store Landing page, I asked it to rewrite some of the paragraphs I had initially done and used that to mix and match the concepts. I did have to decide how to structure the info, but thanks to this process I already had all the ideas I wanted to convey. Based on my experience, I designed how to best display the information.

💥 Prompts for developing specific content

This list of concepts and phrases also comes in extremely handy when I am developing other written content, such as copy for social posts, ads, and comments.

It is also helpful as a starting point to develop visual material.

In my case, they have been key to working out how I could present my value proposition through images. I am not a visual person and much less a designer, so it was hard for me to get ideas on how to get the point across with just images.

What I did here was ask: “how would you design a flyer for a chrome extension that gets you better deals on vacation rentals”

It gave me a general idea with Title, Subtitle, Description and a description of an image. I then asked to focus on a specific point and to give me 10 more ideas for images. I kept asking for more versions, 10 at a time, and I actually got a couple that were pretty good.

Another way I used it for is to get ideas for general screenplays for YouTube and Tik Tok videos, so I can get ideas on the storytelling I can do.

I also ask it to give me a specific copy for each of the scenes it outlines. It is usually kind of generic honestly, but it is a great way to start, and then work on adding my own spin on it. Much better than a blank canvas.

Things to keep in mind and helpful tips:

1. You always need the human touch. This can work as a starting point for you, or you can edit the content it gives you. Either way, it’s helpful, but don’t think it will do all the work for you.
2. Don’t stop at the first answer. Rework the question, make it focus more on a specific point, or to debate different points of view.
3. Be specific about the length and type of thing you want. Do you need a few marketing phrases, a letter from the CEO or a description of your product.
4. Ask for more versions. I tend to ask for 3 versions if it is longer paragraphs and 10 versions if I’m looking for phrases. It also works to ask for Title and Subtitle if you want to convey different ideas. When I’m not convinced, I ask for more.
5. You can also go back and forth between different types of content to keep getting more information and variations.

So far, that’s what I’ve done. I’m really excited to keep trying out things. So I want to know, what have you been using ChatGPT for?

🙌 I want to give credit where credit is due, I got really interesting insights and ideas from:

• This linked in post on using it for SEO strategy: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/zainkahn_ais-impact-on-marketing-activity-7005884012141375488-qeSG
• This twitter thread and the newsletter he is sending out once a day on prompts:
  https://twitter.com/aaditsh/status/1629471162861273089?t=ew9l7vIYdc_G9HcQ55_tvw&s=08
• This other twitter thread about uncommon prompts:

Curiously, I did NOT write this post using ChatGPT. 😎