What Is the Impact of ChatGPT on Marketing?
ChatGPT is an AI language system that has already started to disrupt the business sector. Its impact on marketing is multidimensional, including both advantages and disadvantages. Margaret Campbell, Associate Dean, Department Chair, and a Professor of Marketing at UCR School of Business, shared her insights into the early potential impacts of ChatGPT on the marketing field. Here are the highlights of her interview:
The potential of ChatGPT in marketing
ChatGPT can efficiently take in a large amount of information and use it for language/content development or data analysis. The speed it offers is already impressive. It will be used for a variety of marketing tasks, such as answering consumer queries, developing content, providing ideas for products, generating slogans, and analyzing data. However, at this point, ChatGPT is being tested, and people are trying things to see what happens. One of the early applications of ChatGPT will be as an aid in developing ideas that humans will then further refine and develop.
The advantages of ChatGPT in marketing
The primary advantage of using ChatGPT in marketing is efficiency. ChatGPT can quickly process large amounts of data and develop content based on that information. It can also perform data analysis faster than humans. Its speed and efficiency will save marketers time and resources.
The disadvantages of ChatGPT in marketing
The first and most important disadvantage is that ChatGPT and other similar technologies cannot judge whether the output is correct. Therefore, it can "answer" queries, but the answers may or may not be correct. This can be a problem when turning over customer service functions to ChatGPT without any human oversight. Besides, ChatGPT is based on what is already there and what it is trained on. It will have a hard time being truly creative and generating novel ideas. Pricing is another concern as we do not yet know what pricing will be applied to these new tools. The ethical concerns of ownership, privacy, and biases are also important and need to be considered.
The impact of ChatGPT on marketing jobs
The impact of ChatGPT on marketing jobs will be varied. Copywriting, whether for print, commercials, or social media, is at real risk from ChatGPT. However, it is not that all human copywriting will be replaced, but the number of copywriters needed will decrease as ChatGPT and related technologies are used to assist in the creation of content. Similarly, some jobs in public relations will be impacted, and artists and designers will also be at risk from tools such as Midjourney, which can provide visuals quickly and efficiently. We cannot predict what positions will be created, but with each technological advance, humans have figured out other things to do when technology eliminates the need for some jobs. The efficiencies created by AI technologies will hopefully enable all humans to use their ingenuity in other ways.
Conclusion
ChatGPT is an AI language system that has the potential to transform the marketing industry. Its impact will be multidimensional, including both advantages and disadvantages. While it offers efficiency and speed, there are issues around accuracy, creativity, and pricing. Some marketing jobs will be impacted, while new ones will be created. Ultimately, people should not fear AI technology but embrace it as a tool to enhance their work and boost creativity.
