People are already using ChatGPT to research, compare and make decisions. Now businesses have a new way to show up while they’re doing it.
ChatGPT Ads are here, and they open up a pretty interesting new place for businesses to advertise.
People are using ChatGPT every day to ask questions, explore products, compare options and figure out what to do next. That puts advertising somewhere a little different from traditional search – right in the middle of the decision-making process.
Could ChatGPT Ads work for you?
The strongest opportunities are likely to be businesses with a reasonably broad potential audience, including:
- Direct-to-consumer brands
- Ecommerce businesses
- Tourism and destination businesses
- Businesses selling across New Zealand, Australia or larger markets
- Service businesses where customers spend time researching their options
Think someone planning a trip to Taupō. Comparing products for their home. Researching their next vehicle upgrade. Looking at different software for their business. Those are useful moments for the right brand to show up. We see ChatGPT Ads as a supplementary channel rather than a replacement for Google Ads or other bottom-of-funnel advertising.
Google Ads vs ChatGPT Ads
We don’t see ChatGPT Ads replacing Google Ads. They’re doing different jobs. Google is brilliant when someone knows what they want and searches for it. If someone types “cat door installer Taupō”, there’s some pretty obvious intent there. ChatGPT gets interesting earlier.
Someone might be asking which size cat door they need, comparing options, working out installation costs or researching what to look for in an installer (double glazed – then what?).
Google helps you capture the search. ChatGPT gives you another opportunity to be part of the research that happens before it.
Are they worth a test?
For the right business, absolutely worth exploring.
Like any advertising channel, though, a good test needs good foundations. Before putting money behind ChatGPT Ads, we’d want to make sure you’ve got
- Appropriate conversion tracking
- Strong landing pages
- Clear campaign goals
- Product data feeds for ecommerce campaigns
- Enough budget and time to properly test performance
As with any advertising channel, what happens after someone clicks matters just as much as the ad itself. And because ChatGPT Ads are new, that’s exactly how we’d approach them: test, learn and see what the data tells us. For businesses already investing in digital advertising and looking for another way to reach people while they’re researching and deciding, that’s a pretty interesting opportunity.
