There’s no question that in the past year platforms like ChatGPT have dramatically reshaped how digital marketing can be done. Once purely a narrative element of science fiction films, artificial intelligence is now used in tools we use everyday – from e-commerce chatbots, to the virtual assistants on our phones.
As AI continues to become more prevalent in our daily lives, we’re increasingly hearing about the risks it poses to jobs in various sectors. But while many people working in Digital PR and SEO see AI as a threat, it can actually be a valuable tool, when used correctly. AI tools can support a Digital PR strategy in countless ways. They have the ability to automate time-consuming tasks and improve the efficiency of your creative process.
This post will explain some of the different ways AI can support a Digital PR strategy, and provide some useful tips for those looking to try it out.
1. Brainstorms
Tools like ChatGPT and Bard can help in various ways with your Digital PR ideas brainstorm. Whilst you probably won’t have the best luck just asking the AI straight up for fully-formed ideas, it can help you to be creative when given the right prompts. Simply asking an AI assistant for campaign ideas will come up with the same old regurgitated concepts. Instead, we recommend using it as a starting point for ideas for you to springboard from. We use AI to come up with icebreakers for the start of a brainstorm, for interesting talking points, and to help us build out a mindmap. Used correctly, tools like ChatGPT can spark new paths of exploration and allow us to explore problems from a variety of angles.
2. Surveys
Integrating AI into survey planning can help you streamline the process and ensure that your surveys are effective in capturing meaningful data for your campaigns. An AI assistant can suggest potential survey questions, or refine your questions for greater clarity. It can suggest inclusive language and recommend questions that resonate with diverse demographics, making your survey more comprehensive. Plus, we use AI to assist our ideation of survey topics, and it can even recommend effective formats that will resonate with your target audience. Remember though that a survey generated by AI is not finished and should always be elaborated upon. Tweak the questions in line with the angle of your campaign in order to find truly newsworthy data.
3. Analysing Data
Data-driven campaigns are an increasingly popular way to land Digital PR coverage and AI can again be a valuable addition. It can examine data and find patterns in seconds, automating tasks that would take you hours on end. Even within very large datasets, an AI algorithm will easily identify anomalies and pull out trends for you to build into an effective campaign. We find that AI can often illuminate the more unusual angles that will catch a journalist’s attention. Additionally, whilst it can’t go as far as creating graphs or charts, it can suggest interesting ways you can go about visualising your data.
4. Writing Excel Formulas
For people who struggle with Excel or Google Sheets formulas, ChatGPT can be a huge help. It can create incredibly complicated formulas in an instant, making data analysis and reporting much simpler. We will often ask a virtual assistant how to speed up a specific process, or to write us a specific formula for something we need in Excel. AI algorithms can also identify errors in formulas and even recommend appropriate formulas based on a set of data. With this, data-based PR campaigns are made all the more time-efficient.
5. Crafting Email Subject Lines
Coming up with punchy and effective subject lines for every press release can be a challenge. This is where AI comes in very handy, suggesting a variety of email subject lines which you can then use when outreaching to journalists. There are some paid AI softwares, specially designed to improve your email marketing strategy (such as Phrasee and Persado). However, we find that ChatGPT works as a great free alternative. When asking this software for help with your email subject lines, it’s a good idea to include the email you want to send in your prompt. It’s also a good idea to include additional information like word count, tone of voice, and punctuation preferences. Once you have a selection of subject lines, you can then perform some simple A/B testing on a small set of your media list, tracking the open rates of each before using the more successful subject line for wider outreach.
6. Generating Images and Videos
Journalists often create images or videos to go alongside their articles and increase engagement. As PRs we can now use AI to generate our own media to support a campaign. This encourages a journalist to pick up your pitch and give you the coverage you’re after. Tools like DALL-E and MidJourney can be used to create unique imagery to support your campaign and Pictory is a super accessible tool for making campaign videos from scratch. We find MidJourney particularly useful for ideation because it also allows you to peruse archives of other users’ creations for inspiration.
7. Transcribe meeting notes
At Cedarwood, we leverage AI assistants for transcription of meetings and interviews. Tools like Tactiq, Supernormal and Fireflies can create accurate and well-organised records. This allows you to focus completely on the task at hand, rather than splitting your attention to record the minutes. No longer do we need to listen back to recordings of conversations for hours to pull together reports, AI platforms can do this all for us with ease.
8. Improve your writing
Last but not least, AI is of course a handy assistant when it comes to improving your pitches. Tools like Grammarly can help you spot typos and grammatical errors, whilst Hemingway Editor will make suggestions to enhance the clarity and readability of your drafts. Bear in mind that it’s always better to get AI to improve rather than create content for you. Journalists will quickly see through an AI-generated pitch – remember that the human element is and always will be essential to writing.
How to structure your prompts to get the most out of ChatGPT
As impressive as they might seem, AI is still just a tool, and you’ll only get out what you put in. If you want to get the best results, it’s important to understand how to properly structure your prompts. A short and vague question won’t do – the more detailed and well structured your prompt, the better results you can expect.
Here are some top tips for the perfect ChatGPT prompt:
📌The more detailed and specific the better. For the best results, give your AI lots of context and provide clearly defined parameters to keep things on track.
📌Write clearly and concisely, but use colloquial language. Frame your questions as if you were asking a colleague for advice. This will encourage more human-like responses.
📌It’s always a good idea to include examples in a prompt, e.g. ‘I need a subject line for an email, here’s an example of our usual tone…’
📌Keep the conversation going. You might not always get the perfect answer on your first try, but that’s ok. If you don’t like the response you’ve received, feel free to re-ask or rephrase the question, ask ChatGPT to clarify or provide more information, or ask a follow-on question. Treat it like a conversation and keep going until you get what you need.
Things to keep in mind
> When using AI for Digital PR, bear in mind that there is a fine line between using the tool to improve your content, and purely replicating AI-generated words. Today, AI-content is so pervasive that users are very aware of the style and will see through it. I’m sure you’ve spotted writing online and on social media featuring the tell-tale syntactical errors and absence of personality. An authentic and unique brand voice will capture your audience’s attention, far more than reels of mundane content.
>It’s easy to forget that ChatGPT collects data, as well as providing it. Be conscious of this when inputting information, and make sure not to share anything deemed sensitive.
>Don’t fall into the trap of taking everything ChatGPT says as gospel. It’s largely trustworthy, but the answers aren’t always accurate and some of the data you receive can be out of date. As said, maintain human oversight over this technology and double-check every response you receive.
Get professional help with your Digital PR Strategy
At Cedarwood Digital, we’re increasingly employing AI tools to inform our Digital PR and SEO strategies. Our experts know exactly when and how to bring in the help of AI to see excellent results for our clients. Check out our case studies to see some of our recent Digital PR activity, and if you like what you see, go ahead and get in touch with us today.
