ChatGPT Ads: a new advertising opportunity to get there first

Digital advertising is entering a new stage. After the search, social networks and marketplaces, conversations with artificial intelligence begin to become a new space where people explore products, compare alternatives and make decisions.

ChatGPT Ads allows a brand to appear at that time with an ad related to the context of the conversation. It is not simply an additional support to replicate existing campaigns. It is a channel that requires understanding how a need is expressed, what information helps to advance and what proposal is relevant without interrupting the experience.

In Sitelicon we have lived and managed the great transitions of digital advertising: we start with Google during its first years, then we incorporate Meta and its model based on audiences and creativity, we develop specific capacities for Amazon Ads and now we open a new service line for ChatGPT Ads.

The opportunity is to start from the beginning with method: learn before, measure from the first campaign and build an operational advantage as the channel evolves.

What ChatGPT Ads is

ChatGPT Ads is OpenAI’s advertising proposal to reach people who are exploring options, comparing alternatives or making a decision within ChatGPT. According to official documentation, the ads appear under the responses, are clearly identified and kept separate from the content generated by ChatGPT.

Each ad may include the name and icon of the advertiser, a holder, a description, an image and a destination page. The selection takes into account signals such as the context and intention of the conversation, the content of the destination page, the text of the ad and the context indications provided by the advertiser.

These indications do not work as the key words of exact agreement or guarantee that they appear in a specific conversation. They serve to describe the topics, needs or types of conversation in which a brand’s proposal may be useful.

OpenAI presents Ads Manager as a beta product. That means that its capabilities, availability and processes can continue to change. As of the publication of this article, Spain is listed as countries with self-service access for advertisers established in the country.

From the keyword to the context of a decision

Google turned the search query into a sign of intention. Meta expanded the ability to connect with audiences through interests, behavior and creativity. Amazon brought the advertising to the catalog and the purchase decision within a marketplace.

ChatGPT introduces another layer: a conversation in which the user can explain what he needs, for whom, with what limitations and what alternatives he is considering. That context can express a need much richer than a few words consultation.

For advertisers, this changes the main question. It is not enough to decide why to push or to what segment to impact. You have to understand what conversation makes sense to participate and what message can help the person move forward.

The opportunity is not to occupy any available space. It is to be relevant when a need is being defined.

Why enter from the beginning

Being of the first does not guarantee lower costs, higher volume or better results. It is important not to convert a new one into a promise that still needs to be demonstrated with data. The real advantage of starting soon is another: to have more time to learn.

Building self-knowledge

Each platform develops a particular operational language. In ChatGPT Ads it will be necessary to discover which context indications work, which proposals better connect with each intention, how creativity should be adapted and which target pages make a conversation a valuable action.

This learning belongs to the company that generates it. The sooner it is structured, the sooner it can become a repeatable system.

Prepare the measurement before climbing

Ads Manager Beta currently reports impressions, clicks, investment, CTR, mean CPC, mean CPM and conversions when setting up its measurement. It also supports static parameters, such as UTM, on target pages.

This allows the new channel to be integrated into the existing analytics and to evaluate not only the click, but the quality of the visit, conversion and commercial result. Starting with a controlled test helps build a reference before increasing the investment.

Develop creativity for a conversational environment

Effective creativity in search, social or marketplace does not have to work the same in a conversation. The ad must respond to the context, present an understandable proposal and lead to a page that maintains the continuity between the expressed need and the solution offered.

To enter soon allows you to test headlines, descriptions, images, proposals and destinations without depending on a single approach.

How to structure a campaign in Ads Manager

OpenAI Ads Manager Beta organizes work on three levels:

1. Campaign: defines the objective, budget, dates and overall orientation.
2. Ad group: it gathers ads around a theme or area of intention and incorporates the context indications.
3. Announcement: contains the holder, description, image and destination page that the user will see.

There are currently two purchase objectives described by OpenAI: reach, with payment per thousand impressions - CPM -, and clicks, with payment per valid click - CPC -. Campaigns can be created by a guided flow or block-loaded to work on a larger scale.

Before a campaign can be published, the advertiser must complete the configuration and verification of his account, prepare the billing, create the ads and send them for review. Approval and delivery are subject to the advertising policies and the platform controls.

Sitelicon’s experience applied to ChatGPT Ads

The platforms change, but many essential disciplines remain. Having worked with the evolution of Google Ads, Meta Ads and Amazon Ads allows us to recognize the problems that are repeated in each new channel:

• Start investing without defining what result you are looking for.
• To combine the operation of a new platform with that of the previous one.
• Launch a single creativity without a system of experimentation.
• Measuring clicks without connecting them to opportunities, sales or margin.
• Escalate before validating the message, the destination experience and the data quality.

Our value is not only in knowing an interface. It is in connecting strategy, campaigns, creativity, technology, analysis and business. This accumulated experience reduces improvisations and allows to design from the first day an orderly learning process.

Our new ChatGPT Ads management service

Sitelicon’s service is accompanied by brands, manufacturers and companies from preparation to continuous optimization. The scope can be adapted to the maturity and resources of each organization and includes:

Preparation and strategy

We review the eligibility, objectives, markets, value proposal, audiences and use cases. We define what role ChatGPT Ads should play within the media set and what indicators will determine whether the test works.

Account configuration

We accompany advertiser onboarding, the company information, the verification, the permits and the billing. The account must belong to the advertiser; Sitelicon can then be incorporated as a management team according to the options enabled by the platform.

Campaign architecture

We design campaigns, ad groups and context indications around real needs. We organize the budget and the tests for each result to produce an identifiable learning.

Announcements and destination pages

We work headlines, descriptions, images and calls to action specific to the medium. We also review the target pages: speed, consistency, content, conversion and measuring capacity.

Analytics and optimization

We set the available traceability, campaign parameters and conversion measurement. We analyze delivery, relevance, clicks, cost, conversion and commercial quality to decide what to maintain, what to change and where to scale.

Information and shared learning

We document hypotheses, changes and results. The aim is that the company not only receives a report of metrics, but also useful knowledge about its customers, messages and opportunities.

What companies should try this channel

ChatGPT Ads may be especially interesting for organizations whose customers need to inform, compare or resolve doubts before deciding: ecommerce with comprehensive catalogues, manufacturers, software, professional services, education, tourism or products with a meditated purchase.

Not all companies must invest immediately.

• That the product or service complies with advertising policies.
• That there is a clear proposal for a specific need.
• That the destination page can explain and convert that proposal.
• That the measurement allows to distinguish curiosity from commercial result.
• That there is enough budget and creativity to prove more than one hypothesis.

An initial plan to learn with control

Our recommendation is to raise the first cycle as a structured test:

1. Select one or two business objectives and a cut-off set of offers.
2. Mapping relevant discussions, needs and decision-making times.
3. Prepare several sets of ads with different context indications.
4. Create message and image variations connected to specific target pages.
5. Configure conversions, analytics and commercial quality criteria.
6. Launch with a controlled budget and review delivery before drawing conclusions.
7. Documenting learning and deciding whether to iterate, expand or stop the test.

This approach protects investment and turns the uncertainty of a new channel into a evidence-based decision-making process.

The time to build the next advertising capacity

The arrival of ChatGPT Ads does not eliminate Google, Meta or Amazon. Add a new contact point to the decision path. Its value should be assessed in combination with the other channels and the actual results of each company.

For Sitelicon is the natural continuation of a path linked to digital advertising and ecommerce. We have learned every great platform from its early stages, building processes, measurement and operational capacity around them. We now apply that experience to conversational advertising.

Brands that start today will not have all the answers. They will have something more useful: the opportunity to ask the right questions first, to experiment with criterion and to build knowledge while defining the future of the channel.

If you want to assess if ChatGPT Ads fits your strategy, Sitelicon can help you design the first test, set up the operation and convert its results into business decisions.