ChatGPT’s Impact on SaaS Marketing: First Take

Like many, I’ve spent the last few months reading, watching and listening to various opinions regarding generative AI and ChatGPT, a large language model trained by OpenAI. This technology takes immense amounts of data, looks for patterns, and becomes more proficient at mainly generating accurate and probable outputs. The buzz surrounding the tech today is primarily around the humanlike language and thoughts it can generate with only a few inputs from you or me. 

More specifically, I’ve naturally leaned into how AI bots like ChatGPT affect the marketing industry and our future as a SaaS PR agency. Through this journey, I’ve realized that many of us are asking the wrong question. It’s not about whether or not ChatGPT will replace marketing jobs. The reality I’ve come to accept, and excitedly so, is that marketers who embrace ChatGPT will replace those who do not. And I believe this holds for every company across every sector. 

The businesses that are quickest to adopt and refine this technology will win. 

If you’re still on the fence about generative AI, I get it. It’s a lot to digest. To help potentially reframe your thinking, I’ll tackle a few overarching takeaways from the hours of material I reviewed, including insight from academics, technologists, marketers and analysts.

The technology reflects us

There will be ChatGPT champs and chumps, as ChatGPT starts with a human entering a prompt for a specific outcome. Suppose a particular human is apathetic about their job, takes shortcuts, and is generally lazy before using ChatGPT. In that case, there is a good chance ChatGPT will be used in a way that reflects poorly on the technology and its output. The output quality will depend on how much attention and time is spent on the input and refining the results. The lazy human will take the first draft received from the bot and run with it as the final. 

On the flip side, if one approaches the technology from the viewpoint of being a beginning point, an idea-starter, and a tool to be more efficient, the strength, value and perception of the technology will be positive. The intuitive and intentional use of ChatGPT can result in helpful and valuable outputs if you approach it the right way. 

Bots can’t be “forwardists”

AI bots like ChatGPT are limited to replicating what they’ve learned from what already exists online. And the training set currently only includes data through 2021. For example, ChatGPT won’t be able to create language around a new SaaS category, introduce a future concept or promote a new product because there is likely nothing accurate online about it yet from which to pull data.

Creating new points of view and introducing fresh concepts or unique predictions will still require human insight and creativity.

If you’ve played around with ChatGPT, as I have, you’ll see both the impressive value and the limitations of the technology. For example, I noticed very confident falsities in the output, “facts” that were inaccurate or not cited. In addition, most results were fairly general and baseline, even with intentional and detailed inputs.

ChatGPT isn’t good enough (yet) to be a competitor

The technology isn’t good enough yet to be seen as a competitive threat or a viable replacement for human creativity and common sense. Rather, it’s just another new tool in the martech stack. It’s insanely helpful at cranking out a “crappy first draft” when staring at a blank page, writing alternative headlines or email subject lines, and revising content in another tone or voice. 

Think of ChatGPT as adding a new instrument to the band. It enhances the overall sound but doesn’t replace or compete with the other instruments. 

Bot bias is real

One of the key challenges with AI-generated content is the risk of bias, which shows up for a couple of reasons. First, the AI has trained on a biased sample set because the internet inherently is limited with a general lack of representation in its content. Second, humans are biased, so human-created content is biased too. 

Marketers need to be trained and more attentive to bias and take steps to minimize it in their communication. It is not a simple tech fix, but it requires a conscious effort on the part of marketers to ensure their communication is unbiased and inclusive.

Modern marketing teams will adapt ChatGPT; it’s inevitable if you want to survive. But it’s up to us humans to use it effectively and creatively. As with any tool, it’s only as helpful as the person wielding it. So, let’s become highly skilled at our technique and use it when needed and for the proper purpose. 

BLASTmedia Named to US Agency Awards Shortlist

(INDIANAPOLIS – Oct. 28, 2021) – BLASTmedia, the only PR agency dedicated to B2B SaaS, was recently named to the US Agency Awards Shortlist in the Best Large Agency of the Year category.  

The US Agency Awards celebrate and reward exceptional U.S.-based agencies, campaigns and talent based on factors like progress toward agency goals and outstanding examples of client work. As a finalist in the Best Large Agency of the Year category, BLASTmedia is recognized as a standout agency among over 150 advertising, marketing and PR agencies that applied.

“2021 has been a year of exponential growth for our agency,” said BLASTmedia President Lindsey Groepper. “Increasing demand for our SaaS PR services has yielded a 100% increase in headcount since this time last year — while nearly doubling revenue. To be a finalist in the Best Large Agency of the Year category is further validation of how we are delivering consistent value for our roster of B2B SaaS clients.”

Facilitated by Don’t Panic Projects, judging features a panel of leading in-house marketing, communications and advertising professionals representing the world’s biggest brands, including Navico, Nestlé and Snap Inc. Winners of the US Agency Awards will be announced Nov. 23. 

For more information about BLASTmedia, including career opportunities with the B2B SaaS PR agency, visit https://www.blastmedia.com/careers/.

About BLASTmedia 
Established in 2005, BLASTmedia is the only PR agency in the US dedicated to B2B SaaS, representing companies in all growth stages—from startup to publicly traded. BLASTmedia understands the unique challenges associated with scaling a SaaS business and uses media coverage and thought leadership campaigns to impact four primary pillars: investors, employees, partners, and customers.

2021 SaaS PR Predictions

This time each year we work with our clients to put together predictions for the year ahead, and for the past few years we’ve been taking our own advice and creating SaaS PR predictions of our own. 

Looking back on a year that, to put it gently, went completely off track, I was surprised to see many of our predictions for 2020 panned out (on the PR front). This year, we saw fewer SaaS marketing execs using share of voice as their standalone metric to measure the success of PR. We also saw a much closer integration between our clients and their customers — so much so that we now offer to interview and write customer stories on behalf of our clients.

When I sat down to think about 2021, a few things immediately came to mind. Yes, some of those things are related to the pandemic and how it impacted the way we do work, but other trends were well underway beforehand.

Paywalled journalism means we must adapt 

It’s happened to all of us — you see an interesting story shared on Twitter and click to learn more only to be hit with a paywall. While it can be frustrating, paywalls actually make a lot of sense. Think about it: you pay for Hulu with no ads, you pay to join Dave Gerhardt’s Patreon marketing group, you even pay for access to workouts on Peloton — why wouldn’t you pay for unlimited access to news content created specifically for your interests? 

As talented journalists continue to fall victim to shrinking newsrooms, they’re increasingly turning to platforms like Substack to grow followings of their own. Most recently startup reporter Eric Newcomer left Bloomberg to start Newcomer, a subscription newsletter about startups and venture capital. Earlier in the year tech journalist Casey Newton left The Verge to start Platformer, and before that Fortune’s Polina Marinova Pompliano left to build The Profile. I anticipate many more will follow suit. 

Earlier in the year, I sent a few questions on paywalls to Travis Bernard at TechCrunch. He launched TechCrunch’s subscription platform ExtraCrunch just a year earlier. His newsroom faced a choice: broaden coverage to drive up advertising impressions and therefore dollars, or double down on a smaller, more engaged audience willing to pay. They chose the latter. 

So, what does this mean for those of us in SaaS PR? Get creative about what you consider an “outlet.” It no longer needs to be TechCrunch or Forbes to count as meaningful coverage for your brand. Encourage your client/boss to look past vanity metrics like unique monthly visitors. As journalists are building their audiences, these metrics may or may not be available. 

Build relationships with emerging publications (including podcasts), and get comfortable with explaining the value of coverage behind a paywall to your client. Sure, there are challenges (namely, sharing on social) but the inherent value is the already engaged, paying audience. And, ask your CFO for more room in the 2021 budget for news subscriptions. 

Speaking slots will become even more difficult to secure 

Now that Neil Patel, Jay Baer and Seth Godin can speak at 10 conferences in a matter of days — what’s left for the rest of us? I am halfway kidding but, if you think securing speaking slots isn’t going to get a lot more difficult in 2021, you should reassess your goals. 

  • Exhibit A) Many events well into 2021 are still going to be canceled, creating fewer overall opportunities.
  • Exhibit B) For virtual events, travel, and its associated costs, are eliminated. This means we’ll see the most well-respected speakers speaking more often.

Those two items lead to a lack of opportunity for anyone not already an established keynote. My advice? Keep your events/speaking team focused on small, local or industry-specific events to build your reel until events and speaking slots become more widely available, hopefully in 2022. 

Audiences wise up to newswires — kind of

For better or for worse, 2021 is not the year the newswire dies. In simple terms, newswires have value because we believe they have value. So, until your CEO stops forwarding you Google Alerts he has set for competitors’ press releases with the “why aren’t we getting this type of press” note attached, newswires are a necessary means to a “make the CEO happy” end. 

In 2021, marketing and comms leads will start considering the broad spectrum of places outside of a wire we can place releases. A company blog or, if you have some extra budget, a paid posting in a trade publication are valid options to consider, and can often have the same impact as a newswire posting (minus the syndications). 

While wires themselves are likely to remain a piece of your PR puzzle in 2021, I think most SaaS PR people will no longer find value in the “outreach” efforts offered by wire services. The claims they send your press release “directly to the newsrooms of all the top media publications,” while technically true are completely useless. And, candidly, in eight years of doing media relations, I have never seen a single organic story run as a result of this type of distribution.

Deskside meetings are *finally* put to bed 

This is one area of PR that has certainly been impacted by the coronavirus, and I think for the better. Speaking specifically within the realm of SaaS PR — desksides are no longer an impactful way to communicate with journalists. Now that desks themselves (at least the kind in large office buildings) are few and far between, deskside meetings have become a relic of our PR past. 

As we’ve learned over the past year, we can be just as impactful and collaborative without being in person. Instead of forcing a press tour to work because they’re what you’re used to, set availability for your executive or spokesperson over the course of a week. Slot in interviews as they make sense for availability and interest on both sides, and if the meeting requires a product delivery, send it ahead of time. Make sure to get updated contact information for the journalists, though, since they’re likely not in an office. (PS — phone etiquette changes when it’s a cell phone you’re calling. Proceed with extreme caution.) 

I think I speak for all of us when I say we’re looking forward to putting 2020 behind us. But, for a year that turned out to be quite challenging, it sure did teach us a lot — especially when it comes to communication. 

Never has it been more important to put time and effort into what you’re saying, who you’re talking to, and why you’re saying it. From communication to your employees on a shift to working from home to communicating to the world what you stand for, putting thought behind your words is never going out of style. 

What do you predict 2021 will hold for SaaS PR? Share with us on LinkedIn or Twitter

5 Indicators You Should Invest in PR

Public relations can often fall to the bottom of a company’s to-do list. Businesses need exposure, credibility and awareness and PR is crucial in the process of achieving those. While it is easy to put off PR, it is never too late to start your journey. If you find yourself asking “is it time to invest in PR,” look for these five key moments. These indicators are great signals that your company is primed to start a PR program. Continue reading “5 Indicators You Should Invest in PR”

3 Things Social Media and Media Relations Share

Laying the marketing foundation for a SaaS brand is no easy task. It takes hard work, strategy and a methodical touch to create a business that not only provides a good solution to customers but is a respected source of knowledge in the marketplace. While this takes time — read: years — strategies like social media and media relations are key to taking your brand from an idea to an industry name.

Continue reading “3 Things Social Media and Media Relations Share”

MarTech Companies Moz and 6sense Join BLASTmedia SaaS Client Roster

(INDIANAPOLIS — November 29, 2018) — BLASTmedia, the only B2B SaaS PR agency, welcomes Moz and 6sense as new clients in Q4. The scaling west-coast SaaS brands tapped BLASTmedia to lead media relations and thought leadership efforts, helping increase industry influence and raise the visibility of executive team members. Continue reading “MarTech Companies Moz and 6sense Join BLASTmedia SaaS Client Roster”

How PR Impacts the Customer Journey: Retention

Your sales and marketing teams have worked hard: leads were captured, scored and moved diligently through the sales funnel. Account executives hit all the key messages, made their touch points and, after weeks or months of work, closed the sale.

Great. Now what?

It is important to remember that selling doesn’t end after the sale is closed and the account executives have moved on to other leads. Retention is now the name of the game. Continue reading “How PR Impacts the Customer Journey: Retention”

Five Reasons to Hire a PR Agency vs. In-House PR Pro

When it comes to generating media coverage for your SaaS company, you generally have two options: hire a B2B tech PR agency, or hire a full-time employee. While it may seem like comparing apples to pineapples, when you think about it, you’re hiring one or the other to do one job: secure meaningful media coverage. We’re betting you already know the general strengths of in-house talent, but maybe are not as familiar with the benefits of hiring an agency.

Continue reading “Five Reasons to Hire a PR Agency vs. In-House PR Pro”