AUTHOR’S NOTE: I initially wrote this crash course intending to work with ChatGPT. But since then, Google’s Bar, Microsoft’s Bing AI, and many other AI tools have entered the market, making GPT less attractive. The principles I’ve explained below, however, can be applied to all AI chatting/generation tools – it’s prompt engineering so the rules won’t change no matter how diverse or advanced AI gets. So go ahead & read through!

Every successful project starts with good background research. In this short case study, we’ll see a live example of how to mine insights and useful information with GPT.

This is part of my larger crash course on ChatGPT, which is divided into 7 short parts:

1. Basic Starter Prompt Examples – get a feel of how to talk to an AI
2. Intensive Research Audit – use AI to mine insights & get information
3. Idea Generation – Get thought starters to kickstart your project
4. Refining Draft – Ask for feedback to improve your own thoughts/work
5. Content Creation – Develop original content from references that you liked
6. Team-wise Use Cases – List of prompts that each department might find handy
7. Beyond ChatGPT – Curation of other AI tools that can get your work done

Doing Intensive Research with AI

Me: I need to create a marketing campaign that helps women. I’m a haircare brand. It has to be a cause marketing campaign which solves a social issue but also gives visibility to my company/brand.

To start with, can you give me consumer insights as to what problems or social issues women face?

ChatGPT: {Generates response}

Lessons: See how I didn’t directly dive into the problem. Everything begins by doing basic primary research so we start by understanding consumer problems. I have told it my end objective so it will keep that in mind & optimize its response for me to suit my end goals.

In any case, it’s essential to have an objective for any marketing research you do, whether that’s formulating a strategy or increasing your customer satsifaction. But you don’t have to dive into that ambition so early on.

In the early stages of your research, cast a wide net & ask a lot of questions to keep going deeper. That is why the conversation in itself begins with a broad question. Start broad, then go narrow.

Me: Tell me more about the point on health issues.

ChatGPT: {Elaborates}

Me: Let’s talk about the breast cancer point. what are some deep consumer insights you can give me on that? tell me some interesting niche things about a topic that no one focuses on or notices. use stats if required.

ChatGPT: {Gives me juicy less-heard insights}

One of the points I liked was “Genetic Testing and Risk Assessment: Certain gene mutations, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2, are known to increase the risk of developing breast cancer. Encouraging women to consider genetic testing and risk assessment can empower them to make informed decisions about their health, including preventive measures or increased surveillance.”

Me: I find the point about genetic testing & risk assessment interesting. elaborate.

ChatGPT: {Takes me deeper into the issue}

Me: How does this process usually happen in India? What are some hurdles, obstacles & resistances?

ChatGPT: {Gives me local insights}

Lesson: You can sense that now I’m slowly moving my research to be more relevant to my goal of creating a cause-related marketing problem. This is how you work on an insight!

Me: come up with innovative marketing campaign ideas to solve one or more of these outlined issues.

The ideas that GPT generated were a bit vague or traditional so I had to call it quits and rely on my brain again. At this point I realized, AI can only take us so far but somewhere, we’ll need our unique human creativity to build solutions to large problems.

Of course, coming this far this fast is also a feat. I’ve saved hours of ground or online research, got some useful consumer insights and also identified the area in which I want to go.

Now I can use this research to come up with something cool! Got any ideas? Let me know in the comments.

Navigate this Track

This is part of my larger crash course on ChatGPT, which is divided into 7 short parts:

1. Basic Starter Prompt Examples – get a feel of how to talk to an AI
2. Intensive Research Audit – use AI to mine insights & get information
3. Idea Generation – Get thought starters to kickstart your project
4. Refining Draft – Ask for feedback to improve your own thoughts/work
5. Content Creation – Develop original content from references that you liked
6. Team-wise Use Cases – List of prompts that each department might find handy
7. Beyond ChatGPT – Curation of other AI tools that can get your work done