If you’ve followed the news over the last few weeks, you probably heard the buzz about ChatGPT. If you aren’t familiar, ChatGPT is an AI chatbot that is astounding users everywhere. As described on the Forbes website, ChatGPT gives “human-like, detailed answers to inquiries—like drafting a contract between an artist and producer and creating detailed code—and could revolutionize the way people use search engines by not just providing links for users to sift through, but by solving elaborate problems and answering intricate questions.”[1] 

Explaining the technology doesn’t do it justice. You need to experience it for yourself. Go to the website and ask it to “write a Seinfeld episode about a stolen car,” and be ready to be amazed by what it can do. 

ChatGPT is exciting from a marketing perspective because it can write marketing articles. And it can do an article in a matter of minutes. For example, I asked it to “write a 750-word article on the taxation of RSUs,” and it produced a decent article in less than two minutes. When I showed the article to one of my financial advisor clients, he said the content was equivalent to what the junior advisors in the firm would have produced. That’s remarkable for a technology in its infancy.

From testing ChatGPT, I have observed the following:

1. Articles written on general financial topics tend to be quite good. Advisors may find the output to be an acceptable alternative to canned content.

2. I ran each article through plagiarism software, and nothing significant was flagged. That being said, I wouldn’t feel comfortable using content generated by ChatGPT without running it through a plagiarism check.

3. While I didn’t find any factual errors in my tests, a known limitation is that the technology may produce incorrect information. You will want to double-check any content generated before using it for your business.

4. Because the technology is in such high demand right now, I’m often unable to log on. Also, it sometimes produces an error before finishing an article, and I have to start over. I’m sure this will improve as the company builds more capacity.

5. From a compliance perspective, you usually can’t claim content you have not written as your own. You should check with your compliance officer about the disclosures you need to attach to a ChatGPT-written article.

While ChatGPT is still in its infancy, I see a real opportunity for advisors over the next few months. 

The Short-Term Opportunity

I believe there is a window of opportunity for advisors who are early adopters of this technology. This AI will allow them to create large volumes of content quickly. More content on an advisor’s website can increase their search engine rankings, especially if optimized for their local geographic area or niche. 

ChatGPT also means that advisors can create more content to share and get noticed on social media. For example, I asked the AI to “write a tweet about RSUs,” and here is what it came back with, hashtags and all: 

RSUs are a great way for employees to build wealth and align their financial interests with their company. They provide a sense of ownership and can be a valuable part of a compensation package. #RSUs #equitycompensation

This window of opportunity reminds me of similar periods I observed when I worked with advisors who were early adopters of social media, SEO, and Google reviews. Those advisors who took advantage of these technologies early on reaped the rewards. But as more advisors entered the market, the advantage became harder to defend. I expect the same to be true with ChatGPT. 

The Long-Term Consequences

While I believe early adopters of this technology will see tremendous benefits in the short term, I predict serious marketing consequences for all advisors in the long run whether they use the technology or not.

The ease with which ChatGPT creates content means that there will be more of it. And everyone who uses this AI to create content will convey the same information. The result? It will be even harder to get noticed through your content marketing.

Another issue is that if a prospect can get their question answered using ChatGPT, they won’t need to do a Google search. This means the content on your website currently attracting prospects will no longer see the same amount of traffic. 

The Long-term Solution

If ChatGPT or a similar technology becomes ubiquitous, original thinking will be even more critical. You’ll no longer be able to write basic articles on topics such as Roth conversions or Social Security strategies because AI can do it just as well in mere seconds. You will have to create content that is different. The clearest way I see to do this is to focus on a niche market where there isn’t a lot of information for AI to pull its knowledge from.

For example, I asked ChatGPT, “What are the executive benefits available at [company name]?” and got this response: 

I’m sorry, but I am not able to browse the internet and therefore cannot provide information about any specific company’s executive benefits. In general, executive benefits are a type of compensation package that is offered to top-level executives at a company, and they can include things like stock options, performance bonuses, and additional retirement savings plans. However, the specific executive benefits offered by any given company will vary depending on a number of factors.

AI’s current inability to create niche content is a good opportunity for niche advisors. Will AI learn this information in the future? I’m sure it will. But right now, it appears unable to replace expertise in niche areas of financial planning, and this is where the opportunity lies. 

Marketing influencer Seth Godin summed up the impact of this technology in a recent blog, stating: “Technology begins by making old work easier, but then it requires that new work be better.” 

It has always been hard for generalist advisors to differentiate themselves through content marketing, and artificial intelligence will only make it harder. If you want to differentiate yourself, you will have to be different. You will have to offer value that no one else offers. You will have to become an expert in a specialized niche. In other words, you will need to become uncomparable—so different no one else can compete with you, not even AI.

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2022/12/07/heres-what-to-know-about-openais-chatgpt-what-its-disrupting-and-how-to-use-it

About Kristen Luke

Kristen Luke is the President of Kaleido Creative Studio, a marketing consulting firm that positions Registered Investment Advisors and their employees as experts in a niche, making them “uncomparable” to other advisors. Over the past 17 years, Kristen has consulted with hundreds of financial advisory firms and shared her marketing expertise via industry conferences and publications nationwide.