Authors: Heather Morse, Chief Business Development Officer, McGlinchey Stafford
Bio | LinkedIn | Twitter & Nancy Myrland, President, Myrland Marketing & Social Media
Bio | LinkedIn | Twitter

It’s here. The AI that could read and analyze can now analyze and write. So, what is ChatGPT and how can legal marketing and business development professionals utilize it? We asked ChatGPT exactly that.

Question/Prompt:
What exactly is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT Answer:
ChatGPT is a cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology that uses machine learning (ML) to generate natural language responses to user input. At its core, ChatGPT is built on top of the powerful GPT (Generative Pretrained Transformer) architecture, which has been trained on a massive corpus of text data. This training data includes everything from books and articles to social media posts and conversations, providing the model with a broad range of knowledge and context to draw upon. When a user inputs a message or question, ChatGPT processes that text and generates a response using its knowledge of language and context. The model's response is generated based on a number of factors, including the user's previous messages, the topic of conversation, and the overall style and tone of the conversation. One of the key benefits of ChatGPT is its ability to learn from previous interactions with users. The model's training data is constantly updated with new examples of human language use, allowing it to improve.

Question/Prompt:
How can ChatGPT be used by the legal marketing and business development community?

ChatGPT Answer:
As a large language model trained by OpenAI, ChatGPT has the potential to revolutionize the legal marketing and business development community in a multitude of functions:

• Content Creation. One of the most significant benefits of ChatGPT for legal marketing is its ability to generate high-quality content. With its advanced language processing capabilities, ChatGPT can create blog posts, website copy, social media posts, RFP responses, and other types of content with ease and within seconds (and grammatically correct!).
• SEO Optimization. ChatGPT can also be used to optimize a law firm's website for search engine rankings. By analyzing search engine data and understanding the latest trends in SEO, ChatGPT can provide recommendations on how to optimize a law firm's website for search engine rankings. This can include optimizing keywords, creating backlinks, and improving website structure.
• Market Research. ChatGPT can be used to conduct market research for law firms. By analyzing data from social media, online reviews, and other sources, ChatGPT can provide insights into the needs and preferences of the law firm's target audience. This information can be used to develop marketing strategies that are tailored to the needs of the target audience.
• Predictive Analytics. ChatGPT can be used for predictive analytics, which can help law firms anticipate future trends in the legal industry. By analyzing data from a variety of sources, ChatGPT can predict changes in the legal landscape and help law firms prepare for them. This can include changes in legislation, emerging trends, and other factors that could impact the legal industry.

Question/Prompt:
How does a legal marketer explain ChatGPT to a lawyer?

ChatGPT Answer:
Legal marketing professionals can explain ChatGPT to lawyers as a tool that utilizes artificial intelligence and natural language processing to assist with various tasks, such as drafting legal documents, conducting legal research, and analyzing data. ChatGPT, or chatbot technology, can be thought of as a virtual assistant that can communicate with users in a natural, conversational tone. Lawyers can interact with the ChatGPT system by asking questions or making requests, and the technology will provide responses or take actions based on the input it receives. Additionally, ChatGPT can help lawyers streamline their workflow and increase productivity. For instance, the technology can be used to draft routine legal documents, such as contracts or pleadings, by analyzing similar documents and using machine learning algorithms to generate custom drafts based on specific inputs.

Conclusion
If we can convey nothing else, at this point in time, ChatGPT provides a great starting point in creating material but should not be used or trusted as final content, particularly in the legal profession. In writing this article, the responses to our questions were often circular and repetitive, requiring editing, but nonetheless saved us hours in researching and preparing a first draft.

As time goes by, this will change as ChatGPT continues to become smarter and more like "us" as we train it in the way “we” think as an industry as well as individuals. But just like all things technology, there is more coming.

Not to be left out, Google and Microsoft are developing their own AI-driven natural language processing tools—Google Bard and Edge GPT—both of which have the potential to be smarter alternatives to ChatGPT as they are tied into the search engines.

In conclusion, ChatGPT can be a valuable tool for legal marketers looking to streamline their workflows, generate new ideas, and engage with audiences more effectively. By leveraging the power of AI, legal marketers can create more compelling content, reach a wider audience, and ultimately drive more business for their firms.