For the past several years, performance marketers, including me, have largely relied on two dominant advertising platforms:
There are other platforms such as Microsoft Ads, Quora Ads, LinkedIn Ads, TikTok Ads, and others. However, for most performance marketing campaigns, Google and Meta have remained the primary platforms.
That landscape is now beginning to change with the emergence of ChatGPT advertising.
ChatGPT Ads are gradually being introduced into the global advertising ecosystem, and advertisers in the UAE can expect access as the platform expands its availability in the region.
How do ChatGPT Ads work?
From an advertiser's perspective, the basic structure is quite familiar if you have worked with Google Ads or Meta Ads.
The advertising setup can broadly be understood through four levels:
- Ad Account: Typically, a company would have one advertising account containing its business and billing information.
- Campaigns: Separate campaigns can be created for different marketing objectives, products, services, or promotional activities.
- Ad Groups: Within a campaign, ads can be organised into groups based on targeting, audience, messaging, or other parameters.
- Ads: Multiple variations of an advertisement can be created within an ad group, allowing advertisers to test different creatives, copy, and messaging.
How to start advertising on ChatGPT
Once your business has access to the ChatGPT advertising platform, the process is relatively straightforward:
Create an Ad Account
Enter your business information, billing details, payment method, and complete any advertiser/business verification requirements.
Create a Campaign
Define the objective of your campaign and configure the relevant campaign settings.
Create an Ad Group
Organise your ads according to your targeting, audience, messaging, or campaign strategy.
Create Your Ads
Add your ad copy and creative assets and create multiple variations where appropriate.
Launch and Optimise
Once the campaign is reviewed and approved, monitor its performance and optimise your campaigns based on the available reporting and performance data.
What about targeting the UAE audience?
For businesses targeting customers in the UAE, the key consideration will be the availability of UAE-specific geographic targeting and the targeting options provided to advertisers in the ChatGPT Ads Manager.
As the platform is still relatively new and features are being introduced progressively, the available targeting, reporting, bidding, creative, and optimisation options may evolve.
This is also why I would recommend treating the early stage as an opportunity to test, learn, and build first-mover experience, rather than simply copying an existing Google or Meta strategy.
Is ChatGPT difficult to set up?
Not really.
If you have previously worked with Google Ads or Meta Ads, the ChatGPT advertising interface should feel relatively intuitive. Since the platform is still new, the current interface is considerably simpler than the mature advertising ecosystems offered by Google and Meta.
I personally spent around one hour setting up my advertising account and configuring my initial ads.
That said, setting up an account is the easy part. The real advantage will come from understanding how people discover information and make decisions inside ChatGPT, and then developing campaigns, messaging, and creatives specifically for that environment.
Should you advertise on ChatGPT?
If you are a business targeting customers in the UAE, it is worth keeping an eye on ChatGPT Ads and preparing for wider availability.
You can either work with a performance marketing agency that understands the platform or explore the advertising platform yourself once your business is eligible. SpiderWorks is an experienced performance marketing agency which can help you with ChatGPT advertising, targeting the UAE market, when the platform is available.
Alternatively, you can create a ChatGPT Ads Manager account here - https://ads.openai.com/
The advertising ecosystem is evolving again. For marketers who have spent years optimising Google and Meta campaigns, ChatGPT could become an important new channel for understanding and, potentially, an early-mover opportunity in the UAE.
Please let me know if you want any help with setting up ChatGPT Ads in UAE region