Plan the Perfect Thanksgiving with ChatGPT

This Week

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to say how grateful I am for you being here. Your support keeps this newsletter going and makes it so much fun to create. Wishing you a wonderful holiday filled with laughter, love, and of course, an extra slice of pie. And if you need some help planning your day, read on!

  • Plan the perfect Thanksgiving feast with ChatGPT

  • Watch Section’s on-demand conference on AI ROI

  • The State of AI and emerging trends from CB Insights

  • How to get brand mentions in AI search results

  • Why your prompts don’t work and how to fix them

How to Plan the Perfect Thanksgiving with ChatGPT

Thanksgiving is my favorite American holiday. There’s something special about good food, gratitude, and great company.

But I have a confession—figuring out the traditions has been a journey:

  • Is turkey non-negotiable?

  • What’s the deal with green bean casserole?

  • And marshmallows on sweet potatoes…why?

This year, I found the answer to figuring out Thanksgiving: ChatGPT. 

It’s been my secret weapon for cutting through the chaos and making Thanksgiving dinner less overwhelming.

Here’s how it helped me:
 Meal planning: From alternative mains to creative sides.
Custom recipes: Tailored to my kitchen setup and preferences.
Step-by-step guides: Breaking down complex dishes into manageable steps.
 Ingredient swaps: No sage? No problem—ChatGPT finds alternatives.
 Shopping lists: Automated lists to streamline store trips.
 Dietary adjustments: Gluten-free, vegan, or low-carb? It’s all covered.

Thanks to AI, I went from “What even is green bean casserole?” to confidently serving a feast.

Want the full guide on how I used ChatGPT for Thanksgiving? Head over to Medium.

Is Generative AI Delivering Real ROI?

For all the hype about AI, one question remains unanswered.

Is generative AI actually a good investment for a business in 2024?

Some companies say yes — and brag about saving tens of millions of dollars per year. Others say they’re not seeing any returns and are ready to shut down AI deployment.

Section’s AI Conference brought together industry leaders to share their strategies and lessons on making AI deliver measurable value.

A few of my favorite interviews included:

  • Marc Benioff, Chair & CEO of Salesforce, on how AI is reshaping customer engagement.

  • May Habib, CEO of Writer, on using AI to supercharge content and communication.

  • Margaret Mitchell, Chief Ethics Scientist at Hugging Face, on how to make sure AI innovation stays ethical and impactful.

If you missed the live event, no worries—the sessions are now available on-demand.

👉 Watch here: On-Demand Access.

CB Insights: The State of AI and Emerging Trends

CB Insights just dropped the latest AI trends in their webinar, and the numbers are wild.

In Q3’24, AI deal volume shot up 24%, hitting levels we haven’t seen since 2021. Huge rounds went to names like Anduril and Safe Superintelligence, bucking the broader venture trend.

So, what’s behind this surge in AI investment?

Their analysts break it all down—what’s driving the market, which trends are taking off, and how it’s shaping the future of AI. You’ll also get the scoop on deal activity, unicorns, mega-rounds, top-funded companies, M&A moves, and more. 

👉 You can watch it here.

How to Get Your Brands Into AI Search Results

While Google still commands 90% of the search market, platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity are creeping into its territory. People are turning to these chatbots to answer questions, find products, and catch up on the news. 

Which means if you want to maintain your website traffic, you’ll want to make sure you appear in these results. 

But how do you do that? 

Rand Fishkin, SEO expert and founder of Sparktoro explores strategies for brands looking to be featured in responses from AI language models like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. 

Unlike search engines that prioritize links for indexing and ranking, AI language models rely heavily on word associations in their training data. 

Fishkin says, this shift means you need to adapt your strategies if you want to appear in AI-generated responses. 

Here’s how:

  1. Include more keyword mentions: AI models like ChatGPT and Perplexity focus on word proximity and context rather than backlinks. To gain visibility, brands need to increase the frequency and quality of mentions across diverse sources.

  2. Building High-Quality, Relevant Content: Creating content that organically pairs your brand with relevant keywords or concepts is critical. This means crafting blog posts, guides, and thought leadership pieces that naturally weave your brand into discussions on industry-specific topics.

  3. Leverage Public Relations for Credibility: Mentions in respected publications, news outlets, and well-read blogs carry significant weight. By targeting journalists, participating in interviews, and sharing unique insights, brands can secure these high-value mentions.

  4. Participate in Niche Communities and Forums: Engaging in online discussions where your brand and expertise align with the topic helps create associations in training datasets. Actively contributing to platforms like Reddit, Quora, or industry-specific forums can boost your visibility.

  5. Consistency and Longevity Matter: AI tools process vast amounts of data over time. Maintaining a consistent presence through regular content updates, PR campaigns, and social engagement ensures your brand is part of the ongoing conversation.

Fishkin explains that AI is becoming a key tool for finding information and making decisions. As AI gets smarter, figuring out how to show up in its answers is just as important as old-school SEO used to be. Instead of focusing on backlinks, you need to focus on being mentioned in the right places to make sure they show up in AI-generated answers.

Want to watch the video and read the full article? Head over to the Sparktoro blog

Why Your Prompts Don’t Work and How to Fix Them

According to AI expert and Wharton professor Ethan Mollick, many users mistakenly treat AI as a simple search engine, which often results in less-than-ideal outcomes. 

AI can be unpredictable and a little quirky, with different models often giving different results. Small changes, like tweaking spacing or formatting, can completely shift the outcome. Strangely enough, they perform better when you say something like, “read the question again,” or when you’re polite. 

But don’t worry, Mollick also has a few tactics for getting the best results from your AI interactions. 

Here are the top 5:

  1. Treat AI as a Collaborative Partner
    Don’t just rely on AI to pull answers—engage with it like a teammate. If you were strategizing a marketing campaign with a colleague, you’d ask for their feedback and ideas, right? Do the same with AI.

  2. Provide Comprehensive Context
    Better inputs lead to better outputs. When creating a customer journey map, instead of simply asking, “What’s the best way to target email campaigns?” share details about your audience, their pain points, and past campaign performance.

  3. Iterative Engagement
    Use back-and-forth interactions to refine your queries. For example, you might start by asking AI to draft a social media post, then tweak the tone, length, or focus based on your preferences. AI doesn’t tire, so you can refine endlessly to get the perfect result.

  4. Avoid Overcomplicating Prompts
    While complex prompts can sometimes be useful, clear and straightforward instructions are usually sufficient.

  5. Invest Time in Practice
    You need to spend at least 10 hours experimenting with your AI tools to understand their quirks and capabilities. If you’re using a tool like Jasper, for example, test out different styles of content—blog posts, ad copy, email sequences—and you’ll soon develop an instinct for how it fits into your workflow.

Mollick’s advice is simple—if you want to understand AI, just start using it. The more you engage with it, the more naturally it will fit into your workflow and everyday life.

Want the full article? Visit the One Useful Thing blog.

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