A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Ads for Your Business Using Artificial Intelligence

Graphic designers and copywriters across LinkedIn and Reddit have been shaking in their boots for the past few months, worrying that robots will take their jobs. Or at least, that’s what recent netizen chatter would have you believe.

“It’s over for us,” many designers have quipped half-jokingly. “Time to develop some new skills.” 

Human writers have even begun chronicling their experiences going head-to-head with AI technology, saying things like, “Look, humans still write better headlines than machines!” 

The arrival of Midjourney and ChatGPT has certainly ruffled a lot of feathers in the creative community.

What the heck is Midjourney?

Midjourney is an artificial intelligence program that creates images from textual descriptions. Let me put it another way to clarify: you type words into Midjourney, and highly detailed, original images are created from thin air. 

...and ChatGPT?

I'll let the robot answer for itself:

I am an AI language model created by OpenAI, trained on a large dataset of text from the internet. My abilities include answering questions, generating text, translating text from one language to another, and summarizing long texts. I can also respond to prompts by continuing a text or by completing a given sentence. I am not a human, but rather an artificial intelligence designed to process and generate human-like text.

Combine the two—Midjourney for original imagery and ChatGPT for headlines and advertising copy—with a little digital elbow grease and you've got yourself an AI system for creating graphics that can be used for advertising or social media.

But will the results be any good?

You'll see in the examples below that high quality images are definitely something Midjourney is capable of creating. ChatGPT, while not perfect, at least provided a good starting point for my headlines. In some of these examples, I used what the AI provided, almost verbatim. In others, I was merely inspired by the chatbot.

In all cases, Photoshop was required to add the headlines to the Midjourney images. Without design experience, you could achieve a similar effect by using a tool like Canva or Powerpoint (drop the image in, add text, screenshot). 

Example Ad #1

What I was trying to do:

The End Result:

How Did We Get Here?

What I typed into Midjourney:
"a wall of overflowing corrugated boxes with a tired person at a desk with a computer, head in their hands, epic lighting, realistic, detailed, 4k"

The Midjourney Results:



What I asked of ChatGPT:
"Can you come up with three clever headlines for a software company that helps retailers get out from under the chaos of eCommerce return management?"

ChatGPT's Response:

Example Ad #2

What I was trying to do:

Create a (fake) ad for an imaginary company called ProductiVision—I even asked AI to come up with the company name. ProductiVision is a physical analytics platform for warehouses and fulfillment centers.


The End Result:

How Did We Get Here?

What I typed into Midjourney:
"artificial intelligence measuring movement and productivity in a modern warehouse environment, detailed, futuristic, epic lighting, 4k"

The Midjourney Results:



What I asked of ChatGPT:
"Can you come up with three attention-grabbing headlines for a software solution that measures the metaphorical heartbeat of a warehouse environment? Things such as physical movement, productivity, and order fill rate?"

ChatGPT's Response:

Example Ad #3

What I was trying to do:

Create a (fake) ad for an imaginary company called NaviGait—I even asked AI to come up with the company name. NaviGait is a 3D Wayfinding and Mapping Solution for Corporate and University Campuses.


The End Result:

What I typed into Midjourney:
"a digital screen with a 3d Map of a large corporate campus, mid day, soft light, shallow depth of field, realistic, detailed"

The Midjourney Results:



What I asked of ChatGPT:
"Can you come up with three clever ad headlines for a company whose software creates interactive 3d maps of physical campuses like colleges, hospitals, and shopping malls?"

ChatGPT's Response:

Ready to try it for yourself?

Using Midjourney for AI Image Generation

Step 1
Join the Midjourney Beta
Head over to MidJourney.com and click Join the Beta

Step 2
Create a Discord Account
Next, you'll be taken to Discord. The magic of MidJourney happens within Discord, so to speak. If you happen to have an account already, you can use it, but if you don't, you'll need to create a Discord account by clicking on the line that reads:
Need an Account? Register (see screenshot below)

Discord is a free communications app that lets you share voice, video, and text chat with friends, game communities, and developers. It has hundreds of millions of users, making it one of the most popular ways to connect with people online. 

Step 3
Head back to Midjourney.com
Once your Discord account is created and you're logged in, open a new browser tab and navigate back to MidJourney.com—once again, click Join the Beta. (We know this is clunky)

Step 4
Accept Midjourney Invite
You should now see a modal window that reads: You've been invited to join Midjourney. Beneath this message, click Accept Invite.

Step 5
Confirm Your Email Address
Well done. You have now landed in the Midjourney server inside Discord. However, Discord may require you to confirm your email address before you can see what's going on.

Step 6
Enter MidJourney
With your email address confirmed, you should now be free to experiment with Midjourney. Within the Discord interface, you may need to click the white sailboat icon to bring you to the Midjoruney server (see below)

Step 7
Go into a Newcomer Room
You'll see a list on the left-hand side of the interface you'll see a list of rooms within Midjourney. Find and click on a 'newbies' room (under the Newcomer Rooms heading).

Step 8
Generate your first AI Image!
At the bottom of the interface, you'll see an input box with a plus sign and placeholder text that reads Message #newbies-# (see below). This is where you'll type instructions for Midjourney so that it knows what image you want to create.

You'll start by typing "/imagine" and then the word prompt will pop up—you'll enter the details of what you want Midjourney to create immediately after the word prompt. When you're finished, hit enter, and your prompt will be added to the stream—it will take about 90 seconds for your image to be created.

Midjourney will create four variations based on your prompt. When complete, you'll be given options to either:

1. Upscale—which means add detail—to one of the four options or;
2. Create slight variations on your favorite options
   
   

Using ChatGPT for AI-Based Copywriting

Step 1
Create an OpenAI Account
Navigate to chat.openai.com and create a new account using your email, Google, or Microsoft account. (see below)

Step 2
Start using ChatGPT!
That's it. You'll now see an interface like the one below, where you can make requests and ask questions of the chatbot that will instantaneously respond. Pretty cool, eh?

It's worth noting that your conversations/sessions with ChatGPT are saved on the left hand side and can be resumed later.

Happy creating!