Emerging Tech Roundup: Ads in Apple Maps, ChatGPT's "Company Knowledge," and Reddit vs. Perplexity
Here's what matters for marketers this week-and what you can do about it. Short, practical, and focused on outcomes.
Apple is reportedly bringing ads to Maps
If Apple rolls ads into Maps, local intent becomes a bigger channel than many brand teams are budgeting for. Think high-intent searches-nearby, "open now," and directions-paired with placements that look a lot like promoted pins or search results.
The upside: incremental foot traffic and measurable revenue from "last mile" moments. The catch: competition will rise fast, and inventory may be tight in dense markets.
- Claim and optimize your profile via Apple Business Connect (photos, categories, hours, attributes, and UTM-tagged links).
- Audit current local spend (Google Maps, Waze, Yelp) and set a test budget reserve for Apple Maps the moment it opens.
- Standardize naming conventions across locations to improve query match and reduce duplicate listings.
- Tie Maps clicks to store visits and POS where possible; if not, use coupon codes or geo-lift studies.
ChatGPT adds "company knowledge"
ChatGPT's new feature centralizes your brand's facts-docs, style guides, product specs-so teams get consistent answers without digging through folders. That means faster content, cleaner QA, and fewer off-brand outputs.
Used well, this becomes your always-on brand brain for support macros, sales enablement, campaign briefs, and onboarding. Guardrails still matter: permissions, version control, and compliance reviews.
- Start with a small, high-value corpus: brand voice, product catalog, pricing rules, FAQ, and compliance do's/don'ts.
- Define owners and update cadence. Out-of-date "truth" is worse than no "truth."
- Create ready-to-use prompts for common workflows (briefs, landing pages, email variants, ad copy QA).
- If you need enterprise controls, review ChatGPT Enterprise and run a 30-day pilot with a content or CX pod.
- Want structured training for your team? See the Marketing Specialist track at Complete AI Training and our ChatGPT guides.
Reddit sues Perplexity
Reddit's legal move signals tighter control over data and how AI companies can use it. Expect more enforcement, more licensing, and more scrutiny on how content is sourced.
For marketers, this touches distribution, social listening, and SEO. If training data sources and API access change, some tools you rely on might shift terms or performance.
- Inventory your stack: note any tools that lean on scraped/forum data. Ask vendors for data provenance and licensing status.
- Review your own content terms and robots rules to ensure they reflect your data-sharing posture.
- Diversify audience development: email, community, and first-party channels reduce platform risk.
- Adjust measurement plans if social listening coverage changes; add direct community feedback loops where possible.
What to do this week
- Local: Clean up Apple Maps listings and prep a test plan (targets, bids, creative, tracking) for when ads open.
- AI ops: Stand up a "company knowledge" workspace with a tight document set and clear governance.
- Risk: Map tool dependencies to data sources and draft a contingency if licensing or access shifts.
- Team enablement: Document 5 prompts your marketers will use daily and standardize them across the org.
Keep it simple: prioritize local intent, codify your brand's knowledge, and reduce platform risk. That's how you turn headlines into growth.
Your membership also unlocks:
