How to Run ChatGPT Ads: Step-by-Step Guide for Malaysian Businesses

To run ChatGPT Ads in Malaysia, start by creating an eligible OpenAI Ads Manager account. Then choose your campaign objective, set your budget and targeting, organise ad groups, write Context Hints, prepare your creatives and configure conversion tracking. Once your ads are approved and your account is ready, they may begin appearing as sponsored placements to eligible ChatGPT users.

Sounds simple enough, right?

But if you’re a Malaysian business owner or marketer already managing Google Ads, Meta Ads and monthly KPIs, the challenge isn’t finding the launch button.

It’s figuring out which settings will actually help you acquire customers without wasting your advertising budget.

Our Malaysian SEO agency will walk you through 10 steps, using examples to explain what to choose, why it matters and what to monitor once your campaign goes live.

What Should You Prepare Before Running ChatGPT Ads?

Before starting, prepare these essentials:

For the following steps, we’ll use a hypothetical Malaysian payroll SaaS company as our main example.

Its goal is straightforward: Generate qualified software demo requests from Malaysian SMEs.

Step 1: Set Up an OpenAI Ads Manager Account

Start by visiting OpenAI Ads Manager.

If your business is eligible for self-service advertising, follow these steps:

1. Select Login or Sign up using an OpenAI account.
2. Enter your business website to begin creating an ad, or skip directly to Ads Manager.
3. Complete your advertiser and business information.
4. Confirm your billing country, currency and time zone.
5. Set up your billing profile and payment method.
6. Add your brand logo and complete any required verification.

For Malaysian businesses, check that your company details match the legal entity responsible for advertising payments.

For instance, your registered company might be Abang Joseph Solutions Sdn Bhd, while customers recognise your payroll software under a different brand name.

OpenAI allows advertisers to manage their account, brand and legal names separately.

A few things to watch out for:

• Your account country, currency and time zone cannot be changed after creation.
• Some advertisers may need to complete additional verification.
• If an agency is managing the account, grant appropriate user permissions rather than sharing login credentials.

Tip: Have your finance team confirm the billing details before creating campaigns. It’s much easier than sorting out mismatched invoices later.

Step 2: Focus On a Campaign Objective 

Once your account is ready, navigate to Create → Create campaign.

ChatGPT Ads currently supports three main campaign objectives.

For conversion campaigns, the billing options include oCPC and oCPM. These optimise delivery towards supported conversion events, but you are not charged per completed conversion.

What Should Your Business Choose?

Let’s consider three examples.

• Ecommerce Brand: A skincare company launching a new collection could use Views to build awareness.
• Professional Services: An accounting firm seeking SME enquiries could use Conversions when suitable event tracking is available.
• SaaS Company: A payroll software provider looking for demo registrations could focus on Conversions once its setup and eligibility allow it.

For our payroll SaaS example, completed demo requests are more commercially useful than website visits alone.

Therefore, a conversion-focused campaign may make sense if the required tracking is configured.

Tip: Choose one primary business objective. Don’t report campaign success based on impressions if your management team expects qualified leads.

Step 3: Calculate How Much Budget You have for ChatGPT Ads 

This is probably the first question your finance manager will ask.

OpenAI’s current campaign documentation lists a minimum daily budget of RM5.50 for MYR-billed accounts.

However, the platform minimum isn’t necessarily enough to gather meaningful performance data.

You can choose between:

• Daily Budget: An average daily spending target measured over a seven-day period. Actual daily spending may fluctuate.
• Campaign-Total Budget: A stricter overall spending limit for the campaign duration.

OpenAI recommends that new advertisers consider daily budgets to monitor delivery and performance. A campaign-total budget may be preferable when an absolute overall spending limit matters.

Example: Planning a RM3,000 Campaign

Let’s say our Malaysian payroll SaaS company has RM3,000 available for an initial 30-day test.

These figures are illustrative calculations, not actual Malaysian ChatGPT Ads benchmarks or guaranteed results.

If the business can afford RM300 per qualified demo request, that might be acceptable.

But if its maximum allowable cost per lead is only RM100, something needs to improve.

Before setting your budget, calculate what you can afford to spend to acquire a customer.

Tip: Keep your first test financially manageable. Don’t take money away from highly profitable Google Ads campaigns unless there’s a clear reason to reallocate it.

Step 4: Choose the Right Location Targeting

Where you advertise should reflect where your customers can actually buy your products or use your services.

ChatGPT Ads supports country-level targeting, with more specific locations available where supported.

However, advertisers should check the location picker because state, city and postcode availability can vary by country.

For example:

Our payroll software company can serve SMEs throughout Malaysia, so nationwide targeting makes sense.

A local dental clinic in Petaling Jaya, on the other hand, may waste money if its ads reach people who cannot realistically visit the clinic.

Some advertisers may also have optional platform, audience inclusion or exclusion settings, depending on account eligibility and available features.

Tip: Check your actual business coverage before choosing targeting. If precise local targeting is unavailable, evaluate whether broader reach is affordable before launching.

Step 5: Structure Your ChatGPT Ads Campaign

A common beginner mistake is putting every product, customer type and message into one ad group.

That makes it difficult to understand what’s working.

ChatGPT Ads uses three levels:

• Campaign: Your overall advertising goal, budget and targeting.
• Ad Group: A collection of advertisements organised around a particular customer need.
• Ad: The actual creative, including its headline, description, image and landing page.

Example: Payroll Software Campaign Structure

Each ad group addresses a slightly different problem.

Someone trying to save administrative time might respond to an automation message.

Another business owner may care more about calculating EPF, SOCSO, EIS and PCB correctly.

Separating these needs allows you to test different advertising messages and relevant landing pages.

Tip: Begin with a manageable number of genuinely different ad groups. Spreading a limited budget across too many overlapping themes may leave you with insufficient data to make decisions.

Step 6: Write Context Hints for ChatGPT Ads

Unlike Google Search Ads, where advertisers commonly organise campaigns around search keywords, ChatGPT Ads lets you add Context Hints at the ad group level.

These are short, natural descriptions of your offering, who it helps and when it may be useful.

They are not exact-match keywords and do not guarantee that ads will appear for particular conversations.

What Makes a Good Context Hint?

Consider our payroll software example.

Too Generic: “Payroll software Malaysia”

More Specific: “Cloud payroll software for Malaysian SMEs looking to automate monthly salary calculations and statutory deductions.”

The second example explains the product, target customer and business problem.

You can also create different hints based on customers’ needs.

Where Can You Find Context Hint Ideas?

Start with information your business already has.

• Sales Enquiries: Questions prospects ask before requesting a quotation.
• Customer FAQs: Problems customers repeatedly need help understanding.
• CRM Records: Customer needs associated with successful deals.
• Product Reviews: Features buyers compare or complain about.
• SEO Research: Informational questions people ask before purchasing.

Avoid stuffing Context Hints with unrelated keywords or copying a Google Ads keyword list directly.

You can learn more about how the platform uses conversational relevance in our guide to how ChatGPT Ads work.

Tip: Think about the customer’s problem first, not the keyword you want to rank for.

Step 7: Create Your ChatGPT Ads with Specific Details

Once you’ve organised your ad groups, it’s time to prepare the advertisements.

A standard ChatGPT Ad includes your brand name, logo, headline, description, landing page and image.

OpenAI recommends short, specific and benefit-focused copy.

Its campaign documentation recommends headlines of approximately 16 to 24 characters and descriptions of 32 to 48 characters, with maximum limits of 50 and 100 characters respectively.

Example: Payroll Software Advertisement

Headline: Simplify SME Payroll

Description: Manage payroll and statutory deductions in one place.

Landing Page: A payroll software page featuring product capabilities and demo booking.

Compare this with:

“Malaysia’s Best Software Company!”

The first advertisement clearly explains what the business offers. The second is vague and makes an unsupported claim.

Try different messaging angles, such as:

• Time Savings: Reduce repetitive monthly payroll work.
• Compliance: Simplify statutory payroll calculations.
• Convenience: Manage employee payroll from one platform.

Use relevant product imagery rather than generic decorative visuals.

If you’re preparing assets for bulk upload, OpenAI’s documented image requirements include square PNG or JPG files, up to 1200 × 1200 pixels.

Tip: Keep each creative focused on one benefit. Your ad should quickly explain why someone might find your offering useful.

Step 8: Have a Landing Page Ready 

Getting clicks is one thing but turning them into customers is another.

Imagine our payroll software company advertising payroll automation but directing visitors to a generic homepage covering accounting, inventory and HR software.

Visitors would need to search for the relevant information themselves (around the navigation bar) and a dedicated payroll page would be more useful.

Your landing page should contain:

• Clear Offer: Explain the product or service immediately.
• Relevant Benefits: Address the problem mentioned in your advertisement.
• Trust Signals: Include genuine testimonials, credentials or case studies.
• Pricing Information: Provide transparent prices or explain how quotations work where appropriate.
• Next Step: Make enquiries, purchases or bookings straightforward.

You might also want to consider a WhatsApp enquiry, just make sure those enquiries can be tracked!

Tip: Open your landing page on your phone and complete the entire enquiry process yourself before spending money.

Step 9: Set Up Conversion Tracking

Without conversion tracking, you may know how many people clicked your ads but not whether those clicks produced business.

ChatGPT Ads supports conversion measurement through:

• OpenAI Pixel: A browser-based method for sending supported website events.
• Conversions API: A server-side method for reporting conversion events.

Advertisers can create a data source within Ads Manager and configure supported standard or custom conversion events.

What Should Malaysian Businesses Track?

For our payroll software company, a submitted demo form should be the primary conversion.

However, the sales team should also record which demo requests become qualified opportunities and paying customers.

Use UTM parameters to identify campaign traffic in Google Analytics 4, for example:

?utm_source=chatgpt&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=payroll_my

UTMs are useful for analytics, but they do not replace OpenAI conversion event configuration.

OpenAI also offers a beta Google Analytics 4 (GA4) connection for eligible advertisers, with early access available through an account manager.

The current beta supports connecting a GA4 property, but conversion event mapping is still being developed.

That means connecting GA4 isn’t the same as having a fully configured OpenAI conversion-tracking system. You’ll still need to set up and test the appropriate conversion events using supported measurement tools.

Tip: Test your conversion event before launching. For WhatsApp enquiries or long B2B sales cycles, connect advertising reports with actual CRM outcomes wherever possible.

Step 10: Launch and Monitor Your ChatGPT Ads

Before launching, check that everything is ready.

Pre-Launch Checklist

• Account verification and billing are complete.
• Campaign objective reflects your KPI.
• Budget and schedule are correct.
• Geographic targeting matches your market.
• Ad groups address distinct customer needs.
• Context Hints accurately describe your offering.
• Headlines, images and descriptions are ready.
• Landing pages work properly.
• Conversion tracking has been tested.

Submit your advertisements for review and confirm their status in Ads Manager.

Once approved, ads can begin delivering when account, billing, scheduling and other campaign requirements are satisfied.

What Should You Check During the First 30 Days?

This is a suggested monitoring framework, not an official OpenAI learning period.

Don’t panic if the campaign takes time to generate useful data.

Check delivery and tracking issues first, then evaluate whether the offer, creative and landing page are attracting the right customers.

Why Might Your ChatGPT Ads Campaign Not Be Performing?

Even a properly configured campaign may experience issues after launch.

Here’s what to investigate before increasing your budget.

For example, if a software company receives 200 clicks but no demo requests, increasing spending won’t necessarily fix the problem.

Review if visitors understand the product, whether the form works and whether the advertisement matches their expectations.

Tip: Record campaign changes and review qualified customer outcomes, not just platform-reported conversions.

What Does a Complete ChatGPT Ads Campaign Look Like?

Let’s put our Malaysian payroll SaaS example together.

This example is hypothetical and should be adjusted to the business’s actual economics and available Ads Manager features.

The company should define what a qualified lead looks like before launching.

For example, a suitable prospect might operate a Malaysian business with at least 10 employees and have authority to evaluate new payroll software.

Should You Manage ChatGPT Ads Yourself or Hire an Agency?

You don’t necessarily need an agency to create your first ChatGPT Ads campaign.

If your business has an experienced paid media team and a manageable advertising budget, self-service campaign management may be okay.

However, campaign management becomes complicated when you need to:

• Coordinate multiple campaigns and customer segments.
• Develop and test different Context Hints.
• Improve landing-page conversion rates.
• Integrate tracking with analytics and CRM systems.
• Compare acquisition costs against existing paid channels.
• Report performance to management.

Businesses should also evaluate how ChatGPT Ads fit alongside Google Ads, Meta Ads and organic AI visibility.

For example, GEO services focus on strengthening organic visibility within AI-generated answers, whereas ChatGPT Ads provide paid sponsored placements.

Conclusion: Ready to Run Your First ChatGPT Ads Campaign?

Eligible Malaysian businesses can create and manage campaigns through OpenAI’s self-service Ads Manager without hiring an agency.

If your business already has an experienced paid media team and a manageable testing budget, running your first campaign in-house may be ideal.

However, specialist support can be valuable when you’re managing multiple campaigns, setting up conversion tracking or trying to improve lead quality and customer acquisition costs.

At Rankpage, our ChatGPT Ads services help businesses plan, launch and optimise campaigns based on customer behaviour, acquisition costs and measurable results.

Need help getting started? Give us a call and our sales team (which is our most experienced SEO heads) will get in touch!

We’ll help you:

• Assess Your Campaign Goals: Identify your audience, budget and expected results.
• Build Your Campaign: Structure ad groups, Context Hints and relevant creatives.
• Prepare for Conversions: Review landing pages and tracking requirements.
• Monitor Performance: Evaluate qualified leads, acquisition costs and optimisation opportunities.

Whether you’re ready to launch or still weighing your options, we’ll help you determine the next practical step for your business. 

Disclaimer: OpenAI may update its ChatGPT Ads policies, features, pricing and advertising requirements from time to time. The information in this article is based on publicly available documentation at the time of writing (October 2026). We encourage readers to refer to OpenAI’s official documentation for the latest updates and requirements before launching their advertising campaigns.

Frequently Asked Questions About How to Run ChatGPT Ads

Can Malaysian Businesses Run ChatGPT Ads Without an Agency?

Yes. Eligible businesses can create and manage campaigns through OpenAI Ads Manager. However, effective campaign strategy, tracking implementation and optimisation may require technical or performance marketing experience.

What Is the Minimum Budget for ChatGPT Ads in Malaysia?

OpenAI currently lists RM5.50 as the minimum daily budget for MYR-billed accounts. This is a platform minimum, not a recommendation for how much businesses should spend to gather meaningful campaign data.

Can ChatGPT Ads Target Customers in Kuala Lumpur or Selangor?

ChatGPT Ads supports more specific geographic targeting where available. Advertisers should check the location picker to confirm which Malaysian states, cities or other locations are supported for their campaign.

Are ChatGPT Ads Context Hints the Same as Google Ads Keywords?

No. Context Hints provide information about your offering and relevant customer situations. They do not act as exact-match targeting rules or guarantee placements for particular prompts.

How Long Does It Take for ChatGPT Ads to Start Running?

Advertisements must complete the required review process, while billing, verification, account status and campaign scheduling must also be valid. Approval and initial delivery times can vary.

How Can I Tell Whether My ChatGPT Ads Are Profitable?

Compare advertising costs against qualified leads, completed sales and customer value. For example, if acquiring a customer costs RM300 and that customer generates RM1,000 in contribution after relevant variable costs, the campaign may be commercially viable, subject to other overheads and profitability requirements.