Leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) for your small business is the most impactful move you can make for your business’s growth.
Over the next decade, the AI industry is expected to reach over two trillion dollars.
Learning and utilizing the tech in its early stages can get your business ahead of the game in the coming years.
Here are six ways to leverage AI in your small business’s marketing.
ChatGPT has taken the content writing world by storm. From emails to sales pitches to website copy and beyond, ChatGPT and other AI writing platforms can turn anyone into a writer.
For many, writers and non-writers alike, the topic ideation stage is the most difficult to tackle. Artificial intelligence can do the heavy lifting for you and generate blog intros, paid advertising campaign slogans, brand messaging options and more — all in seconds.
AI writing platforms can even create complete website copy and search-engine-optimized blog articles if you give it the correct prompt.
For a few reasons, it’s not recommended to solely lean on ChatGPT or any other AI writing platform for all of your content needs.
ChatGPT is only versed in online content up until 2021. This means that the statistics it generates might become obsolete, historical event information may remain incomplete and the keywords included in articles could become outdated.
AI is also limited in its ability to match brand voice. Even in the digital age, client-facing content such as website copy, social media posts and emails require human oversight to ensure your business's brand voice is conveyed and that critical details regarding products and pricing are accurate.
Artificial intelligence can help eliminate writer’s block and give you a creative edge in a slump. However, allocating resources to human editing and proofreading will ensure your brand remains intact throughout any AI-generated content.
Sitting down to schedule the month’s social media posts can be a breeze with artificial intelligence.
AI platforms can generate images, GIFs, memes and even videos to match any caption. Stuck on captions? AI can come up with as many as you like in the blink of an eye.
Artificial intelligence can help your social media marketing team plan far beyond the current month. Using AI to brainstorm quarterly campaign ideas, make clever reels and discover new trends can make it feel like your team doubled in creativity and skill.
With anything creative, sometimes something new and fresh is all it takes to get exciting, effective ideas rolling. Let AI be the spark.
Similar to content writing, use AI for social media idea generation with caution. Although AI programs are trained to avoid this, there’s always a risk of AI generating offensive or off-color content. This risk is partly attributed to the limitations of AI models as of 2021 (if you're using ChatGPT), but it's also influenced by the persistence of stereotypes prevalent in marketing and social media.
Make sure that your social media team is ready to make edits or scrap ideas and start again if AI generates anything unsuitable for your brand.
Lastly, depending on the platform you use, some images or videos may generate in poor quality. Though quality issues will lessen as the tech advances, it’s still important to be on the lookout and pay attention to detail so that your business’s social media presence remains professional.
AI integrations abound, and marketers are now able to create entire ebooks, digital downloads, planners and more via artificial intelligence.
Lead magnets are a tried-and-true strategy to generate new leads and gather data from potential clients. Lead magnets offer free value up front and automatically build trust between brand and consumer.
No matter what your business model or industry is, there’s always an option to create a lead magnet.
Use AI in the ideation stage, content writing stage, branding stage and design stage to make a professional and value-packed lead magnet.
As always, make sure you have staff overseeing every step of the creation process to ensure proper branding and accurate content and design.
Chatbots are an increasingly popular customer service tool. Any chatbot you’ve interacted with on the web is powered by artificial intelligence.
Chatbots can free up your employees from taking repetitive calls or responding to emails asking the same thing over and over. A customer can get simple information from the chatbot, or, if needed, the chatbot can quickly connect them with a representative who can help.
It’s become so common to see chatbot applications on websites that it’s almost expected to have one available. In the interest of excellent customer service, website UX and staff productivity, installing an AI-powered chatbot is the way to go.
When installing a chatbot, ensure whichever application you’re using is programmed to deny inappropriate requests, provide conversation receipts and use branded terminology when describing services or departments within your business.
Training an employee to oversee the chatbot and intervene if the bot is unable to adequately address the inquiry is essential when incorporating an AI-powered chat. For better or worse, the experience a customer has with the bot will be attributed to your brand and it’s best to have human personnel on standby.
Creating hyper-personalized emails is all about audience segmentation. Artificial intelligence can help you segment your email lists based on demographics, engagement and where they fall in the buyer’s journey.
Focused segmentation, along with including the recipient’s first name, can make for an effective email with a personalized touch.
You can also use AI to generate unique email subject lines, preview texts and clever introductions to further enhance the email’s effectiveness.
Remember to have a skilled proofreader and email marketer review all AI-generated content and list segments before hitting send.
Paid advertising platforms have been using artificial intelligence for quite some time. From bidding to audience compilations to dynamic placements, AI is a key driver of any paid advertising campaign’s success.
Outside of paid advertising platforms like Google, Facebook and LinkedIn ads, using AI to generate creative ad copy and image combinations can spark ingenuity and new campaign themes.
Having a human paid advertising specialist build out campaigns, make optimizations and present reports will ultimately yield the best results for your campaigns. However, campaigns created with assistance from AI can save time and mental energy by taking over repetitive and mundane tasks.
AI tools have become the norm for starting projects and generating ideas. Pairing the time-saving power of AI and the expertise and creativity of a digital marketer, or digital marketing agency, can yield high ROI and offer newfound time and energy for more important tasks.
Artificial intelligence in marketing and business is the future of the digital marketing world, and it’s happening now. Whatever your goals are for your business in the next few months, leveraging AI for your small business’s marketing should be on the list.
If you need a trusted digital marketing partner to help your small business grow online, RevLocal can handle it. We specialize in creating personalized and effective digital marketing solutions for small businesses and multi-location brands that withstand rapidly changing landscapes.
Contact us today for a free consultation and to learn more about our digital marketing services.
Taylor Rice, Blog Contributor
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