Small businesses often have it tough out there. They are often competing with bigger, older brands with very limited resources. But here’s the good news — like every true underdog story, there is always a game-changer. Something that gives the underdog an edge. In the business world, that edge is AI for small businesses: powerful tools that level the playing field and help them work smarter, not harder.
AI-powered tools are not just for tech giants anymore — they can be a game-changer for small businesses, too. Everyone who is not living under a rock already knows this by now.
Chances are that most small business owners are already using AI solutions in many ways. But how do you know if you are using them effectively?
If you’re wondering about these, too, we’ve got you. In this post, we are going to explore how to use AI for small businesses to optimize your business processes. We will also give you the lowdown on some free AI tools and how to make the most of them. Ready? Let’s jump in.
Table of contents
Why Should You Consider Adopting AI for Small Businesses?
If you are still holding out on using AI for your small business’s current processes, you are missing out on many benefits. According to a study from the US Chamber of Commerce, 99% of small businesses use at least one AI-powered tool. So, what are you waiting for?
Check this out. Small business owners that use AI tools get to enjoy many benefits. Some of them include helping you to:
- Cut down on costs. It lets you automate tasks like data entry that are repetitive (and boring). Plus, you don’t need an army of employees. Tasks are done in half the time and with fewer mistakes, which helps with reducing costs.
Source: Zapier
- Create personalized campaigns that hit the mark each time. AI tools can give you access to more data about your customers’ preferences. This makes it easier for you to build better campaigns that resonate with them.
- Improve customer service. Using AI-enabled tools for your customer interactions means that you’re always available to handle queries. Besides, your response time is also faster, which means improved customer experience.
- Beat the competition. Everyone likes to keep their eyes on their competition. Well, adopting AI makes in-depth data analysis a breeze, even for absolute newbies. This gives you the insights you need to come up with better marketing strategies.
5 Best Strategies for Implementing AI for Small Businesses into Your Workflow
Now that you know what AI offers, your next question is probably, “How do I get the most out of it?” Here are some of our best tips that you can use right away:
#1 Embrace AI Automation
Automation works best with repetitive tasks. This helps you streamline operations and improve productivity. There are many ways to do this. You can schedule emails, automate data entry, and even your customer service.
For example, during a link-building campaign, you can use AI-powered software to craft personalized outreach emails. You can also schedule them to be delivered to the prospective site owners.
If all that sounds a bit too much, you can start with a simple chatbot that helps answer common customer inquiries. Many small and big brands already use something like this.
Source: Chatbot Guide
#2 Your Pace and Use Cases Matter
Keep in mind that while AI technology is helpful for small businesses, that doesn’t mean it can’t be misused. You want to make sure that you define specific use cases.
For instance, you want to leave the high-value tasks to humans, especially ones that involve decision-making. The same goes for sensitive customer data. You know, like client’s financial details. Things like that are best left to the discretion of human intelligence.
You don’t want to expose your customers to security risks. This will help minimize any issues in case the platform ever gets hacked. So, you remain in charge of your business decisions and use AI for the other stuff.
Plus, it’s always a good idea to start with a small group of your customers. This gives you the opportunity to see how they like the experience before you scale up. If you notice that AI-powered customer communication is not working right, then you need to tweak it. How else do you know if it’s working or not, after all?
If you use AI for customer interactions, you could add a feature where clients give their feedback. Since machine learning gets better over time, you want to make sure that you use real customer service interactions to keep improving the AI model.
#3 Artificial Intelligence and Human Intelligence Pairing Works Best
Don’t be tempted to replace your entire team with assorted artificial intelligence tools. This will backfire badly. Instead, you want to leverage the two work together. We just looked at one example of this earlier, but one more won’t hurt.
If you use generative AI to create content, you should have a person who double-checks things and rewrites big parts of it. Chances are that the AI-generated content will have too much fluff and will most likely be a rip-off of another blog post. The kind that attracts Google’s penalty.
Worse, too much of such AI content can weaken customer trust. That’s why the human touch is so essential for content creation. So, you should edit the content, add your personal anecdotes, and show your personality.
If you can afford it, SEO blog services can give you even more than that. They can ensure that every content resonates better with your audience and is SEO-friendly.
But hang on, generative AI can be used for more than just crafting blog posts. You can use it to wipe up emails and product descriptions and even answer questions in more engaging tones, etc.
Source: Outgrow
#4 AI for Small Businesses Can Help with the Decision-Making Process
Yes, we just said that you need to stay in control of your business decisions. But that doesn’t mean that you should boycott a powerful tool completely. As long as you are not dealing with ethical concerns, you can always use machine learning algorithms for decision making.
So, how this works is that you leverage its ability to analyze tons of customer data. It can use the information gathered to group your clients based on preferences, behaviors, etc. Then, based on the patterns, you can send personalized recommendations to customers.
Wonder how big brands always know when to hop on trends? The right tools can help you observe the market in real time so you can respond to changes faster.
This way, your artificial intelligence (AI) analysis results in smart choices that help the business grow — AI preps and summarizes all the information while you make the decision.
#5 Implementing AI for Inventory Management Works Every Time
Tracking your inventory can be really time-consuming, but this is why implementing AI is such a great idea. You can predict what products your customers will need more and when.
Now, you never have to worry about not knowing when you are running out of stock. Same with accidentally overstocking on stuff no one wants. Best part? You can integrate other AI services to make data analysis and ordering new stock easier.
This way, you can minimize customer issues that revolve around not having enough products. All in all, this is one of those complex tasks AI was built for.
Free AI Tools All Small Business Owners Need to Know About
When trying to make your mark as a small brand in a very competitive market, you know that every dollar counts. So, here are some free artificial intelligence (AI) tools that can help you optimize your workflow:
#1 ChatGPT
Source: ChatGPT
This is one of the most popular natural language processing tools out there. You can teach it to generate human-like content that sounds more consistent with your brand voice. You can then publish this content across multiple platforms to drive traffic.
The same goes for small businesses that need conversational AI tools to improve customer communication. You can get a lot done beyond crafting blogs and emails just by using the free version of the platform.
#2 Grammarly
Most small business owners plan on crafting tons of cool content pieces. But everyone knows that shoddy grammar errors do not make a good impression. You can use Grammarly to catch spelling errors and poor grammar.
Source: Grammarly
This instant proofreading and editing help make your message clearer and more concise.
#3 Canva
Canva is nearly everyone’s favorite design tool. The AI features now make it more powerful than ever. Of course, it won’t replace professional branding and web design services, but it is still an extremely good solution for small businesses.
You can use Canva to create eye-catching visuals for your flyers and social media posts and even come up with some cool logos. Besides, its free Magic Design feature helps you craft stunning presentations.
Source: Canva
#4 Zapier AI for Small Businesses
Zapier AI is a great tool that can help small businesses jump on automation. You can automate workflows across over 7,000 apps without any code setup.
Of course, as a free user, you have limited access to some of these options. But even these basic features can make a big difference in your workflow.
Source: Zapier
How does this work in real life? For example, when a customer interacts with a post on your Facebook channel, you can create a Zapier automation that triggers an action.
In this case, it sends the Facebook post to your preferred AI tool (like ChatGTP), which then analyzes the text sentiment. It then forwards the result to your Slack channel.
This way, you can capture insights for each campaign and then use it to fine-tune your future marketing campaigns. This is a clever way to study customer behavior towards your initiatives and gain insights that improve customer service.
#5 Otter AI for Small Businesses
As a business owner, it’s very important to find solutions for every possible scenario. Especially one that might come in handy for legal or compliance purposes. This is where the Otter AI tool comes in.
Source: Otter
It meets some very important small business needs — transcribing and summarizing meeting notes. This saves you the hassle of manually taking notes during your calls. You don’t have to worry about losing track of who said what and when.
Plus, the handy search feature makes it easy for you to track down conversations that have taken place in the past.
Conclusion
AI adoption has changed the way small businesses handle their operations forever. The best part? There are many solutions with AI for small businesses that can improve your workflow without costing you a penny. Try out the tips and tools we listed in this blog. You just might find the one you love.
