5 AI tips and tricks for small businesses

With Artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly evolving and taking the world by storm, small businesses need to stay ahead of the curve. For entrepreneurs, leveraging the nascent AI tools can help streamline their operations, improve efficiency, and stay competitive in the business landscape.

This blog dives into 5 key AI tips and tricks that entrepreneurs can readily integrate into their business decision making. But first,

Get to know the big AI chatbot players

New and powerful tools are launching every day, and AI continues to learn and improve its responses based on human interaction and available data. This means chatbots may often come with inherent biases, which is why it’s critical to verify AI-generated responses. What’s more, as the chatbots continue to improve, more companies are offering paid versions of the tools to encourage customers to buy into the advanced offerings.

Here’s a brief overview of two key players.

• Gemini (formerly known as Bard) leverages Google Search’s capabilities, providing small business owners with a powerful tool for detailed search queries across various subjects. For example, you can ask Gemini’s free version to summarize top trends in your industry, write descriptions for your products and services, brainstorm content ideas for your editorial calendar, and much more. It's important to remember that while Gemini is a valuable tool for your search queries, you should verify the information provided.
• ChatGPT, similar to Gemini, offers engaging and creative text generation on its free version, and is known for its ability to produce compelling storytelling and customer-centric dialogue. However, ChatGPT can generate biased and inaccurate content, so fact-checking is crucial.
• There are a number of other options that offer both free and paid services. Learn about other chatbots in the space. 

Now that you know about the two key players, let’s dive into the 5 key AI tips and tricks for your small business. 

1.  Leverage AI capabilities on existing platforms

Many existing platforms already incorporate AI features that small business owners can tap into. Here are some examples of commonly used platforms for small businesses that are leveraging AI capabilities.

• Canva and Adobe Photoshop: Use the platforms’ new AI features to quickly and easily edit your photos and create designs, presentations, whiteboards, videos, brochures and more for your business. 
• Constant Contact: If you use Constant Contact or similar email marketing tools, you may have noticed that new AI features can help you with content generation, offer suggestions based on keywords, automate marketing templates to keep you organized, and much more. 
• Quickbooks: For businesses, managing finances is essential but time consuming. Automate tasks and workflows, like invoicing and building action plans, with QuickBooks’ AI assistant. The assistant can also show you insights about your business and bookkeeping practices, enabling you to make more informed decisions.
• Social media platforms, including WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), etc.: AI capabilities on these platforms can support customer engagement for your business and create AI generated images. Business owners can set up auto responses to comments from users, helping you manage customer responses quickly and efficiently. 

2.  Brainstorm ideas

Feeling stuck or looking for a sounding board to explore new business ideas? AI chatbots can be a great starting point. You can use the prompt “Act as [insert industry] expert. Would [insert idea, service or proposal you want to explore] work in the [insert industry] landscape in 2024, given [insert specific market or details about your business]? Don’t forget to include information about your business goals (expansion, new service, etc.), ideal customer and any other relevant information about your business. 

AI chatbots are able to provide solutions through trend analysis, market research, case studies, target audience analysis, and much more. If you face challenges in getting helpful responses, change the wording or get as specific as you can. Remember that brainstorming with AI chatbots should be a complementary step in exploring your new business ideas and not the only source of exploration. 

3.  Receive assistance with creative writing and proofreading 

Small business owners need to create content for their website, marketing materials and various other purposes. As a small business owner, you may not always have time to craft compelling messaging or may be experiencing writer’s block. 

By providing specific prompts tailored to your business needs, you can guide the AI chatbot to generate more relevant and useful responses. While the platforms are unable to replace human editors, chatbots can be practical tools, saving you time and effort by identifying inaccuracies in your writing and suggesting alternative phrasing. You can use it at the beginning of your creative writing process by brainstorming ideas, in the middle by refining your tone and filling in gaps, and at the end by ensuring a smooth writing flow.

4.  Streamline processes

Besides the platforms mentioned earlier, small businesses can use AI chatbots to help streamline their business processes. How do you get started? Ask the chatbots! They may be able to guide you through:

• Identifying areas of improvement by analyzing your processes
• Recommending tools and software that can automate repetitive tasks, which helps streamline operations

5.  Improve your customer service

Monitoring what your customers are saying online should be an integral part of how you run your business. With review platforms growing, more people are finding businesses and services online and many rely on reviews to make their decisions. AI chatbots can easily analyze customer feedback and identify areas of improvement for your business, and suggest follow-ups based on that feedback. 

Still not sure how you can leverage AI chatbots? Ask them directly! Get to exploring and discover how AI can help you on your business journey.