AI for the Cozy Little Corner Shop…! – AI for Small Business Marketing.
Reflecting on the dawn of the year 2023, we all witnessed AI gaining momentum in many large-scale business environments, allowing them to leverage their income by leaps and bounds. The world was awe-struck by the release of Elon Musk’s Open AI Platform, accompanied by Google’s Bard, and they were the talk of the town all over the world those days. It’s evident that AI brings a host of opportunities to the table when considering the point of view of operating and marketing large-scale businesses. Unfortunately, many of the courageous small-scale business owners don’t know that AI isn’t just for tech giants like Google to flaunt their cooperation. Yes! AI is now accessible and beneficial for all small and medium-scale entrepreneurs to tide over the multiple difficulties faced in marketing their cozy little corner shops. This article intends to shed some light on the role of AI in small business marketing, its benefits, and ways of using AI marketing, along with some practical scenarios of using AI and some handy AI marketing strategies
The role of AI in small Business marketing
In this tech-savvy world, as stated in the Content at scale blog, close to 80% of businesses are now using or exploring AI. This implies the notion that using AI marketing in small-scale businesses is not an alien concept in the international scenario but quite new to the Sri Lankan context. The role of AI in small business marketing, if correctly interpreted, is more of a multifaceted concept. It encompasses various technologies designed to make digital marketing easier, more efficient, and more productive. The scope of AI in marketing starts with data analysis, extending over sentiment analysis, predictive analytics, programmatic advertising, and personalization based upon the customers’ past behavior and preferences.
In simple terms, AI can be used to analyze customer insights, unravelling the target audience’s behavior, preferences, and needs more effectively. AI tools aid in offering personalized experiences to the customers of emerging small-scale businesses, from product recommendations to tailored marketing messages. Email campaigns, social media posting, and content creation are no longer time and energy consuming deals for struggling small-scale entrepreneurs.
AI arrives on the scene by automating many of the above tasks where entrepreneurs can breathe in relax while sipping a hot cup of coffee with zero hassle. Making informed decisions about the unforeseen future of the business can be laid comfortably on the mighty shoulders of AI tools. Thereby, AI can be used to forecast market trends and customer behavior. Termed as predictive analysis, this can help entrepreneurs map their business to the top of the most income-generating business. AI will escort them carefully to their dream destinations.
Perks of using AI for small business marketing
The chance of seeing your newly setup small business rank higher in internet user queries is extremely remote. But, thanks to AI-assisted Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tools, you can improve your business’s visibility in search results. A small coffee shop or diner can climb up the list of search rankings and optimize their websites to rank highly in queries like “cafes around my area”. Furthermore, with AI tools like Frase.io, you can optimize content as well as track content performance, analyze the data in real time, and take the necessary measures for better results. Drafting, editing and delivering the right content at the right time is really challenging for entrepreneurs, but AI-powered content creation tools come to their rescue at that critical hour. By using AI tools such as Jasper.ai and Copy.ai, entrepreneurs can generate high-quality content quickly and efficiently. Whether it be drafting a product description, email copies, blog posts, or social media posts, the magical hands of this AI can generate engaging copies within a split second.
Moreover, AI tools can clear away many hurdles that lie across the path of video marketing. Just imagine if you’re deciding on a video marketing campaign to boost your sales; starting from scratch will be a tedious task. Storytelling, content, portrayal, and depiction can all be done seamlessly by AI-powered tools, removing lot of burden off the shoulders of struggling entrepreneurs. For instance, Pictory.ai, which is a cost-effective AI tool, can create shareable videos from long scripts in a matter of a few seconds. Also, Designs.ai uses AI technology to design the banners, posters, and logos needed to promote your small business in a flash of seconds.
Some creative ways to use AI for small business marketing
Whether it’s your small coffee shop, clothing shop, or fitness studio, having an online presence is key to fighting for better customer reach in the present digital era. But, before the advent of AI tools, building a website for your cozy little corner shop with a broken owner would be a dream. Thanks to AI, today small businesses can create their own website by entering some prompts, and the website will be designed in a blink of an eye. Platforms such as Wix and their ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) software automatically generate a template tailored to your needs.
Another way that small-scale business owners can use AI wisely is by optimizing the user experience (UX) of their website. Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques can evaluate the quality and usability of your website instantly. They offer useful data like user locations, the sites they visit the longest, and the areas they click the most frequently. This consumer information aids in pinpointing places on your website that need work.
Moreover, when it comes to building the brand identity of your small business, AI-powered tools can help you go a long way towards elevating the online presence of your business. Starting from square one, creating a unique logo, and all the way up to creating posters, AI can lend you an immense supporting hand. For instance, logo generators on the Looka and Designhill platforms generate logos automatically depending on your responses to their prompts. In the meantime, websites like Canva and Designs.ai provide text-to-image generator features that make producing high-quality graphics fast and simple.
Another aspect that you could investigate when using AI assistance is how to use it to manage your social media presence. Platforms like Hootsuite cut off your cost to pay for a social media manager by acting as a comprehensive social media management platform. Scheduling posts across multiple channels is not its only duty. Going beyond that, it uses machine learning to provide tailored content suggestions that appeal to your target market and strengthen your brand voice in the face of larger competitors with more funding.
Designing an AI Marketing Strategy for your business
Incorporating AI tools to market your small business cannot be done in a haphazard manner. The business owners are constantly looking for emerging technologies that would best serve their business needs. The roadmap that every business owner or marketer should follow in this voyage starts with recognizing the need, then moves through careful exploration of solutions, initial challenges, skill acquisition, and beneficial partnerships.
You must first and foremost comprehend the prerequisites. There are many different facets of marketing, including social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing, and more. What then, is the goal you hope to achieve with the aid of AI tools? It’s advisable that you specify your objectives precisely. Marketing executives determine which framework to use based on the size of the firm and its operational scope. Here, marketers must decide between utilizing sophisticated machine learning technologies or straightforward task automation. Moreover, if they want to use these tools as integrated apps incorporated into current systems or as standalone programmers.
Small enterprises have fewer resources and AI expertise. Marketers need to consider several variables, including ROI, experience, affordability, and practicality. This is the reason that many businesses start out with basic task automation software and gradually move to more sophisticated machine learning tools. To lower the chance of losing a potential customer, customer-facing apps are frequently deployed later in the process. Therefore, when deciding which way to use AI in their businesses, CMOs must consider the advantages and disadvantages. The dynamics of markets are ever evolving. Executives need to monitor both internal and external information sources in addition to keeping a watch on their rivals. They periodically need to adjust their marketing strategies in light of this.
Conclusion
While celebrating the bundle of perks that come with AI-powered tools in small business environments, the gloomy side of the sunny morning also cannot be ignored. Small-scale business owners and marketers will face numerous challenges, such as data privacy and security concerns. Furthermore, small-scale start-ups would lack the expertise of large-scale businesses when integrating AI technology with human involvement. Whereas only focusing on the grey clouds is not the solution to the problems. Bursting the clouds and yielding the harvest nourished by the rain will be the best step. Therefore, using AI-empowered tools in small-scale businesses is highly encouraged.
