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Incorporating AI into your marketing strategy will soon be table stakes. In fact, marketing professionals are already adopting the technology – and fast. According to Survey Monkey’s latest report, 56% of marketers say their company is taking an active role in implementing and using AI. For small business owners who have been hesitant to incorporate AI into their marketing strategies, the harsh reality is AI is a necessary tool to keep up with the rapidly evolving digital landscape.
Leveling the playing field
AI is one of the many ways small businesses can level the marketing playing field with larger competitors, as there is opportunity to do more with less resources. That said, taking the step to leverage the tech in your marketing strategies is smart, but how you choose to use it is even more significant.
“For small business owners just starting with AI to market their business, proceed with caution. Always start small and experiment in one area to ensure it fits your needs prior to expanding to other facets of your marketing funnel,” said Petr Marek, CEO and Co-Founder of Invoice Home. “When used properly, AI can be an advantageous tool in balancing automation with authenticity, maintaining a human voice while using AI for speed and efficiency.”
According to a recent survey from my company, Prosper Insights & Analytics, nearly 2 in 5 (38.9%) of American executives and business owners state one of their concerns about the recent developments in AI is it needs human oversight. Marek stresses the importance of maintaining accuracy in your brand voice when using AI.
“Your team should always be reviewing AI-generated content to ensure brand messaging stays consistent. The use of AI in promotional materials hasn’t been well received lately, which is why it’s critical to include human oversight, ensuring your brand voice and message stays authentic as you continue to build trust with your customers.”
So, how should you use it?
With several complex AI tools on the market, evaluating which is best for you can be overwhelming. The first step should be determining how you plan to use AI, and from there, deciding which tool is best. For small business owners who may already be hesitant to adopt AI, opt for a simple tool without all the bells and whistles.
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When starting out, consider using AI for more time-consuming or repetitive tasks and fast ideation that will support the customer experience, such as:
- Copywriting and proofreading – checking grammar and punctuation, writing social media captions
- Organizing creative content ideas in a succinct layout
- Administrative tasks – drafting email content, setting up automated reminders
- Planning marketing calendars
- Supporting customer service tasks – drafting FAQ responses, summarizing tickets
Once you understand the basics of AI and become comfortable with using it, take it one step further and dip your toes into:
- Audience targeting and segmentation – AI-powered analytics can identify customer trends and help you tailor your brand messaging
- Analyze performance data – dig deeper into performance tracking and optimization
- Campaign performance – AI can offer real-time insights on what’s working and what isn’t
How to use AI responsibly and prepare your team for implementation
While a very helpful tool, using AI without a clear strategy can also be harmful to your business. A few areas to keep an eye on consistently are:
- Cross-checking results/data – when using AI for both customer communication and financial forecasting/reporting, you should always have a second set of eyes analyzing the results. AI is an assistant not a replacement for human judgment. In marketing specifically, not cross-checking copy to ensure it is not too generic or that it maintains your brand voice is a huge miss
- Relying on AI to do it all – AI is not a magic fix, but instead can speed up time-consuming, easily automated manual tasks. Overreliance on AI without understanding how the tools work or their limitations can get you in hot water
- Trusting AI tools with sensitive customer/financial data – there are privacy risks associated with using AI, so be smart about the information you’re sharing with these tools
For small business owners training others to use these tools, it’s imperative to teach your team to treat AI as a helpful assistant rather than a final decision maker. This means trying it out in low-risk areas first before broader application (i.e., first drafts not final messaging), avoiding feeding sensitive data and information to third-party tools and clearly defining goals and boundaries. If you’re unsure how to approach this, invest in AI education and hands-on training such as workshops, online courses, or mandatory vendor demos.
AI will be a long-term competitive equalizer for small businesses that are willing to learn and adapt to the technology. While we’re seeing the short-term impact now, such as enhanced productivity, faster content production, and cheaper operations, in the long term, SMBs will be able to compete with bigger corporations. This means more automation, enhanced personalization and analytics that will help owners understand what’s next and what this means for the bottom line.
Disclosure: The consumer sentiment study referenced above was conducted by my company, Prosper Insights & Analytics. This is the same dataset used by the National Retail Federation, and available from Amazon Web Services, Bloomberg, and the London Stock Exchange Group for economic benchmarking.
