Artificial intelligence is not just a trend of the moment, it is a powerful innovation poised to drive growth, efficiency and enhanced productivity that will transform the business world. Millions of entrepreneurs have already jumped on this trend, by learning how to use AI for small business marketing.
As a small business entrepreneur struggling with time management, and dwindling productivity, artificial intelligence could be the game changer that will drive increased turnover and overall business growth if you find ways to harness it effectively.
Unfortunately, since AI and its mechanisms is still relatively new in the business world, most businesses are still struggling to get a hang of it, talk less of understanding it.
As someone who’s gained immense benefit using AI tools in business, in this article, I’ll be guiding you through the various ways you can benefit from AI and how you can use this innovation to boost your business, in the following paragraphs.
Identify Business Needs
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Before getting to implement Artificial intelligence (AI) for small business, it is important to understand the concept of AI which is basically a technology that enables the use of machines to simulate human intelligence, by using data to arrive at informed decisions.
As soon as this is sorted, you can then get over to the first first step to use AI for small business marketing which starts with identifying the area of your business where Artificial intelligence will be helpful in increasing your business productivity.
This is crucial because even though AI tools are important in enhancing business efficiency and productivity, it might not just be applicable in every aspect of a business, depending on the nature of your business.
Instead of looking at implementing artificial intelligence in the entirety of a business, you want to identify critical areas where it will lead to best performance while reducing your tasks.
This can include areas where you perform repetitive functions like reply to frequently asked questions, scheduled newsletters, reply-focused emails etc. where AI automation tools can be really helpful with.
The moment you decide on these areas you can then create a framework that will be useful for you as you set up the AI tools to perform specific functions.
Customer Service Automation
Customer service and support automation has been one of the best ways to use AI for small business marketing and efficiency. And most entrepreneurs are getting to find their feet around it here.
As a small business on a budget with limited number of staff, sometimes getting the opportunity to reply clients instantly can be quite a challenge.
With AI Chatbots, you can implement instant customer support, reply to frequently asked questions or give some general assistance to users, right on your website or mobile application.
To get started, work on identifying key questions or areas where the majority of your users are always getting to reach out to you for assistance.
As soon as this is sorted, you can then begin enhancing customer interactions by implementing AI-powered chatbots to offer assistance based on these pre-set questions and requests.
Since these virtual assistant chatbots are pre-programmed, it gets easy to have them handle routine queries, provide instant support, and even guide users through the purchasing process, while you focus on other areas.
Done well, this will not only improves customer satisfaction it’ll also free up human resources for more complex tasks.
Personalized Advertising
Another important way most entrepreneur are using AI for small business marketing is through the use of personalized advertising, on digital platforms.
Using data analytic tools, Artificial Intelligence can enable businesses to create personalized marketing campaigns based on customer experiences, expectations and behaviors.
Leveraging customer behavioral patterns, these kinds of campaigns are always predictive. They are optimized to deliver better ROI and overall effectiveness, compared to other marketing options.
Campaigns like this can easily be run on almost any kind of platform but they are quite popular on social media and search engine focused advertising like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google PPC Advertising etc.
Cyber Security Implementation
In the cyber security world, Artificial intelligence is an excellent tool used by businesses in tracking and stopping potential threats as well as real threats in real time.
For businesses running large scale digital platforms like websites, mobile applications, online portals, etc., one of the best ways you can use AI for small business marketing is by putting together cyber security focused AI tools and optimizing it to detect and respond to potential threats, automatically.
Some of these tools can come in the form of web applications like WordFence among others. And they can be configured to scan and destroy a wide range of digital threats including malware, viruses, forced login etc.
Considering that the cyber security industry has experienced one of the most visible applications of AI in digital history, like most small businesses, you can explore this area to safeguard your digital asset while keeping your business full proof against data breach.
Email Optimization
For businesses that rely on email marketing to drive conversion and growth, artificial intelligence tools can improve your email marketing effectiveness in many different ways.
For example, in the area of customer acquisition, with AI driven email marketing tools, you can categorize each user acquired via email subscription into different segments based on their subscription purpose or specific needs.
Furthermore, you can use AI automation to create templates, categorize and send out different email newsletters for the different categories of signed up users you have, on specific days.
And finally, when it comes to email marketing, majority of businesses have found a way to use AI for small business marketing by setting up and managing subscribed email users automatically, without the hassles of repeating the processes consistently.
Enhanced Customer Targeting
One of the ways entrepreneurs use AI for small business marketing is in the area of enhanced customer targeting which has been very effective, regardless of the size of the business.
With the huge amount of data generated from AI analytics tool placed on websites and mobile applications, businesses using these tools are now equipped with more information to evolve a better understanding of the inner workings of the platforms as well as user preferences.
Using this data, these entrepreneurs can get to make adjustments or fine tune their workings in order to create better outcomes and improved ROIs.
Take for example, in the area of content marketing, with analytics tools like Monster Insights, you can identify the kind of content that’s performing very well with the users. With this information, you can find ways to create more of such content for your audience, in order to improve on your performance.
Similarly, Artificial Intelligence tools can give businesses ideas on worst performing content, product, and services and or ideas. It can even go further to offer perspectives on why these items are performing poorly.
With such information, businesses can get to make necessary adjustment that will drive better performance.
Content Marketing Automation
Content Marketing automation is one of the major areas business owners easily get to use AI for small business marketing.
Although content creation, marketing and distribution has become a key factor when it comes to business visibility and growth, finding time to create and promote content consistently has always posed a huge task for small businesses with a few to zero staff.
This is because not only are there other tasks to cater for, the process of ideation, creation and distribution of content can be tasking and challenging.
To get around these, some businesses are embracing AI automation tools especially in the area of distribution and delivery across platforms.
So, instead of creating and posting content whenever you’re scheduled to create one, with AI Automation tools, you get to create, front-load and schedule your posts to be published automatically on specific days as you choose.
This can be done for content across different platforms be it blogs, social media or emails. And when done right, content automation can free up time and resources for other aspects of your business.
Final Words
Artificial intelligence is not only evolving pretty fast, it is becoming a fast paced solution that’s improving efficiency, productivity and profitability for businesses of all kinds.
From areas of improved business decision making to automation and cyber security, AI is setting a pathway that’s reducing expenses while enhancing performance for businesses at different levels.
Regardless of your kind of business, it’s possible you’re already using artificial intelligence empowered tools in some form. And if this is the case, you can find ways to intentionally use it to drive even far better and more sustainable outcomes for your business, using the ideas in this guide.
You can get started today. And of course to find even better ways to implement AI for small business marketing and drive enhanced growth, reach out to us here.
Now, it’s over to you. What are your thoughts on the prospects of AI driven business growth? Drop you comments below.
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