Jason Cross is the SVP, Digital Presence and Commerce, at Newfold Digital; Jason has a long history of assisting SMBs.
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AI gives entrepreneurs and business owners more innovation, creativity, problem-solving and personalization. AI-driven tools made to bring ideas to life with efficient and effective content generation promise to revolutionize how we think about starting and growing a business.
Both powerful and accessible, AI-powered tools can be an entrepreneur’s best friend, taking on the role of a brainstorming partner, content creator and business accelerator. Just as the internet permanently transformed how we do business, companies are making the most of AI and integrating its capabilities into everyday practices like search—making search engine optimization (SEO) even more vital. While AI continues to evolve, here are a few advantages that entrepreneurs and side hustlers can use right now.
Lowered Barriers To Entry
Small or independent businesses often need to catch up when new technologies are introduced, with high-cost barriers giving larger competitors more opportunities to engage with emerging tech in its early stages. But with AI tools increasingly affordable for everyday use, their growth potential is democratized. Using AI technology, small-business owners have not only evened the playing field with enterprises but now have an adaptability advantage over them.
The reason why is simple: A business with a handful of employees is more adaptable to new AI-backed strategies and behaviors than an industry giant. It can more efficiently capitalize on the benefits these tools have to offer.
AI helps address the pain points that affect smaller businesses most acutely, like creating website content or providing robust and timely customer support. Responsibly automating those tasks can accelerate the growth process for new and small businesses, streamlining the more foundational aspects of everyday operations, leaving more time for innovation, and allowing limited budgets to stretch further by helping employees learn and manage various tasks.
Improved Internal And External Experiences
Many small-business owners are running the show independently, and with so many different responsibilities to account for, it’s easy to be overwhelmed, especially at the outset. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 20% of small businesses fail within the first year. When extended to five years, that figure grows to nearly 50%.
When competing with brands that have more access to capital and the luxury of offering lower pricing, small businesses need to win out the customer experience. Luckily, AI can play an active role in helping them to do so, freeing up time and resources to allow humans to engage with human problems and automate more administrative, predictable tasks.
AI-powered chatbots are a common asset in enhancing customer service by taking on less intricate queries, so entrepreneurs can focus on big-picture goals. From a customer standpoint, it means less time on hold, quicker resolution for support issues, and a more tailored experience optimized for their needs. Meanwhile, new innovations such as ChatGPT (and other LLMs) give small businesses access to affordable solutions that streamline the creation of digital content. Leveraging the power of AI to automate more administrative tasks helps small businesses focus efforts in areas where human traits—such as empathy and critical thinking—are specifically needed to advance growth and brand reputation.
More Effective Marketing
Marketing relies heavily on intuition and research, and while entrepreneurs may have the former, the latter can be challenging to come by with limited resources. The best campaigns are rooted in common sense but backed by data, with companies putting themselves in their customer’s shoes to understand what they’re looking for.
An emerging trend in this space is leveraging AI for market research, a task that many aspiring entrepreneurs often lack the skills or resources to perform. Thanks to AI, this essential step of acquiring and retaining customers becomes more accessible. Historically a time-consuming and resource-intensive practice, insightful data analysis promises to be more efficient and cost-effective with the help of AI.
While findings and figures should always be double-checked, given that these tools are fallible, the ability to interact with powerful AI-powered tools can help entrepreneurs and SMB marketing leaders establish credibility and campaign viability, whether by affirming existing stances or pointing out any logical missteps. AI’s marketing benefits extend beyond everyday initiatives.
AI tools can aid small businesses in coming up with more creative business and domain names, as well as search-engine-optimized website copy, making up for a lack of marketing expertise on the part of the entrepreneur. By utilizing AI to analyze website traffic and where customers are spending the most time online, targeted marketing strategies can be identified and implemented much more effectively.
Multiplying Your Efforts
The military term “force multiplication” refers to the capacity for a particular technology, type of tactics or circumstances to provide an advantage that would only be gained through greater numbers. In other words, a force multiplier makes up for a need for more personnel.
While AI-powered tools can’t fully replace human employees, they can multiply the force of the small-business owner or entrepreneur by providing them with a distinct technological advantage. As the internet has revolutionized communication, information access and global connectivity, AI is poised to reshape the way we interact with technology, solve problems and arrive at decisions. The better you understand and can utilize AI tools, the greater this multiplying factor will be.
As a small-business owner, your unique skills, talents and areas of expertise make you stand out. AI can augment these strengths as a supportive tool in your arsenal. This technology can help bridge the gap between smaller-scale operations and the extensive resources of larger competitors. By maximizing the use of AI as a force multiplier, specifically for tasks like marketing, improving customer experiences, content creation and beyond, you can secure a competitive position in the SMB sector for the foreseeable future.
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