AI for Small Business: 9 Unexpected Ways It Can Save You Time and Sanity

I am Janice Hostager , your marketing bestie and fractional CMO , here to simplify the chaos that is small business life . So today we're going to talk about something you might be avoiding , or maybe not . Maybe you've embraced it , and that is AI . But don't worry , we're not talking about becoming a tech guru or writing in code .

I'm just going to walk you through nine surprising ways that you can start using AI right now to work smarter , not harder , especially if you're running a one-woman show or feeling stretched thin these days , and if you feel like you could use a little help with your AI adventures , I have a free list of Chat GPT prompts that'll help you get the most out of using

that platform or other AI platforms . So stay tuned and I'll tell you how to get it at the end of the episode .

So first up , let's bust some myths . Here's the thing AI doesn't have to be overwhelming or expensive or creepy , which I know it kind of can be sometimes . I firmly believe that AI will never completely replace the human voice . Only you can add stories and real world experiences that you've encountered . You're not replacing yourself .

You're just outsourcing to an invisible intern who works fast , doesn't take bathroom breaks and doesn't skip a deadline . This is not about doing less . It's about doing what only you can do and handing off the rest .

So here we go . Here are nine ways that AI can help you right now . So here we go . Here are nine ways that AI can help you right now . Ai can turn your voice into content .

Tools like Otter AI or Descript will transcribe your thoughts into editable text , which is perfect for podcasting , brainstorming , writing blog posts while you're folding laundry or while you're going for a walk . You just need to talk and AI will write .

When I lived in Wisconsin and I had to take twice weekly drives back and forth to Minnesota to help care for a sick parent , I would write full blog posts by voice using Otter while I drove . It worked then and is so much better now .

If you're crunched for time or , like me , just can't stand wasting time in a car I know I'm a little type A this is a super helpful thing . Number two, AI can summarize long content into short nuggets of social media goodness . That blog post you just wrote ? AI can turn it into a LinkedIn post , Instagram caption , emails and scripts .

For years , we've been telling clients to repurpose content . AI makes that so simple . Start with your long-form content and let AI create the rest . It's the ultimate repurposing machine . You can try out ChatGPT , Jasper or Copyai and see which one you like the best . Number three, AI can auto-tag and sort emails .

If your inbox is the digital equivalent of your junk drawer , hand raised here, AI can help . Although many experts recommend turning your inbox over to a virtual assistant , my experience doing that was a little nerve-wracking , so I was glad when AI came forward to do that task .

Tools like Superhuman , Apple Intelligence or Gmail Smart Labels can prioritize messages , summarize emails and even suggest replies based on your writing style . Cool, right ? I've been using Apple Intelligence for a bit to categorize email and although it works , I feel like I always need to check the various tabs to make sure nothing is misfiled .

But once I decide if I can trust it , I think it will be a game changer for me . Number four, AI can spot trends that you can't readily see , AI can analyze your customer behavior , website analytics or sales data and pull out insights like what time of day people buy , what products are commonly purchased together .

It can alert you to anomalies in web traffic or on certain pages of your site , and you can set up custom insights based on your own particular business and needs . Most of us , me included , don't look at our analytics nearly enough , because it's just a bunch of charts and numbers . It doesn't mean anything unless you can interpret the data .

That's what AI can do for you . That will be a game changer for your business . If you use Google Analytics , you'll have to turn on Analytics Insights for it to function . Just Google Analytics Insights , or visit my show notes for the how-to link .

Similar functions are also available with Shopify Magic and Notion AI , but I haven't tried those out , so if you do , let me know how they work . Number five, AI can write emails . Confession time . I have used ChatGPT for emails for months .

AI can help you generate subject lines , personalize the follow-ups or write a launch sequence so much faster than you can do it yourself . However and this is a big however I always just use it as a starting point .

People will always connect with your personal stories and real-life examples better than AI can , but AI does make the process much faster and much easier . Here's a tip for ChatGPT users .

If you go into your settings and click customize , you can give it the backstory about you , your ideal customer , your brand voice and other things about your business , so it will sound more like you and understand your business for its replies . That way , you don't have to give it new information every time you ask it a question .

That makes working with it so much easier and it'll be a definite game changer if you haven't done that already . Number six, AI can write code for your website . If you go to my website , you'll see that I have added three new calculators that will help you determine your marketing budget , customer acquisition costs and lifetime customer value .

These are important numbers in any business , for sure . So what I did to create those is that I typed what I wanted the calculator to do .

Then I told ChatGPT that I wanted to create it in HTML for my WordPress site and , presto , it came up with code , although I had to do a little tweaking , and I just dropped the code right into my webpage , wrote some instructions and published it . I had each of those done in less than 30 minutes . Cool, right ?

Number seven, AI can design like a pro , even if you can't draw a stick figure . Back when I had a design agency , I would have to work four hours in Photoshop to remove things from client photos like hair from eyes or a random person from a brand shot . AI has made it possible to do that with the click of a mouse . And it's not just in Photoshop .

AI is inside Canva and Adobe Express too , and it can remove backgrounds , resize for different platforms , remove unwanted parts of a design . It can even design an image that you want for a blog post , your website or for other uses . It can also suggest layouts and font pairings . Pretty cool , right ? Wish I would have had that years ago when I had my agency .

All right, number eight . AI can answer FAQs automatically without being glued to your DMs . So use AI-powered chat box like ManyChat or Intercom to answer common questions on social media . It can guide , leads to your offers or even schedule discovery calls .

This is a game changer on apps like Instagram , because you can have it send messages automatically to their DMs without lifting a finger . I haven't really scratched the surface yet with tools like ManyChat , but I have used it a little and I know it has amazing potential , so I'm really excited about it . I hope you are too .

And last number nine, AI can ethically spy on your market . Use AI tools like SparkToro or ChatGPT to research your audience . You can find out what people are asking on Reddit . What hashtags are your ideal customers using ? What are competitors doing or not doing that you could do better . This information is golden for messaging , positioning and social media content .

So , wondering where to start If you're feeling a little like whoa , that's a lot of information . I'm right there with you . So here's a three-step action plan . Number one, pick one task you hate doing each week . Number two, Google the words AI tool for that task . And number three, test it out . on one thing . Don't go to a full robot army just yet .

Just dip a toe into the AI lake and see if it helps you out . Remember you don't need to automate everything , but if AI can give you back two to three hours a week , wouldn't you say that's a gift ? You can use it to create or connect or even take a nap . Right , it's all time that we can get back , and that's a rare thing in our world right now .

All right , friends , that's a wrap on your not so scary guide to AI . If you found this helpful , send it to your small business bestie , who's drowning in admin work and can use a techie sidekick .

And if you want more help with AI , download my free ChatGPT Starter Kit , which literally has more than 100 ChatGPT prompts that will make your marketing so much easier . You can find that at janicehostagercom .

Forward slash chat GPT , and you can find the links to all the resources and anything I talked about in today's episode in my show notes at myweeklymarketingcom . Forward slash 107 . As always , thanks so much for joining me today . I'll see you next time . Bye for now .