Exploring the Potential of Artificial Intelligence in Marketing Strategies

Harnessing AI for Small Business Marketing Success

The idea of artificial intelligence has been a hot topic for years. 

From talks of AI taking over the world, to causing mass unemployment, there has been a lot of fear associated with AI when it comes to business.

Recently however, we’ve started to actually see the application of AI at a tangible level. 

New tools and software have been introduced for use by the general public, and business owners have started to take notice of AIs transformative potential for small business marketing. 

While I’m no ultimate expert, I’m excited to share what I’ve discovered through my own exploration of AI tools and technology.

As you read this post, remember that this realm is ever-evolving. And, while this might seem daunting it’s also quite exciting. 

I don’t know about you but I’m always looking for ways to reduce my workload and streamline my tasks in the name of saving more of my time and energy. 

The key to navigating this vast ocean of AI tools? Curiosity. My journey involved tinkering, exploring, and sometimes even being amazed at what these tools could achieve. 

Below, I’ve shared some of my favourite discoveries. 

Demystifying AI 

At its core, artificial intelligence is about creating machines that think and adapt like humans, but on a vastly accelerated and broader scale. 

From smartphone assistants to recommendation systems on online shopping sites, AI impacts our daily lives.

However, while AI can provide data on consumer behavior, it cannot fully comprehend the nuances of human emotion and psychology that are essential for creating effective marketing campaigns. 

Meaning? AI can be a supportive tool for your business, but it can’t replace your entire marketing team or completely create marketing strategies for you (at least not in ways that will truly be effective for your business).

Your personal knowledge and insights, your deep understanding of your audience, and the relationships you have with customers and stakeholders are all critical parts of marketing that can’t be replaced by a machine. 

Generative AI vs. Traditional AI, and how to implement them in your business 

The primary difference between generative AI and traditional AI lies in their objectives and functioning. 

While traditional AI aims to perform specific tasks based on predefined rules and patterns, generative AI goes beyond this limitation and strives to create entirely new data that resembles human-created content.

Both of these forms of AI can be supportive for you as a business owner. 

Time is a precious commodity, and time saved is money earned when you’re running a company. 

Traditional AI excels in automating repetitive tasks like data entry, as well as analyzing algorithms and previously collected data to provide you with insights to support your marketing strategy. 

These forms of AI can also be used to enhance personalized online user experiences, from presenting ads that might appeal to online shoppers, to providing helpful responses via online help chats. 

The beauty of generative AI is that it doesn’t just learn from previously available data, it’s also creating new information. 

From articles to artwork, generative AI technology is being introduced in new ways all of the time to bolster creativity, allowing you to spend more time focusing on core business strategies. 

Content creation and AI 

Crafting content is an art and a science. 

It’s imperative that you continue to show up regularly for your audience through content like informational or entertaining blog posts, social media content, and/or videos.

Continuing to show up in these ways each day though, can feel overwhelming. 

To simplify and streamline our daily, weekly, or monthly marketing tasks, we can lean on AI. 

Artificial intelligence can help you ensure your content is optimized, relevant, and engaging. 

By analyzing vast datasets, traditional AI can predict what type of content resonates best with your audience. This can be beneficial for creating a social media content calendar, or deciding on which blog posts you want to publish next on your website. 

Generative AI forms can then take this a step further by creating a starting point for this suggested content. For example you might ask AI to draft a blog post for you, or to create a social media graphic to accompany a specific post idea.

Let’s dive into some specific platforms you can utilize in your small business marketing, to make this really tangible for you.