I believe that nowadays, Artificial Intelligence is the main pillar of small businesses. It has made tasks like brainstorming, designing, and workflow management easier than ever.
Previously, people used to do these tasks manually, but since AI tools have become very common, they can replace human effort and have also saved a lot of time.
To use most of the AI tools, you need to make sure that you have a good laptop, which is the latest, since many of them do not work on outdated devices.
You also need a reliable broadband connection at home, since many AI-powered tools are cloud-based and need stable connectivity to work effectively.
In my experience, Verizon Fios Internet is the best fit for this because it uses the latest fiber-optic technology and offers symmetrical speeds, which helps these AI tools work effectively without lag or buffering.
Moving on, in this article, I will be discussing some of the top three AI tools that can help small businesses in their routine work.
So, without wasting any time, let’s get started!
ChatGPT – 24/7 Digital Assistant
ChatGPT can act like a 24/7 digital assistant for small businesses. It can help them to compete with large businesses by cutting operational costs and helping to save time.
The best thing about GPT is its memory; when you tell it in detail about your business, the AI tool then helps you accordingly. For example, I recently started my own digital marketing company. Since I was new to this, I did not have much idea of how it works.
ChatGPT helped me in almost everything. It guided me in making a good website and social media accounts. Then, for sales, it helped me to draft the email marketing content, and for marketing purposes, it guided me on what kind of posts I should do on social media for my company.
Moreover, after using it, I was certain that it is a very powerful tool for small businesses since it can help to draft internal emails to staff and suppliers, summarize long reports in easy words, and even help in legal matters. For example, rather than going to a lawyer and paying them for legal work, users can use GPT for legal advice also.
By acting as a round-the-clock and on-demand assistant, it offers the right support and knowledge without any high cost, since its basic version is free, but if you feel like you have extensive work, you can opt for its subscription that starts at less than $10 per month.
Canva – AI Design Tool
I haven’t come across a better design tool than Canva till now. Its best feature is its instant and tailored designs. For instance, instead of you searching for various templates manually, you can simply use its chat interface to make customized designs from scratch. For example, you can simply type “create a modern business card for a digital marketing agency with red and yellow colors,” and the tool will generate different designs instantly.
Once the design is auto-generated, you can even edit it accordingly; for example, you can change its font, move images left or right, change the shape, edit text, etc.
In my opinion, Canva is like a marketing department for your business. Rather than hiring a team of 10-12 people for marketing and design, a single person can do all these tasks. Canva cuts content creation time and reduces design costs, which is best for small businesses with limited resources.
By chatting with the tool, picking layouts, and tweaking them accordingly, businesses can compete with large corporations only if they use the tool correctly.
If we talk about the pricing of Canva, the simple version is free, but if you feel like you have extensive design work, then you can opt for the Pro version, which costs less than $150 per year.
Zapier – Workflow Automation
For people who do not know what Zapier is, it is a workflow automation tool that acts as a bridge between various apps like Google Sheets, Slack, and Gmail. It has two main parts: one is the trigger, which means that all the events will happen in one app, and the second is the action, which is what needs to happen in another app.
For example, when a customer fills in their details on your website, Zapier can automatically add their name and email to your customer database without any manual input.
For small businesses, this is more than a lifesaver, since it can help them to save time. Users often waste a lot of time doing repetitive tasks every week, like copy-pasting data from emails into spreadsheets.
But with Zapier, you can instantly add it to your calendar and send any text or email, which frees up your time and allows you to focus on other work.
Moreover, Zapier also makes sure that no customer query or lead is missed, since this fast response time helps businesses look more professional and helps them to keep clients happy.
The best part is that Zapier doesn’t cost much for small businesses or individuals. It starts at less than $20 per month, with a limited free plan available as well.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, AI is the backbone of modern businesses now. It is strongly recommended that every startup use these or any other AI tools if they want to progress in their professional life.
But one thing needs to be clear that success of the business does not depend on what AI tools a person is using, but it depends on how effectively you use these tools.
So, choose any AI tool that fits your business and start using it effectively today!
