It’s almost impossible these days to see any story in the media that doesn’t mention artificial intelligence—AI—and what it can mean for the future. But AI is already here and using it can be a big benefit to small businesses. In a nutshell, AI can help small businesses do more with less. Yes, there may be an upfront cost for AI tools, but in the long run this is more cost effective than having to increase your staff to handle business growth. Here are some ideas you can use to help grow your business.
1. Customer service
If you expand your business beyond a bricks-and-mortar operation—and even if you don’t, you need to have the ability to offer customer service around the clock. Customers want to reach you at different times, depending on their location and their needs. How can you do this without having onsite-employees or using a call center? Consider adding chatbots to your website.
G2 lists the best chatbots software, including pricing, for small businesses in 2024. For example, pricing for a Zendesk Suite plan starts at $55 a month, although there’s one at $19 a month; you can try any plan for free.
2. Bookkeeping and accounting
Keeping track of your revenue and expenses, managing cash flow, generating financial reports to enable forecasting, and paying bills and expenses are all necessary in running a company. Some small businesses have an in-house bookkeeper to oversee these activities, while others outsource them to bookkeepers or accountants. Either way, it’s a costly, but necessary, expense. Using AI can streamline the activities and reduce the cost considerably.
For example, Zeni’s starter plan for AI-powered bookkeeping and accounting is $549 a month. The plan can do daily bookkeeping, provide insights (e.g., cash flow) through a dashboard, generate monthly financial reports, pay vendors, handle employee reimbursements, reconcile bank and credit card statements, and more. Find a list of the best AI tools for bookkeeping and accounting through ClickUp.
3. Social media marketing
Small businesses can, and should, use social media to build brand awareness, drive traffic to their websites, and grow their revenue. SociallyBuzz lists some interesting statistics on consumers and social media:
- 78% are willing to purchase from a business with a positive encounter on social media
- 68% say social media allows them to interact with business
- 55% first discover new businesses on social media
- 43% increased their social media use to learn about new products during the COVID-19 lockdown
Social media can also be used to proactively find customers. For example, Dux-Soup is a LinkedIn automation tool that functions as a lead generator. For $11.25 a month this tool can send LinkedIn connection invitations and messages to grow your network and find leads (other plans can help you do even more).
And AI can also be used to help generate content to post on social media. Previously, I discussed how I use ChatGPT in my content creation—not as a substitute writer but as an assistant researcher.
Final thought
Ginni Rometty, former CEO of IBM, said: “Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is this technology will enhance us. So instead of artificial intelligence, I think we’ll augment our intelligence.”
What can AI do for your business? It’s imperative that you begin to deploy it where applicable so you can grow your business.
Looking for more blogs about AI? Find them here.
