- AI tools can help with everyday marketing tasks like brainstorming and copywriting.
- ChatGPT isn't always accurate, but it gives small business owners a good starting point and it's free.
- Some have used this tool to help influencer marketing and save time on user research.
- This article is part of the Small Business Marketing series, which explores the basics of marketing strategies for SBOs to acquire new customers and grow their business.
When Candice Smith began experimenting with ChatGPT to sell her public relations agency, French Press PR, she discovered that the typical way others were using the tool was not what she wanted.
"I first used it for research, and then I was really disappointed that it was making up answers," he said, adding that he also played with typing but didn't like the tone the AI was taking. fill
After much experimentation, Smith found a use for ChatGPT in his marketing toolbox: he would bounce campaign ideas back and forth as if brainstorming with his teammates.
Marina Guastavino called ChatGPT "the perfect co-pilot" for her company Directo to launch a web extension to help travelers book hotel stays. He said ChatGPT helped him reduce startup time to about a month and see new opportunities to enter the market.
"Sometimes you come up with crazy ideas, but that's good because it opens your mind," Guastavino said.
Crystal Allert, founder of Tonal Cosmetics, says she uses ChatGPT to gain marketing experience she couldn't afford as a small brand. He describes the use of AI tools as an extension of his team.
Below are three ways small business owners are experimenting with AI to support their marketing strategies.
Find influencers and maintain your reach
Alert, who works with 30 to 40 influencers a month for her beauty brand, says she spends an hour or two a day finding and connecting with new influencers.
To make things easier, he shared information about the company's target customers and users with ChatGPT and asked them to create a list of influencers that fit the brand's personality and ethos. It also uses artificial intelligence to create emails and target the messages you send to influencers.
"While this process involves human oversight to ensure a personal approach, it greatly simplifies the influencer outreach process, saving us valuable time that would otherwise be spent on prospecting," he said, adding that he takes half the time he did spend on publicity. on. on
In October, Alert used ChatGPT to help conceptualize and organize an influencer event, so they didn't have to pay an event planner.
Reduce time spent on user research
Guastavino wants to sell his product immediately. To help with user research, ChatGPT was asked to provide ideas about the types of users it could target.
"We say our expansion benefits frequent travelers, but who is that frequent traveler and why do people travel frequently?" Guastavino said. "It comes from different types of people, like business travelers, from people who travel for a living, like influencers or bloggers, to digital nomads."
He said the app initially gave him generic answers, but when he asked for more specific or unexpected information, it brought him types of users he hadn't thought of.
When you ask questions about travelers' motivations and behaviors, you better understand their challenges and how you can position your product to appeal to different types of travelers.
"I created different marketing messages for each one and was able to further target them," he said, adding that this approach helped him gain more than 25,000 users within six months of launch.
Create a starter campaign
When Smith came up with the idea to create an exciting questionnaire for the relaunch of her link accelerator program, she was overwhelmed thinking about the right way to distribute it.
“I'm used to communicating with people and promoting my services through word of mouth. I didn't know how to promote this quiz,” Smith said.
This gave ChatGPT the context of what was being built and who the tool was being built for, and laid out a launch plan for them to follow, including creating a pre-launch landing page and developing an email campaign. Also include ideas for blog posts to promote the quiz.
Smith says he likes to approach brainstorming with ChatGPT like a conversation with a colleague.
"Give as much background as you can, give context about what you're hoping to get, maybe even say you don't want to come out and play around with it," he said, adding that it's not a tool. a substitute for creativity, but a friend of thought.
“I used it to get myself going,” Smith said. "I save a lot of work time because instead of creating from scratch, I have something to react to."
