Generative AI tools are a game-changer for small businesses. It’s democratizing technology for small businesses, enabling them to compete with (and win against) larger corporations.
Small businesses can now automate creative tasks with sophisticated technology. It’s leveling the playing field, enhancing their competitive edge, and opening up new possibilities in marketing, branding, and online presence, all with minimal investment.
Want to know how to use these techniques to boost your small business? Then check out the latest how-to guide from OnDeck. It breaks down all the best AI Generator content tools for small businesses, including the best ways to use them in your content creation strategy.
What Is Generative AI?
Generative AI is a form of artificial intelligence (AI) that can create new, 100% original content, including written text, images, videos, and music.
Unlike traditional AI systems, which primarily analyze and interpret data, generative AI goes a step further by actually producing something original. It does this by learning about patterns, styles, and structure via advanced algorithms and neural networks, then mimics them to create its own versions based on users’ prompts.
How Should Small Businesses Use Generative AI?
We are a long way from AI replacing humans. For now, and for the foreseeable future, AI will continue to augment our personal and professional lives, helping us do things faster, cheaper, and smarter.
And this is why generative AI content creation can supercharge small businesses.
Automating tasks has the potential to absorb 60 to 70% of a single employee’s workload, freeing them up to do more meaningful and impactful work.
Essentially, AI generative tools can do the grunt work, while humans can devote more time to challenging tasks. Adopting generative AI is a cheap and super-efficient way to increase power and productivity with minimal resources, making it an essential tool for any small business that creates content.
The Dos and Don’ts of Generative AI Content Creation
Generative AI content is great. But it’s far from perfect.
AI content tools require human supervision. Always have a human fact-check and edit any content before publishing (or before you send it over to a client).
And don’t use AI just for the sake of it. Yes, AI thinks much faster than us meat puppets, especially when churning out snippets like titles, meta-descriptions, and SEO alt text. But it can’t understand humans the way humans do. So leave the really important work, like branding and writing copy that persuades and sells, to the ‘real’ content creators.
Generative AI Tools for Text Creation
Copy.ai is a free AI text generator. It’s great for basic content creation but will lag when asked to provide long-form content.
ChatGPT and Jasper have paid versions of these services and are excellent choices for small businesses looking to speed up their content creation. Both tools can put together blogs or content outlines in (literally) seconds. But again, ALWAYS fact-check. Jasper and ChatGPT have accuracy issues.
You can use Generative text tools to:
- Build chatbots for answering basic customer queries
- Generate basic marketing copy
- Generate content ideas/plans
- Summarise reports, long articles, and industry white papers.
Creating Images with Generative AI Tools
For small business owners, AI-powered image-generative tools are a gift from the gods. For less than $20 a month, they can sign up to platforms like Midjourney, giving them a virtual in-house graphic designer that will happily complete any request in seconds (and at any time of the day/night).
With the help of AI, anybody, including those of us who struggle to draw a convincing stickman, can now create high-quality images and designs.
For example, tools like Midjourney and Canva can:
- Create graphics for blogs, websites, and social media posts
- Edit and enhance existing images
- Design logos and branding for your products/services
- Create eye-catching adverts
Audio AI Generation Tools for Small Businesses
Podcasting is an excellent way to build an audience, collaborate, and establish yourself as a thought leader. But what small business owner has the time to learn all the technical skills of podcasting? Well, they don’t have to anymore.
AI audio tools like Riverside, which costs just $15 a month, means you can now podcast without knowing how to actually podcast.
Then there’s Vowel, an audio AI platform that can transcribe meetings, interviews, performance reviews, and podcast episodes. It’s the equivalent of having an extra admin person on your team, and the platform is free to use for shorter meetings (40 minutes or less).
With audio AI, you can also:
- Create music, jingles, and audio loops
- Convert blogs and other marketing material into audio
- Transcribe audio files to text
Making Video Content with AI
Creating video content is about more than just marketing. It’s also one of the most effective ways to train and upskill your staff. In fact, 98% of surveyed small business owners stated that video is a central part of their company’s learning and development strategy.
That’s why small business owners need to familiarize themselves with video AI platforms like Pictory, wave.video, and Synthesia. They can help a small business do the following:
- Create employee training videos
- Create promo videos
- Convert blog posts into video
