Don’t be Spooked by AI – Here’s How You Can Use as a Small Business best practices

It feels like all anyone is talking about these days is AI… 

“Do you think AI is going to take over the world like it did in that one movie?”

“Is Siri listening to my conversation right now?”

“How did Facebook Ads know that I wanted to find that exact pair of shoes?”

Some people are excited, others nervous. In a 2022 study, Pew Research Center found that a majority of polled Americans were equally concerned and excited about the increased use of artificial intelligence in our day-to-day lives.

Of the 18% of Americans who were more excited than concerned about AI, they explained that their main reason for feeling this way stemmed from the potential for making life and society better as a whole. For the 37% who were more concerned than excited, the potential loss of human jobs is their primary worry. 

But for those who have seen the positive effects of AI technology in their businesses, there’s an understanding that this concern for our jobs being fully outsourced to a computer or robot seems silly. Instead, this powerful tool can help us to automate those tedious, time-consuming tasks that eat up so many working hours. When used in tandem with our human teams, AI can free us up to focus on much more important business needs. 

What’s AI?

First, let’s make sure we don’t get the terms “AI” and “Machine Learning” confused. Although these two terms are related, they are still distinct concepts. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is computer software that mimics human understanding to perform tasks and learn from them, such as analyzing, reasoning, and learning.

Machine learning (ML) is one subset of AI, and it uses algorithms trained on data to produce adaptable models that can perform complex tasks. 

TL;DR — In today’s world, most AI is performed using machine learning, but AI refers to the overarching concept of thinking and reacting like a human by using computer software and systems, while machine learning is just one method of doing this. 

Simply put, AI works by taking in a ton of information, analyzing it for patterns, and then using those patterns to predict future solutions. 

For example, a chatbot will be “taught” examples of text to exchange human-like responses with people while handling customer service questions. 

Others might be familiar with AI-powered voice assistants like Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, or Google Assistant. These AI assistants use Natural Language Processing (NPL), Machine Learning (ML), and Large Language Models (LLMs) to help the software understand and generate those human-like responses that make it so effortless to conversate with. 

But how can entrepreneurs and small businesses integrate AI technology into their operations — and what are the risks associated with doing so?

Popular AI Tech Tools for Small Businesses

There are a ton of different tools on the market today that your small business may want to consider utilizing. Here are a few popular examples to explore:

• ChatGPT
• LiveChat
• Namelix
• Jasper
• Flick
• DALL.E2
• Genei
• StockIMG.AI
• SoundDraw
• FlexClip
• Lumen5
• Pictory
• Podcastle

And so many more. 

Adding AI Technology to Your Event Marketing Plan

AI’s rapid adoption has been fundamentally changing the way we live, work, and play over the past few years. Its powerful capabilities have enabled us as businesses to automate human-centric tasks that were once taking up time in our day. 

Customer service work, quality control, fraud detection, and lead generation are just a few of the many things small business leaders can leverage with AI tools to reduce the workload for smaller teams or solopreneurs. 

Let’s see what type of practical application we can find for AI to assist with in your business’s daily marketing operations as you ramp up to an event:

• Create promotional content for these upcoming events, such as social media posts, blog posts, press release blurbs, etc.

• Utilize AI photo technology to create graphics, videos, and branding for your events

• Leverage chatbot technology to assist potential event attendees who may have questions ahead of time

• Generate speaker bios, event descriptions, and moderator introductions and questions for panelists

• Use facial recognition software for AI event management in order to check-in attendees at your event as well as for an additional security measure

• Design post-event feedback surveys to send to attendees

• Summarize findings in post-event reports 

There are so many areas that you can integrate AI tech into your event marketing efforts to help expand your reach and automate some of those more arduous, time-consuming tasks. Free up your people to spend more time personalizing the event experience and delighting your customers at every step of the way!

Help AI Help You

Like all good things, the right tool can be a powerful thing — but it needs to be handled by the right people, too! AI can be exciting to use, but it’s still crucial to keep the human connection element ingrained in all of your marketing efforts. 

When it comes to properly using your AI event marketing resources, you have to understand that just like any other piece of technology, it’s going to have its limitations. It’s that age-old saying, “Garbage in, garbage out”. 

If you’re only supplying it with generic, short, or thoughtless prompts, it’s not going to magically create an incredible work of art. Train it by offering details and context around your request. Get specific — more information is always better!

If you want something to sound a certain way (like more professional or versus conversational), be sure to indicate that in your request. 

Regardless of how helpful an AI tool is, you’re going to need human validation before using whatever it’s come up with. These tools never claim to be completely perfect, which means there’s always a chance that it could spit out outdated or false information. Take what it gives you, validate the data before using it, and customize it to better fit your business’s exact needs. 

AI technology will continue to improve the lives of so many, including those of us in the small businesses and solopreneur industry who need to automate pieces of our marketing strategy in order to focus on the most important part of the business: our customers.

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