6 Ways Small Business Owners Can Use ChatGPT to Eliminate Hours of Work The greatest development that will allow small businesses and entrepreneurs to compete with large corporations has become available — for free. But it's in its infancy and there's no user manual. I'm here to help.
By Nicholas Leighton Edited by Jessica Thomas
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Small businesses have always had the challenge of competing with large corporations that have practically unlimited resources. Fortunately, new technologies are emerging that are leveling the playing field. Entrepreneurs can now leverage tools like artificial intelligence to amply their businesses' capabilities and productivity without adding significant amounts of capital or overhead. Released by OpenAI in 2022, ChatGPT is one of the most cutting-edge and accessible AI on the market. Here are six ways entrepreneurs can use ChatGPT to save time — and money.
1. Content creation
Most marketing experts agree that creating engaging content is one of the best ways to build a following and attract customers. The challenge is that content creation takes a lot of time — in most industries, posting on social media or your blog several times per week is standard, and each piece of content generally takes anywhere from two to six hours. Unfortunately, this can pull an entrepreneur away from other critical activities involved in keeping their business operating.
ChatGPT can significantly reduce the amount of time that it takes for small business owners to generate the content they need, including articles, blog posts, video scripts and social media posts. One thing to note is that ChatGPT leverages the internet for information. You could run the risk of posting something too similar to another website, which can hurt your search engine rankings. It's important to always add your own spin to the content. However, ChatGPT can significantly reduce the amount of time spent brainstorming ideas and creating drafts.
2. Customer interaction
One of the key advantages that small businesses have is their ability to provide customized and superior customer service. Instead of hiring teams of customer service representatives to keep up with the demand of answering customer questions or interacting with them on social media, entrepreneurs can look to AI to take on a majority of this workload.
ChatGPT is specifically designed to provide responses to people that sound conversational and natural. Businesses can leverage this technology to build chatbots that work around the clock to participate in social media conversations with customers, generate leads, respond to emails with frequently asked questions or recommend specific products and services based on the customer's needs.
Although it does require some coding, most business owners can incorporate ChatGPT into their website or social media feed with very little technical knowledge. Even if you need to hire someone to build this, it will be significantly more cost-effective than hiring a full customer service team.
Related: Elon Musk Says We Should Stop Rapid AI Development Right Now — Here's Why
3. Language translation
Thirty years ago, most small businesses were forced to operate within tight geographic areas. They simply didn't have the resources and means of large corporations to expand to international markets. Today, the internet has connected the entire globe. Now, the challenge is being able to tackle the various language barriers that small businesses can encounter along the way.
Although there are many translation tools available online, many produce translations that are hard to understand. ChatGPT can produce well-crafted translations and even write them with specific styles in mind (business formal, slang or local dialects, etc.). Small businesses can also use ChatGPT to produce new websites, product labels and instruction manuals in the local language in a matter of minutes.
4. Client and investor pitches
Small business owners must put in a lot of time and effort into convincing others why their business deserves their attention. Selling to clients is critical to building sales revenue and profits to keep the business operating. Attracting investors can help put the business on the map and generate the capital needed to expand.
Entrepreneurs can leverage ChatGPT to create presentations and marketing materials to help them pitch their businesses. This could include white papers, business plans, PowerPoint presentations and even elevator pitches.
Related: How ChatGPT Is Changing One Industry — But Challenges Are on the Horizon
5. Low-cost tech support
Most entrepreneurs wear many hats. They are typically the salesperson, product designer, accountant, web guru, social media manager and shipping and receiving all rolled into one. When technology stops working, it's usually up to the business owner to problem solve and fix it because they don't have a large budget or a team of IT professionals to help with technical issues.
IT support is a major cost for small businesses. ChatGPT can serve as an entrepreneur's personal tech support chatbot to help them solve these challenges faster and with less money.
Related: 5 Ways ChatGPT Is Empowering People with Disabilities
6. Analyzing customer feedback
Most small businesses are still working on refining and tweaking their products and services or streamlining their processes. Customer feedback is a critical part of figuring out what is and isn't working from the end user's perspective. Entrepreneurs can use ChatGPT to quickly and efficiently analyze customer feedback from various sources and provide the most common themes to focus on first.
Small businesses that implement AI into their business model today will have a significant advantage over the next few years. Many large companies are already on board with AI technology, but small businesses are lagging behind. Entrepreneurs who become early adopters will be able to gain momentum early and avoid becoming obsolete. The key is to start now and implement simple, sustainable AI solutions like ChatGPT that can help move your business into the future.
Related: Hiring Managers Want Workers With ChatGPT Experience, New Survey Says
