Image by Aristal Branson from Pixabay

By Abigail Gardner

Starting a business is exciting and stressful all at once. You’re likely to be juggling all sorts of tasks, potentially whilst also holding down a regular job, resulting in the feeling that everything should have been done yesterday.

Part of being a successful business owner is knowing how to make the most of the resources available to you. Money is tight when you start out, meaning that traditional outsourcing, such as using freelancers, might not be feasible right away. Instead, you can utilize the free new technology that’s hitting the market, such as artificial intelligence (AI), to kickstart your business goals.

While it’s important to remember that AI is no replacement for human creativity, it can certainly help you generate ideas and tackle some administrative tasks. Let’s look at three key areas where AI can help you kickstart your business.

Generate personalized website designs

Creating a website can be tricky if you have no experience. You might have some fantastic ideas in your head, but struggle to turn them into reality. Or, you may be confident on the product, but lack understanding of how to best get your message across.

AI website builders can guide you through the process, helping you create a basic site via an interactive template, with advice on what sort of features your customers might like to see. Whilst you’ll need the services of a professional to really make your site stand out from the crowd, AI can help you make you a decent website that will get you started.

Get customer insights

When you’re looking to launch a product or service, it’s really important to understand your target market so that you can boost your chances of success. However, gathering data manually is extremely time-consuming, plus it can be hard to actually study it and pull out relevant insights.

This is an example of a task that AI is perfect for. It can gather information about typical  customer profiles, as well as analyzing your own market data to create summaries and insights that you can use to support your decision making. This is ideal for people who are starting a business – putting money behind your product can be nerve-wracking, but if you’ve got the evidence to support the idea, this can give you some reassurance.

Generate branding ideas

Believing in your product doesn’t mean that you necessarily have the skills to market it. You likely have the passion to talk about it, as well as an idea of what sort of audience you want to aim at, but that doesn’t mean you can create branding assets like logos or slogans.

AI can help you create a moodboard, as well as some branding assets like basic logos or generic images. Again, as with the website, the most unique and complex work will need to be done by professionals, but AI can certainly get the ideas flowing. Putting in the time to do this ahead of launching your business can help ensure that everything is cohesive when you do get started, so it’s well-worth the effort. Plus, it can motivate you to go out there and build the company that you’re dreaming of.

Content creation (with limits)

When you start a business, there is a lot of content to create. You’ll need website copy, blog posts, social media content and potentially even multiple sales emails. Free AI tools can help you get started with this, generating quick content with just a few clicks. It’s one of the reasons that AI has hit the headlines recently – but be aware. AI content isn’t ready to publish. There may be errors, false information, or a general lack of flow, so make sure you put some time aside to read through it before you use it. For the best results, you’ll also need to make some tweaks to ensure it fits the tone and style you’re looking for.

Alternatively, if you’ve written the content but want to get it checked for grammar and spelling, there are AI tools that can do this too.

Kickstart your business

Don’t let the number of tasks that need to be done put you off becoming a business owner and achieving your goals in 2024. Take advantage of modern AI technology, using it alongside your own creative input to tackle your to-do list and create a company that you’re proud of.

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With her passion for writing and her innovative mindset, Abigail Gardner is always on the lookout for ways to use technology to make entrepreneurship more accessible for all. She aims to get people thinking about how technology can help creativity, not become a threat to it.