Five Ways ChatGPT Can Help Your Small Business

When ChatGPT burst on the scene at the end of 2022, many wondered what our AI overlords had in store for us next. The platform gained millions of users in just weeks and continues to impact industries across the business landscape.

While the initial hype may have been slightly overblown, there's no denying that ChatGPT can be a helpful tool for your small business when used correctly. Here are some suggestions to get you started.

1. Generate Content

ChatGPT can be used as a language model to quickly create content like blog posts, articles, emails and even ads, saving you the cost of hiring a professional writer and the time of doing it yourself.

However, it’s important to understand that ChatGPT has serious limitations in this area. For example, there have been numerous instances where the platform was caught "writing" articles blatantly containing false information. At minimum, you'll still have to proofread the output, so a certain amount of human supervision and time will be necessary.

Secondly, no AI model can know your customer, your value proposition and how those two factors intersect better than you or your marketing team (at least not yet). So, don't expect ChatGPT to serve as a substitute for developing original or creative ways to communicate with your audience. However, it can move the process along by brainstorming new concepts and content ideas.

2. Brainstorm Ideas

Although you should not fully rely on ChatGPT to write content you can immediately release to the masses, you can use it to brainstorm content ideas and identify topic areas.

You can ask it to give you 10 ideas for blog posts that your audience would find compelling (you’ll want to make sure you describe your audience in your prompt and identify your industry). You can also ask it to suggest five email subject lines likely to increase open rates.

You may not be able to use all the ideas ChatGPT generates — at least not word for word — but it can certainly help get the creative juices flowing.

3. Serve as Frontline Customer Support

Customer support may not be one of ChatGPT’s “out-of-the-box” features, but the platform can serve as an initial “chatbot” for customers seeking answers to basic questions. You can also use it to walk new customers through product setup steps or explain the core features of a product or service.

Using ChatGPT for customer support will likely require the services of a programmer or developer who can work with its application programming interface (API) to integrate it into your platform or website. You or your programmer will also need to “train” it to respond appropriately to customer questions. The implementation and training process can take some time, but it is a great way to free up your support team to handle more complex issues.

4. Act as a Translator

Numerous online tools can convert text into different languages, but ChatGPT is notable because it can be integrated into a website relatively quickly. This feature can complement the customer support element previously discussed.

While integrating ChatGPT as a translator on your website might require some technical assistance, it enables you to cater to users in over 20 languages once set up.

Similarly, you can ask ChatGPT to take existing website content and translate it into another language without getting a programmer involved. Just prompt, copy and paste. This feature is part of ChatGPT’s core functionality.

5. Help with Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO often involves manually performing mundane tasks like keyword research, which can be time-consuming. Because ChatGPT’s source information comes from a wealth of online content, it can be an asset for producing keyword lists, which are pivotal for enhancing blog posts and improving search rankings.

To leverage its potential, ask ChatGPT to "provide a roster of SEO keywords suitable for a blog post on [your topic]." Using the AI tool in this manner saves precious time and also provides unique insights that might take longer to identify on your own.

In the small business world, efficiency is key, and tools like ChatGPT are instrumental in helping you stay productive and profitable.

Have more questions? Reach out to SCORE for free, expert mentoring and resources to guide you through your small business journey. Visit score.org to learn more.