NEWSLETTER: Generative & Predictive & Prescriptive...OH MY!
It can be daunting trying to learn what everything means when it comes to A.I., so this week we're doing a summary of three different types of A.I. and how businesses can use them.
🎓 A.I. 101 for small business owners:
DIFFERENT CATEGORIES OF A.I.
With the vast options available for businesses to be utilizing A.I., it’s helpful to understand the different categories and how they can be used.
Generative AI
What it does: generates new content or data based on patterns it has learned from existing data
How it can be used in business:
Enhance branding and marketing efforts: Generates logos, graphics, and slogans, helping businesses establish a distinct market presence.
Content creation: Crafts engaging social media posts, blog content, website copy, and email campaigns to attract target markets.
Product innovation: Streamlines the design process by generating countless prototypes and variations.
Predictive AI
What it does: analyzes data to identify patterns, then uses this information to predict future outcomes or behaviors
How it can be used in business:
Customer behavior analysis: Predicts customer behaviors, such as purchasing patterns, product preferences, and churn probability. This can help businesses personalize marketing efforts and improve customer retention.
Sales forecasting: Predicts future sales trends, which is crucial for inventory management and planning.
Risk assessment: Identifies potential risks and challenges, to address these risks before they become a problem.
Operational efficiency: Optimizes supply chains, production schedules, and other operational elements by predicting demand, potential bottlenecks, and maintenance needs.
Human resources: Identifies the best candidates for a job based on past hiring and performance data. It can also predict employee turnover, helping businesses to implement retention strategies.
Prescriptive AI
What it does: suggests the best course of action to take in a given situation based on available data
How it can be used in business:
Maintenance and Support: In industries where equipment maintenance is crucial, can suggest preemptive maintenance schedules.
Pricing and Revenue Management: Can recommend pricing strategies that maximize revenue and profitability, and determine optimal discount levels and pricing across different market segments.
Fraud Detection: In finance and e-commerce, can help prevent fraudulent activities by suggesting actions based on patterns and anomalies.
Resource Allocation and Planning: Can help businesses optimize the allocation of resources, such as human capital, equipment, and inventory.
Understanding the different categories of A.I. is important so you can learn all the possible ways it can be utilized in your business. I recommend looking at every aspect of your business to figure out how these different categories can apply to what you’re currently doing.
It may feel overwhelming so don’t worry about doing it all at once. Simply focus on one area to start with and then go from there. And there are two options for getting started: you can either start by tackling whatever your biggest problem is or start with whatever is going to be easiest for you to implement.
🛞 Test Drive
Who: Longshot.ai
What: Content generator
There are soooooo many content generators but this was one I kept seeing recommended so I wanted to try it out.
I signed up for the basic account that has a free trial. There were a bunch of different options to choose from when it came to the type of content I was looking to generate:
I wanted to test the FactGPT element first and I did struggle a bit to figure out where to go to enter my prompt. But once I figured it out I entered the prompt and was happy with the response. (I asked for a 250-word biography about my brother who is a former professional athlete and everything was factually correct).
I then wanted to generate a list so I changed the feature to be the ‘instruct prompt’ and entered ‘generate a list of ways small businesses can use AI’
Within 30 seconds it generated a list of 12 ways small business owners can use AI with each point being 1-2 sentences long. It then instructed me to select the content I wanted to open in the editor, which I found a little clunky (this is the term I use when something isn’t as user-friendly as I think it should be).
So I had to copy that content from the list and paste it into the editor where I could make any changes to the content. However, when I pasted it into the editor, it lost all the formatting and made one large content block, so that was annoying. But other than that I was happy with the results.
Finally, I was excited to test out the Explain Like I’m 5 feature. (Note: You can also do this through the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT, so this feature isn’t exclusive to Longshot.ai)
I think this feature can be really beneficial for small business marketing because we often forget that the general public and even our target market might not fully understand our business and what we do, so utilizing a feature like Explain Like I’m 5 could really help businesses to simplify their marketing copy.
I typed in the prompt “what is artificial intelligence?” and got three different results. So that was nice getting three results instead of just one. And as a parent of two young kids, I think the results were pretty suited to that age group.
Verdict: I was happy with the content Longshot.ai generated and overall I do like the look of it. I just feel some improvement could be made to the actual functionality of it. But all these A.I. programs are making changes on a regular basis, so there is a good chance some of the issues I encountered will be resolved soon if they haven’t been already.
Bonus: You can do a free trial without having to enter a credit card.
🗞️ Headlines
Here are some articles you might find interesting:
‘Created By AI’ Warning Labels Are Coming To Social Media - Forbes
Study shows small businesses using AI have found more success - WESH TV
How to use AI to plan a vacation? Companies are bringing it to you. - CNBC
🔜 Coming soon
With many small business owners curious as to how A.I. can be used in their business, I’m developing a course that will teach you what A.I. is and, most importantly, how you can use it to become more efficient and grow your business.
The course will be based on the following foundations:
Quick - My goal is to have it run no longer than 30 minutes. Business owners are busy enough so I want to teach you as quickly as possible.
Easy - There are enough things going on with your business taking up your precious brain power, so I’m developing this course to be as easy as possible.
Affordable - This course will be very affordable (less than $50). I want you to learn as much as possible for as little $ as possible. (Check with your accountant to see if you can use it as a tax deduction!)
If you want to be notified when the course launches, sign up here: https://forms.gle/mcAwePKDgF5wWUki6
⏩ In next week’s newsletter:
A general overview of how A.I works and a review of some ad creation programs.
👋 Who am I and why am I writing this newsletter?
My name is Melissa Hopper and I’m a small business consultant and entrepreneur. I’m not an A.I. expert but rather an A.I. enthusiast who became curious about how A.I. could help me in my business and help my clients in their businesses.
I decided to start this newsletter to share what I’m learning and what my clients are learning about how A.I. can help small businesses. To learn more about what I do, click here.
🙏 Thank you
Thank you for reading this newsletter. Please keep in mind that the views expressed in this newsletter are our own.
If there is anything you would like to see covered in this newsletter, please reach out here: CONTENT SUGGESTION
If you are a small business owner and would like to share how you’re using AI, please reach out here: SMALL BUSINESS OWNER
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📘 A.I. database for small business owners:
Click here to see a comprehensive list of A.I. services that can be used by small business owners.
Check out the latest videos on our YouTube channel.
⚠️ Please be aware that AI service providers continuously update their programs and services. As a result, some of the information discussed in this newsletter may have changed by the time you read it.
✍️ Editorial note: While we may earn revenue through some links featured in this newsletter (after all, we are a small business that needs revenue to operate), please know that any links posted will be because we genuinely find them to be of interest and not simply because there is an opportunity for us to make money off of them.