NEWSLETTER #2 - Have no fear!
Artificial Intelligence sounds like something high tech, but don't let that prevent you from getting in on the action.
🤔 Myth Busting
Chances are you’ve landed on this newsletter because you’ve heard about A.I. and you’re wondering how you can use it in your business. But there is also a good chance that you’re a little skeptical (and maybe even a little scared) about how it all works.
So I thought it would be good to address a few common myths when it comes to using A.I. for businesses.
Myth #1:
❌ A.I. is for high tech people
✅ A.I. can be used by even the most basic tech users
When I began my journey of exploring how A.I. could be used to help small business owners, I was pleasantly surprised to find that many of the A.I. programs and services I tried were very user-friendly and easy to navigate. The key is finding those A.I. service providers who have done the extensive work of building a product that is suitable for tech users of any level.
You are already busy enough as it is and A.I. is supposed to help make your life easier. So while there may be a little bit of a learning curve when you’re just starting to use A.I., there are a lot of products out there that have been designed to be used by even the most rookie tech users. And if you find one that’s too hard to use, it’s probably not the best use of your time to try and figure it out when there is likely already another program out there that is easier to use.
I’ve tested A LOT of different A.I. products and I continue to test them on a regular basis. I’ve started a database of service providers (the link is at the bottom of this newsletter) but I won’t add any to that list if I think they are too high tech and difficult to use.
The bottom line: You don’t have to be high tech - you just have to find the easy-to-use A.I. services that the high tech people have developed!
Myth #2:
❌ A.I. is going to take jobs
✅ A.I. should be used as an assistant, not a replacement
I’ll go more in-depth on this in an upcoming newsletter but when it comes to small businesses, I really do think that A.I. should be used as an assistant and not as a replacement. Sure, some people may end up losing their job because of A.I. but for most people I think it’s more of an opportunity to become more efficient.
If you run a small operation, chances are you are either doing all of the work yourself or you have a small team and that team likely has their hands in a number of different areas of the business. For example, your receptionist might also be your social media manager.
In situations like this, you wouldn’t necessarily start firing people and let A.I. take over. But you should be letting A.I. maximize your efforts and the efforts of everyone on your team. For example, the receptionist who handles social media should now be:
using A.I. to assist with customer service (i.e. chatbots, automating routine tasks)
using A.I. to assist in all areas of social media management (i.e. content creation, scheduling and posting, analytics)
The bottom line: Instead of eliminating jobs, A.I. can maximize productivity to help people do their jobs even better and get even more done without having to work more hours. And the most important thing to keep in mind when implementing A.I. is this: while AI can provide valuable assistance, it's crucial to not replace human judgment entirely.
👂Give it a listen
There was a recent episode of Nicole Lapin’s Money Rehab podcast where Entrepreneur magazine editor-in-chief Jason Feifer talked about how to AI-proof your job. It was interesting to hear his take on things and to hear about another similar time in history. You can listen to it here:
🎉 Fun (free) find!
I can’t remember where I stumbled upon this one but for those of you who are handling your own social media, this will be beneficial. And if you aren’t handling your own, pass it on to whoever is doing it for you.
Who: Headline Studio’s Title Generator
What: Has title generators for YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, blogs, emails and podcasts
How: I didn’t even have to create an account, I simply entered a few keywords and got some suggestions.
I recently started a YouTube channel so I took this opportunity to do a YouTube title generator. I typed in my topic (how can A.I. help small businesses improve customer service), my audience (small business owners) and the tone I wanted (informational), then clicked Generate Titles.
It gave me 10 results and had I wanted to expand on any of those titles, I could have clicked Optimize and signed up for an account to develop these titles into additional content (which I didn’t do).
I decided to go back and change the tone from informational to conversational because I was curious to see how the titles would differ based on that change. Below are the results for conversational:
Overall I found them to be fairly similar and there were a few from each group of results that I would probably use or at least use as a starting point and tweak a little.
But what I found odd was that when I instructed it to be informational is when it included a bunch of emojis in the titles* (see side note below). And when I instructed it to be conversational there were no emojis. Seems like it should have been the other way around 🤷♀️
Overall I was happy to find this free tool and I will likely go back and use it often, and will probably even go further with it and optimize some content to see how I like their service compared to others I’ve used.
*SIDE NOTE: Just an FYI that including emojis in subject lines can result in higher email open rates. This may be well known by marketing professionals but I had just read this a few days ago and thought it was worth noting since I was talking about emojis.
🛞 Test Drive
When I came up with the idea to start this newsletter, I decided to try some logo generators because I was curious to see what kind of designs they would come up with.
WHAT: free logo generators (although as you’ll see below, generating the logo was always free but actually downloading the logo wasn’t always free)
WHO: Hatchful, Logomaster & Looka
Hatchful (powered by Shopify)
It started by asking me to select my industry, then enter the business name and slogan. It then asked me to select two keywords to describe how I wanted the logo to look so I picked creative and reliable.
The results were generated quickly but I didn’t love the results. I was able to easily make some minor edits like fonts and colors, but overall I still wasn’t thrilled with the results. Although it did allow me to download the logo for free and in a variety of formats and sizes based on usage (i.e. social specs).
OVERALL THOUGHTS: Great that I could download the logo for free, just wish I would have liked one of the logos it had generated. But I would definitely recommend it in the hopes that someone else would get some results they would want to use.
Logomaster.ai
It gave me some sample logos and asked me to pick 3 that I liked so it could mimic those styles. I then got to select a color category to represent the company.
It then had me input my company name and slogan, and select an icon to go with my logo.
When I generated the logo, I realized I had accidentally selected the wrong colors that I wanted but it was easy to change my color scheme and re-generate the logos using the updated colors.
Overall I was really happy with the results and had a number of great options to choose from.
When I got to the end to save it, I would’ve had to pay $59 for high resolution, web ready files.
OVERALL THOUGHTS: A longer process than Hatchful but the user experience was pleasant and easy to use. I was happy with the results but this was the most expensive one I tried with the minimum price you can pay for the logo being $59. But that would still be much less than traditional graphic design services.
Looka.com
I started by entering the name and selecting the industry. It gave some logo examples and I picked some I liked.
I could then pick multiple colors I liked, unlike the others I had tried who only allowed you to pick one color or one color scheme.
The final step was to select up to 5 icons that would reflect my business.
The logo results weren’t bad and they were easy to edit (change colors, fonts, icons, etc.)
If I had wanted to download one of these logos, the minimum package was $20.
OVERALL THOUGHTS: It was on the less expensive side and the results weren’t bad. I felt like it was on the right track and I probably could’ve come up with something I really liked had I kept playing around with it.
CONCLUSION:
I liked the price point of Hatchful the most (it was free to design and download) but the results from Logomaster were much more in line with the type of logo I was looking for.
I feel it’s important to note here that I have some experience in graphic design and I already had an idea in my mind for my logo. So when I didn’t see anything I fell in love with when doing these generators, I decided to just go into Canva and create the logo myself. But I did end up taking into consideration some elements from a few logos I saw while doing this.
For someone who has no idea what they want for their logo, using a free logo generator is a great way to get started. If nothing else, it will help you narrow down what you want and don’t want in a logo.
Just keep in mind that for most logo generators, generating the logo is free - it’s when you find one you want to download that will most likely cost you money.
🗞️ Headlines
Here are some articles you might find interesting:
How AI is Leveling the Marketing Playing Field Between SMBs and Big Business - U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Harvard Business School A.I. guru on why every Main Street shop should start using ChatGPT - CNBC Small Business Playbook
For e-commerce businesses: Shopify Introduces Over 100 New Features, Including AI-based Solutions - Small Business Trends
⏩ COMING NEXT WEEK:
Learning the difference between generative, predictive and prescriptive A.I. (knowing this will help you learn more about the specific options available to you and your business)
Test driving content generator Longshot.ai
🙏 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
If you are an AI company and would like to get your product featured in this newsletter, please reach out here: AI PRODUCT
If you would like to sponsor this newsletter (you don’t have to be an AI company), please reach out here: NEWSLETTER SPONSOR
📘 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.
👋 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.
⚠️ 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.