AI technology is quickly becoming a key component of many companies’ marketing plans—and for good reason. Not only can AI-powered marketing platforms assist with automation and analytics, they can also support idea generation and content creation.
Keep reading to learn more about how to use AI in your marketing efforts and discover 13 helpful solutions for everything from social media to advertising.
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How can I use AI to market my business?
You can use AI to market your business in a number of ways. AI tools can help with:
- Content creation: Generate ideas and images, plus write first drafts for web copy, social media posts, blog posts, ads, and emails.
- Content optimization: Get keyword tips, formatting tips, and suggestions for when to post to get the most traction and engagement.
- Market research: Gather the latest information on consumer trends and distribution methods to inform your decisions.
- Automation: Streamline marketing tasks, like creating segmented mailing lists and updating metadata, and manage multiple marketing channels in one place.
- Analytics: Get insights on customer sentiment and campaign performance so you can improve and personalize your content and ads.
According to Deloitte’s 2023 Chief Marketing Officer Survey, 60% of marketing professionals currently use AI to support their strategies. Of those surveyed who use AI, 53% said they use it for content personalization, 49% said they use it for content creation, and 37% said they use it to optimize the content and timing of their digital marketing.
In a 2023 Forbes survey of 600 American business owners, 52% said they use AI for keyword research, 38% said they use it to generate ideas, and 29% said they use it to write website copy.
The best AI tools for small business marketing
If you want to build out your marketing tech stack, we’ve rounded up some helpful options below. But keep in mind: most martech software already has AI capabilities built in for automation and data-gathering purposes.
The solutions below are either marketing platforms that have unique AI functions or AI platforms that work for marketing tasks.
AI tools for social media
1. Hootsuite
Hootsuite, the gold standard for social media marketing and management software, has some handy new AI features. Hootsuite’s OwlyWriter AI can generate social media captions and post ideas. Hootsuite Inbox, which functions as a central hub to manage all your social media messages, has an AI-powered chatbot and automated message routing.
And Hootsuite also has a free AI Hashtag Generator that brainstorms relevant hashtags for your social media posts for any social network you choose.
Cost: Hootsuite’s professional plan, which includes the inbox and hashtag generator features, starts at $99 a month.
Hootsuite is a good option if: You already use it and want to take advantage of AI to optimize your social media.
2. FeedHive
FeedHive’s AI-powered platform is an all-in-one place for creating, scheduling, and managing social media content. FeedHive’s AI supplies social media post templates and content ideas, gives you pointers about how to structure your content for virality and increased engagement, and predicts post performance so you can make tweaks before publishing anything.
Another smart feature: FeedHive’s AI analyzes your followers’ activity and engagement with your channel to suggest the optimal times to post.
Cost: The business plan starts at $99 a month.
FeedHive is a good option if: You want one social media marketing platform that does it all.
AI tools for research, writing, and content creation
3. ChatGPT
By now you’ve probably experimented with—if not fully embraced—ChatGPT for some form of content creation. The popular generative AI tool can help you write almost anything, including blog posts, emails, newsletters, social media posts, website copy, product descriptions, content calendars, and ads.
The appeal of ChatGPT is its ability to be both versatile and authentic: it generates responses to a seemingly unlimited number of inputs—and it does it while sounding pretty human. Still, it’s a good idea to use ChatGPT (and all generative AI tools, for that matter) as a first draft or supplement to your content creation, then take the time to fact-check the content and edit it for clarity and tone.
Cost: It’s free, but if you want more features, ChatGPT Plus is $20 per user per month.
ChatGPT is a good option if: You want fast, convenient content support without having to sign up for a subscription or platform.
4. Copy.ai
Copy.ai’s AI Marketing OS simplifies your marketing workflow by automating tasks and assisting with creation and execution at every stage. The content workflow feature can turn transcripts into content briefs, generate content from those briefs, and automatically repurpose and refresh content.
The SEO workflow can create content briefs using keywords, then turn those briefs into blogs with automated internal and external linking. The OS can also create complete email nurtures and outbound campaigns.
Cost: If your business is a one-person operation, it’s free; if you have a small team, the professional plan starts at $36 a month.
The Copy.ai AI Marketing OS is a good option if: You don’t have a lot of internal marketing support, and want AI assistance with every stage of the process, from brainstorming ideas to executing campaigns.
5. Jasper
Jasper is billed as a marketing copilot for enterprise businesses that want better outcomes from their marketing efforts. With Jasper’s AI-powered platform, you get AI writing assistance tailored to your unique brand voice, images from text inputs, insights and suggestions for improving your content, and the ability to turn a single piece of content into a multimedia campaign.
Jasper is also known for their robust security certifications, countless integrations, and additional web resources explaining how to use AI responsibly and ethically.
Cost: The pro plan starts at $59 a month per seat.
Jasper is a good option if: You run a large-scale company and want more support with your marketing strategies.
6. Grammarly
Grammarly pioneered the digital writing assistant in 2009 with its spelling, punctuation, and grammar support app. Now, the tool uses generative AI to expand on its original capabilities.
Grammarly helps you compose copy of all kinds, with customizable options for tone, formality, and type of content. You can use Grammarly’s AI to generate ideas, create outlines for blog posts, and expedite email replies with context-specific prompts.
Cost: The free option includes 100 AI prompts to generate text; the business plan is $15 a month.
Grammarly is a good option if: You already have great in-house writers, but want to speed up the content creation and review process.
AI tools for images, videos, and graphics
7. DALL-E 2
Created by OpenAI (the same company that created ChatGPT), DALL-E 2 is an AI-powered graphic design tool that creates images based on text inputs and filters. You can use DALL-E 2 to generate images and graphics for your social media posts, website, or blog posts.
Cost: You need to have a ChatGPT Plus account to access DALL-E 2; ChatGPT Plus is $20 per user per month.
DALL-E 2 is a good option if: You need original, high-quality images to accompany your marketing content.
8. Canva’s Magic Studio
Canva, everyone’s go-to graphic design tool, now has an AI platform called Magic Studio. With Magic Studio, all you have to do is upload your content or describe what you want, and you’ll get original on-brand videos and graphics for your social media posts, blog posts, and digital ads.
You can also use Magic Studio to generate content templates that match your existing media, so you can repurpose content across different platforms.
Cost: For solo operations, the Canva Pro account starts at $15 a month; for small teams, it’s $10 a month per person.
Canva’s Magic Studio is a good option if: You want an all-in-one solution to create, edit, and repurpose images, videos, and graphics for your marketing materials.
AI tools for content optimization and SEO
9. Keyword Insights
True to its name, Keyword Insights is an AI-powered content marketing platform that specializes in gathering keywords—and sharing insights. The platform generates a list of relevant keywords for a specific topic, categorizes and ranks them, then creates a content brief from those keywords.
The platform’s AI-powered writing assistant can also grade your work based on search metrics and give you actionable suggestions for improving the structure, tone, and substance of a piece of writing.
Cost: The basic plan is $58 a month and the professional plan is $145 a month.
Keyword Insights is a good option if: You regularly produce a high volume of long-form content as part of your business’s content marketing strategy, and you need help optimizing the content for a higher search ranking.
10. Frase
Frase is an AI-powered SEO and content creation software that helps you create SEO-friendly content fast. Frase AI can generate slogans, value propositions, meta descriptions, product descriptions, blog titles, blog introductions, and short articles. You can also use Frase to paraphrase, rewrite, and summarize copy.
Cost: It’s $15 a month for a solo plan that includes 10 queries and $45 a month for a basic plan that includes 30 queries.
Frase is a good option if: You want a relatively affordable solution to help your company’s content rank higher in Google search results.
AI tools for advertising
11. Wordstream
Wordstream is an AI-driven advertising software designed to help you optimize your digital ad campaigns. Wordstream has a bunch of free tools, including their Google ads performance grader, Facebook ads performance grader, website grader, and keyword tool.
Their paid solutions use AI capabilities to optimize your ads on search engines, extend your reach with retargeting features, and deliver real-time performance insights on your social media ads.
Cost: Reach out for pricing.
Wordstream is a good option if: You want better results from your online ads and don’t know where to start on your own.
12. Talkwalker
Talkwalker is a consumer intelligence platform that offers a range of products, including social listening software, social benchmarking software, media monitoring, and customer feedback analytics.
You can use Talkwalker’s social listening software to develop a deeper understanding of your customer preferences and habits, so you can personalize your ads and build marketing campaigns that drive people to action.
The platform’s AI-driven social listening features can analyze customer sentiment, pinpoint popular topics of conversation among your customers, deliver AI data summaries, and send real-time alerts about trends in your industry.
Cost: Book a demo for pricing details.
Talkwalker is a good option if: You want consumer insights across your different social media platforms and marketing channels.
AI tools for automation
13. Zapier
Zapier is an AI-powered automation software that makes it easy to create marketing materials, execute campaigns, and measure your results. With Zapier, you can automate busywork and manage all your marketing tasks in one place. Think: editorial calendar management, email marketing, advertising, and performance monitoring.
Cost: Contact the sales team for pricing.
Zapier is a good option if: You want a comprehensive marketing solution that uses AI features to streamline your workflow.
Check out these other AI productivity tools to save time and work more efficiently.
Use AI to facilitate your marketing plan
AI marketing tools aren’t a replacement for marketing expertise or industry knowledge, but they can help you with workflow efficiency and strategic decision-making. The result: more time and brainpower to focus on big-picture strategy and building bonds with customers.
