There are over a hundred million ChatGPT users, which continues to grow. While many small business owners have been avoiding or aren’t sure how to use it, ChatGPT can actually be a huge timesaver.
In this article, we’ll discuss ChatGPT for small business owners and how you can use it ethically.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is chatbot software that answers questions using natural language processing (NLP), the branch of artificial intelligence (AI) that understands human language.
For example, you can ask ChatGPT to create an outline for you or give you topic ideas. Then, the software will scan the web to provide a detailed response.
Because ChatGPT gathers information from what’s already on the internet, it’s essential to be mindful of how you use it. It’s best used as a tool and not to replace humans.
While AI can provide helpful information, it can’t offer human touch, empathy, or personal experience, which is essential to business success.
Can ChatGPT be used for business?
Yes, many people use ChatGPT for business. In fact, this report shows 49% of companies use ChatGPT. While ChatGPT is often used for content creation, there are many other ways to use it.
10 Ways to Save Time Using ChatGTP for Small Business
While we believe ChatGPT has limitations and you should use it with discretion, there are ways to leverage it to save time in your small business.
Here’s a quick list of how you might use ChatGPT. Below, we’ll share more details.
Table of Contents
1. Make a Business Plan
If you’re in the beginning stages of your business, a plan can help you uncover the best steps to start and run a successful business.
Business plans are different for every entrepreneur, so you can’t necessarily rely entirely on ChatGPT. However, you can use it to create a business plan template, for ideas and guidance in getting started.
Read more: 10 Ideas for Starting a Home-Based Business
2. Generate Content Ideas
One of the best uses of ChatGPT is generating content ideas.
As business owners, we know how important valuable content is for marketing. But sometimes, generating content ideas can be challenging.
If you’re unsure what to create content about, whether it be for social media or your blog posts, ChatGPT can come in handy. You can use ChatGPT’s suggestions to create unique content or use them to spark creativity and develop your ideas.
For example, I asked ChatGPT, “What are content ideas for small business owners?” Then, it provided a list of prompt suggestions:
3. Come Up With Headers or Titles
Various studies show you have less than 8 seconds to grab your audience’s attention. Since website headers and blog titles are usually the first thing your potential clients or customers see, you want to get them right.
Like generating content ideas, you can use ChatGPT to help you create attention-grabbing headers or titles without wasting time developing them on your own. Simply ask for suggestions for titles for specific blog topics or website pages.
Tip: Since ChatGPT pulls its information from the web, we suggest tweaking the content to make it unique and avoid plagiarism.
4. Develop Blog Outlines
If you’re a small business owner, blogs are one of the best ways to reach your target market and increase brand awareness and sales. In fact, almost 90% of people have made a purchase because of a blog they read.
While you don’t want to use ChatGPT to write an entire article, you can use it to help you create an outline. We don’t recommend using it to write all your content because this can lead to plagiarism issues and inauthenticity.
When you use AI software to help you create outlines, you can understand better what article format Google likes to rank. Of course, after you use ChatGPT to create your outline, you can edit it to fit your writing style and goals and what information would be most valuable for your audience.
Check out these blogging resources to learn more about writing blogs that rank on Google and generate leads.
5. Produce Email or Social Media Content
Email and social media are excellent ways to grow your small business. Emails are ideal for connecting with existing clients and customers, while social media posts are great for reaching new people.
Whether you’re creating Instagram, Twitter, email, or other content, you can use ChatGPT to help you. Again, you don’t want to use AI-generated content word for word, so spending time updating this content to make it unique and match it to your brand voice and goals is essential.
6. Learn New Information
As small business owners, we’re always learning. Whether you want to learn more about a new potential product or service you might offer, a marketing strategy or something else, you can use ChatGPT to help you.
When we want to learn new information, we often spend hours researching. With ChatGPT, it can pull relevant information for you, which can save a lot of time.
7. Create a budget
Budgeting is a key component of business success. When you create a plan for your money, know what you’re earning, and understand how to spend funds, you have a better chance of meeting your goals.
I asked ChatGPT to help me create a budget, and it gave me a list of steps to follow. Here’s a preview of that list:
Read more: 9 Apps That Help You Budget Money (with Pros and Cons)
8. Provide Customer Support
Customer service is essential to business success but can take a lot of time. An often overlooked use for ChatGPT for small business owners is its customer support capabilities, which can also be a timesaver.
Here are a few ways you might use it to improve your customer service:
- Generate customer or client satisfaction surveys.
- Translate inquiries you might receive in other languages.
- Write responses to emails and messages.
- Create a troubleshooting guide for a platform your customers and clients may use.
Human touch is essential for top-notch customer service. AI can’t be empathetic or personalize content, so don’t forget to look over and customize emails, surveys, guides, etc.
9. Do Market Research
Another way to step up your customer service is by doing market research. Market research lets you learn about your audience, competition, and trends to help you improve your business.
Often, we do market research by communicating with existing or potential customers or clients. We might also search the web for information.
A quicker process for this can be by asking ChatGPT relevant questions. For example, you might ask about common problems your target audience faces or what kind of YouTube videos you can create for your small business. The opportunities are endless for this!
10. Get Recommendations for Business Tools
For years, business tools have helped small businesses be successful. You might use software for accounting, email marketing, communicating with your team, and many other business tasks.
If you’re a new business owner or you’re looking for specific resources, you might use ChatGPT to get ideas related to your specific needs. This can save a lot of time you would be spending on looking for the best tools.
Read more: 17 Best SEO Tools for Small Businesses
One of the top benefits of ChatGPT is saving time. While using ChatGPT for small business tasks can help you increase efficiency, it’s important to use it as a resource and not to replace human touch. If you found this article helpful and enjoyed reading it, please consider sharing.