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Small business owner works a tablet and a laptop while sitting at a table in his artisanal shop. AI marketing tools can help with automating repetitive processes like scheduling or data collection.<\/p>\n
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Marketing budgets for small businesses usually fall between 2% and 5% of total revenue<\/a>. At least, that\u2019s the goal. Recommendations from the U.S. Small Business Administration say B2C companies should spend more than B2B companies. In both cases, a small business could be competing against big household names, and in the B2C space it takes more effort to get noticed by end consumers.<\/p>\n Yet, allocating adequate funds to your small company\u2019s marketing budget shouldn\u2019t be limited to advertising. Ideally, your budgeted items include AI marketing tools to help automate repetitive tasks and digital outreach.<\/p>\n Has Marketing Automation Become Essential For Small Businesses?<\/p>\n Marketing automation has become essential for small businesses that compete with larger companies. Automating repetitive tasks \u2014 think sending routine emails or scheduling social media posts \u2014 can help a small business improve efficiency, personalization, response times, lead nurturing and staff productivity. Benefits include presenting a professional, responsive image that rivals big-name competitors and accomplishing more with fewer resources.<\/p>\n Customers and leads don\u2019t necessarily have to wait for an answer when AI fills in the staffing gaps. Nonetheless, potential drawbacks can come from trying to do too much too soon and not starting with clean data or well-defined goals. You could create overcomplicated workflows with poor, random results. Just because AI makes it possible to automate nearly anything<\/a>, it doesn\u2019t mean you should implement it for every task with the most expensive tools.<\/p>\n The Marketing Tasks Worth Automating<\/p>\n Small service-oriented businesses and companies in the e-commerce or retail industries can benefit the most from marketing automation. In the service and retail sectors, revenue is driven by relationships, repeat purchases and repetitive tasks like scheduling appointments or sending emails about abandoned online carts.<\/p>\n To determine which tasks are worth automating, identify which ones have an impact on revenue and determine if these tasks need to be consistently repeated. <\/p>\n Repetition might be necessary to directly influence revenue or it\u2019s a task clients frequently complete. Examples include service reminders for car and HVAC system maintenance. Another example is a re-engagement email campaign for inactive prospects and customers. The point of the campaign is to see if they can be nurtured to make a purchase or should be removed from the database. <\/p>\n In addition to AI marketing tools, you might consider implementing other AI tools to improve workflows. For example, teams could use AI collaboration tools<\/a> for providing action items, simplifying threads, onboarding or sharing information.<\/p>\n 1. Gather Market Data<\/p>\n Gathering market data is a necessary step to ensure each strategy is met with a knowledgeable, data-based approach. Customer behavior, competitors and current industry trends are a few key elements ideally accomplished in this step.<\/p>\n Before this step could be automated, teams spent time and resources doing this manually, compiling the data from each individually researched source and preparing it in a way prospective clients could understand. Automation can save sales and marketing teams time, pulling current data from websites, CRM and social channels and providing the sources to back it up, in addition to helping to summarize what would need to be shown to a potential client to be most effective. <\/p>\n Costs vary from software to software and specific needs. According to User Intuition<\/a> research, monthly costs for market data tools can range from $30 to $500, and annual costs can range from $15,000 to $50,000. <\/p>\n Being able to automate research can allow teams to spend their time on reviewing, verifying and understanding the data. From there, they can create a visually appealing report for clients, and be able to answer questions thoroughly. <\/p>\n 2. Lead Generation<\/p>\n When it comes to lead generation automation, these tools typically identify potential customers through website visits or form submissions, as opposed to sales teams having to cold pitch to prospects.<\/p>\n Lead generation used to mean a salesperson running ads, networking at events or cold-calling, only to later rely on a spreadsheet to manually input contact details and have to reach out to each individual. Automated lead generation tools can help put this information together and integrate it into the outreach process. This automation saves teams time so they can spend it on reaching out to the leads with the highest probability of conversion.<\/p>\n Costs really depend on the specific software used. PhantomBuster notes<\/a> that collective lead generation costs can be anywhere between $7 and over $1,000 each month. Many lead generation tools offer monthly subscriptions, which could help businesses keep these costs at a comfortable fixed rate. <\/p>\n 3. Digital Content Strategy<\/p>\n Automating your digital content strategy allows people to use AI to increase search engine visibility, predict performance and ensure your website meets accessibility standards. Automation also helps optimize your content for answer engines, such as ChatGPT.<\/p>\n Content intelligence platforms are the way to bring these insights to an existing content team. If you\u2019re a new small business, your team may be you and one other individual. You might be working with a contractor instead of an employee.<\/p>\n Regardless, AI takes some of the guesswork out of how you can create high-performing digital content. It can highlight errors before you hit publish, tell you if your content is aligned with brand guidelines while revealing which content is underperforming and why. AI cuts down on the time it takes to sync multiple dashboards, analytics and A\/B test results.<\/p>\n 4. Abandoned Cart Emails<\/p>\n Automating abandoned cart emails means touchpoints are sent when someone abandons their online shopping cart. The email\u2019s goal is to incentivize them to complete the purchase, either with a discount, more product information or suggestions of similar products.<\/p>\n Traditionally, the automation of abandoned cart emails is done through a workflow in a CRM program. It requires setting up the workflow and creating the email content, plus periodic tweaks and the monitoring of results. CRM software is necessary, as well as staff or contractors who are familiar with CRMs and email marketing.<\/p>\n Automating abandoned card emails can save teams time spent on manual labor. For instance, AI will usually optimize when the emails are sent and create more personalized subject lines to improve open rates. AI can also include customized product recommendations based on individual behaviors. There are free and paid options for these types of tools. Prodigy<\/a>, for example, shares information on pricing and features for a few different tools, the maximum annual cost being $59. <\/p>\n 5. Image Creation And Editing<\/p>\n When using an image creation and editing platform with automation capabilities, users can more easily create and edit graphics, images, branding materials, presentations and more. In the past, designers would need to manually open the editing software needed for each type of graphic or image. <\/p>\n There\u2019s no longer a need to switch between platforms to make edits on different file types, images and graphics. These platforms are often supportive of multiple file types and allow customizable document settings, auto-alignment features, prompt-based image generation, smart editing and more. <\/p>\n Costs range for various purposes, as oftentimes there are both free versions and paid subscriptions offered. <\/p>\n 6. Ad Placement<\/p>\n Automating ad placement works best with online formats, such as audio and video ads on streaming platforms. It can also work for social media, including Facebook and Instagram ads. Automation of ad placement means your digital advertising automatically gets scheduled to run on certain platforms according to preselected audience segments, campaign goals and targeting strategies.<\/p>\n Typically, you\u2019ll have your creative ready to go. This means having six-second, 15-second or 30-second videos. Maybe you have radio ads you want to run on Spotify plus reels with CTAs to your product pages to put on Instagram.<\/p>\n AI saves you from having to manually choose, schedule and post those ads. You also don\u2019t have to coordinate which ad goes to which platform for specific audiences. Automation takes care of these details based on your targeted audience. Some platforms also help you create various ad formats if needed.<\/p>\n 7. Post-Purchase Communications<\/p>\n Additional post-purchase workflows can reach out to customers with order and shipping details, product information, appointment confirmations and return information. These emails keep engagement with customers alive while providing service support. They\u2019re also an opportunity to drive repeat purchase behaviors and reward high-volume or first-time customers.<\/p>\n A CRM can help your business establish these workflows and content. You may want to start simple with one or two workflows. Confirmation and product\/service education emails are ideal. ToolScreener research<\/a> offers additional insights on typical costs, which range from $0 to over $1,400 monthly, depending on how the tools need to be used.<\/p>\n Automating these communications can cut down on time and resources spent on repeat calls and online messages. You\u2019re being proactive about answering clients\u2019 frequently asked questions. In addition, you\u2019re educating them on product use and what to expect, which is a great way to build rapport with new customers.<\/p>\n 8. Gather Customer Reviews<\/p>\n These automations allow the workflow to send a message when someone uses your product or service. Let\u2019s say a client brought their car in for an oil change today. Tomorrow, a review request and survey email can land in the client\u2019s inbox. Often, an incentive is included if the client follows through.<\/p>\n This automation can be accomplished with a CRM that integrates email workflows. It\u2019s similar to setting up an abandoned cart workflow, but the differences are the trigger and content. Making a purchase and completing a service appointment are the triggers. The email focuses on providing links to leave online reviews and perhaps getting a discount on a future purchase. <\/p>\n The time saved can instead be spent on reading the feedback the automation finds, so they can start engaging with the customers.<\/p>\n 9. Social Media Scheduling<\/p>\n A social media scheduling tool is much more reliable than having to log into the platforms and manually share content each time. <\/p>\n Automated social media scheduling tools allow multiple posts to be scheduled out in advance and automatically published on the desired social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and X. Several automated social media scheduling platforms also offer options like audience insights, analytics and auto-generated captions and hashtags. <\/p>\n 10. Building Workflows<\/p>\n The process of building workflows involves combining at least two or more marketing automations and customizing them to automatically run in a specific order. This way, teams can avoid manually combining data from multiple tools, and instead have a workflow that can do it for them using their preferred order of operations.<\/p>\n Connecting tools used to need custom coding, often done by an IT professional. Other ways this was accomplished were by compiling form data from recently onboarded customers, duplicating the information and adding it to various systems such as your CRM and email platforms. <\/p>\n There are several automation tools, and the cost can also depend on whether the automation is self-hosted or a paid tool. <\/p>\n The marketing automation tools available for small businesses range from CRM and email platforms to tools that sync entire digital content strategies. To determine which tools are the best fit for your company, identify what you want to accomplish and where there is opportunity for automation. You also want to consider budget, current staff capacity and which tasks can benefit from integrating human and AI capabilities.<\/p>\n 1. OpenForge<\/p>\n OpenForge<\/a> is a platform that reveals your brand\u2019s AI visibility \u2014 if your content is cited by AI overviews and in AI tools, such as Claude and ChatGPT. OpenForge shows where your content stands relative to your competition while providing real-time monitoring and actionable insights.<\/p>\n You can create custom workflows to create optimized content and see where there are opportunities to fill in content gaps. For instance, there could be information gaps your top competitors aren\u2019t covering or opportunities to create more in-depth answers for consumers. Your business may need other tools to automate emails and provide SEO insights. Pricing varies monthly versus annually.<\/p>\n 2. Profound<\/p>\n Profound<\/a> also focuses on boosting AI visibility. It identifies how AI represents your brand. The tool can help increase brand mentions within Google\u2019s AI-generated overviews and in tools like Perplexity.<\/p>\n Profound can automate the creation and optimization of website FAQs. The tool provides insights into how AI is representing your brand to different audiences. For instance, you could have four different buyer personas as your business targets. Within the dashboard, you can see if AI visibility is up or down amongst those various segments. Profound does offer free trials, and has monthly and annual plans.<\/p>\n 3. Siteimprove<\/p>\n Siteimprove<\/a> combines analytics and data for website accessibility, SEO, AEO and content strategy. If you want to focus on how website updates impact ROI, Siteimprove\u2019s analytics can reveal this. <\/p>\n The main goal of Siteimprove is to improve content strategy. It can automate research, planning and optimization functions while boosting visibility. However, it\u2019s up to you to interpret and act on the tool\u2019s insights. It can double-check content, but it\u2019s not going to necessarily create it for you.<\/p>\n Siteimprove can be customized for various industries, as well as different organizational roles. Your business can request a demo and use some of the platform’s free tools, such as its SEO and AEO checkers.<\/p>\n 4. AudioGo<\/p>\n AudioGo<\/a> automates the placement of audio ads on digital radio, music and podcast platforms. You create your campaign according to who you want to reach and upload your ads. The tool does the rest when it comes to getting your message in front of the right audiences.<\/p>\n This tool lets you segment by lifestyle, such as EV car buyers. You can also specify geotargets, demographics and content genres like soft pop or news-related podcasts. The tool also helps you create ads if you don\u2019t have separate resources to do this.<\/p>\n Since it focuses on audio ads and placement, it\u2019s not going to assist with other areas of your digital content strategy like your website or emails. You\u2019ll get dashboard analytics and there are four different pricing tiers. Pricing is based on market and CPM or cost per mile.<\/p>\n 5. HubSpot<\/p>\n HubSpot<\/a> is a CRM platform that integrates website and email content creation. It can automate various email workflows, including welcome series, abandoned carts and survey invitations. HubSpot supports plugins that integrate with tools like SurveyMonkey so you can collect survey response data. You can also create and customize databases according to various customer journey stages.<\/p>\n This tool lets you separate leads from existing customers. HubSpot can help with tracking engagement and building email workflows based on contacts\u2019 behaviors. You\u2019re able to set up A\/B tests on various landing page and email components, such as subject lines and CTAs.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll get an analytics dashboard, but it\u2019s not necessarily going to tell you if your content aligns with brand guidelines or is optimized for AI. It depends on which hub features you select. You may also have to experiment with how to design workflows to match what you\u2019re trying to accomplish. There are three pricing tiers aimed at small, mid-sized and enterprise businesses.<\/p>\n 6. SocialPilot<\/p>\n SocialPilot<\/a> can be used to automate actions such as scheduling, analytics and publishing. It works well for social platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. It can also be used by local businesses for review management.<\/p>\n The tool specializes in bulk scheduling and has an AI-assisted content calendar. This allows you to queue hundreds of posts at once. It has a built-in inbox, which can make it easier to manage comments and messages. It’s known for ease of use and customer support. However, it’s primarily a scheduling and engagement tool as opposed to a full content-creation platform; you’ll still need to use a design tool like Canva for graphics. The tools offer several plans, with monthly and yearly pricing.<\/p>\n 7. Canva<\/p>\n For a design platform with user-friendly automated graphic design capabilities, Canva<\/a> is a solid choice. In a way, it takes the basic functionality of programs such as Adobe InDesign and Photoshop, uses built-in templates and offers AI tools allowing even inexperienced designers to create professional-looking graphics and presentations for social posts and other marketing materials. <\/p>\n Unlike other marketing tools, Canva does not focus on scheduling and analytics. It specializes in visual content creation. However, its Pro plan does include a content publisher that has the ability to schedule designs to post directly to social channels. It also has a Magic Resize feature, which allows users to reformat a single design for multiple platforms. Canva is currently free for basic use, and has more plans. <\/p>\n 8. Claude Cowork<\/p>\n Claude Cowork<\/a> is a robust AI agent tool from Anthropic that can do a variety of tasks, including researching market data, organizing files and producing finished reports. It can compile spreadsheets or analysis reports from your own documents and connected tools.<\/p>\n For gathering market data, Cowork can pull information from multiple sources such as a CRM, numerous internal spreadsheets and online research of competitors and trends. Acting on the correct prompts, it can hand back a polished summary. While it has the ability to work directly in your files, it requires permission before accessing those systems and files. Cowork is a general-purpose research and task tool rather than a dedicated analytics platform specifically created for marketing data; however, it has competent functionality for that purpose. <\/p>\n Pricing varies by plan. Small business owners who may not be able to justify hiring an analyst but need a tool for synthesizing market research might consider Claude Cowork.<\/p>\n 9. CleverTap<\/p>\n CleverTap<\/a> is a customer engagement platform that automates market data collection. It uses AI for visitor behavior and campaign performance analysis and pulls data from email, push, SMS and in-app messages.<\/p>\n It allows you to analyze behavior in a segmented manner and track how messages across 15-plus channels influence how customers move through your sales funnel. <\/p>\n CleverTap has integrated predictive AI features and does well with detailed customer data. From a pricing perspective, its pricing structure and feature depth are designed to support mobile apps and larger customer bases. Scaling companies or small businesses with a mobile app or a sizable customer database needing deeper behavioral insight would be a good fit for CleverTap.<\/p>\n 10. Zapier<\/p>\n Zapier<\/a> is a workflow automation tool that helps businesses connect their tools and increasingly incorporate AI-driven steps into workflows. The tool focuses on building “Zaps,” which are automations with a trigger and one or more actions. These Zaps can link thousands of apps, ranging from email and CRMs to spreadsheets and social platforms. Zapier\u2019s strengths lie in the sheer number of integrations and the no-code setup, but costs can climb quickly since fees accrue per task rather than per automation. <\/p>\n There is a free plan available, but it limits you to simple two-step Zaps. It also has paid plans. Zapier can be a useful resource for small businesses that use several disconnected tools and want to link them without hiring a developer.<\/p>\n 11. Lead Connect <\/p>\n As a general rule, site traffic has limited usefulness unless visitors can be transitioned into leads. Lead Connect<\/a>, a company I\u2019ve invested in, uses data and automated analysis to identify, qualify and follow up with website visitors. It is a website visitor identification tool that pulls back the curtain on the people behind your anonymous site traffic. Not only that, but it automatically converts them into qualified leads.<\/p>\n Lead Connect focuses on unmasking anonymous visitors, providing valuable contact details such as email addresses, phone numbers, job titles and social media profiles. It also provides behavior tracking, such as which pages they viewed and the channel they used to find your site. The tool can connect to CRM and email platforms and then reach out with automated follow-ups based on visitor behavior. It is a newer, single-purpose tool that doesn’t offer some of the more complex marketing features present in platforms such as HubSpot. For smaller businesses that might be overwhelmed by an overabundance of options, the single-purpose tool can be less overwhelming.<\/p>\n Relevance offers a free two-week trial; ongoing pricing isn’t listed publicly and requires contacting the company directly. <\/p>\n 12. Noble<\/p>\n Noble<\/a> is a platform specializing in AI search visibility and gets your brand cited by name in third-party articles and pages that AI tools pull information from when they create query answers. Being a source that LLMs pull can drive site traffic and also be a notable boost to brand credibility.<\/p>\n The tool focuses on securing and correcting brand mentions rather than just tracking them. It identifies valuable opportunities to be included in AI-cited sources and then reaches out and negotiates with publishers to place new mentions or correct outdated ones. Noble does well at removing the gruntwork of finding contacts and following up with them. <\/p>\n The pricing structure operates on an ongoing monthly budget basis rather than charging a flat subscription fee. As the service involves negotiation, a certain number of placements on specific sites aren\u2019t guaranteed and depend on which publishers agree to a placement. <\/p>\n 13. IntentSignal<\/p>\n IntentSignal<\/a> is an outreach agency that builds custom AI agents to scan a company’s target market for buying signals. The tool does this daily and books qualified sales meetings directly onto reps’ calendars.<\/p>\n The tool focuses on outbound lead generation rather than inbound marketing. It tests new email campaigns on a daily basis and scales the methods that are effective in booking meetings. It also manages email infrastructure to ensure messages land in inboxes instead of being lost to spam filters. <\/p>\n IntentSignal does not manage the entire sales process. Instead it generates high volumes of sales meetings that are passed off to a company\u2019s established sales team. The process is a managed agency service rather than self-serve software, and pricing is created as custom, retainer-based engagements. <\/p>\n Businesses with $3 million to $200 million in revenue that have a solid sales team are the target audience for this service and will likely receive the most value from it. <\/p>\n 14. Perfectus Labs<\/p>\n As a marketing agency that relies on AI to help small businesses maximize their sales pipeline, Perfectus Labs<\/a> combines Cognos for AEO and SEO with BookedSolid AI for lead generation. <\/p>\n By creating customized outbound campaigns, BookedSolid AI helps users achieve more booked meetings and a high inbox placement rate each month. Cognos, on the other hand, manages SEO and AEO for organic traffic growth. This is a managed service rather than self-service and is a reliable solution for consolidating organic lead generation and outbound. <\/p>\n Perfectus Labs currently doesn\u2019t have its pricing listed, and it accepts clients via referral or invitation, rather than a public signup. <\/p>\n What Marketing Tasks Still Require Human Expertise?<\/p>\n Not all marketing tasks should be automated. Examples include defining your strategy, determining your brand voice, storytelling and building relationships. AI may help point out opportunities, generate topic ideas or content outlines and keep conversations going when staff aren\u2019t available. But it can\u2019t replace human empathy, strategic direction and connection.<\/p>\n Although there is talk that AI could eventually replace entire marketing departments, there are signs employers are discovering AI\u2019s limitations. Employers that previously laid off employees<\/a> to replace them with AI have found out the technology is limited when it comes to critical thinking, complex problem-solving and empathy. Tasks requiring these skills can benefit from combining human and AI involvement.<\/p>\n How Do You Build A Marketing Automation Strategy That Scales?<\/p>\n Creating a successful marketing automation strategy begins with clearly defined goals. I like to ask questions like, \u201cWhat do I want to accomplish the most?\u201d It could be improving customer engagement and the customer experience. Your primary aim could be to maximize your in-house resources.<\/p>\n The next step is to identify repetitive tasks that align with those goals. Build a single workflow and test it out. Define what metrics you\u2019re going to measure to see if your automation strategy helped you accomplish your goal. If you need to tweak your approach or the tool you use, do it. Once you\u2019ve seen positive movement with one automation, pick another task to build a separate workflow for.<\/p>\n Implementing a successful marketing automation strategy means matching repetitive tasks with big-picture objectives and then choosing the right tools to automate those tasks. Start small and scale as you see positive results.<\/p>\n Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)<\/p>\n Can You Use ChatGPT For Marketing? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n ChatGPT is a popular AI engine because it was one of the first to market and has a free plan. You can use it for marketing tasks like blog titles, landing page ideas, brainstorming, audience research and first drafts of content. An example of a prompt is \u201cgive me blog title ideas for a regional wireless provider in Nebraska using the keywords of signal strength and coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n What Are Good AI Content Creation Tools?<\/p>\n