Page 15 - The South China Business Journal

unning a small business is no small feat. Every
Rday, small business owners wear multiple hats:
the visionary, the accountant, the marketer, and the
customer whisperer, among others. And the fruit
of this toil does not go unnoticed. These seemingly
modest enterprises are creating jobs, driving
economic growth, and empowering the communities
they serve.
While innovation and ingenuity are essential to
entrepreneurship, the emergence of arti昀椀cial
intelligence (AI) offers enormous promise to such
endeavors. According to our report, Empowering
Small Business: The Impact of Technology on U.S. Cook noted that the backend of her business relies
Small Business, almost one in four small businesses on various AI platforms, including ChatGPT for
have adopted AI, citing improved performance in marketing, social media, and content development,
marketing and communications. and Shopify for inventory management and
昀椀nancial operations. Even the business’s co-
AI systems can not only enhance ef昀椀ciency, save manufacturer uses AI to measure and scale
time, and improve decision-making across business ingredients accordingly to enhance resource
operations, but they can also optimize resources, ef昀椀ciency and eliminate waste.
personalize customer experiences, and provide
valuable insights on market trends. AI has also been a valuable asset for customer
service management since Cook and her daughters
Here’s a look at some real-world success stories of have been able to provide prerecorded videos
small businesses utilizing—and bene昀椀ting from—AI. to answer speci昀椀c questions they receive from
customers on their website.
AI Assisting with Customer Acquisition and Retention
Hrag Kalebjian is incredibly grateful for the myriad Overall, Cook was quick to acknowledge the
of bene昀椀ts AI brings to his business, Henry’s House signi昀椀cant role AI plays in the business’s ability to
of Coffee – a family-owned coffee roaster. When remain competitive by expanding its reach and
it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), AI shipping capabilities.
tools have been indispensable in developing product
descriptions that not only meet a speci昀椀c set of Analyzing Data and Research with AI
criteria determined by Kalebjian but also perform Austin Milliken, founder of Aureate Capital—an
well on search. independent investment bank that serves clients
across multiple industries and sectors—says AI
As an e-commerce brand, Kalebjian is also technologies allow small businesses to be more
thoroughly invested in understanding the lifetime nimble. To him, AI serves an integral function in his
value of his customers—how much it costs to company’s ability to analyze research and data,
acquire a customer, how much they are worth, and develop marketing strategies and pitch materials,
what type of discount should a speci昀椀c cohort of the and share and request information from internal
customer base receive. and external partners through tools such as
DocuSign and Dropbox.
AI tools serve as the “analytical brain” behind these
data-driven insights and help Kalebjian determine AI’s ability to present a wealth of knowledge—at a
appropriate marketing and customer service rapid speed—is perhaps equally consequential to
strategies to implement. By customizing chatbots to those operational ef昀椀ciency gains. Even for many
respond in a certain way, Kalebjian can view these of Aureate Capital’s clients who may have limited
and other insights through speci昀椀c perspectives, resources to make stock or investment portfolio
such as that of a marketing expert, venture decisions, AI tools and integrations can assist in the
capitalist, or scientist. decision-making process or at least help validate
their thinking.
By enhancing operational ef昀椀ciency and customer
insights, AI enables Henry’s House of Coffee to It is, therefore, vital for companies to start
compete faster and smarter—a huge bene昀椀t for a embracing AI, according to Milliken, if they want to
small business. reap these types of bene昀椀ts for their business and
remain competitive.
Using ChatGPT and Other Tools for Marketing
For Kim Cook and her three daughters, starting and While applications for AI continue to expand
operating Something Sweet COOKie Dough, has and evolve, one thing is abundantly clear: small
been a labor of love. The family-owned, premium businesses that use AI are seeing increased
frozen cookie dough business continues to grow and growth and pro昀椀tability and are better equipped to
evolve thanks in no small part to AI. compete in a dynamic marketplace.

SOUTH CHINA BUSINESS JOURNAL 12