SMEs are using AI-powered tools to save “hundreds of hours” of work: LinkedIn data

Despite the current economic times, Australian small and medium-sized businesses are embracing evolving technology and actively adopting innovative marketing-tech tools such as AI to support their creative marketing and grow their businesses, according to new LinkedIn data.

The Linkedin data, which was released on Tuesday, revealed that Australian SMEs remain optimistic about the value of marketing and are committed to their marketing budgets, with seven in ten SMEs investing in areas such as marketing automation, AI and online communities.

Most SMEs are feeling optimistic about their marketing budgets, with the average yearly marketing investment in Australia currently sitting at nearly 23.5% of annual business revenue. Only a small 5% plan to reduce their marketing budgets in the next 12 months.

The research also found 34% of SMEs say they have shifted their marketing spending towards more digital solutions over the past five years.

Thriday embraces AI marketing

Melbourne-based all-in-one transaction and accounting platform for small businesses Thriday, which was founded by Michael Nuciforo and Ben Winford in 2020, is one business that has successfully implemented AI tools into its marketing strategy. 

The Thriday team uses a range of tools, including LinkedIn, ChatGPT, and Google Analytics, as part of its marketing-tech stack and has seen significant growth over the last 12 months. 

Thriday CEO Michael Nuciforo says he believes SMEs will only benefit from AI-based marketing tech, with these tools offering exciting new ways to support creative marketing to achieve business objectives and overall growth. He has found analytics tools are especially helpful in determining customer behaviours and traits that take the guesswork out of building customer personas for his marketing strategies.

“Business owners are always on the lookout for cheaper and faster ways to do things,” he told SmartCompany. 

“AI is the most exciting innovation since the launch of the world wide web. It’s no surprise that business owners are looking at using AI to improve efficiency. 

“Besides marketing, AI can be used to support hiring, customer support, and even product development.”

Thriday also uses LinkedIn for the majority of its marketing, and Nuciforo says various functions across the platform have helped the company reach other small businesses in their target audience, make great connections within the industry, build partnerships and find new hires.

Meanwhile, Nuciforo says the team is saving “hundreds of hours of work” by embracing AI tools. 

“We have been using a range of tools, including ChatGPT to assist with drafting meta descriptions and ad copy, Byword.AI to support our blog and content efforts, and Canva’s AI image to support our marketing creative,” he says.

“We are really at the dawn of something special, and the pace of development is very rapid. As an example, a month ago we were using AI tools to help with blog titles, then we found new tools to assist with blog writing, and now we are using tools to help write whole pieces of content that we can then tailor and tweak to our brand voice.”

Levelling the playing field

Nuciforo says there were two ways to look at the benefits of AI. 

“It hasn’t necessarily saved us money directly, but the growth, marketing and content team have been able to produce so much more. We would estimate a 200-300% efficiency improvement. Where we would produce, for example, two to four blogs a week, we are now able to produce 10-15 high-quality pieces with the same team,” he says. 

“We also recognise where this is heading. Whilst today we still need to take this content and refine it or augment it, as AI improves, we expect that it will write fully comprehensive and branded pieces in no time. 

“This does even the playing field for smaller businesses. Whereas in the past, only large companies could produce a huge amount of content, by hiring a large team, small businesses can now compete.”

However, Nuciforo says it is an “arms race” and therefore critical to “pick the right platforms”.

“For example, my startup Thriday is built on the Microsoft Azure stack, and as a result, we are able to take advantage of some money native AI features due to the relationship between OpenAI and Microsoft,” he explains. 

According to the LinkedIn report, the top priorities of businesses in 2023 are to expand their customer base, nurture existing customer relationships, build brand loyalty and increase business revenue and market share, with 71% of businesses starting or will continue to invest in new technologies such as AI as part of their marketing strategy.

To help SMEs build their brand with simplified marketing solutions, LinkedIn also launched the Quick Mode tool within Campaign Manager on Tuesday.