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Work smarter! Grow your brand using AI tools

Boost productivity and innovation for your business

Artificial intelligence (AI) has taken over. It’s on our phones, in our homes, and on everybody’s lips. While it may seem intimidating, once you learn how to make AI work for you, it opens a door of exciting possibilities. Across industries, businesses are figuring out how they can use generative AI (GenAI) to maximize their growth while saving time and money. Let’s take a journey into this new frontier and discover how GenAI can be used to boost productivity and innovation for your retail or restaurant brand.

Meet the future

So, what is GenAI? No, it’s not a robot… it’s one form of artificial intelligence technology. GenAI creates content (this could be text, images, music, etc.) based on prompts that users input. The artificial intelligence scours data sources it’s connected to and utilizes the information it has learned over time to generate solutions and responses to the prompt. It’s like a super advanced search engine that learns more each time you use it.

Prompts can be questions (“How do I code a website for my retail business?”) or instructions (“Write code I can use to create an about us page for my website”). The more details you provide, the better the outcome will be. From these prompts, the GenAI will attempt to generate your desired request.

Later in this article we will share a list of GenAI prompts you can use to improve your business functions.

Be one with AI

When you’re ready to try out generative AI, there are tons of options to choose from. Consider playing around with free generative AI tools first to get used to the system and figure out if it’s right for you. OpenAI's ChatGPT, Microsoft's Copilot, and Google's Gemini are all great options to introduce you to the tool.

But remember, while GenAI may seem to know it all, it’s impossible for the system to operate with 100% accuracy. You may encounter misinformation, missing source citations, and biases within these AI platforms. GenAI is great for getting started and brainstorming new ideas, but always fact check the outputs to ensure the information is credible. And if you decide to apply any information to your business plan, be sure to add your own flair to ensure the content feels authentic to your brand.

3 ways to make AI work for your business

Now, let GenAI do the work for you! Here are a few ways it can help you better understand and operate your business:

1. Get to know your customer
   
   GenAI can help you better define your target customer and make smarter marketing decisions based on how your audience thinks and feels. By analyzing your existing brand presence — like your website, social media channels, and overall messaging — GenAI can produce a clear picture of who your customer is. It identifies patterns and behaviors providing you with insights into what products you should launch, what promotions you may run, what content you create, and even where you should expand.

   Tip: If the AI’s assessment doesn’t quite match who you thought your customer was, it could mean that your current branding or messaging needs some editing to better reflect who your business is for.
   
   

2. Writing content
   
   GenAI is perfect for writing and editing content like social media posts, blogs, email marketing, and more. Once you have defined who your customer is, you can have AI create marketing copy and imagery that resonates with them. With the right prompts, you can create engaging marketing assets that are tailored to your customer and promote engagement on your channels.

   Tip: For more information on creating content, check out our Retailvisory article on building content for your business.
   
   



3. Elevate your SEO
   
   You can even use GenAI to make sure your website and Google Business Profile are at the top of Google’s search results. It can help you determine which keywords people are searching most that correlate with your business. Then you can have GenAI write your “about us” statement and Google Business Profile using those words. Packing your website with the keywords the program suggests is an easy way to better your website's search result ranking.

   Tip: If you decide to have GenAI write your “about us” page or any other part of your website, be sure to proofread the content — making sure it sounds like the voice of your brand. Even with all the keywords, your web content should sound conversational and like a human wrote it.
   
   

Sample prompts for retail success

Now that you’ve been introduced to some of the ways in which GenAI can improve your business functions, we’ve included some sample prompts you can try out. Input these templated prompts into your GenAI tool of choice, edit the details to what works for you, and see what it comes up with: