Top 10 uses of AI for small businesses
- mickbrawn
- May 3
- 3 min read
Most small business owners I have spoken to recently about using AI asked one or all of the following:
1) How can I maintain privacy and security?
2) Are there genuine productivity gains to be had?
3) Which AI should I use?
4) How best can I use AI in my small business?
In this article I will set out my top 10 uses of Large Language Model AIs (LLMs) - Chat GPT, Copilot, Claude etc. I’ve included links to further information on each example.
In my view, for small businesses, the top 10 LLM use cases focus on automating routine work, improving customer experience, and accelerating sales and marketing.
Top 10 LLM Use Cases for Small Businesses
Customer Support Automation
Small businesses are stretched for resources and in particular, time. LLM-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can answer common questions, troubleshoot issues, and provide 24/7 support with human‑like responses. This reduces workload and improves customer experience. BotPenguin Coursera
Content Writing & Marketing Production
Handing over your marketing and socials to a third party is not only costly but can be a risky business. Over the long term it may well pay you to get up to speed yourself. You can generate blogs, social posts, email campaigns, and product descriptions quickly using LLMs. This is one of the most widely adopted use cases. Coursera
Lead Generation & Sales Outreach
LLMs can be used to draft personalised cold emails, LinkedIn messages, and follow‑ups at scale. They can also enrich lead data and prioritise prospects based on inferred interest. However, always edit and refine LLM produced copy yourself. Your voice must shine through as authenticity and a human message are essential. language-media.co.uk
Document Summarisation & Knowledge Retrieval (RAG)
For a more sophisticated approach, use subscription based LLMs to summarise long documents, policies, reports, or meeting notes, and retrieve answers from internal knowledge bases using retrieval‑augmented generation. This approach requires more investment in personal time and effort; however, it also informs your marketing, social media and other communications with current business context. createbytes.com
Administrative Automation
Fairly routine tasks such as drafting proposals, writing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), preparing agendas, and generating templates can be automated, saving hours each week. Test this out with a simple pilot project. POWR Blog
Customer Sentiment Analysis
Know your customer: A really great use of LLMs is to analyse reviews, emails, and social media to surface sentiment, identify issues, and highlight opportunities for improvement. This enhances customer insight and decision‑making. BotPenguin
Talent Acquisition & Recruitment Screening
While automated talent screening is probably more appropriate for larger businesses, LLMs can usefully sift through resumes, extract key skills, and help shortlist candidates, making hiring more efficient for small teams. For small businesses, cultural fit and shared values can be more important than candidates having the complete skill set you listed in the advert. Coursera
Personalised Recommendations & Customer Engagement
If you are able to collect the necessary customer data, LLMs can tailor product suggestions, generate personalised messages, and adapt tone based on customer behaviour so improving conversional relevance and ultimately, loyalty. BotPenguin
Data Analysis & Reporting
LLMs can interpret datasets, generate insights, and create readable reports without requiring you to have advanced analytics skills. This helps small businesses make faster, data‑driven decisions. As with any use of an LLM, you must review and edit the output yourself to ensure your voice and humanity shines through. BotPenguin
Workflow Automation Across Marketing, Support & Admin
You can embed LLMs into daily workflows to create captions, respond to enquiries, draft documents, and automate repetitive tasks. This usage of AI is at the sophisticated end of our spectrum, and I strongly recommend adopting this approach over time. The use of AI ‘Agents’ is an important and growing capability of LLM tools; however, it requires an investment of time and effort. Larger small businesses might consider hiring external expertise to deliver specific outcomes. POWR Blog
Here’s a Quick Comparison Table
Use Case | Impact Level | Best For | Evidence |
Customer Support Automation | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Service-heavy SMBs | |
Content Creation | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Marketing, retail, consultants | |
Sales Outreach | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | B2B, professional services | |
Document Summaries & RAG | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Any business with lots of documents | |
Admin Automation | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Sole traders, microbusinesses |
Website: www.michaelbrawnconsulting.com.au
Mobile: 0414 987 129
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