Artificial Intelligence (AI) has gradually taken over our professional lives; and the marketing, public relations (PR) and communications industry has not been left behind when it comes to using AI tools.
In fact, nowadays, AI tools have become an essential part of our professional lives. Whether we realise it or not, most of us use AI tools on a daily basis.
Gone are those days where one would only need to be good at one aspect of one’s job and focus on that alone. Now the economy expects everyone in the professional workplace to have more than one skill.
For us in marketing, PR and communications, the selected AI tools described in this story are useful and can help us to be great at design, writing, creative writing, campaign conception and many other useful skills
Here are five AI tools every marketing, PR and Communications officer can use daily and their costs.
Grammarly
Grammarly is an AI writing tool that helps you write, edit, and refine your sentences. Grammarly works and can be installed in every app, yes, including your social media apps. Grammarly has given everyone an editor for all their social media applications. This AI tool averagely costs just R517 for their Pro-plan and is also available for free
Canva
For just R140 per month, Canva might be amongst the most used AI tools in the country. Many designers have moved away from costly design tools such as Adobe InDesign and many other design tools.
Canva is a design AI tool that is a free-to-use online graphic design tool. Use it to create social media posts, presentations, posters, videos, logos and more.
Their AI tool can detect any color palette on any logo and suggest designs for you to choose from using assorted colors in your logo.
Chatbot
This is one of the greatest inventions of an AI tool especially for Business to Customer (B2C) businesses. A chatbot is a software application or web interface designed to mimic human conversation through text or voice interactions.
Any business that receives a lot of enquiries from their customers should install Chatbot on their website, Facebook Inbox, WhatsApp Business Page, landline and many more communication channels.
This AI tool does not substitute human interaction for B2C company but complements it.
For example, we have a client that receives a flux of enquiries via their social media channel and their WhatsApp Business number. Many customers complained about their turnaround time answering WhatsApp enquiries.
Our solution was to install Chatbot; things changed drastically, with the backlog of customer enquiries being cleared, and customers no longer waiting for a week to receive just a digital pamphlet from our client.
Customers have the option to select to chat to an agent if they need human interaction. Currently there are zero people complaining about the turnaround time on WhatsApp for their enquiries. The cost of creating and installing Chatbot might be high but once installed, any B2C business will appreciate it.
Photoroom
Photoroom is an all-in-one app that edits, designs and optimises great visual content. This AI tool removes or erases the background of photos, uses templates, and creates your own content.
It is different from Canva as it can also generate AI images and is known for removing the background of an image and replacing it with a background of your choice.
It is a useful tool that costs only R599.99 per month.
Microsoft PowerPoint Designer
If you subscribe to Microsoft 365 Basic Business, this feature comes at no extra cost and is found under PowerPoint. Basic subscription of Microsoft 365 Basic Plan costs only R104 per user per month.
This AI feature gives you design suggestions for your PowerPoint presentations. Their suggested designs are high quality and are very impressive.
To run an effective and world class campaign in marketing, PR and communication, there is no need to break the bank. AI has made things extremely easy and very affordable for everyone.
While others view AI as a movement to replace people in certain professions, it is here to make our lives easier. We ought to embrace it and adapt to the new realities.
Mkhuseli Vangile is founder and managing director at The Dynaste Communication Firm.
