AI for Small Business
A practical starting point for any owner.
If you're a small business owner on the shore without a dedicated tech person, start here. These are the workflows we recommend to almost everyone.
What we hear most
Common pain points
- ●Marketing falls off when it gets busy
- ●Owners do every job after-hours
- ●New tools sound great but never stick
- ●Hard to know what is actually safe
Where AI helps
Top use cases
Use case 1
Email drafting
Customer replies, vendor outreach, newsletters.
Use case 2
Marketing content
Posts, flyers, and short videos.
Use case 3
Operations
SOPs, training docs, internal Q&A.
Use case 4
Research
Vetting suppliers, summarizing competitors.
Use case 5
Customer service
Drafting review replies and FAQs.
Recommended tools
What to actually use
General AI Assistant
ChatGPT
OpenAI's flagship chatbot for writing, research, brainstorming, and document drafting.
Best for: Owners and managers who need a daily thinking partner.
General AI Assistant
Claude
Anthropic's assistant known for long-document reading and careful, nuanced writing.
Best for: Reading long contracts, policies, and source docs.
AI Search
Perplexity
Cited, source-linked AI search — useful when you need to verify facts.
Best for: Research and competitive scanning.
Design & Marketing
Canva Magic Studio
AI image, copy, and design generation inside Canva.
Best for: Social posts, flyers, simple ads.
A Delmarva picture
How this looks on the shore
“A Cambridge family-owned shop uses ChatGPT to draft weekly emails and product descriptions, Canva for social, and Perplexity to research suppliers — all from one owner's laptop.”
Don't skip this
Risks to avoid
- Start with one workflow, not ten
- Never paste customer payment info into AI tools
- Write a one-page AI policy for your team before scaling
Ready to map this to your business?
A short audit gets you a one-page plan with the two or three workflows worth starting now.
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We'll reach out within two business days.