In a joint research study by Harvard Business School and MIT, using the right AI tool for the right job increased productivity in skilled workers by as much as 40%.
In that same study, ineffective use of AI tools (using AI for something beyond their capabilities) decreased productivity by 19%.
Asking AI to do too much can do more harm than good. But for the right kind of specific, repetitive task, AI tools can shave hours off your workload. It’s essential to find the right tool for your specific needs.
But maybe you’re not quite convinced that the time savings warrants paying for dedicated AI apps just yet. Maybe you’re new to AI technology and want to experiment with a few options before making a full investment.
Thankfully, there are some great free (or mostly free) AI tools for digital marketers to try out. Granted, free tools don’t typically perform very sophisticated functions. Often the most advanced functionality is locked behind a paywall. Many tools place lifetime usage caps on their free plans, as well. But some of these tools are so useful that even the free plans yield immediate value, making it easier to justify an experimental investment in AI.
Some of Our Favorite Free AI Tools for Digital Marketing
ChatGPT
The free version of ChatGPT’s API remains a very powerful tool. For marketers, ChatGPT can be a transformative addition to any content workflow, whether that’s for research or content generation. With a bit of practice, first drafts, outlines, and research overviews needed for digital content can be entirely handled by ChatGPT. It’s arguably even more useful for code-related needs, with the ability to process, validate, and revise code based on what the user provides.
The paid version does offer access to the latest version of the API, with more advanced functionality and a smarter machine-learning database to respond to queries. But the free tool can be sufficient for simple content. Not to mention that OpenAI’s other tools, the photo generator DALL-E and the video generator Sora, are also available (in limited form) as part of the free plan.
Even the paid version won’t erase the need for human editors, as copy generated by AI often comes out stiff and inhuman. But for some blog topics and bits of standard copy, it can cut substantial time out of the drafting process. If nothing else, every digital marketer should have a ChatGPT account and experiment with the API to see how it might help you.
Copy.ai
Copy.ai leverages the ChatGPT API to create a tool specifically built for content generation. It uses a combination of AI and a set of pre-formatted templates to create content from a prompt.
Copy.ai also attempts to address the tonal issues often seen in AI-generated writing. Users have several options for calibrating AI to suit their own distinct brand voice and tone, leading to a final draft that’s more suited for humans and requires less revision. That’s all included with the “free” plan, though there is a lifetime word limit on ChatGPT prompts. For web copy that’s more functional than fun, copy.ai is a great place to start.
The paid plan, starting at $36/month for an individual, is enough to get rid of that word cap for good. If you want access to their editorial workflow tools and other advanced features, be prepared to bump up to their higher levels. Free users are also stuck using ChatGPT 3.5, which isn’t likely to change even as ChatGPT advances.
This is what makes copy.ai a good place to start among all other content tools. For starters, the paid version is still cheaper than many of the other emergent tools on the market. The free plan is decent, but a proper investment in AI content generation will eventually mean coughing up some dough.
Coefficient
Coefficient is a must-have data connector for all the spreadsheet wizards out there. Its main function is to pull data directly from your various data sources into Google Sheets or Excel spreadsheets, saving time in gathering data manually from different sources. But with the free plan, you also get (limited) access to their new AI tools, which add a whole suite of functions to Excel and Google Sheets that leverage ChatGPT.
The free version only provides a few unique functions and formulas – but they’re powerful in the right hands. Simply add the formula listed in your spreadsheet app to a cell and watch as data gets tagged, classified, extracted, or mass formatted in seconds. You can also chat with the ChatGPT API from within the spreadsheet program.
The full list of Coefficient's GPT functions. (Source: Coefficient)
The ability to ask ChatGPT to pull data from multiple sources, then summarize that data according to certain parameters, can make it much easier to find the data you need when you need it. For those who struggle with Excel or Google Sheets, this can make the steep learning curve of these programs much gentler. The paid version of the tool can even automatically translate that data into charts or pivot tables.
Canva AI Art Generator
For teams with limited design expertise, Canva can be a game changer even without AI features. Adding a mostly free AI art generator only makes it more useful, especially if you’re also a bit thin on original photography and graphic assets. Just type in a quick prompt and get stylized artwork to suit your specific needs.
Now, we say “mostly” free because it does come with a lifetime cap of 50 prompts. After that, you’ll be asked to pay for the basic plan to keep using Canva. The good news is that Canva’s individual plan is only $15/month, making it a very affordable addition to your team’s suite of tools.
AI art and photo generation tools always come with a disclaimer: while they are getting better at interpreting user prompts, it can take a lot of experimentation to get quality results. With so many free or low-cost stock photo sites like unsplash as an alternative to AI art, it’s best to shop around with human photographers and artists first before turning to AI. If you’re looking for something specific and don’t have the resources to make it, then Canva’s AI art generator might be a great place to start.
Remove.bg
Full AI photo editing tools (that work) aren’t available for free. But you might be surprised how many individual functions of photo editing have been recreated by AI. Every so often, a tool pops up that has a decent free service and fulfills one specific need to great effect.
Remove.bg is a perfect example. This tool has one purpose: remove the background from photos and replace it with a plain background, or one with simple effects. This makes going from this:
To this:
Is it going to completely change the way your team gets its work done? No. Is it going to save you some time in photoshop trying to cut down background noise or create a clean piece of vector art? 100%.
The free plan allows for 50 low-res, thumbnail-sized “preview” images per month and 1 high-def download credit. You can choose to buy more credits monthly or all at once to get regular HD downloads, as well.
Among all the complex, transformational tools, it’s easy to lose sight of the small processes that AI can completely replace. Over time, all those one-hour tasks add up to a lot of time saved.
Start keeping track of the menial, basic tasks that are essential to your role. Then see if there’s an AI tool that can take the task off your hands, or at least substantially lessen the load. You’ll be surprised how many annoying-yet-necessary tasks have been addressed by AI. And those tools are often free, or at least have a free option that gets the job done.
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