These AI Tools Upped My Productivity, Here’s How

Benjamin Franklin as soon as mentioned, “Misplaced time isn’t discovered once more.” Whereas that isn’t precisely probably the most optimistic quote, it’s sadly true. Till scientists work out time machines or immortality, we’re caught with adopting strategies to stay productive and higher use our time.

We will’t deny AI’s cultural renaissance. It has turn into part of on a regular basis workflows and conversations. HubSpot’s AI Proof & Positioning Report discovered that employees are most involved about shedding their jobs resulting from AI, and the #1 cause they don’t use AI is as a result of they fear about turning into too reliant on it.

Whereas I perceive how unsettling it could really feel to have a software that appears to do your job higher than you (the skilled), I’ve acknowledged that AI is definitely simply serving to me do my job higher and sooner.

Nonetheless skeptical? Learn on for extra knowledge from our AI Proof & Positioning Report and The HubSpot Blog’s State of AI Report, which surveyed 1100 entrepreneurs.

Desk of Contents

AI Productiveness Stats

AI tools help marketers quickly sift through giant quantities of knowledge and current it much less complexly. I can attest that, as a marketer, AI instruments like ChatGPT and Grammarly have helped me streamline analysis, current textual content clearly and concisely, and improve my means to multitask throughout a number of campaigns.

Professionals who’ve carried out AI and automation into their workflow share that these instruments assist them get menial duties executed sooner, enhance the effectivity of their duties and objectives, and unlock time that might be higher spent on probably the most important obligations.

On this means, AI shouldn’t be solely enhancing productiveness but in addition serving to to make your job extra satisfying.

Listed below are some survey outcomes from actual trade professionals who see the worth of AI of their every day workflows.

1. 75% of respondents both considerably agreed or strongly agreed that AI helped save time on guide duties.
2. AI instruments give advertising and marketing groups 12.5 hours again per week, which equates to 25-26 further working days per yr. This enables entrepreneurs to deal with strategic duties, inventive work, and other people administration.
3. 84% of bloggers/SEOs state that AI and automation have impacted their search engine optimization technique.
4. 83% of entrepreneurs say that AI helps them create considerably extra content material than they might with out.
5. 85% of salespeople utilizing AI and automation say it makes their prospecting efforts simpler.
6. 72% of companies which have carried out AI instruments state that AI and automation make their staff extra productive.
7. 68% of enterprise leaders say that AI may also help their firm scale in a means unattainable with out it.
8. 53% of entrepreneurs who use generative AI to jot down copy say they solely must make minor edits to the textual content afterward.

How I Examined the Greatest AI Instruments for Work

So many AI instruments exist, every with completely different functions and worth components. I consider the easiest way to check new instruments is to use them to my work — kill two birds with one stone, and all.

To guage the productiveness instruments talked about beneath, I utilized every throughout my writing for this weblog submit. Whether or not to extend the velocity of the particular writing or enhance my time administration across the writing course of, I discovered the instruments beneath important to entrepreneurs and writers.

Whereas I particularly utilized them to my work as a author, I can verify that, as a marketer, I already use among the instruments beneath or would fortunately implement them in my day-to-day job at Nickelodeon. In spite of everything, 35% of marketers say they already use AI and automation instruments every day.

AI Productiveness Instruments

1. Jasper

As a weblog author, I naturally began my analysis with a content material creation software.

Jasper is an AI software that helps write all kinds of enterprise-marketing-style content material, from press releases to web site touchdown pages to, sure, weblog posts. It’s the second-most popular AI tool for advertising and marketing.

I used the “Model Voice” function to hyperlink considered one of my latest HubSpot blog posts. This function helps the software set up your “voice” so it could finest match that when producing textual content.

Subsequent, I clicked “Create Content material” and toggled to “Create a weblog submit.” The submit you’re studying is finest served as a listicle, so I selected “Listicle” as my kind of submit. Jasper then requested me to fill within the matter, viewers, and description.

After filling on this fast info, I hit “Generate now.” Look ahead to your self how Jasper sprung to the check.

I didn’t count on the submit to be able to ship after Jasper wrote it since AI content is not complete enough to publish by itself about 96% of the time. I used to be right in my pondering as a result of the submit was far too brief and a bit too stiff.

However that’s okay since only 5% of marketers use generative AI to jot down whole items of content material. Extra folks merely use it to spark inspiration (35%), create a top level view (33%), or get just a few paragraphs to broaden upon (25%).

What I Like

• The “Model Voice” function lets you add or hyperlink to your or your model’s writing samples so Jasper can pump out content material that meets your distinctive fashion. Many writers, like myself, are very protecting of our voices, so this function made me really feel comfy and assured that the textual content might keep true to me.
• Your content material takes simply seconds to be written up. You merely must fill in some temporary details about the content material, similar to matter, audience, or name to motion, and Jasper will shortly use that info to draft a comparable piece. My jaw dropped at how briskly the software pumped out a model — albeit shorter and fewer pleasant — of this very weblog submit.
• Jasper does a fantastic job of staying throughout the standards you request. For my weblog submit, for instance, I listed the precise headline titles and variety of instruments I wished to include, and the software made certain to comply with these guardrails.
• You may create a Marketing campaign to maintain all of your content material in a single place. If I have been utilizing this software for my job at Nickelodeon, I might arrange social and print adverts, e-mail newsletters, Instagram submit copy, and press releases for a similar new youngsters’ sequence marketing campaign throughout the similar folder.

What Wants Enchancment

• Regardless that I linked to a latest HubSpot weblog submit to assist set up my voice, the AI-generated submit was much less private, a lot shorter, and extra formal than my writing often is. The thought of “Model Voice” is sensible, however it could require a number of writing samples earlier than Jasper acknowledges your fashion.

Pricing

• Creator plan: $39/month ($468/yr) – 1 person
• Professional plan: $59/month/seat ($708/yr) – as much as 6 customers
• Marketing strategy: Should contact Jasper staff for pricing.

2. Grammarly

Grammarly is a software I’ve been utilizing since faculty earlier than AI had a reputation. I’ve at all times been obsessive about phrases and grammar (very cool, I do know), so I turned equally as obsessive about a software that might enhance my writing in real-time.

I’ve the free Grammarly for Chrome extension, which provides options on varied writing-related points, together with correctness, tone options, full sentence rewrites, readability, engagement, and supply.

How loopy is that? You may see how Grammarly can present dwell suggestions when you kind. It’s a necessary software for content material creators of all types. Irrespective of how brief or lengthy your textual content is, having an AI co-creator wanting over your shoulder like an AP English trainer is useful.

Why I Like It

• You may obtain writing options as you go (like I do with the Grammarly extension), or when you’d slightly kind up your textual content and acquire suggestions on the finish, you possibly can add a doc or copy and paste a complete physique of textual content straight into the Grammarly software.
• Grammarly analyzes your piece for the subject and argument and makes use of its “Enhance your affect” function to recommend how you can meet these objectives. This elevates the software from a spelling and grammar checker to an end-to-end writing companion in seconds.
• The ability continues to be in your arms as the author; whereas Grammarly provides suggestions on the whole lot from rephrasing an advanced sentence to deciding on a extra substantial synonym, you make the last word determination. I do know my writing finest, so I select to train my inventive liberty when Grammarly’s options are much less technical.
• College students and professionals alike can use the “Test for plagiarism” function to make sure you haven’t by chance borrowed some phrases from one other supply.
• The AI software can simply be built-in into different instruments, web sites, and apps, similar to Microsoft Suite, Google Drive, iOS, Android, and even Hubspot, so you possibly can guarantee your writing improves throughout all platforms.

What Wants Enchancment

• As a lot as I like this software, I have to admit it could generally be visually distracting. I’m consistently sifting via dozens of multi-colored, underlined phrases and phrases, which might turn into tedious.
• As is true for all AI instruments, Grammarly can’t be trusted to be 100% excellent. It’s at all times finest to make use of your experience as a author (or that of a trusted colleague or pal) to provide your writing a once-over and guarantee Grammarly doesn’t miss an incorrect verb tense or pointless capitalization.

Pricing

• Free plan: $0
• Premium plan: $12/month, billed yearly (or $30/month, billed month-to-month)
• Marketing strategy: $15/month, billed yearly (or $25/month, billed month-to-month)

3. ChatGPT

We’ve all heard of it — one of many forerunners within the AI trade. In 2022, OpenAI developed ChatGPT, a chatbot and digital assistant, and it has shortly turn into a trusted software for information, solutions, concepts, and assist. You may chat about varied matters, as seen from the urged prompts beneath.

53% of marketers who use AI instruments use chatbots. For this weblog submit, I used to be interested in what differentiates ChatGPT from different chatbots, so I requested.

As you possibly can see, ChatGPT is exclusive as a result of it has information of a variety of topics and might perceive and talk in a human-like method. It’s made to converse, so that you don’t must formalize your writing, and it could sometimes comprehend minor spelling and grammar errors, as I examined beneath:

Why I Like It

• ChatGPT provides priceless help to professionals. You may train your ChatGPT to fulfill your particular skilled wants, similar to conducting market analysis or discovering concepts for buyer surveys, by inputting your model pointers into the “Customized Directions” function, constructing templates for prompts, and extra.
• It simply integrates with other tools and websites, providing alternatives for personalization, AI-fueled conversations with customers, and environment friendly streamlining of knowledge and knowledge throughout platforms. I not too long ago used the Expedia app’s AI assistant, which has ChatGPT expertise, to plan a visit to Charleston.
• You may depend on ChatGPT for a lot of use circumstances that will in any other case should be cut up up throughout a number of AI instruments. I’ve used it to search out out what sorts of influencers are hottest in worldwide markets, uncover synonyms for widespread phrases, and even discover ways to burn up leftover produce in my fridge.

What Wants Enchancment

• ChatGPT can’t study in real-time, so its information solely exists up till the final time it was up to date (presently January 2022). Which means a few of its info could be barely outdated or now not factual.
• Whereas it could talk like a human, it isn’t human. ChatGPT would possibly generally miss the context for or misread your prompts or questions. It could possibly additionally present biased or incorrect info, so its phrase can’t be relied on as legislation.

Pricing

• Free plan: $0
• Plus plan: $20/month
• Group plan: $25/person/month, billed yearly (or $30/person/month, billed month-to-month)
• Enterprise plan: Should contact ChatGPT staff for pricing.

4. Reclaim

“Reclaim” your time with Reclaim, an AI calendar scheduling app that optimizes your (and your staff’s) schedules to extend private and staff productiveness, all whereas prioritizing your work-life stability.

Reclaim boasts supplying you with again an additional work day each week, with 7.6 extra productive hours, which I do know I might actually use.

I accomplished a great chunk of this submit on a rolling foundation however discovered myself a few days earlier than the due date with roughly 8 hours of writing left. I used Reclaim to assist me optimize my time round my morning exercises, Nickelodeon working hours, and night social plans to get my submit executed in time.

Reclaim additionally provides a wide range of skilled and private behavior templates to select from, and it’ll routinely match the behavior into your calendar for nonetheless lengthy and at no matter cadence you favor.

My work calendar shortly fills up with conferences, so I might use Reclaim to arrange Focus Time all through my week to work on tasks and Mindfulness breaks to make sure I take brief walks and time away from my display.

Marketers spend approximately five hours daily on guide, administrative, or operational duties. AI instruments like Reclaim may also help the common marketer save practically 2.5 hours every day on these duties and spend extra time on the issues that matter most.

Why I Like It

• It’s laborious to schedule time for private actions similar to studying, exercising, or having a correct lunch in the course of the workday. Reclaim encourages you to find time for these items and routinely provides these habits to your calendar.
• The “Good Conferences” function analyzes your whole staff’s schedules and finds one of the best time for recurring conferences, so that you don’t must manually lookup calendars, e-mail colleagues, and handle scheduling conflicts.
• The “Calendar Sync” function helped me mix my Nickelodeon, HubSpot, and private calendars to maximise my time and effectively prioritize all my commitments.

What Wants Enchancment

• The app isn’t as user-friendly as different AI instruments I examined. It took a while for me to get acquainted with the varied options and to determine the easiest way to optimize Reclaim for my HubSpot Weblog writing wants.
• Reclaim works finest in a piece setting if all of your staff members additionally use it. In any other case, you’re unable to train among the finest options, like “Good Conferences.”

Pricing

• Lite plan: $0 – 1 person
• Starter plan: $8/person/month – as much as 10 customers
• Marketing strategy: $12/person/month – as much as 100 customers
• Enterprise plan: $18/person/month – over 100 customers

5. ChatPDF

48% of marketers at present use generative AI instruments like ChatPDF to conduct analysis. ChatPDF has revolutionized the thought of “skimming” into an AI-powered machine. You merely add any PDF and look ahead to ChatPDF to soak up the knowledge.

Then, you’re dropped at a chat web page, the place you possibly can ask any questions in regards to the PDF. The chat function is extremely helpful for college students and professors seeking to summarize prolonged academic supplies.

Nonetheless, it additionally has limitless prospects for professionals. Acquired a 50-slide presentation from a shopper that it is advisable sift via by the morning? Or a 30-page report from a shopper survey that may present insights on your subsequent marketing campaign? ChatPDF has your again.

As you possibly can see, ChatPDF helps you digest giant quantities of knowledge and pick no matter knowledge factors and conclusions are mandatory on your work. I get pleasure from utilizing this software as a fact-checker or second set of eyes.

I learn via the HubSpot Blog’s State of AI Report, a 33-page PDF, to analysis some key AI productiveness stats and knowledge. Then, I used ChatPDF to double-check my work and guarantee I included a very powerful materials on this weblog submit.

Why I Like It

• This software is an ideal instance of how AI may also help us do our jobs higher with out truly doing our jobs. ChatPDF doesn’t offer you any new info; as an alternative, it helps you narrow via the noise and get the precise knowledge you want.
• The software may be very simple to make use of. Its look is easy, which works properly for the sort of AI software. Even probably the most technologically challenged particular person can work out ChatPDF.
• You may add a PDF in any language. That is particularly useful for me, as I work in Worldwide Advertising. Moderately than asking my regional advertising and marketing groups to translate their PDFs into English earlier than sending them to me, I can settle for the unique format and summarize it myself.
• I admire that, slightly than merely summarizing the contents of a PDF, this AI software introduces a chatbot function. This fashion, you ask for exactly what you need, which works twofold — you aren’t slowed down by unneeded info and are compelled to have some semblance of the contents since you need to know what to ask for. It prevents us from getting negligent with our work.

What Wants Enchancment

• The software has a really area of interest goal. Not like ChatGPT, which can be utilized for varied private {and professional} duties, ChatPDF has a restricted workflow. It does what it does properly, however chances are you’ll not want to make use of it every day.

Pricing

• Free plan: $0
• Plus plan: $5/month
• Premium plan: $15/month

6. DreamStudio

Stability AI is the proprietor of a wide range of AI merchandise for text-to-image and video technology. Marketers who use AI to generate written and visible content material save a median of greater than 3 hours per piece, so I used to be wanting ahead to testing DreamStudio, the web-based app model of Secure Diffusion 3.

I’m not a pure artist or designer, however at Nickelodeon, I sometimes temporary our inventive groups on a brand new sequence (from principal characters to animation fashion to areas), which they then use to tell the creation of the sequence key artwork.

Instruments like DreamStudio would assist me shortly visualize my advertising and marketing technique, which the inventive staff might use as a diving off level.

I made a decision to check this software to generate a picture I might use inside this weblog submit (see How I Tested the Best AI Tools for Work).

This immediate was a fantastic instance of the capabilities of this text-to-image generator. I added varied prompts and filters to hone in on the precise kind of picture I wished.

Learning how to write strong prompts that information picture technology is the best means to make use of text-to-image generative instruments. Chatbots may also help with that by drafting a selected immediate on your desired picture, which might then be plugged into DreamStudio.

Why I Like It

• As I discussed, this can be a nice method to visually carry your concepts to life. Like a written define earlier than a weblog submit, DreamStudio can offer you a picture define that you should utilize as inspiration on your design or pictures work.
• You may generate imagery to again up a pitch at work. If I had an thrilling concept for a Nickelodeon activation, I might use AI-generated imagery to carry my concept to life and assist my staff visualize it.
• Not all picture turbines have a “Unfavorable Immediate” function, however it is vitally useful to share not solely what you need to see but in addition what you need to keep away from in your picture. You too can play with the facet ratio and the variety of pictures you obtain.
• Moderately than a month-to-month subscription, as with different AI instruments, DreamStudio lets you purchase credit per picture, which provides extra flexibility.

What Wants Enchancment

• The pictures generated weren’t at all times correct. One of many instances I examined my above immediate, the photographs on the laptop computer display resembled scenes from a fantasy film slightly than AI-related imagery. Whereas promising, this software could take some trial and error to lock down precisely what you’re on the lookout for.

Pricing

• 25 free credit
• $10/1,000 credit: Roughly 5,000 pictures

My Takeaways From Utilizing AI Productiveness Instruments

I used to be fortunate to check a few of these outstanding AI instruments whereas penning this weblog submit. I had already used or heard of some, whereas others have been fully new.

Grammarly proved to be probably the most useful gizmo for me as a author. I used a free trial of the Premium model, and the intelligence of its options blew me away.

Most of us should do some type of writing for our careers, so it is a useful software to take your textual content from passable to extraordinary.

The software that stunned me probably the most was ChatPDF. I had heard of it on social media and was conscious that college students closely use it, however I didn’t count on how helpful it might be in a piece setting. It’s extremely intuitive and is a superb instance of how AI can improve effectivity with out compromising the usual of our work.

Whereas many could worry AI overtaking their experience, we are able to’t deny the importance of humanity in the whole lot we do. That’s why I at all times use generative writing and content material options as solely a top level view or leaping level.

AI might be able to elevate our lives, however it could by no means exchange what we, as distinctive people, have to supply.