AI Tools Getting Used Right Now
May 23, 2025
A few notes from the intersection of AI, marketing, branding, and small business.
Do you have any time left? Let’s face it—if you’re running a small business, keeping up with the daily whirlwind of marketing, branding, content creation, and customer outreach can feel like juggling flaming bowling pins on a unicycle. Whoops, burned that thing down but I’m onto the next task before I can pay much attention. If you can devote enough time to learn, AI is stepping in to help—not with a new robot general manager (that’ll be 2026!)—but with practical, surprisingly approachable tools that help small businesses move faster, connect better, and stay on brand (Brand Gravity+AI can help with that, too).
Here are five AI-driven tools being used right now that could remove a few flaming bowling pins from your ToDo list.
1. Figma’s New AI Toybox: Figma Buzz
Figma just launched Buzz, an AI-powered assistant that helps teams quickly generate branded content like email layouts, social graphics, and web components. Think of it like Canva with a memory—it pulls from your brand styles and past work to keep everything consistent. For small teams, it’s like having a freelance designer on standby. I’ve been using Canva recently, but looks like I should pay more attention to Figma.
2. Salesforce’s Sales Coach
Agentforce AI and Sales Coach are new tools from Salesforce that act like smart copilots during sales calls. They suggest talking points, surface client data mid-call, and offer coaching feedback after meetings. It’s like having a sales whisperer on your side.
→ Business Insider has more info
3. Zalando’s AI Fashion Trick (Yes, It Applies to You)
Zalando is using AI to generate marketing visuals without traditional photo shoots. They’re creating digital twins of models and on-brand imagery in a fraction of the time and cost. Small businesses can use the same approach to create visuals fast—without the big budget. We haven’t tried this yet, but it looks amazing.
→ This news story explains more
4. Decidr’s Chatbot Ava = 50% More Orders
Skincare brand Edible Beauty integrated a conversational AI chatbot named Ava and saw a 50% jump in online orders. Ava answers questions, guides customers, and makes e-commerce feel personal. If your site still uses a dusty old contact form, this is a wake-up call. No kidding! A 50% jump in online orders is an eye-popping, drop everything and set it up immediately figure.
→ Read the story from down under
5. Omneky: AI Ads, Personalized at Scale
Omneky is an AI tool that creates and tests ads across platforms like Meta and Google. It generates smart creative, runs A/B tests, and adapts to what works. For small teams, this brings big-brand ad smarts to a lean setup.
This Matters. You don’t need to be a tech wizard to use AI effectively. These tools are simple, powerful, and built for real-world small business use. They can help you scale content, sharpen sales, personalize marketing—and maybe even win back a few hours of your day. Or at least stop the fires caused by dropped flaming bowling pins.
