AI tools aren’t “magic.” But the right ones do remove the most annoying parts of business: staring at a blank page, turning blogs into videos, writing emails, summarizing meetings, and digging for reliable answers.
Below are 10 practical AI tools.
1) Jasper — AI content marketing that stays on-brand
What it does (in plain English): Helps you write marketing content faster—ads, blogs, landing pages, emails—while keeping a consistent brand tone using brand voice controls.
Best for: Marketing teams, founders doing their own marketing, agencies.
Typical starting price: $59/month when billed yearly (or $69 monthly) for the Pro plan.
Quick win: Feed it 2–3 past best-performing posts and ask for “5 new angles + 10 headline options,” then refine.
2) Pictory — Turn text (or a blog URL) into a video in minutes
What it does: Converts scripts, articles, or blog posts into videos with AI-selected visuals, voiceovers, and quick editing tools.
Best for: Content marketers, coaches, educators, small brands posting on Instagram/YouTube/LinkedIn.
Typical starting price: Starter annual pricing works out to $19/month (or about $25 monthly on month-to-month).
Quick win: Repurpose your best blog post into a 60–90 second “key points” video for social.
3) Murf — Professional voiceovers without a studio
What it does: Generates realistic text-to-speech voiceovers across 20+ languages and also offers voice cloning options.
Best for: Course creators, product demos, explainer videos, YouTube channels, internal training.
Typical starting price: Pricing shows plans starting around $19/month billed annually.
Quick win: Create one “signature narrator voice” for your brand so every video sounds consistent.
4) Synthesia — Create avatar videos from text (training, explainers, onboarding)
What it does: Lets you generate videos using 240+ AI avatars in 160+ languages—great for training, internal comms, and product walkthroughs.
Best for: HR/training teams, SaaS onboarding, corporate explainers.
Typical starting price: Plans start at $29/month (Starter).
Quick win: Convert your SOPs into short “1 topic = 1 video” micro-learnings for staff.
5) Fireflies.ai — Meeting notes, summaries, and action items (automatically)
What it does: Records/transcribes meetings, creates summaries, and helps track action items + integrations.
Best for: Sales calls, hiring interviews, team meetings, client meetings.
Typical starting price: $10 per seat/month (Pro, billed annually).
Quick win: After every meeting, share the AI summary in your team group—less confusion, fewer follow-ups.
6) ChatGPT — Your all-purpose AI assistant (writing, planning, coding, strategy)
What it does: Helps with writing, brainstorming, rewriting, research-style assistance, and workflows—useful across every department. Paid plans add more capability and higher limits.
Best for: Everyone—founders, ops, HR, marketing, students, analysts.
Typical pricing: Free tier exists; paid tiers include Go ($8/month) and Plus ($20/month) (and higher tiers).
Quick win: Use one repeatable prompt: “Here’s my goal + audience + constraints. Give me 3 options and recommend the best.”
7) Microsoft Copilot — AI inside Word/Excel/Outlook/Teams
What it does: Works inside Microsoft 365 apps to draft docs, analyze data, summarize email threads, and recap meetings.
Best for: Organizations already using Microsoft 365 daily.
Typical pricing: Microsoft 365 Copilot is listed at $30 user/month (paid yearly) and needs a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan.
Quick win: In Teams, use Copilot to pull “decisions made + action items + owners” right after the meeting ends.
8) Perplexity — Research with citations you can actually verify
What it does: Gives conversational answers with citations to original sources—so you can check where the info came from.
Best for: Research, competitive analysis, market sizing, policy checks, writing with sources.
Typical pricing: Pro is advertised at about $17/month when billed annually.
Quick win: Ask: “Give me 10 key points + cite sources + list 5 contradictions or debates I should know.”
9) Notion AI — Summaries, writing, and Q&A inside your workspace
What it does: Helps summarize docs, draft content, and answer questions using what’s in your Notion workspace.
Best for: Teams managing knowledge, SOPs, project docs, and meeting notes in Notion.
Pricing note (important): Notion states that Notion AI is included in Business and Enterprise, while other plans get limited trial usage.
Quick win: Turn messy meeting notes into: “Decisions / Action items / Owners / Deadlines.”
10) Descript — Edit audio/video like you’re editing a Word document
What it does: Transcribes audio/video and lets you edit by editing the text—great for podcasts, interviews, and video content.
Best for: Podcasters, YouTubers, marketers repurposing long recordings.
Typical starting price: Paid plans start at $16/month (with a free plan available).
Quick win: Remove filler words, tighten long answers, then repurpose clips into social shorts.
A simple way to choose (without overthinking)
Ask yourself just 3 questions:
- Do I need better content? → Jasper
- Do I need more videos (without a production team)? → Pictory or Synthesia
- Do I lose time in meetings and follow-ups? → Fireflies + (Copilot if you’re on Microsoft 365)
Then add:
- Perplexity when accuracy/citations matter
- Notion AI when your docs are your “company brain”
- Descript when you publish audio/video regularly
- ChatGPT as your daily “Swiss army knife”
FAQ
Which AI tool is best for a small business with limited time?
Start with ChatGPT for general help, then add Fireflies if meetings are a pain.
Which tool is best for marketing?
Jasper for on-brand marketing writing.
Which tool is best for research with sources?
Perplexity, because it includes citations to original sources.
