The Ultimate Guide to AI Tools: Part 1

Posted on 10th November 2024

The Ultimate Guide to AI Tools:

In our previous post in our Ultimate Guide to AI tools, we promised to do all the heavy lifting for you. We have spent the last six months exploring all the AI tools available to creators to help them boost their profiles and businesses. AI tools are now indispensable for content creators, entrepreneurs, and business owners. They will increase your productivity by at least 100 per cent. This comprehensive guide evaluates six leading AI platforms, examining their strengths, limitations, and ideal use cases to hIn PARTY 2 elp you make informed decisions for your business needs.

In this part, we introduce the fundamental principles of using AI effectively and the first three products we have trialled extensively.

ChatGPT for research and analysis,
ClaudeAI for brilliant writing, and
GammaAI’s fantastic ability to produce documents, presentations and websites from text and prompts.

In PART 2 we go on to explore the last three recommendations:

NotebookLM from Google for its research, analysis and synthesising abilities
Midjourney for unbelievably high-quality text to image capability
ElevenLabs for its text-to-speech and voice cloning brilliance for podcasts, content and voiceovers.

In PART 3, we give you our conclusions and costed recommendations on how to build your ultimate AI tech stack.

Using AI Tools Effectively

CREATED IN MIJOURNEY AI

Think of ChatGPT and all of these tools as if they were a willing but directionless chef. Someone who will cook anything you want but needs clear guidance to do the job well.

If you ask, “Make me a delicious breakfast,” she’ll whip up something extravagant. But that mountain of fat, protein, and fried food might not be what you craved. Next time, tell her exactly what you have in mind. Something like:

“Make me a high-protein, low-fat breakfast with no more than 400 calories and 30 grams of fat. Make sure it balances all my macros and features eggs, tomatoes, and gluten-free bread. Use only fresh and free-range ingredients—no processed foods. Ask me if you need any further guidance.”

See the difference?

Prompt Writing is the KEY to using all of these tools well.

When writing prompts, be specific. Describe your goals clearly: What do you want? How should it look, sound, or feel? Are there any must-haves or don’ts? The more details you give, the closer you’ll get to the output you want.

Remember, every AI tool you use is eager to help but needs direction to do it well. Treat your prompts like orders to a chef, and you’ll get results that hit the mark every time! Now let’s look at these tools in a little detail.

Content Creation and Strategy Tools

Use these tools to help you research, strategise and lift the foundations of your business to the next level of authority. In this set of posts we will look at six of the best sites that we have tested in the last 12 months. Here are the 6 sites that we will explore:

Chat GPT – The source of all that is good in AI.
Claude AI from Anthropic – The best long-form writing tool we have found, and we’ve tried a lot!
Gamma AI – The best document, presentation and website AI tool on the market.
NotebookLM – Google’s free detailed research, analysis and podcast tool.
Midjourney – An amazing image generator for high-quality, professional images for all uses.
ElevenLabs – Turn your text into speech for all of your podcasts, videos and audio content.

ChatGPT (OpenAI) See more here

We have used Chat GPT extensively over the last year to help us in every aspect of our business. We have used it to:

Research clients,
Understand economic sectors,
Sharpen our sales pitches,
Support our recommendations and proposal with credible data from a wide range of sources,
Generate ideas for sales campaigns
Write speeches (after we have done the really creative work of finding a purpose, a theme and a style.
Create images to illustrate our presentations and documents
Do rigorous statistical analysis on psychometric instruments
Create code for our website forms and landing pages

and a hundred others things. Chat GPT has become a reliable team member for $20 a month. It’s that good!

Price Range: $20/month for Plus, $20/month for Team version – though the team version is good for collaboration it has a minimum of 2 subscriptions (so $40 per month minimum).
Best For: Versatile business tasks, content ideation, and problem-solving

Chat GPT Strengths:

Exceptional versatility across multiple business functions
Strong coding and analytical capabilities
Quick response time and intuitive interface
Handles context well in conversations
Excellent for brainstorming and ideation

Limitations:

Knowledge cutoff date limits current events knowledge
Can occasionally produce repetitive content
Quality varies depending on prompt crafting
No direct image generation capabilities
Can struggle with highly specialized technical content

Ideal For:

Small business owners needing versatile and willing support
Content creators requiring quick drafts and ideas
Writers who want to pass on the writing to someone who can write at the speed of light
Developers seeking coding assistance
Marketing strategy development – but use it to support your creativity not to replace it
Customer service automation – though we haven’t used it for this

Claude AI (Anthropic)

Claude has become our great writing friend. The quality of output is excellent (if you provide good prompts and clear output instructions). You can use it like ChatGPT Canvas – and have an ongoing dialogue with it so it feels like you’re collaborating with a capable peer in creating anything from a written and costed proposal for clients, to the outline and editing of a novel. It can be pedantic, but usually only when you’ve delegated something to it too quickly and haven’t really explained your thinking.

Price Range: Free (Basic), $20/month (Pro)
Best For: Long-form content, analysis, and creative writing

Strengths:

Superior understanding of context and nuance – yes!!
Excellent for long-form content creation – and it will output for Word, Google or TXT
More nuanced and sophisticated responses – it’s created specifically to write in more human, less obvioulsy AI tone of voice
Strong analytical capabilities – haven’t really tried this
Better handling of complex instructions – yes and the dialogue element is great

Limitations:

Slower response time compared to ChatGPT – but not so you’d notice
Less widespread integration with other tools – yes but it cuts and pastes well
Can be overly verbose in responses – see prompt quality
Limited availability in some regions – Good in UK, US, Europe, Australia
Higher learning curve for optimal use – It’s not so intuitive but teach it well and it is amazing.

Ideal For:

Professional writers and content creators
Amateur writers who need a little help sharpening and adding snap to their words
Researchers requiring detailed analysis
Businesses needing sophisticated content
Academic writing and research
Complex document analysis and editing suggestions and guidelines

NotebookLM (Google)

Price Range: Free (Currently) to Google Account holders
Best For: Research organisation and content synthesis, and an amazing “one-click”podcast tool.

We were amazed by this when it came out. You drag in documents and Notebook LM analyses them and offers almost instantaneous analysis of them and automated standard outputs like FAQs, content summaries, and Learner guides with knowledge testing questions. You can also use it like chat GPT to interrogate all of the source materials to compare, contrast, test and synthesise.

NotebookLM Strengths:

Excellent document analysis capabilities
Strong integration with research workflows
Built-in fact-checking features
Clean, intuitive interface
Efficient information organization

Limitations:

Limited availability (still in beta)
Requires Google account
Fewer features compared to competitors
Limited export options
Sometimes struggles with complex queries

Ideal For:

Researchers and academics
Content creators requiring fact-checking
Students organizing study materials
Professional research projects
Knowledge management

Visual and Audio Content Tools

Now let’s look at the visual and content tools available. Chat GPT, Claude and Notebook offer some of this capability, but these tools, based on our 3-6 months testing of them are much better.

GammaAI

Utterly brilliant. Gamma has become my favourite tool for turning dull text into beautiful documents, presentations and even websites. I created the new version of my business website using Gamma as part of the test. It looks amazing and I can edit it from my iPhone to a professional standard.

Price Range: Free (Basic), $10/month (Pro)
Best For: Professional presentations and interactive documents

Gamma Strengths:

Beautiful, modern presentation templates
Interactive elements and animations
Easy collaboration features
Built-in AI writing assistance
Seamless web publishing

Limitations:

Limited export options
Fewer templates compared to PowerPoint
Some advanced features require Pro plan
Learning curve for traditional presentation users
Limited offline capabilities

Ideal For:

Startup pitch decks
Sales presentations
Educational content
Team collaboration
Web-based presentations

Midjourney

Price Range: $10-30/month
Best For: High-quality AI image generation

Strengths:

Exceptional image quality
Strong artistic style control
Regular feature updates
Active community for learning
Versatile application possibilities

Limitations:

Discord-only interface
Steeper learning curve
No free tier available
Queue times during peak usage
Prompt sensitivity requires practice

Ideal For:

Designers needing quick concepts
Marketing teams creating visuals
Content creators
Social media managers
Brand identity development

ElevenLabs

Price Range: Free (Limited), $5-330/month
Best For: Professional voice synthesis and audio content

Strengths:

High-quality voice synthesis
Multiple language support
Voice cloning capabilities
Good emotion control
Regular quality improvements

Limitations:

Premium features can be expensive
Limited free tier
Some voices sound artificial
Resource-intensive processing
Language limitations for some features

Ideal For:

Podcast creation
Video narration
Audiobook production
E-learning content
Multi-language content

Making Your Choice: Key Considerations

When selecting AI tools for your business, consider:

Budget
- Free tiers for testing
- Scaling costs with usage
- Return on investment potential
Integration Requirements
- Compatibility with existing tools
- API availability
- Export options
Learning Curve
- Available training resources
- Community support
- Interface intuitiveness
Output Quality Needs
- Professional requirements
- Brand alignment
- Consistency requirements

Conclusion: Building Your AI Tool Stack

The ideal approach is often to combine multiple tools based on their strengths. Here’s what we have done:

Use ChatGPT for general tasks and initial content creation
Leverage Claude AI for sophisticated writing and analysis
Employ NotebookLM for research organization and outputting course summaries, FAQ guides, Knowledge tests and a podcast
Create presentations with Gamma – though they need editing/animation/Brand template work once you’ve outputted them to PowerPoint, Keynote or Google Slides.
Use Gamma also to create documents and websites to a very high standard.
Generate visuals using Midjourney – But Gamma does this brilliantly too
Produce audio content with ElevenLabs – yes.
Turn text into audio content with ElevenLabs

Remember that AI tools are rapidly evolving, with new features and capabilities being added regularly. Stay informed about updates and new releases to maximize the value these tools can bring to your business.

Next Steps: Start with the free tiers where available, and gradually expand your tool stack based on your specific needs and workflow requirements. Consider our detailed guides for each tool to master their capabilities quickly and effectively.

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Jim Harvey

Managing Director at The Message Business

Jim is a serial entrepreneur and the MD of The Message Business, a company which helps international and FTSE 100 companies sell themselves, and their products more effectively. Jim has many years of experience speechwriting, presentation coaching and motivational speaking, all over the world.