Should Your Business use a LLM (Large Language Model)?

By now, we have all heard of AI. It is a huge buzzword for businesses, with companies of all sizes trying to figure out how they can leverage it. And, the large language model is at the center of this buzz. Whether you’re looking to improve customer engagement, streamline sales processes, or enhance marketing strategies, LLMs offer a variety of opportunities for B2B businesses. But is it the right fit for your company? Keep reading to find out.

Well, What is a Large Language Model?

A large language model, or LLM, is an AI-powered tool designed to understand and generate human-like text. Tools like ChatGPT, Jasper, and Google’s Gemini use deep learning and natural language processing to analyze patterns in text to generate their responses. LLMs are trained on diverse sources, including books, business reports, and websites. This allows them to provide answers, generate content, summarize documents, and assist with chatbot interactions. For B2B businesses, the value of LLMs lies in their ability to automate processes, personalize communication, and improve decision-making, especially in sales and marketing. 

How B2B Companies Can Use an LLM

There are a number of opportunities that using an LLM can bring B2B companies. Here are some of the best ways that we have seen B2B companies implement an LLM to improve their business processes.

Sales Processes

First, let’s go over how sales teams can use an LLM to improve their sales processes and communications. 

Lead Scoring and Prospecting

Without a doubt, lead scoring is one of the best ways that sales teams can leverage an LLM. Identifying high-quality leads is one of the biggest challenges in B2B sales. LLMs can analyze customer data, including website interactions, email responses, and CRM records, to automatically score and prioritize leads. By leveraging AI-driven insights, sales teams can focus their efforts on prospects with the highest conversion potential.

Personalized Outreach

Salespeople are not marketers, and sometimes it can be difficult for them to get their thoughts into an email. Instead of sending generic emails, your team can use AI to craft tailored messages based on a prospect’s industry, company size, and past interactions. This makes the outreach feel more relevant and increases the chances of engagement. You can also include notes from your meetings to further personalize your emails for leads who are further down the funnel.

Sales Call Preparation

Sales teams can also use LLMs to prepare for calls. Before a meeting, an AI tool can analyze previous conversations, pull insights from the prospect’s website and social media, and summarize key points to address. This allows sales reps to have more informed discussions without spending hours on research. However, ensure that you double check all facts as LLMs can make mistakes!

Marketing Processes

Next, let’s talk about how LLMs can be used to improve marketing efforts. Specifically in regard to content marketing. 

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a key driving force of brand awareness and lead generation for B2B companies. But, we all know that creating content is very time consuming and can be difficult for small teams. AI can help assist with brain storming, coming up with ideas, and creating outlines for blog articles, whitepapers, and case studies. Instead of spending hours researching complex topics, LLMs can generate a first draft that you can then comb through and edit. However, it’s crucial that you are not just hitting copy and paste, it is necessary to have human intervention to improve the quality of the content.

SEO Optimization

Search engine optimization also benefits from AI. LLMs can analyze search trends, suggest relevant keywords, and optimize content to improve rankings. AI tools can generate meta descriptions, write alt text for images, and recommend headlines that attract clicks. This allows businesses to create content that performs well in search without needing deep technical expertise. Software tools like SEMrush are also starting to integrate AI-powered tools that are more accurate than traditional LLMs when it comes to SEO.

Social Media and Ad Copy

Social media and ad copy can also be created with the help of an LLM. If you enter in a tone of voice, length, other posts to take inspiration from, and a general idea of what you want the social post to include, the LLM can create a social post that follows your brand. You are also able to experiment with different messaging styles and determine what resonates the most with your target audience. The more you use the LLM, the more accurate your content will be.

Content Repurposing

If you create a high-performing blog article, there’s a good chance that it would also do well on social media or in a YouTube video. A single blog post can be transformed into multiple formats, such as an email newsletter, a LinkedIn post, or a script for a video or podcast. This makes it easier to maximize content efforts without duplicating work. For example, you can try to copy and paste your blog article directly into the LLM, and ask it for a video script that talks about key messages within the article.

Customer Support

It’s difficult for customer support teams to be online 24/7/365. Because of this, the next way your business should use a LLM is with customer support.

Chatbots

Customer support is an important part of B2B client acquisition and management. But, it can be difficult to staff a live chatbot at all hours of the day. AI-powered chatbots can handle frequently asked questions, provide troubleshooting assistance, and even draft personalized follow-ups based on previous conversations. Instead of waiting for a support agent, customers can get quick and accurate responses at any time. And, if you do business with a variety of countries, you can train the chatbot to reply in different languages.

Customer Feedback and Analysis

Customer feedback analysis is another area where LLMs can help. AI can sift through survey responses, emails, and online reviews to identify trends and highlight areas for improvement. Companies can then use this information to refine their products, services, and support strategies. This cuts the analysis time in half, leaving more time for strategy on what to do with the feedback.

Data Analysis and Market Research

The last way your business should use a LLM is with data analysis and market research. Here’s how.

Keeping up with Competitors

AI can help your team monitor websites, blogs, and social media to extract key insights about their strategies, price changes, and customer sentiment. Then, with this information, you can adjust your strategies and make informed decisions in a more timely manner. Additionally, AI may be able to help you dig up what keywords a website is ranking for by crawling its content, without the need for paid tools.

Predictive Insights

The last way that your business should use a LLM is through predictive analytics. By analyzing historical data and industry trends, LLMs can help businesses anticipate market shifts, identify customer preferences, and spot new opportunities for growth. These insights can inform everything from product development to sales strategies. However, this requires a lot more planning and previous data analytics for the LLM to properly understand and provide actionable information.

So, Should Your Business Use an LLM?

While LLMs offer many benefits, they may not be the right fit for every company. There are several factors to consider before deciding whether to invest in AI tools.

Benefits of Using an LLM

The biggest advantage of using an LLM is increased efficiency. Automating tasks like content creation, email drafting, and customer support frees up valuable time for employees to focus on higher-level strategy. AI also enhances personalization, making marketing and sales efforts more relevant and effective. Additionally, LLMs allow businesses to scale their outreach without significantly increasing costs.

Challenges to Consider

On the other hand, there are a few challenges your team will need to consider. Data privacy and security must be a top priority when using AI, especially when handling customer information. LLMs are powerful, but they’re not always perfect. They can generate inaccurate or misleading information, so human oversight is necessary. Your team may also need to customize models for their specific industry, which can require additional investment in training and fine-tuning.

Wrap Up

When properly implemented, AI and large language models specifically, can help companies improve efficiency and drive better results. However, businesses should carefully assess their needs, invest in the right AI tools, and ensure proper oversight to maximize the benefits. If your company is considering AI for sales and marketing, now is a great time to explore what LLMs can do. If you’re looking to learn more about leveraging AI, take a look at our article, How to Use AI for Lead Generation: Strategies and Software.