> services/ai-consultancy.dmg
AI for Small Businesses,
Without the Hype
AI can save a small business real time. It can also make things up, leak customer data and churn out copy nobody wants to read. I'm a practical marketer who uses these tools every day, not a data scientist, and I'll help you use them where they actually help.
> what.txt
What This Is, and What It Isn't
Plenty of AI consultancy is people who discovered ChatGPT last year selling courses about it. This isn't that. I've been in digital marketing for 20 years, and AI tools are part of my working day: drafting, summarising, checking data, tidying product feeds, testing ad copy. I know where they're brilliant and where they quietly get things wrong.
I'm not a data scientist and I don't build custom AI models. What I do is help small businesses use the tools that already exist, sensibly and safely, so they save time rather than create more work.
Getting your business mentioned in ChatGPT's or Google's AI answers is a different job. That's GEO, getting found in AI answers, and it has its own page.
> where_it_helps.txt
Where AI Actually Saves Time
Not everywhere. These are the jobs where it earns its keep in a small business, with a person still checking the result.
Enquiry Handling
Sorting enquiries, drafting replies to the common questions, and pulling the key details out of a long email. You check it and send it. It shouldn't quote prices or make promises on its own.
Content Drafts
First drafts of blog posts, product descriptions, social posts and newsletters. A draft is a starting point, not the finished article. It still needs your knowledge and your voice, or it reads like everyone else's.
Reporting
Turning a month of Google Ads and GA4 numbers into a plain-English summary. The numbers come straight from the source and AI helps write them up. Never let it do the sums. It gets them wrong with total confidence.
Product Feeds
Tidying product titles and descriptions for Google Shopping and filling in missing details like colour and size. A huge time saver on a big catalogue, as long as someone checks it hasn't invented anything.
Ad Copy Testing
Lots of headline and description options to test in Google or Meta ads. The ads still have to meet the platform's rules, and real results decide what stays, not the tool's opinion.
Admin Automation
Moving information between the tools you already use: a form to a spreadsheet, a booking to a calendar, a new lead to a text message. Often this needs no AI at all, just plain automation, which is cheaper and more reliable.
> dont_automate.txt
What Not to Automate
Just because you can doesn't mean you should. I'd keep a person in charge of all of these.
- Anything you're legally on the hook for: prices, quotes, contracts, and medical, legal or financial advice. AI tools make things up, and "the chatbot said it" won't get you off.
- Decisions about people, like hiring, credit or turning a customer away. UK GDPR gives people specific rights when significant decisions about them are automated, so keep a person making the call.
- Sending anything to customers without someone reading it first, at least until you've watched it get things right for months.
- Reviews and testimonials. Fake reviews have been illegal in the UK since April 2025, and an AI-written "customer" review is a fake review.
- Hundreds of AI-written pages to game Google. Google treats mass-produced content made to manipulate rankings as spam. Proper SEO is slower, and it works.
- Your relationships. The regular who rings for a chat, the supplier you've known for years. That's not admin, that's the business.
> data_protection.txt
Data Protection and UK GDPR: The Basics
I'm a marketer, not a solicitor, so this isn't legal advice. But these basics keep most small businesses out of trouble.
Personal data in a prompt is still personal data. Paste a customer's name, email or order history into an AI tool and UK GDPR applies. The business using the tool stays responsible, not the tool.
Free and business accounts aren't the same. Free consumer versions may use what you type to improve their models unless you switch it off. Business plans from the main providers generally don't by default, and come with proper data processing terms. Staff using free personal accounts for work is the first thing to fix.
Know where the data goes. Most AI tools process data outside the UK, often in the US. That's allowed with the right safeguards, which the big providers' business terms usually cover. Check, don't assume.
Tell people, and assess the risky stuff. If you use AI with customer data, say so in your privacy notice. For anything higher-risk, like profiling customers or handling health information, do a data protection impact assessment first. The ICO, the UK's data regulator, expects one for most uses of AI with personal data.
Keep the rule simple. Nothing personal or confidential goes into an AI tool unless it's an approved business account. The ICO is updating its AI guidance after the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, so check the current version on ico.org.uk.
> picking_tools.txt
Picking Tools Without Wasting Money
There are thousands of AI tools, and most of them do the same handful of things. Here's how I'd choose.
- Start with what you already pay for. If you're on Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, you may already have AI built in. Use that before buying anything new.
- Pick the job first, then the tool. "We want to use AI" isn't a job. "Replying to booking enquiries takes six hours a week" is.
- A business plan, not a free account, for anything that touches customer data.
- Check you can get your data out again, and who owns what the tool produces.
- Pay monthly, not yearly, until it's proved it earns its keep. Plenty of these tools are a year old and might not be here next year.
> training.txt
Training Your Staff
Most of the value comes from the people using the tools, not the tools. I run short, practical sessions for you and your team, in person around North Wales or on a video call, built around the jobs you actually do.
We cover how to ask for what you want, how to check what comes back, and what never goes in. You also get a one-page AI policy in plain English: which tools are approved, what they're for and what's off limits. Small businesses need one too. They just don't need it to be 40 pages.
> how_it_works.txt
How It Works
No complicated onboarding. No 47-page proposals.
Have a Chat
What takes up your time, what you've tried, and what worries you. If AI isn't the answer, I'll say so.
Look at How You Work
Time with you and your team, in person or on a call, looking at where the hours really go: enquiries, admin, content, reporting.
A Short List
Three to five jobs where AI or simple automation will save real time, with the tools, costs and risks for each. A few pages, not a strategy deck.
Set Up and Test
I set up the ones you pick, test them on real work, and adjust them until they're reliable.
Train and Hand Over
Training for whoever will use them, plus the one-page AI policy. Everything sits in your accounts, in your name.
Check Back
A follow-up a few weeks later to see what's working, what isn't, and what to switch off.
> cost.txt
What It Costs
A fixed price, agreed up front, based on what you need. No contracts and no percentage of anything. And if AI won't save you enough time to be worth paying for, I'll tell you before you spend a penny.
> faq.txt
Questions People Ask
What does an AI consultant actually do for a small business?
Finds the jobs where AI genuinely saves time, sets up the tools, trains your staff, and makes sure you're not breaking data protection rules along the way. A good one also tells you where not to use it.
Will AI replace my staff?
Not in a small business, in my experience. It takes the dull bits off people's plates: first drafts, summaries, sorting enquiries. The judgement, the relationships and knowing your customers still need a person.
Is it safe to put customer data into ChatGPT?
Not into a free personal account. Use a business plan with proper data terms, keep sensitive information out unless it genuinely needs to be in there, and mention AI in your privacy notice. If in doubt, leave it out.
Do I need to tell customers I use AI?
If you use AI with their personal data, your privacy notice should say so. Beyond that, be straight with people. If a chatbot is answering, don't pretend it's a person.
Is this the same as GEO?
No. This page is about using AI inside your business. GEO is about getting your business mentioned when customers ask ChatGPT or Google's AI for a recommendation. Different job, though plenty of businesses need both.
Are you an AI developer?
No. I'm a marketer who uses AI tools every day and knows how small businesses run. I don't build or train custom AI models. If your project needs a developer, I'll tell you, and help you work out what to ask for.
> ls ../
More Than Just AI
> new_message.txt
Want a Sensible Look at AI?
Tell me where the hours go in your week. I'll tell you honestly where AI would help, where it wouldn't, and what it would cost. No hype, no hard sell.
"Matt was really responsive throughout the whole process - no questions went unanswered and Matt was really engaged in the whole process."
Lizzie Hill · Abergele Golf Club