On April 29, 2026, 36Kr published “Seven Ways to Run a One-Person Company in the AI Startup Era” — pointing out that with just one idea, one skill, and AI agents, entrepreneurs can single-handedly operate a business that would normally require a team of 5–8 people. For budget-constrained small business owners, AIGC is becoming the best alternative to a traditional marketing department.
1. Why Small Business Owners Need AI for Marketing
A traditional marketing department requires at least four roles — copywriter, graphic designer, video editor, and social media manager — with monthly labor costs exceeding 30,000 RMB. A complete AIGC tool suite costs only 500–1,500 RMB per month and can handle the same workload.
Option 1: E-commerce Product Hero Images and Detail Pages
Use Midjourney or GPT IMAGE2 to generate product display images — saving over 80% of time and costs compared to traditional photography. Belle International’s 2026 case study showed that AI-generated product images increased click-through rates by 35%.
Option 2: Batch Social Media Content Production
Use large language models (such as GPT-4/Claude) to generate Xiaohongshu posts, Douyin scripts, and WeChat articles — producing 20+ pieces of original content per day. Tineco’s real-world test data showed that AI content achieved 95% of the average engagement rate of human-created content.
2. Mainstream AIGC Tool Suite Options
Option 1: Zero-Cost Starter Kit (for budgets under 1,000 RMB/month)
GPT-5.5 for copywriting + IMAGE2 for images + CapCut for video editing — this suite is entirely free and covers all core functions. As Liao Jinke pointed out in “How Small and Micro Enterprises Can Leverage AIGC to Master Traffic” published on Sohu, the core value of this approach lies in the dual breakthrough of “reducing costs and increasing efficiency” and “precise targeting.”
Option 2: Paid Efficiency Kit (for monthly budgets of 2,000–5,000 RMB)
Midjourney Pro subscription + Canva AI design platform + AI digital avatar live streaming tools — this suite can significantly improve image quality and content production efficiency. According to BetterYeah’s “AIGC Application Cases in E-commerce Marketing,” companies using paid tool suites saw an average conversion rate increase of 28%.
3. Detailed Workflow Demonstration
Step 1: Market Research and Competitive Analysis (1–2 hours)
Input industry keywords into a large language model to generate a market analysis report — including target user personas, trending topics, and competitor strategies. This step, which previously took 3 days, can now be completed in half a day.
Step 2: Content Ideation and Script Writing (2–3 hours)
Have AI batch-generate short video scripts and image-text copy based on the research results — producing 15–20 sets of materials in different styles to choose from each day. This step previously required 1 day each from a designer and a planner.
4. Cost Comparison Analysis
Traditional Marketing Department Setup (30,000 RMB/month in salaries): 1 copywriter + 1 graphic designer + 1 video editor + 1 social media manager
Adding social insurance and management costs, actual monthly expenditure approaches 50,000 RMB. An AIGC tool suite costs only 1,000–2,000 RMB per month — saving approximately 96% in costs.
5. Recommended Implementation Steps
Step 1: Clearly define core business needs and target audience; Step 2: Choose an AI tool suite that fits your budget — we recommend starting with the zero-cost kit to test the waters; Step 3: Use real product data to train AI for generating customized content materials — you can mix in screenshots of positive customer reviews to enhance credibility.
Visit aigcsdm.com AI Advertising Customization Services for detailed configuration plans and pricing quotes for the small business AIGC marketing toolkit. We support the entire workflow from zero-cost entry to paid efficiency upgrades with full AI-assisted solutions.
