TikTok has always held ample potential as a marketing vehicle for SMBs. And for those who have adopted it, it’s been powerful. The issue is that so few SMBs – less than 5 percent, we’ve estimated – have done so. Leadzai wants to change that, and has lowered several TikTok adoption barriers.
Specifically, Leadzai – an SMB marketing innovator used primarily by agencies – has integrated TikTok into its platform. Alongside its dashboard’s capabilities to create and launch Google, Microsoft, and Meta, campaigns, TikTok now joins the mix. And the integration’s headline is its ease of production.
That brings us back to those adoption barriers. Though TikTok is potentially powerful for SMBs, it traditionally required ample production rigor. This stems from the fact that TikTok has a native language and vibe. Practically, this means SMBs can’t often reuse content from other platforms.
Leadzai has addressed that challenge with a workflow that lets SMB-focused agencies quickly produce TikTok videos that are both on-brand and aligned with TikTok’s signature styles and best practices. This is not only streamlined but cost-efficient – a key factor for agencies engaged in thin-margin SMB work.
The Unlock
So what does this look like? In a recent briefing with Leadzai CPTO Pedro Cerdeira, we were given a demo. Using existing SMB visual assets (think: images, logos), its AI engine generates a photo-realistic video whose length, production style, and other factors are tuned for TikTok best practices.
According to Cerdeira, this involves a simple three-step workflow. The first step involves writing a script to serve as the narrative storyboard. Then comes the assembly of visual assets to generate the video, . Then it’s all fine-tuned as a TikTok ad unit, including custom branded captions and voiceover.
Using a fictitious ice cream parlor, we created a TikTok ad in a matter of minutes. The finished product was branded adequately to the SMB, which has always been a shortcoming for inexpensive SMB video that relies on stock footage. Here, generative AI is the unlock for photorealistic and on-brand fare.
Back to the matter of cost efficiency for SMB-focused agencies, we were told Leadzai’s exact cost. Though this was off the record, we can report that it’s nominal and built for scale. Moreover, that cost will fall as Leadzai refines its generative AI model – a customized variation on a licensed ByteDance model.
Favored Nation
Stepping back, It’s important to note that, unlike many promoted partnerships with buzzy tech giants like TikTok, Leadzai didn’t just ingest its API and spin it as a partnership. It’s actively collaborating with TikTok on the integration. In fact, Cerdeira says that Leadzai has gained favored-nation status with TikTok.
One reason TikTok likes it so much is the untapped opportunity it sees in the SMB market. It knows well what we stated above about its potential as an SMB marketing vehicle. In that sense, Leadzai is helping TikTok penetrate the market using its domain expertise around what makes SMBs tick (and tock).
All that TikTok goodwill has materialized tangibly for Leadzai. For example, according to Cerdeira, TikTok continues to connect Leadzai to its agency partners as new clients. That means for Leadzai that TikTok is bringing value as both a technology partner and a sales channel – a powerful one-two punch.
Finally, all the above represents a key moment in the lifecycle of SMB video advertising. We’ve been covering the perpetually-promising but unfulfilled opportunity for two decades. As shown by Leadzai, we’ve reached a point where the barriers – in both production and distribution – have approached zero.
