Hiring a Communications Specialist vs. AI? An Honest Comparison for Small and Medium-Sized Companies

Communication is now the cornerstone of every company's success. But when the budget is tight and there's plenty to do, the question inevitably arises: hire more hands or enhance your current team's work with AI?

In this article, we compare these options and provide concrete examples of how AI can complement your communications team's expertise.

What Does Hiring Communications Professionals Cost?

Before diving into AI solutions, it's worth understanding what traditional recruitment really costs. Here are the average salaries in the Finnish market in 2024–2025 (data compiled from various sources):

Communications Secretary: €2,800–3,500/month

Communications Assistant: €2,500–3,200/month

Communications Coordinator: €3,200–4,200/month

Communications Specialist: €3,500–5,000/month

Communications Manager: €4,500–6,500/month

On top of these salaries come additional costs (about 30–40%), tools, training, and recruitment process expenses. The true annual cost of one communications specialist can easily reach €60,000–80,000.

For small and medium-sized companies, this is a significant investment—especially if your communication needs aren't full-time or you only need help with specific areas.

What Can AI Do in Communications?

AI doesn't replace a communications professional's strategic thinking or creativity. But it can handle a large portion of routine tasks and free up time for what requires a human touch.

Here are concrete examples:

1. Text Production and Refinement

Lyyli.ai helps you write messages that sound like you or your brand. It combines your organization's voice and personal style, so you don't have to start from scratch.

ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini work as general-purpose text assistants when you need a quick draft for a blog post, newsletter, or social media update.

Jasper.ai and Copy.ai focus on marketing texts and ads—excellent if you need sales-oriented headlines or product descriptions.

2. Social Media Management

Buffer, Hootsuite, and Metricool include AI features that suggest posting times, help with content planning, and analyze what works.

Canva Magic Write and Canva AI create both text and visual content in the same tool—perfect combination for small teams.

3. Image and Video Creation

Midjourney, DALL-E, and Adobe Firefly produce customized illustrations without stock photo licensing fees.

Descript and Runway ML help with video editing and even creating synthetic videos—great solution if the budget doesn't allow hiring a video producer or you need content on a tight schedule.

Google's Nano Banana Pro is a new entrant in the image generator market, offering excellent results and enabling the generation of images that match a company's visual identity, and can already produce text directly in images. Through Starter and Growth subscriptions, you can easily and affordably access Nano Banana Pro.

4. Translations and Grammar Checking

DeepL is the best machine translation tool that preserves tone and context.

Grammarly and LanguageTool offer grammar checking and improvement suggestions—especially useful if you write in English or other foreign languages.

With Lyyli, you can leverage the translation capabilities of the market's best language models: OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Anthropic's Claude Sonnet. And because Lyyli knows your communication goals, target audience, and tone of voice, it can translate text in a way that supports your brand and communications even when translated to another language.

5. Analytics and Reporting

ChatGPT (Advanced Data Analysis) and Claude can analyze your communications data and produce summaries and recommendations.

Google Analytics 4 includes AI-based predictions and automatic insights that help understand what content works.

Comparison: Recruitment vs. AI

Annual Cost:

- Communications Specialist: €60,000–80,000

- AI Solutions: €500–5,000

Implementation:

- Communications Specialist: onboarding to tasks and tools 3–6 months

- AI Solutions: Days or weeks

Scalability:

- Communications Specialist: Limited capacity

- AI Solutions: Nearly unlimited

Strategic Thinking:

- Communications Specialist: Excellent

- AI Solutions: Limited

Routine Tasks:

- Communications Specialist: Takes time from other work

- AI Solutions: Fast and efficient

Creativity:

- Communications Specialist: Unique, human

- AI Solutions: Good source of inspiration

Brand Understanding:

- Communications Specialist: Develops over time

- AI Solutions: Requires guidance and training

Which Solution Suits You?

Choose Recruitment If:

- You need a full-time communications professional who understands the big picture of strategy

- Your communications require ongoing stakeholder work and networking

- You have budget and time for onboarding

- Your brand requires deep understanding and long-term development work

Choose AI If:

- Communication needs aren't full-time

- Budget is tight, but communication quality can't suffer

- Current team needs enhancement in routine tasks

- You want to experiment and learn quickly without major commitments

Best Solution? A Combination

Many organizations benefit most from combining human expertise and AI efficiency. A communications specialist or assistant can focus on strategy, stakeholder relationships, and creativity, while AI handles text drafts, illustrations, and routine analytics.

For example:

- Communications coordinator plans the campaign and creates strategy

- Lyyli.ai produces first text drafts

- Create illustrations with Lyyli

- Buffer schedules posts automatically

- Coordinator finalizes, approves, and tracks results

With this combination, you get multiple people's results with one person's input.

Practical Tips for Implementing AI in Communications

1. Start Small: Choose one tool and one process you want to enhance. For example, writing newsletters.

2. Train Your Team: AI is a tool, not a magic wand. Set aside time to learn together how to get the best results.

3. Maintain Human Touch: Never publish AI-generated content as-is. Add your own voice, check facts, and ensure the message matches your brand.

4. Measure Results: Track how AI affects productivity and communication quality. Are you saving time? Is engagement improving?

5. Update Continuously: AI tools evolve rapidly. Stay current and test new solutions.

Concrete Example: Monthly Savings Calculation

Let's see how AI can enhance typical communications tasks in a small company:

Without AI (Communications Assistant's Time):

- Newsletter writing (4/month): 8 hours

- Social media updates (20/month): 10 hours

- Blog articles (2/month): 12 hours

- Image search and editing: 6 hours

- Reporting and analytics: 4 hours

Total: 40 hours/month

With AI:

- Newsletter writing (Lyyli.ai): 3 hours

- Social media updates (Buffer + ChatGPT): 4 hours

- Blog articles (Claude): 6 hours

- Image creation (Canva AI + Midjourney): 2 hours

- Reporting (Google Analytics 4): 2 hours

Total: 17 hours/month

Savings: 23 hours per month = 57.5% of time

If a communications assistant's salary is €3,000/month (with additional costs ~€4,000/month), this equals about €2,300 in monthly savings—or €27,600 per year. And the combined cost of AI tools is typically under €200/month.

What AI Can't Do (At Least Not Yet)

It's important to understand AI's limitations as well:

Strategic Planning: AI doesn't understand the big picture of business or know how to set the right goals for communications.

Stakeholder Relationships: Networking, negotiations, and managing relationships require genuine human presence.

Crisis Management: In sensitive situations, you need experience, empathy, and the ability to read the situation.

Deep Brand Understanding: AI needs continuous guidance to understand what is "our style" and what isn't.

Ethical Consideration: AI can't assess when a message might be offensive, misleading, or otherwise inappropriate.

That's Why the Best Solution Is Often a Hybrid Model

The most effective way to leverage both human expertise and AI is to build a division of labor where each does what they're best at.

Human Focuses On:

- Strategic planning and goal setting

- Maintaining stakeholder relationships and networking

- Creative solutions and unique ideas

- Crisis management and sensitive situations

- Brand development and ethical consideration

AI Handles:

- First drafts of texts

- Routine content production

- Creating illustrations and visual materials

- Data analysis and reporting

- Translations and grammar checks

- Scheduling and optimizing posts

In practice, this might mean hiring one communications specialist or assistant, but equipping them with AI tools. This way, you get 2-3 people's results with one person's salary.

Case Study: Small Software Company

Let's look at a concrete example of how a 20-person software company solved their communications challenges:

Starting Situation:

- CEO handled communications alongside other work

- Took 10-15 hours per week

- Communications were irregular and stressful

- Budget didn't allow hiring a full-time communications specialist

Solution:

- Hired a part-time communications assistant (50%, €1,500/month)

- Acquired Lyyli.ai, Canva, and Buffer (total ~€150/month)

- Trained the assistant to use AI tools effectively

Results After 6 Months:

- Communications volume tripled (4 → 12 posts/month)

- CEO's time freed up for business development

- LinkedIn followers grew from 300 → 1,200

- 40% more new leads

- Total cost: €1,650/month (vs. €4,000-5,000/month for full-time)

The key to success was clear division of labor: the assistant focused on strategy and stakeholder relationships, while AI produced first versions of content and handled routines.

ROI Calculation: When Is AI Worth It?

Let's calculate a simple return on investment for different scenarios:

Scenario 1: Full-Time Communications Specialist

- Annual Cost: €70,000

- Content Produced: 200 posts/year

- Cost per Post: €350

Scenario 2: Part-Time Assistant + AI

- Annual Cost: €25,000 (assistant) + €2,400 (tools) = €27,400

- Content Produced: 180 posts/year

- Cost per Post: €152

Savings: €42,600/year

Scenario 3: AI Only (Self-Service)

- Annual Cost: €2,400 (tools) + €5,000 (own time)

- Content Produced: 120 posts/year

- Cost per Post: €62

Savings: €62,600/year

Note: Quality and strategic level vary between scenarios. A full-time specialist brings the deepest expertise, but for smaller companies, the hybrid model (Scenario 2) is often the golden middle path.

How to Start Using AI in Communications – 30-Day Plan

If you decide to try AI in communications, here's a concrete plan for the first month:

Week 1: Mapping and Tool Selection

- List all communications tasks that take time

- Identify 3-5 tasks that are repetitive and time-consuming

- Explore tools and choose 2-3 to start with

- Create accounts and familiarize yourself with interfaces

Week 2: Testing and Learning

- Try each tool on one real project

- Write down what works and what doesn't

- Refine prompts and instructions for better results

- Ask colleagues for feedback on AI-generated content

Week 3: Building Processes

- Create clear guidelines for when to use which tool

- Build templates and ready-made prompts

- Define which content requires human approval before publishing

- Document best practices for the team

Week 4: Measurement and Optimization

- Compare results to before: did you save time? Did quality improve?

- Identify bottlenecks and problem areas

- Make necessary changes to processes

- Plan next month's development goals

After this, continue iteratively: test, measure, optimize, repeat.

Most Common Mistakes in Using AI for Communications

We've seen many companies stumble into the same pitfalls. Avoid these:

1. Publishing AI-Generated Content As-Is

AI is a tool, not a replacement. Always add your own voice, check facts, and ensure the message matches your brand.

2. Not Investing in Prompting

Bad prompt = bad result. Learn to write clear, detailed instructions for AI.

3. Trying to Do Everything at Once

Start small. One tool, one process at a time. Then scale.

4. Not Measuring Results

If you don't measure, you don't know if it works. Track time savings, content volume, quality, and engagement.

5. Forgetting the Human Touch

AI doesn't replace genuine interaction, empathy, or creativity. Use it to complement, not replace.

Future Outlook: What's Next?

AI is evolving at a rapid pace. Here are some trends that will change communications in the coming years:

Gradual Personalization: AI learns to understand individual recipients' preferences and automatically customizes messages.

Real-Time Translations: Communication across language barriers becomes even easier as translations improve and speed up.

Voice and Video Become Common: Synthetic voice and video generation make multimedia content accessible to everyone.

Analytics Deepen: AI increasingly predicts what content works and when it's best to publish.

Integrations Improve: Tools communicate seamlessly with each other, further reducing manual work.

But one thing remains: human understanding, empathy, and strategic thinking are irreplaceable. AI makes us better communicators, but it doesn't do communications for us.

Finally: Don't Wait

Communications is no longer just a "nice to have" function. It's a critical part of business. But you don't need to hire a large team or exhaust your budget to get results.

AI gives you the opportunity to do more with less. It frees up time for strategy, creativity, and relationships—the things that truly make a difference.

The question is no longer "should I try AI in communications," but "when do I start."

Start small. Test. Measure. Scale.

And remember: the best time to start was yesterday. The second best is today.