Finding Brave
Finding Brave

322: How to Powerfully Market Your Small Business with AI

22 January 2026 45:54 Kathy Caprino

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About this episode

Are you using AI to its full potential to meet your marketing, small business, and branding needs? Today's guest, Alan Stern, is a dynamic speaker, DJ, and marketing expert with nearly twenty years of sales and marketing experience in retail and service industries. His passion for helping small businesses thrive translates into practical guidance on how to leverage AI and freemium apps to create a big impact with your marketing on a small budget.

Driven by the belief that people buy from a person before they buy from a brand, his unique approach at Persona Marketing helps his clients leverage humor and education to create marketing that builds trust and truly connects. He also unpacks this in his book, How to Dominate The Newsfeed Without Spending A Dime, which teaches audiences how to attract business through social media.

Join us as we unpack the power of integrating simple tech tools into your day-to-day work to improve your reach, help you find your niche, and develop your voice. This is a conversation about how to use AI to make your hard-earned expertise, lived experience and mentorship more valuable than ever, rather than allowing AI to replace your genius or your special lens,

We talk about not only about the power of AI, but the power of you! Don't miss out on key insights to help you leverage AI with confidence and get real results you're desiring.

Key Highlights From This Episode:

  • Alan's journey to making a big impact on a small budget. [03:46]
  • How to stay top of mind without spending any money using the H.E.A.T. Method. [06:57]
  • Why "aspirational" marketing is ultimately a turn-off and what is actually working online. [11:38]
  • How AI can support you in marketing to solve a problem versus address a situation. [16:43]
  • Leveraging technology for market research to better understand your audience. [21:24]
  • An easy win to reach your exact target market using AI tools. [28:46]
  • What it looks like to use AI to make your lived expertise and mentorship more valuable. [34:35]
  • How ChatGPT can help you understand your niche in the market. [42:13]

For More Information:

Alan Stern

Alan Stern Email

Alan Stern on LinkedIn

Alan Stern on Facebook

Alan Stern on Instagram

Persona Marketing

Microsites

Links Mentioned in Today's Episode:

Alan's book, How to Dominate The Newsfeed Without Spending A Dime

Kathy's Career and Leadership Growth Digital Tool

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Join me today in one of my top-requested career and leadership growth 1:1 coaching programs and take 20% off the price this week with coupon code 'FBRAVE20' as my thank-you for tuning in!

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GOT A BURNING CAREER OR PROFESSIONAL GROWTH QUESTION? Ask me on Hubble

I'm thrilled to join the Hubble Expert Advisory group, a space for thoughtful conversations and honest advice on life, work, business and career challenges.

I often hear from people worldwide seeking guidance on careers, leadership, personal growth, and making a bigger impact. Now, connecting and answering your questions is easier than ever—Hubble lets you book a one-off call or recurring sessions with me.

Book some time with me here on Hubble - I'd love to support your top goals:

https://app.hubble.social/kathycaprino

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Order Kathy's book The Most Powerful You today!

In Australia and New Zealand, click here to order, elsewhere outside North America, click here, and in the UK, click here.

If you enjoy the book, we'd so appreciate your giving the book a positive rating and review on Amazon! And check out Kathy's digital companion course The Most Powerful You, to help you close the 7 most damaging power gaps in the most effective way possible.

Kathy's Power Gaps Survey, Support To Build Your LinkedIn Profile To Great Success & Other Free Resources

Kathy's TEDx Talk, Time To Brave Up & Free Career Path Self-Assessment

Kathy's Amazing Career Project video training course &

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Sponsor Highlight

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Quotes:

"At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what business you're in, we're all kind of selling the same thing — trust, expertise and an end result." — Alan Stern [0:05:06]

"When you sell, you break rapport, but when you educate, you build it." — Alan Stern [0:08:28]

"Problems cause situations and the situations are what actually create opportunities for us to sell." — Alan Stern [0:17:00]

"[AI] gives us a great opportunity as business owners to stop manually executing everything and leverage technology to do it." Alan Stern [0:26:40]

"Now, you can overlap the sales department, the marketing department, and the graphic design department, all by leveraging a little bit of tech." — Alan Stern [0:30:13]

"I'm not saying use Chat for everything and copy and paste. What I'm saying is, use it for the framework. Use that H.E.A.T. format and then put your spin on it."— Alan Stern [0:35:44]

Watch our Finding Brave episodes on YouTube!

Don't forget – you can experience each Finding Brave episode in both audio and video formats! Check out new and recent episodes on my YouTube channel at YouTube.com/kathycaprino. And please leave us a comment and a thumbs up if you like the show!

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