← Do This, NOT That: Marketing Tips with Jay Schwedelson
Do This, NOT That: Marketing Tips with Jay Schwedelson
SPECIAL GUEST!! CMO Thryv Tami Cannizzaro→ AI for Small Businesses! | Ep. 395
00:17:50
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- [00:02]
Jay Swedelson
Welcome to do this, not that, the podcast for Marketers. Each episode is packed with quick tips. They're super short, and at the end we have some fun. Let's jump into it and thanks for being here. We are back for do this, not that podcast and we have an incredible guest, a really good friend of mine, Tammy Canizzaro is here now. Who's Tammy? Tammy is the chief Marketing Officer at Thrive. But she's a really big deal. Even before Thrive, she had big positions at IBM, at eBay, at Oracle. I mean, a marketer's marketer. And if you don't know Thrive, all right, they are it for small businesses legitimately. It helping over 50,000 small businesses worldwide with everything from their, you know, listings on Google to their email sending to their billing, to reviews. If you're a small business and you haven't checked out Thrive, T, H, R Y V, I don't know what you're doing. But Tammy, all the marketing is her fault. We're going to be talking about AI stuff today. I'm so excited to have her here. Tammy, welcome to the show.
- [01:01]
Tammy Canizzaro
Thank you so much, Jay. Great to be here.
- [01:03]
Jay Swedelson
This is going to be fun. All right, so before we get into all of this, I'm just curious about something as it relates to your role in Thrive, because everybody out there is that listening. A lot of them are marketers. Okay, You're. This is not a commercial here for Thrive. But I've always been curious about something. Thrive does so much stuff. I go to your website, you have like all this different stuff that you do. How do you wrap your mind around your go to market and actually marketing Thrive? Cause that's gotta be hard to tell your story.
- [01:31]
Tammy Canizzaro
Yeah, it's true. I mean, I look at it that we tried to provide, I call it utility for our customers. And so, you know, how can we help small business owners with their marketing plans and their marketing strategy, getting found online and then engaging customers and getting repeat business. And so, so we produce lots of content around top ways to market your business, how you get found online, building your brand. And the idea is that that kind of draws people in to kind of listen to your. To you and what you have to say. And then we provide a methodology for growth for small business and then we provide the technology to support it. But even if you decide you're not a customer and you're not in the market for technology, I think you can get a lot of value out of the relationship with Thrive.
- [02:19]
Jay Swedelson
Yeah. And I think it's pretty cool what you all do. And I think this is for anybody out there that has lots of different lines of services. I think the top of the funnel game is so, so important. Putting out so much thought leadership so that people can find what they need and they can find you. So I like how you guys go to market. Speaking of go to market these days, if you haven't heard, there's this thing called AI, it's catching on a little bit. And in general for small business owners, because that's kind of your core market. Are small business owners, are they shying away from AI? Are they using it more? I feel like you all can take the temperature on small businesses and AI use.
- [02:55]
Tammy Canizzaro
Yeah. And I, I would say we did a survey, we just recently did a survey and it turns out that over 50% of small business owners are starting to use AI. But I would say we get the question a lot. How, you know, people are used to Google, you're kind of used to SEO, right? Getting found online. And we get ask the question a lot, you know, how do I get found in AI? And it's actually good that the way you get found in AI is actually the same way that you get found in traditional Google advertising online. All the same best practices, make sure you have a great online listing, make sure you're actively updating and changing and promoting your listing, make sure you have a good website, you know, make sure you're consistent with your keyword strategy. So all those same best practices that kind of got you found online and on the web as a small business owner and stand out above your peers, it's actually those same best practices. The only thing I'll say is user generated content. So community forums, Reddit groups, any, any sort of like user based customer feedback becomes even more important for you to focus on in the world of AI.
- [04:08]
Jay Swedelson
That's super interesting. You know what I just saw, which I've been messing around with, not to go off script, but. Oh well, this is that you can now go on, for example, ChatGPT and you could ask ChatGPT what is the most upvoted Reddit comment or post in the last six months on whatever topic. And it will actually show you which subreddit comment, whatever is the most upvoted. So to your point, digging into these communities and making sure that you're present there as a small business, it's kind of like it's table stakes now, right? I mean, is that like what we have to focus on?
- [04:42]
Tammy Canizzaro
It is. It absolutely is, yes. And Reddit's come up with their Own search engine, right? Reddit answers. And I think folks, I do think folks have gotten a little jaded over Google because it's so much advertising and it's hard to know what's real and what's not real. And so surfacing this user generated content from real people about real products as opposed to advertisers I think is, you know, is becoming even more important in this, you know, in this next generation of the Internet.
- [05:15]
Jay Swedelson
Okay, so along those lines, the ultimate user generated content is reviews, right? Is, is getting the reviews, make sure you have good reviews, all that stuff. How do, how can small businesses who reviews are their lifeblood use AI to kind of maximize reviews or manage reviews or what should I know Thrive can help you do that, but beyond just Thrive helping you do that, how can anybody do that?
- [05:39]
Tammy Canizzaro
Yeah, it really helps with any sort of social, either social advocacy or managing your customer reviews. You can use a tool. So you can use a kind of a, you know, a bot response that generates an immediate response because folks don't have time and they expect an immediate answer. Right? That's kind of consumer behavior these days. And so with AI, you can, you can have it generate automated responses so your customers get respons responded to right away. The other thing that people really don't like, if you're, if you're, and I'm sure you know this as a consumer, right? If you, if you don't get a response, whether it's a, whether it's a negative review or a positive review, folks expect an immediate response. And so AI can kind of help to quickly generate that immediate response to make sure that you're, you know, you're responding those reviews and you're active online.
- [06:31]
Jay Swedelson
So is that like what small business owners are doing? They're taking like, okay, let's say they get negative reviews or whatever and they're just copying pasting. So okay, we got this negative review. How should I write back to this thing? Is it that simple?
- [06:41]
Tammy Canizzaro
It really is that simple. And you know that what's great about AI is it takes best practices from all the best brands in the world, right? You're a, you're a small business owner. You don't have a department to handle this right? You're handling it on your own. And so it can really pull in all the best practices for how you handle negative reviews and give you that expertise at your fingertips.
- [07:02]
Jay Swedelson
So is that where it stops for a small business? When I say a small business, I always think of like somebody out there that owns like an h Vac company that's got some sales folks out there or technicians out there losing their minds. They could barely get their invoicing done. They can't answer their phones, they can't look at reviews. When I say small business, it's always what's in my mind. And then you then position like, okay, now you should use AI and they're like, really? I don't have time for that. Like, how else besides for reviews is that H Vac person that's owning that business? Are they really using AI because they seem like they're overwhelmed?
- [07:36]
Tammy Canizzaro
Well, one of the best ways that customers can drive more initial profits is by repeat revenue from your current customer base, right? And to that point, small business owners are super busy. So it's hard to remember to stay in front of your customers and wish them a happy birthday and see send out a back to school campaign, right? But with AI literally at the click of a button, you can really think through, okay, you know, for a year, for my customer base, let's look at the year. I want to wish them a happy birthday. During the off season, I want to, you know, run a discount so I can kind of help to even out my sales. I want to remind them when their service is due the next year, you know, and, and all you have to kind of do is think about your customer base and how it would be best to sell into. And AI can really take care of the rest. It'll write the, it'll generate a recommended offer and then you can add automation. So rather than you having to worry about each customer and staying, you know, staying in touch with them, keeping keeping top of mind, you're able to automate all that and use AI to really make it pretty easy to generate, you know, lots more repeat business for your, for, you know, through your current customer base.
- [08:51]
Jay Swedelson
I love all that. And I think for, for small businesses in particular, there's a mindset shift that based on the data that you shared that over 50% are now using it is finally starting to happen. I feel like early on small businesses were like, I remember back in the day when Amazon first started and everyone's like, I'm not giving my credit card to Amazon. You crazy? They'll steal my identity. And then Obviously now there's 200 million plus Amazon prime, you know, customers, whatever. I feel like for small business owners, it's the same thing with AI that originally was like, I don't care about those robots are doing. And now everyone's like, this is a game changer. Like, have you felt that sentiment shift from small business owners. They finally, like, truly on board, or is there still that reluctance? Like, I'm old school, I don't need to use that stuff?
- [09:37]
Tammy Canizzaro
I think there's a reluctance. And I also think, I think people are dipping their toe in the water, but, you know, really understanding how to use it across their business to drive and grow their business. I think we're all on a learning curve. And, you know, what I suggest is, you know, really get in there and try it because there's really almost nothing you can do. So anything you're going to do manually, I would stop and say, could I do this? To me, whether it's writing an email, it's writing an invoice, it's, you know, asking for repeat business, it's, you know, your whole billing process, anything that you do manually today can truly be automated and is repeatable. And I think one of the best things that, you know, it can help with our small business owners is, you know, working 247 and kind of never getting a break. And it really can help you to kind of automate and take some of that busy work and give you some time back in your day, you know.
- [10:33]
Jay Swedelson
And to that point, if I did own that H Vac company and I was nervous about not understanding AI, I would go to any of the AI platforms, the free versions, Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, doesn't matter. And I'd say, listen, this is the business. I own this H Vac company, whatever. How can I be automating my company using this platform? And you, it will tell you, it will tell you to do these five things like you don't need to know how to do it. It will actually tell you. And I think that's the part that people get intimidated by. But you, you can't be intimidated. It's not going anywhere, right? I mean, this is it.
- [11:03]
Tammy Canizzaro
I agree, I agree. I also think there's this notion that people feel like they're cheating, right? Well, is AI, you know, is it real? Am I cheating if I use AI? And I think, I think you sort of just have to get over it, right? This is the world that we're living in. And if you're, if you're not using AI, you're. You're missing out on a competitive advantage.
- [11:22]
Jay Swedelson
Well, and speaking about competitive advantage, the thing that I love doing the most, and if I did own that H Vac company, what I would do is, you know, you could literally go to any AI platform and say, these are three of my competitors. I'm in San Francisco and these are three other H VAC companies. Here are their URLs. Can you analyze their pricing, their marketing, their offers? Tell me what they're doing and tell me what I'm not doing and boom. And it will tell you in three seconds.
- [11:46]
Tammy Canizzaro
Fabulous. And even give you your positioning. Right. Here are my three competitors. How can I stand out against these three competitors? What could I do differently or better? And it'll help to give you, you know, potentially a competitive advantage from how you're positioning or pricing.
- [12:02]
Jay Swedelson
I love it. And so I feel like you have this kind of crystal ball that actually is clear. You could see the future. What is the, what is the next year? 2 years, 5 years, 10 years? How is it going to play out for small businesses and AI? I mean, do you see like, for example, on your platform, you all have a lot of AI stuff going on in there? Are you add even more functionality that's going to become commonplace for small businesses to use?
- [12:28]
Tammy Canizzaro
Yes, absolutely. And this, this world of kind of bots, little AI helper bots, right, that are kind of helping you. And you know, they say that this generation of AI is. You're asking the kind of the next generation is. You're going to be prompted, you know, and AI is almost going to kind of take the lead. And I think that'll be really helpful as small business owners, you know, kind of, kind of helping to. To with the learning curve on, on how to use and how to prompt. Because this, you know, AI prompting is a, it's a bit of an art and a science on itself.
- [13:00]
Jay Swedelson
You know, it's so funny you say that. What I've come to realize is I'm very bad at prompting. So what I always now do, which works so well, is I go to AI with whatever I'm trying to do. I say, what is the prompt I should ask you to get this thing? And they'll say, actually, here's the prompt. So it's like, um, I almost, I almost don't even know if you need to be great at prompting anymore. As long as you just ask it what is a great prompt? Which is so ridiculous. The whole thing is ridiculous.
- [13:23]
Tammy Canizzaro
It is pretty wild.
- [13:25]
Jay Swedelson
Yeah. I want to know something for in your real life now, you're not, you know, CMO of Thrive, you're whatever. Maybe you're planning a trip, maybe you're thinking about what, what's for dinner tonight, I don't know, your weekend plans. How does Tammy use AI in her life?
- [13:42]
Tammy Canizzaro
So I've started I'm actually planning a wedding and I've started planning the. I'm overwhelmed by the prospect of this. And so I've just started, you know, asking, asking chat. Gbt, you know, where should I get married? Who should I marry? No.
- [13:56]
Jay Swedelson
Oh, that, that's loaded, right?
- [13:58]
Tammy Canizzaro
You know, to try. I can't. I can't. So, you know, to try to figure out, you know, all, all the, you know, all the avenues because you could put lots of parameters. Here's how much I want to spend, here's what I'd like it to feel like, you know, and it's much more advanced than Google in terms of sort of understanding what you're looking for and being able to promote, promote choices.
- [14:19]
Jay Swedelson
Wait, now, now I'm like, okay, would you upload like your, who you're inviting? Like this person has to talk to this person. Two years. This is my aunt, she's very annoying. Like, and say, where should they all be seated? There's 10 people at a table. Go.
- [14:32]
Tammy Canizzaro
Oh, I love that. That's a great idea.
- [14:36]
Jay Swedelson
You're like, I'm gonna do that. That's amazing.
- [14:39]
Tammy Canizzaro
There's no end to it, right? It can write the speech is, you know.
- [14:42]
Jay Swedelson
Yeah. Oh, definitely for speeches. That's a no brainer.
- [14:47]
Tammy Canizzaro
Notes. Think about it. Yes.
- [14:49]
Jay Swedelson
I love it. I love it. All right. The other big thing that we have to talk about is that Thrive has this incredible in person event coming up and I'm gonna be there. I don't know if that's, that's a good or a bad thing for everybody listening, but I'm gonna give everyone this crazy discount code. But Tammy, can you tell us a little bit about GROW 2025 and what's going to be happening October 16th and 17th in Arizona?
- [15:12]
Tammy Canizzaro
Well, we're super excited about Grow and what we really want is to introduce this, you know, growth method, right? Three steps to growth. You know, you need to get found online, you need to turn leads into new customers and you need to nurture your customers to drive great repeat business. And that's kind of going to be the storyline. We have Barbara Corcoran of Shark Tank Shark and Fame will be there, you know, and she'll, she'll give her sage, you know, some sage advice to small business owners. We also have David Heath who's the co founder of bombas. We have our very own Jay Swedelson who will be giving best practices what to do and not to do in person. And I attended your session at Inbound last year and it was, it was one of the best sessions. So we're super excited to have you speaking as well. And it's, I really think it's going to be a fantastic event with great content. We also have speakers from Google and Yelp, you know, really talking about building a great digital foundation for your business. And the idea is you'll come out of this two day event really position to take your small business above your peer competitive set within your local industry.
- [16:28]
Jay Swedelson
All right, well, before Tammy came on, I twisted her arm, I said, I need an amazing discount code for our listeners for GROW. And she said, okay, fine. And so 25% off to attend GROW. This is amazing. It's gonna be in the show notes. You're gonna put the code in is J podcast one word and I'm gonna be there. And if you're gonna be in Arizona October 16th or 17th and you care about your small business, there's not gonna be a better event on the planet to get you fired up for what's to come in 2026. So I'm so excited. I appreciate you including me. And by the way, Tammy's gonna be there. So that's the number one incentive to go to this thing. But it's going to be awesome. And Tammy, thanks for being here. This was fun.
- [17:06]
Tammy Canizzaro
Thank you, Jay. We're excited to see you in October.
- [17:09]
Jay Swedelson
All right, see everybody at Grow. You did it. You made it to the end. Nice. But the party's not over. Subscribe to make sure you get the latest episode each week for more actionable tips and a little chaos from today's top marketer. And hook us up with a five star review if this wasn't the worst podcast of all time. Lastly, if you want access to the best virtual marketing events that are also 100% free, visit guruevents.com so you can hear from the world's top marketers like Daymond John, Martha Stewart, and me. GuruEvents.com check it out.