May 12, 2025 • 10 mins
AI might sound like something only big companies use, but it’s becoming a powerful (and surprisingly simple) tool for small business owners too. In this episode, I’m sharing nine unexpected ways you can use AI to make your daily workload lighter and more manageable, without needing to be a tech expert or change everything about how you work.
Think of this episode as your starting point for using AI in real, everyday tasks you probably didn’t even know it could help with. If you’ve been curious about AI but unsure where to begin, this conversation will show you that it’s more accessible and useful, than you might think.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Janice Hostager (00:04):
I'm Janice Hostager.
After three decades in themarketing business and many
years of being an entrepreneur,I've learned a thing or two
about marketing.
Join me as we talk aboutmarketing, small business and
life in between.
Welcome to My Weekly Marketing,hey, hey, and welcome to
(00:29):
another episode of my WeeklyMarketing.
I am Janice Hostager, yourmarketing bestie and fractional
CMO, here to simplify the chaosthat is small business life.
So today we're going to talkabout something you might be
avoiding, or maybe not.
Maybe you've embraced it, andthat is AI.
But don't worry, we're nottalking about becoming a tech
(00:51):
guru or writing in code.
I'm just going to walk youthrough nine surprising ways
that you can start using AIright now to work smarter, not
harder, especially if you'rerunning a one-woman show or
feeling stretched thin thesedays, and if you feel like you
could use a little help withyour AI adventures, I have a
free list of Chat GPT promptsthat'll help you get the most
(01:14):
out of using that platform orother AI platforms.
So stay tuned and I'll tell youhow to get it at the end of the
episode.
So first up, let's bust somemyths.
Here's the thing AI doesn'thave to be overwhelming or
expensive or creepy, which Iknow it kind of can be sometimes
.
I firmly believe that AI willnever completely replace the
(01:37):
human voice.
Only you can add stories andreal world experiences that
you've encountered.
You're not replacing yourself.
You're just outsourcing to aninvisible intern who works fast,
doesn't take bathroom breaksand doesn't skip a deadline.
This is not about doing less.
It's about doing what only youcan do and handing off the rest.
(01:58):
So here we go.
Here are nine ways that AI canhelp you right now.
So here we go.
Here are nine ways that AI canhelp you right now.
Ai can turn your voice intocontent.
Tools like Otter AI or Descriptwill transcribe your thoughts
into editable text, which isperfect for podcasting,
brainstorming, writing blogposts while you're folding
(02:19):
laundry or while you're goingfor a walk.
You just need to talk and AIwill write.
When I lived in Wisconsin and Ihad to take twice weekly drives
back and forth to Minnesota tohelp care for a sick parent, I
would write full blog posts byvoice using Otter while I drove.
It worked then and is so muchbetter now.
(02:41):
If you're crunched for time or,like me, just can't stand
wasting time in a car I know I'ma little type A this is a super
helpful thing.
Number two, AI can summarizelong content into short nuggets
of social media goodness.
That blog post you just wrote?
AI can turn it into a LinkedInpost, Instagram caption, emails
(03:04):
and scripts.
For years, we've been tellingclients to repurpose content.
AI makes that so simple.
Start with your long-formcontent and let AI create the
rest.
It's the ultimate repurposingmachine.
You can try out ChatGPT, Jasperor Copyai and see which one you
like the best.
(03:26):
Number three, AI can auto-tagand sort emails.
If your inbox is the digitalequivalent of your junk drawer,
hand raised here, AI can help.
Although many experts recommendturning your inbox over to a
virtual assistant, my experiencedoing that was a little
nerve-wracking, so I was gladwhen AI came forward to do that
(03:47):
task.
Tools like Superhuman, AppleIntelligence or Gmail Smart
Labels can prioritize messages,summarize emails and even
suggest replies based on yourwriting style.
Cool, right?
I've been using AppleIntelligence for a bit to
categorize email and although itworks, I feel like I always
(04:08):
need to check the various tabsto make sure nothing is misfiled
.
But once I decide if I cantrust it, I think it will be a
game changer for me.
Number four, AI can spot trendsthat you can't readily see, AI
can analyze your customerbehavior, website analytics or
sales data and pull out insightslike what time of day people
(04:31):
buy, what products are commonlypurchased together.
It can alert you to anomaliesin web traffic or on certain
pages of your site, and you canset up custom insights based on
your own particular business andneeds.
Most of us, me included, don'tlook at our analytics nearly
enough, because it's just abunch of charts and numbers.
(04:52):
It doesn't mean anything unlessyou can interpret the data.
That's what AI can do for you.
That will be a game changer foryour business.
If you use Google Analytics,you'll have to turn on Analytics
Insights for it to function.
Just Google Analytics Insights,or visit my show notes for the
how-to link.
Similar functions are alsoavailable with Shopify Magic and
(05:15):
Notion AI, but I haven't triedthose out, so if you do, let me
know how they work.
Number five, AI can write emails.
Confession time.
I have used ChatGPT for emailsfor months.
AI can help you generatesubject lines, personalize the
follow-ups or write a launchsequence so much faster than you
(05:36):
can do it yourself.
However and this is a bighowever I always just use it as
a starting point.
People will always connect withyour personal stories and
real-life examples better thanAI can, but AI does make the
process much faster and mucheasier.
Here's a tip for ChatGPT users.
(05:57):
If you go into your settingsand click customize, you can
give it the backstory about you,your ideal customer, your brand
voice and other things aboutyour business, so it will sound
more like you and understandyour business for its replies.
That way, you don't have togive it new information every
time you ask it a question.
That makes working with it somuch easier and it'll be a
(06:19):
definite game changer if youhaven't done that already.
Number six, AI can write codefor your website.
If you go to my website, you'llsee that I have added three new
calculators that will help youdetermine your marketing budget,
customer acquisition costs andlifetime customer value.
These are important numbers inany business, for sure.
(06:42):
So what I did to create thoseis that I typed what I wanted
the calculator to do.
Then I told ChatGPT that Iwanted to create it in HTML for
my WordPress site and, presto,it came up with code, although I
had to do a little tweaking,and I just dropped the code
right into my webpage, wrotesome instructions and published
(07:03):
it.
I had each of those done inless than 30 minutes.
Cool, right?
Number seven, AI can design likea pro, even if you can't draw a
stick figure.
Back when I had a design agency, I would have to work four
hours in Photoshop to removethings from client photos like
hair from eyes or a randomperson from a brand shot.
(07:26):
AI has made it possible to dothat with the click of a mouse.
And it's not just in Photoshop.
AI is inside Canva and AdobeExpress too, and it can remove
backgrounds, resize fordifferent platforms, remove
unwanted parts of a design.
It can even design an imagethat you want for a blog post,
your website or for other uses.
(07:47):
It can also suggest layouts andfont pairings.
Pretty cool, right?
Wish I would have had thatyears ago when I had my agency.
All right, number eight.
AI can answer FAQsautomatically without being
glued to your DMs.
So use AI-powered chat box likeManyChat or Intercom to answer
common questions on social media.
(08:08):
It can guide, leads to youroffers or even schedule
discovery calls.
This is a game changer on appslike Instagram, because you can
have it send messagesautomatically to their DMs
without lifting a finger.
I haven't really scratched thesurface yet with tools like
ManyChat, but I have used it alittle and I know it has amazing
(08:28):
potential, so I'm reallyexcited about it.
I hope you are too.
And last number nine, AI canethically spy on your market.
Use AI tools like SparkToro orChatGPT to research your
audience.
You can find out what peopleare asking on Reddit.
What hashtags are your idealcustomers using?
What are competitors doing ornot doing that you could do
(08:52):
better.
This information is golden formessaging, positioning and
social media content.
So, wondering where to start Ifyou're feeling a little like
whoa, that's a lot ofinformation.
I'm right there with you.
So here's a three-step actionplan.
Number one, pick one task youhate doing each week.
Number two, Google the words AItool for that task.
(09:17):
And number three, test it out.
on one thing.
Don't go to a full robot armyjust yet.
Just dip a toe into the AI lakeand see if it helps you out.
Remember you don't need toautomate everything, but if AI
can give you back two to threehours a week, wouldn't you say
that's a gift?
You can use it to create orconnect or even take a nap.
(09:40):
Right, it's all time that wecan get back, and that's a rare
thing in our world right now.
All right, friends, that's awrap on your not so scary guide
to AI.
If you found this helpful, sendit to your small business
bestie, who's drowning in adminwork and can use a techie
sidekick.
And if you want more help withAI, download my free ChatGPT
(10:02):
Starter Kit, which literally hasmore than 100 ChatGPT prompts
that will make your marketing somuch easier.
You can find that atjanicehostagercom.
Forward slash chat GPT, and youcan find the links to all the
resources and anything I talkedabout in today's episode in my
show notes atmyweeklymarketingcom.
Forward slash 107.
(10:23):
As always, thanks so much forjoining me today.
I'll see you next time.
Bye for now.
I'm Janice Hostager.
After three decades in themarketing business and many
years of being an entrepreneur,I've learned a thing or two
about marketing.
Join me as we talk aboutmarketing, small business and
life in between.
Welcome to My Weekly Marketing,hey, hey, and welcome to
(00:29):
another episode of my WeeklyMarketing.
I am Janice Hostager, yourmarketing bestie and fractional
CMO, here to simplify the chaosthat is small business life.
So today we're going to talkabout something you might be
avoiding, or maybe not.
Maybe you've embraced it, andthat is AI.
But don't worry, we're nottalking about becoming a tech
(00:51):
guru or writing in code.
I'm just going to walk youthrough nine surprising ways
that you can start using AIright now to work smarter, not
harder, especially if you'rerunning a one-woman show or
feeling stretched thin thesedays, and if you feel like you
could use a little help withyour AI adventures, I have a
free list of Chat GPT promptsthat'll help you get the most
(01:14):
out of using that platform orother AI platforms.
So stay tuned and I'll tell youhow to get it at the end of the
episode.
So first up, let's bust somemyths.
Here's the thing AI doesn'thave to be overwhelming or
expensive or creepy, which Iknow it kind of can be sometimes
.
I firmly believe that AI willnever completely replace the
(01:37):
human voice.
Only you can add stories andreal world experiences that
you've encountered.
You're not replacing yourself.
You're just outsourcing to aninvisible intern who works fast,
doesn't take bathroom breaksand doesn't skip a deadline.
This is not about doing less.
It's about doing what only youcan do and handing off the rest.
(01:58):
So here we go.
Here are nine ways that AI canhelp you right now.
So here we go.
Here are nine ways that AI canhelp you right now.
Ai can turn your voice intocontent.
Tools like Otter AI or Descriptwill transcribe your thoughts
into editable text, which isperfect for podcasting,
brainstorming, writing blogposts while you're folding
(02:19):
laundry or while you're goingfor a walk.
You just need to talk and AIwill write.
When I lived in Wisconsin and Ihad to take twice weekly drives
back and forth to Minnesota tohelp care for a sick parent, I
would write full blog posts byvoice using Otter while I drove.
It worked then and is so muchbetter now.
(02:41):
If you're crunched for time or,like me, just can't stand
wasting time in a car I know I'ma little type A this is a super
helpful thing.
Number two, AI can summarizelong content into short nuggets
of social media goodness.
That blog post you just wrote?
AI can turn it into a LinkedInpost, Instagram caption, emails
(03:04):
and scripts.
For years, we've been tellingclients to repurpose content.
AI makes that so simple.
Start with your long-formcontent and let AI create the
rest.
It's the ultimate repurposingmachine.
You can try out ChatGPT, Jasperor Copyai and see which one you
like the best.
(03:26):
Number three, AI can auto-tagand sort emails.
If your inbox is the digitalequivalent of your junk drawer,
hand raised here, AI can help.
Although many experts recommendturning your inbox over to a
virtual assistant, my experiencedoing that was a little
nerve-wracking, so I was gladwhen AI came forward to do that
(03:47):
task.
Tools like Superhuman, AppleIntelligence or Gmail Smart
Labels can prioritize messages,summarize emails and even
suggest replies based on yourwriting style.
Cool, right?
I've been using AppleIntelligence for a bit to
categorize email and although itworks, I feel like I always
(04:08):
need to check the various tabsto make sure nothing is misfiled
.
But once I decide if I cantrust it, I think it will be a
game changer for me.
Number four, AI can spot trendsthat you can't readily see, AI
can analyze your customerbehavior, website analytics or
sales data and pull out insightslike what time of day people
(04:31):
buy, what products are commonlypurchased together.
It can alert you to anomaliesin web traffic or on certain
pages of your site, and you canset up custom insights based on
your own particular business andneeds.
Most of us, me included, don'tlook at our analytics nearly
enough, because it's just abunch of charts and numbers.
(04:52):
It doesn't mean anything unlessyou can interpret the data.
That's what AI can do for you.
That will be a game changer foryour business.
If you use Google Analytics,you'll have to turn on Analytics
Insights for it to function.
Just Google Analytics Insights,or visit my show notes for the
how-to link.
Similar functions are alsoavailable with Shopify Magic and
(05:15):
Notion AI, but I haven't triedthose out, so if you do, let me
know how they work.
Number five, AI can write emails.
Confession time.
I have used ChatGPT for emailsfor months.
AI can help you generatesubject lines, personalize the
follow-ups or write a launchsequence so much faster than you
(05:36):
can do it yourself.
However and this is a bighowever I always just use it as
a starting point.
People will always connect withyour personal stories and
real-life examples better thanAI can, but AI does make the
process much faster and mucheasier.
Here's a tip for ChatGPT users.
(05:57):
If you go into your settingsand click customize, you can
give it the backstory about you,your ideal customer, your brand
voice and other things aboutyour business, so it will sound
more like you and understandyour business for its replies.
That way, you don't have togive it new information every
time you ask it a question.
That makes working with it somuch easier and it'll be a
(06:19):
definite game changer if youhaven't done that already.
Number six, AI can write codefor your website.
If you go to my website, you'llsee that I have added three new
calculators that will help youdetermine your marketing budget,
customer acquisition costs andlifetime customer value.
These are important numbers inany business, for sure.
(06:42):
So what I did to create thoseis that I typed what I wanted
the calculator to do.
Then I told ChatGPT that Iwanted to create it in HTML for
my WordPress site and, presto,it came up with code, although I
had to do a little tweaking,and I just dropped the code
right into my webpage, wrotesome instructions and published
(07:03):
it.
I had each of those done inless than 30 minutes.
Cool, right?
Number seven, AI can design likea pro, even if you can't draw a
stick figure.
Back when I had a design agency, I would have to work four
hours in Photoshop to removethings from client photos like
hair from eyes or a randomperson from a brand shot.
(07:26):
AI has made it possible to dothat with the click of a mouse.
And it's not just in Photoshop.
AI is inside Canva and AdobeExpress too, and it can remove
backgrounds, resize fordifferent platforms, remove
unwanted parts of a design.
It can even design an imagethat you want for a blog post,
your website or for other uses.
(07:47):
It can also suggest layouts andfont pairings.
Pretty cool, right?
Wish I would have had thatyears ago when I had my agency.
All right, number eight.
AI can answer FAQsautomatically without being
glued to your DMs.
So use AI-powered chat box likeManyChat or Intercom to answer
common questions on social media.
(08:08):
It can guide, leads to youroffers or even schedule
discovery calls.
This is a game changer on appslike Instagram, because you can
have it send messagesautomatically to their DMs
without lifting a finger.
I haven't really scratched thesurface yet with tools like
ManyChat, but I have used it alittle and I know it has amazing
(08:28):
potential, so I'm reallyexcited about it.
I hope you are too.
And last number nine, AI canethically spy on your market.
Use AI tools like SparkToro orChatGPT to research your
audience.
You can find out what peopleare asking on Reddit.
What hashtags are your idealcustomers using?
What are competitors doing ornot doing that you could do
(08:52):
better.
This information is golden formessaging, positioning and
social media content.
So, wondering where to start Ifyou're feeling a little like
whoa, that's a lot ofinformation.
I'm right there with you.
So here's a three-step actionplan.
Number one, pick one task youhate doing each week.
Number two, Google the words AItool for that task.
(09:17):
And number three, test it out.
on one thing.
Don't go to a full robot armyjust yet.
Just dip a toe into the AI lakeand see if it helps you out.
Remember you don't need toautomate everything, but if AI
can give you back two to threehours a week, wouldn't you say
that's a gift?
You can use it to create orconnect or even take a nap.
(09:40):
Right, it's all time that wecan get back, and that's a rare
thing in our world right now.
All right, friends, that's awrap on your not so scary guide
to AI.
If you found this helpful, sendit to your small business
bestie, who's drowning in adminwork and can use a techie
sidekick.
And if you want more help withAI, download my free ChatGPT
(10:02):
Starter Kit, which literally hasmore than 100 ChatGPT prompts
that will make your marketing somuch easier.
You can find that atjanicehostagercom.
Forward slash chat GPT, and youcan find the links to all the
resources and anything I talkedabout in today's episode in my
show notes atmyweeklymarketingcom.
Forward slash 107.
(10:23):
As always, thanks so much forjoining me today.
I'll see you next time.
Bye for now.
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