Small Biz AI Marketing

Dan MacInnis
  • 4.9 (8)
  • Marketing
  • Semi-weekly Series

Small Biz AI Marketing is the podcast for Australian small business owners who want AI to do real marketing work, not just make noise. Hosted by Dan MacInnis, a strategic marketer with 25 years and 500+ small businesses behind her, each episode takes one job you are already doing (emails, blogs, quotes, follow ups, social, your CRM) and shows what happens when AI takes it on. Real accounts, real results, and the bits that went wrong. No tool hype, no jargon. Every episode ends with one prompt or template you can use the same day, free at smallbizpromptshop.com.au. If you run a trade, a clinic, a firm or a shop and you have wondered whether AI is worth your time, this is where you find out. Five to ten minutes, new episodes on Wednesdays. From Small Biz Prompt Shop.

  1. Episode 5

    The knowledge base that stops you pasting the same documents into every chat

    How many times have you pasted your price list, your service page or the same proposal into a chat window? If it is more than twice, you need a knowledge base. In this episode Dan walks through building a filing cabinet for your business that Claude or ChatGPT can open on its own: why it beats memory, why Notion is her pick for one repository, how to get the AI to design the scaffolding before you upload anything, why Markdown files cost fewer tokens, and the two things worth filing first, a good and a bad proposal side by side, and your style guide. Then a look at the design system inside paid Claude that applies your fonts, colours and logo to every output without re-uploading them.Takeaway: The Knowledge Base Starter one-pager, free at smallbizpromptshop.com.au/podcast. All the training so far is free in video at smallbizpromptshop.com.au/free-ai-training-for-smb. What this episode covers (show notes bullets)The knowledge base is the filing cabinet for your business: sales, marketing, admin, HR, as deep as you want to go, and Claude or ChatGPT pulls from it whenever it works for youDan uses Notion. It handles databases, connects natively to Claude and ChatGPT, and is not expensive. Dropbox, Drive or Slack can work, but keep it all in one repositoryThe test: how many times have you pasted the same document into the window? More than twice and you need thisMemory is what it remembers about you. The knowledge base is what it looks up about your business. It beats memory for anything you would otherwise keep in your drive or SharePointAsk the AI to build the scaffolding first, then upload into it. Do not start uploading with no structureTokens are what a task costs. Convert documents to Markdown (.md) before uploading so the AI processes them with fewer tokensFile a good proposal and a poor one side by side, then point the AI at both when it redrafts. File monthly sales and marketing reports and set up a task to analyse the last four monthsYour style guide belongs in the knowledge base: fonts, colours, logo, tone of voice, value proposition. Then build a design system in paid Claude from your website URL plus a proposal and an ad, and apply it as a skill to every outputResources mentionedNotion, https://www.notion.comClaude, https://claude.ai (the design system feature sits in the paid plans)Markdown file format, https://www.markdownguide.org/getting-started/Free video training, https://www.smallbizpromptshop.com.au/free-ai-training-for-smbThe Knowledge Base Starter one-pagerRate the show on Apple Podcasts, https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/id322885050?action=write-reviewListen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2f4LPnaozVvVZ61SSIT1zs, Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/id322885050, or Podomatic

  2. Episode 6

    Connect it: stop being the courier between your inbox and your AI

    Until your AI is connected to your tools, you are the courier. You carry the email in, you do the draft, you paste the calendar into the chat. This episode is about connecting Claude or ChatGPT to your email, calendar and drive, so you move out of the middle.Dan covers which two connections to make first (the email you send from and the calendar you live in), what they unlock for a service business (enquiries, quotes, follow-ups, a morning triage of the three things to answer first, meeting prep the night before), why your drive is the next one, and the three safety habits: read the permission level before you switch anything on, keep banking and accounting off the list, and ask for a draft before anything sends, deletes or books.Takeaway: The Connection Checklist, a free one-page guide to which connections, in what order, and what to check before you turn each one on.Next episode: your first repeat task.Free training library: smallbizpromptshop.com.au/free-ai-training-for-smbShow notes for the podcast pageWhat this episode coversUntil your AI is connected to your tools, you are the courier: you carry the email in, do the draft and paste the calendar into the chat. Connecting moves you out of the middle.Where to start: in Claude go to Settings, then Connectors. There is a lot in there. The two that matter first are the email you send from (Gmail or Outlook) and wherever your calendar lives.Email and calendar alone change your follow-up, especially in a service business where enquiries, quotes and follow-ups are the whole game. Once connected you can ask "what did the client say about this", "draft the reply", or run a morning triage: what are the first three things I need to respond to today.Calendar connected: meeting prep the night before, invites triggered when you are emailing that person, and meeting notes if you record through Zoom or Teams.Then connect your drive, whether that is Google Drive, Dropbox or SharePoint. It becomes another knowledge base the AI can draw on to understand where information is.Before you connect anything, read what the connection lets the AI do. Permission levels differ: always allow, ask before it acts, or approve manually. Check it before you switch it on.Takeaway: The Connection Checklist, a free one-page guide to the right connections, in what order, and what to check before you switch each one on. Next episode: how to set up a repeated task, what it looks like and what it is useful for.Resources mentionedThe Connection Checklist (one-page PDF)Claude connectors: claude.ai/settings/connectors (Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive; Outlook and calendar through the Microsoft 365 connector). Source: support.claude.com/en/articles/10166901-use-google-workspace-connectorsFree training library: https://www.smallbizpromptshop.com.au/free-ai-training-for-smbEpisode 6 transcript (Word doc):

  3. Episode 7

    Your Monday dashboard

    Six episodes of set-up: memory, skills, connections, a filing cabinet. Now the payoff. Every Monday a single scheduled task reads Dan's inbox, her calendar, what went out on social and what is due from the knowledge base, and hands her one report: her priorities, and why. Not software. A report that appears in your AI. In this episode Dan walks through what her Monday dashboard reads, what it writes, why the point is fixing the highest-value thing first, and the tell that an admin item should become its own scheduled task. She also covers the part most people miss: asking the AI to spar with you on the priorities, not just list them. Takeaway: The Monday Dashboard Prompt, one page with the task text and an example dashboard, free. All the training so far is free in video at smallbizpromptshop.com.au/free-ai-training-for-smb. What this episode covers Once memory, skills, connections and the knowledge base are in place, the next step is a dashboard: your priorities, in one report, every MondayA dashboard is a report, not software. It pops up in your AI and gives you guidanceIt uses everything built so far (memory, skills, the filing cabinet, the connections) and all it waits on is a prompt, so schedule the promptDan's reads Gmail, her calendar, what went out on social and what is due from a reporting perspective in the knowledge base, then prioritises what matters and whyStart small: a few items, a recap of what is due in the next few days. Build connections between things as you learn to think strategically about what the AI can doYours might be schedule, sales or customer service. Whatever is important to youAdd a narrative: ask Claude or ChatGPT to spar with you on how you decide what is most importantFix the highest-value things first. Admin that comes up time and again is the signal to schedule a task for itAction this week: set it up with Gmail and your calendar only. Two sections. Do not overcomplicate itResources mentioned The Monday Dashboard Prompt, one-pager with the task text and an example dashboardEp 6 Connect it (Gmail and calendar must be connected first), https://www.smallbizpromptshop.com.au/podcastEp 5 Point it at your filing cabinet (the reports it reads live in the knowledge base)Free video training, https://www.smallbizpromptshop.com.au/free-ai-training-for-smbRate the show on Apple Podcasts, https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/id322885050?action=write-reviewListen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2f4LPnaozVvVZ61SSIT1zs, Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/id322885050, or Podomatic  Next episode: Which one for which job. ChatGPT or Claude, by marketing task, and the card Dan uses to decide.

  4. Episode 8

    Which one for which job. ChatGPT or Claude?

    "Which is better, ChatGPT or Claude?" is the question Dan gets most, and it is the wrong one. Most small business owners should run both. The useful question is which one you hand a particular job to, and the answer is not about features. It is about where your context lives. After seven episodes of set-up, one tool knows your business: memory, skills, filing cabinet, connections, Monday dashboard. That tool gets every job that needs to know you. The other gets the jobs where a blank page is fine. Dan walks her own week job by job, says which tool she uses for each and why, and is clear that the rule is "one tool holds the context", not "use Claude". Recorded September 2026, and dated on purpose, because both tools change every month. Takeaway: The Job-to-Tool Card, ten marketing jobs and which tool Dan hands each to. All the training so far is free in video at smallbizpromptshop.com.au/free-ai-training-for-smb. What this episode covers  "Which one is better?" is the wrong question. Which one you give a job to is the right oneThe rule: context wins. One tool holds your memory, skills, filing cabinet and connections, and gets every job that needs to know your businessYou do not have time to teach two tools who you are. Teach one. Use the other for what it is good at without teaching it anythingJobs that need context: anything touching the inbox, calendar or drive; anything that has to sound like you; proposals, reports, the Monday dashboard; anything you will ask for again next month; the sparringJobs that do not: photographic images for blogs and social (ChatGPT, in Dan's setup), quick blank-page questions, thinking out loud, a second opinion on a draft from the other toolOne job that goes to neither yet: numbers she signs off onThe rule is not "Claude". You could build the same system in ChatGPT. Do not split the context across two toolsDo not pay twice for the same job. If one tool does 90 percent of your week, the other's free tier is usually enoughThis is how Dan splits it in September 2026. Both tools change monthly. Check the date on the card and test it yourselfAction this week: list the last ten things you asked an AI, which tool, and whether it needed to know your business. If the context jobs are spread across two tools, that is the problem to fixResources mentioned The Job-to-Tool Card,Eps 3 to 7 (memory, skills, knowledge base, connections, Monday dashboard), https://www.smallbizpromptshop.com.au/podcastFree video training, https://www.smallbizpromptshop.com.au/free-ai-training-for-smbRate the show on Apple Podcasts, https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/id322885050?action=write-reviewListen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2f4LPnaozVvVZ61SSIT1zs, Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/id322885050, or Podomatic Next episode Ep 8 closes the set-up series.

  5. Episode 9

    Rules that keep it honest

    Once you start using AI you realise every tool is a yes machine. It is trained to be helpful and agreeable, so it tells you your plan is great, your headline is strong and your pricing makes sense. For a small business owner that is dangerous, because most of us only have ourselves to rely on and we never get the pushback.  The fix is not a clever prompt. It is a short set of rules, written once into your customisation, that make the tool argue with you every time. In this episode Dan goes through hers: respond like a senior expert in my niche, be my sparring partner and find my blind spots, be blunt and explain why, ask me the sharp questions before you run anything, check every fact and reference it, challenge everything before executing. Plus the habit that catches the rest: paste the output into a second tool and see if the answer changes. Takeaway: The Sparring Partner Rules, one page,  All the training so far is free in video at smallbizpromptshop.com.au/free-ai-training-for-smb. Every AI tool is a yes machine. It is trained to be helpful and agreeable, so it tells you your plan is greatDangerous for small business owners, because most of us only have ourselves to rely on and never get the pushbackThe fix is not a clever prompt. It is a short set of rules you write once into your customisation so every response gets argued withDan's experience over 18 months: the more you iterate with it, the better the outcomeRule 1: respond like a senior expert in my niche. Put in examples of people whose work you aspire toRule 2: be my sparring partner. Find my weak spots and blind spots. Do not default to agreeing with me. That makes it optimise for the right answer, not your approvalRule 3: be blunt. Tell me why, give me an option, explain your point of viewRule 4: before you run a prompt, ask me the sharp questions: audience, proof, sources, the outcome I want. Most weak output is missing context, not a weak toolRule 5: check the facts of every claim and reference it, so a wrong number has a checking pointRule 6: challenge everything before executing it. Catch issues early. AI is designed to agree with you, so the habit of challenging is yours to buildYou can put "do not always be positive" and "ask me for more detail if my question is thin" straight into the rulesPush back on it, and ask it to push back on youThe second-tool check: paste the output into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and see if it varies, then bring it back for another iteration

  6. Episode 10

    Will AI make my business feel less personal?

    The worry Dan hears most is not "will AI take my job". It is "will AI make my business feel like everybody else's". A US survey found two thirds of business owners fear exactly that, and a quarter said they had lost business to customers using an AI tool instead. The usual advice, use AI less or add a human touch, is not a plan. This episode is the plan: where the personal touch actually lives (the reply, the apology, the visit, the choosing moment), the four rules that keep your business sounding like you, why a voice file comes before any AI writing, and the blunt truth about the customers who went to a chat window instead: if they could, you were selling information, not judgement. Takeaway: The Keep It Human Rules, one page with the four rules, the five moments that stay yours and a twenty-minute voice file template, free at . All the training so far is free in video at smallbizpromptshop.com.au/free-ai-training-for-smb. What this episode covers (show notes bullets) The fear is not "will it take my job", it is "will it make my business feel like everybody else's". A US survey put it at two thirds of owners"Use AI less" is not a plan. The rule is: AI does the work nobody feels, you do the work somebody feelsWhere personal actually lives: the reply, the apology, the visit or the job itself, the choosing moment on your about page and first quoteRule 1: the customer-facing sentence is yours. Rewrite the first and last line of every AI draft by handRule 2: the apology never comes from a templateRule 3: teach it your voice before it writes for you. One page, pasted into your customisationRule 4: say when it is AI, where it matters. A chatbot at 11pm says it is a chatbotThe quarter who lost business to customers using AI: if a chat window could replace you, you were selling information. Judgement and showing up are the businessAction this week: take one AI-drafted reply, rewrite it by hand, and know the difference, so you can train your staff on itSome jobs still go to AI, that is part of being efficient. Decide which touchpoints keep your human touch, especially where customers need your adviceResources mentioned The Keep It Human Rules,Blog: How to make AI stop sounding like a robot: build a simple voice file, https://www.smallbizpromptshop.com.au/blog/how-to-make-ai-stop-sounding-like-a-robot-build-a-simple-voice-fileEp 9 Rules that keep it honest (the customisation the rules go into), https://www.smallbizpromptshop.com.au/podcastFree video training, https://www.smallbizpromptshop.com.au/free-ai-training-for-smbRate the show on Apple Podcasts, https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/id322885050?action=write-reviewListen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2f4LPnaozVvVZ61SSIT1zs, Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/id322885050, or Podomatic

  7. Episode 11

    What I still do not hand over to AI

    Season two opens on decisions. Season one set AI up to be useful; this season is about what you hand over, what you check, and what stays with you. Dan starts with her own boundaries. Before any email campaign, two things get confirmed by a person: who it is going to and how many will receive it, because a beautifully written email to the wrong people is still the wrong email. She lays out three lines for every job.  Line one, preparation: it gathers and drafts, the Monday dashboard, meeting notes, the first version, and you keep the source close enough to check. Line two, approval: it prepares the campaign, you check the offer, the claims, the links, the tone, the audience and the count before anything goes live. Line three, the decision: should this go at all, is the timing right, would a phone call beat an email. That stays with the expert, because  AI only knows what you have put into it, not the call you had last Tuesday. Plus the two rules that keep it safe: nothing connected to banking or accounts, and never "always allow" on an action you cannot undo. Takeaway: The Hand-Over Line, one page, three columns with ten common jobs placed and the rule for moving a job up a line, free at #REPLACE Drive link. All the training so far is free in video at smallbizpromptshop.com.au/free-ai-training-for-smb. Resources mentioned The Hand-Over Line, Season one episodes 3, 5 and 6 (memory, the knowledge base, connections), https://www.smallbizpromptshop.com.au/podcastBlog: Should I be using AI for this? A decision rule for small business marketing, https://www.smallbizpromptshop.com.au/blog/should-i-be-using-ai-for-this-a-decision-rule-for-small-business-marketing-1Free video training, https://www.smallbizpromptshop.com.au/free-ai-training-for-smbRate the show on Apple Podcasts, https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/id322885050?action=write-reviewListen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2f4LPnaozVvVZ61SSIT1zs, Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/id322885050, or Podomatic Next episode: Should I take this client? Using AI as the interviewer before you say yes, testing capacity, boundaries and the questions you would rather skip. Bring an enquiry you are weighing up.

  8. Episode 12

    Should I take this client?

    When you want the work, you stop asking questions. The enquiry lands, the number looks good, the calendar has a gap, and you say yes before asking the three things that would have told you it was going to be a bad six months. AI does not get hungry.  In this episode Dan shows the go or no-go interview she runs before any yes: a project set up once with her capacity, her no-go rules and her customer profile, one instruction that says interview me, do not decide for me, and the ten questions it asks, from who the actual buyer is and what just happened to make them enquire, to whether this is a client or a rescue, to whether she is saying yes to feel safe. She walks a real enquiry through it, names swapped, and says whether she took the recommendation. The call stays with you. The questions stop being skipped. Takeaway: The Go or No-Go Interview, one page with the set-up, the instruction, the ten questions and the three answers that are an automatic no . All the training so far is free in video at smallbizpromptshop.com.au/free-ai-training-for-smb. Resources mentioned The Go or No-Go Interview,Ep 11 What I still do not hand it (the three lines and the Kozyrkov question), https://www.smallbizpromptshop.com.au/podcastBlog: Should I be using AI for this? A decision rule for small business marketing, https://www.smallbizpromptshop.com.au/blog/should-i-be-using-ai-for-this-a-decision-rule-for-small-business-marketing-1Free video training, https://www.smallbizpromptshop.com.au/free-ai-training-for-smbRate the show on Apple Podcasts, https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/id322885050?action=write-reviewListen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2f4LPnaozVvVZ61SSIT1zs, Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/id322885050, or Podomatic  Next episode: Next episode: Is my price right? Sparring on the numbers, and on how you price and package what you sell.

See All Season 1 (15)

4.9
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

Small Biz AI Marketing is the podcast for Australian small business owners who want AI to do real marketing work, not just make noise. Hosted by Dan MacInnis, a strategic marketer with 25 years and 500+ small businesses behind her, each episode takes one job you are already doing (emails, blogs, quotes, follow ups, social, your CRM) and shows what happens when AI takes it on. Real accounts, real results, and the bits that went wrong. No tool hype, no jargon. Every episode ends with one prompt or template you can use the same day, free at smallbizpromptshop.com.au. If you run a trade, a clinic, a firm or a shop and you have wondered whether AI is worth your time, this is where you find out. Five to ten minutes, new episodes on Wednesdays. From Small Biz Prompt Shop.

Information

  • Creator
    Dan MacInnis
  • Episodes
    15
  • Seasons
    1
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Dan MacInnis
  • Show Website
    Small Biz AI Marketing