How Small Business Owners Can Take Advantage of AI: 5 AI Power Moves
- Dorien Morin-van Dam
- Oct 29
- 6 min read
In September 2025, I hosted the second, 3-day REEL Retreat in Pittsfield, VT.
We came together to learn about reels and short-form video, but getting together in-person at a retreat is so much more than straightforward learning. There was networking, connecting, sharing meals, hiking and learning about each other's businesses.
On the second day, a revelation happened: While I was teaching short-form video scripting, I learned something. Most of the small business owners in attendance thought AI was only for answering questions and writing captions. Only one had taken a course on prompting and was using AI for other tasks.
Say what?
Hello small business owner! Did you know you can use AI for so, so, sooooo much more than writing?
If not, this one's for you! Today, I am sharing five power moves you can try this week.
Each move stands on its own, and I can't wait to find out what you are doing with these!
1) AI power move: Use AI as your thinking partner
What it is: Brainstorm with AI as your thinking partner. Ask AI for suggestions like naming products or programs, hooks, stories, objections, angles, and first lines. Ask for options, then sort and select the things you like best, or push back if it doesn't fit your brand.
Why it matters: Fresh angles cut through algorithm fatigue. Faster ideation means more consistency. Bouncing ideas back and forth can create new ideas!
Prompt to try: Act as my creative thinking partner for my business [brand name + website] . Give me 15 short reel hooks for [audience] who struggle with [pain point]. Each hook should be no longer than 8-10 words. I do not like clickbait-y hooks. Group these suggestions and group by tone: confident, empathetic, playful. Also include one totally wacky hook idea for fun!
Guardrail: Always request at least 3 different tones. Keep a swipe file (Google Doc or Notes App) of winners you actually used. If you need more hooks at a later time, you can feed these back to AI!
KPIs to watch: Watch the 'save' rate on Instagram reels and the average watch time on the first 3 seconds. If you post these reels on other platforms (Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Youtube), set KPIs for each platform.
2) AI power move: Get strategy on one page
What it is: Pressure test your current marketing strategy plan by asking AI to fill in the gaps and prioritize quick wins. Use AI to turn your big goals into a weekly cadence and content pillars.
Why it matters: Most strategic plans die because they are too complex or because there is no one to take the lead on implementing the smaller steps. A one-page strategy is easier to execute and measure.
Prompt to try: Act as my content strategist for [brand name + website]. Given [audience], [offer], and [monthly goal], propose a 30 day plan across Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Include weekly themes, post frequency, primary CTA, and one experiment per week. Present this plan as a one-page table.
Guardrail: Before you feed AI your prompt, feed it your brand voice rules as the first input. (If you do not have them/know them, ask AI to extract them from 5-10 of your past posts. See Bonus move below!)
KPI to watch: Output consistency i.e. the number of weekly posts per channel. Secondary: Also check profile views and link clicks.
3) AI power move: Create marketing campaigns and documents faster
What it is: Use AI to generate outlines, briefs, SOPs, email sequences, and landing page drafts. Then you write the final version after AI builds the first pass.
Why it matters: Not everyone is a writer. Blank page syndrome kills momentum and stiffles progress. A strong outline from AI puts you at 60-80% percent done.
Prompt to try: Draft a 5 email nurture sequence for [offer] and [audience] for [brand name + website]. Keep the subject lines under 45 characters, only add one CTA per email, and end with a reply-worthy question. Provide a short brief for a matching landing page.
Guardrail: Always add constraints. Give AI info on audience, voice, length, call to action, and banned words. Ask for a structured outline before full copy, whatever that structure is!
KPI to watch: The time between the first draft and the time to final approval. This is where you will see huge dividends. Secondary: Your email reply rates as you start using AI.
4) AI power move: Turn raw customer feedback into insights
What it is: Feed AI customer conversations. Upload screenshots or files with comments, customer reviews, DMs, phone transcripts, demo transcripts, and survey responses to find themes, exact phrases, and customer sentiment.
Why it matters: Your audience is already telling you what they want to hear from you and what to say back. Using AI to mine their language improves your marketing copy and targeting.
Prompt to try: Analyze these 50 customer reviews. Return the top 5 themes, sentiment by theme, and a table of exact phrases for future social copy. With this data in mind, draft 10 reel ideas that answer the most common objection.
Guardrail: Remove personal data. (names, locations) Ask AI to separate quotes from interpretations. Don't forget to save the best phrases in a shared language bank for future use.
KPIs to watch: The comment sentiment trend, and engagement rates, as well as profile click-through from high-intent posts.
5) AI power move: Repurpose and distribute like a pro
What it is: Reuse your old(er) and evergreen content. Turn one long-form asset (YouTube video, podcast episode, blog article) into multiple pieces sized for each channel with channel-specific constraints.
Why it matters: None of us need more ideas or content. We need more (and better) distribution.
Prompt to try: From this 12-minute meeting transcript, create 5 short video scripts with a hook, and CTA. Next, create a 2200 character IG caption, two LinkedIn posts under 180 words, a 5 slide carousel outline, and 3 YouTube titles from the same transcript. Respect platform limits and keep voice consistent with these brand rules: [paste brand rules].
Guardrail: Read and approve the source asset first. Be sure to note aspect ratios and character limits for each platform.
KPI to watch: Time saved per asset, weekly volume by channel, and reach by asset type.
Bonus AI power move: Create your brand voice kit
Before you write, use AI to define your brand voice.
Prompt to try: From these 10 social media posts, these 3 podcast transcripts, these 3 newsletters and my about page, extract my brand voice profile. First, return a 10-point checklist of tone, pacing, verbs, banned words, and formatting rules. If you need more assets to complete this task, let me know before you get started. Once I approve the checklist, provide me with three sample paragraphs that match the rules so I can check your work.
-> Once satisfied with the AI output from the above prompt, save this as the first input for every task.
What you can do this week(end)
If you have time to tinker with AI this week or weekend, do this: Choose one of the above power moves, and run it end to end.
Do not try all five all at once! Instead, block an hour on your calendar and make something real. Use it. Use it again.
Gain confidence.
Gain time.
Gain knowledge.
How to measure AI success in your small business!
Always measure because you can't improve what you don't measure.
Here are things to measure as you start using AI in your business.
Speed: Minutes to first draft and minutes to final copy for each document. How much time are you saving?
Consistency: Number of weekly pieces published by channel. How much more content are you publishing?
Quality: Meaningful comment rate and saves. How is your content sparking conversations with your audience?
Conversion rates: Profile views, link clicks, replies. What content is moving the needle for your small business?
Learning loop: What are you doing that is making the most impact? Do more!
I might not have all the techy answers about AI, but I sure know how to be more productive using AI tools, and you can too.
As always, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn, or book a free 20-minute consult.
