596 – Marketing in the AI Era with Shannon Bailey
The How of Business - How to start, run, grow and exit a small business.
Henry Lopez, Levante Business Group
4.7 • 522 Ratings
🗓️ 16 February 2026
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How AI is reshaping small business marketing and why clear positioning and strong messaging matter more than ever.
Show Notes Page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/596-shannon-bailey-marketing-and-ai/
Branding and messaging expert Shannon Bailey shares her entrepreneurial journey and explains (starting at 11:10) why clear positioning and concise messaging are essential in the AI-driven marketing era.
As AI tools like ChatGPT reshape how customers search for information, small business marketing is entering a new era that rewards clarity over cleverness and positioning over fluff.
In this episode, Henry Lopez chats with branding and messaging strategist Shannon Bailey, founder of Make Progress Strategies. Shannon begins by sharing her entrepreneurial journey, from a career in sales and corporate leadership to launching her own consulting firm, and what led her to take that leap into business ownership.
We then explore how AI is changing marketing. Shannon explains why AI doesn't make marketing more technical, but more strategic. As AI platforms synthesize and recommend businesses instead of simply listing search results, vague positioning and generic messaging get exposed quickly.
We discuss why small businesses may actually benefit in this shift, how earned authority now matters more than SEO tricks, and why niching down expands your reach instead of limiting it. Shannon also shares practical steps you can take today, including how to test your visibility using AI tools themselves.
If you're feeling overwhelmed by AI disruption, this conversation will help you refocus on the fundamentals: clear messaging, strong positioning, and speaking directly to your ideal client, while also offering inspiration from Shannon's own path into entrepreneurship.
Shannon Bailey is a strategist and branding and messaging expert. She is the founder of Make Progress Strategies, where she helps small businesses and nonprofits clarify their value proposition, align brand positioning with growth objectives, and build strategic marketing plans that drive action.
This episode is hosted by Henry Lopez. The How of Business podcast focuses on helping you start, run, grow and exit your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business owners and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, small business coaching, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the How of Business with your host, Henry Lopez, the podcast that helps you start, run, and grow your small business. |
| 0:13.5 | And now, here is your host. |
| 0:15.5 | This is Henry Lopez. |
| 0:16.5 | Welcome to this episode of The Howa Business. |
| 0:18.3 | My special guest today is Shannon Bailey. |
| 0:20.8 | Shannon, welcome to the show. Hi. Thanks so much for having me. Looking forward to this episode of The Howaway Business. My special guest today is Shannon Bailey. Shannon, welcome to the show. |
| 0:22.2 | Hi, thanks so much for having me. And looking forward to this conversation. Shannon is a branding and |
| 0:27.1 | messaging expert. I'll tell you a little bit more about her in a moment, but she's with us today to share her |
| 0:31.7 | entrepreneurial journey. We'll talk about that briefly and how she helps businesses with marketing. |
| 0:36.2 | In particular, we're going to focus on this |
| 0:37.9 | conversation on marketing in the new AI era. And so small business marketing doesn't become |
| 0:44.1 | necessarily more technical, as Shannon will explain in the AI era, but it becomes more strategic. |
| 0:50.5 | And so as AI reshapes how customers search for and choose businesses like ours, then as Shannon |
| 0:56.0 | explains, clear positioning, strong messaging, and earned authority matter far more than |
| 1:02.4 | SEO tricks or generic content. |
| 1:04.9 | And so we're going to explore that today in this conversation. |
| 1:07.9 | You can find all of the Howa Business resources, including the |
| 1:10.8 | show notes page for this episode and learn more about my one-on-one and group coaching program |
| 1:15.1 | at the Howa Business.com. I also invite you to please consider joining our Howa Business community |
| 1:20.7 | on Patreon, and please subscribe wherever you might be listening so you don't miss any new episodes. |
| 1:25.7 | Let me tell you a little bit more about Shannon. Shannon Bailey, as I said, is a strategist and branding and messaging expert, |
| 1:31.3 | and she helps organizations translate their value into clear strategic messaging that drives action and growth. |
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