Here's a stat that should make every small business owner sit up: 76% of people who perform a local search on their smartphone visit a business within 24 hours, and 28% of those visits result in a purchase.
That means when a customer searches for "best coffee near me" or "emergency plumber downtown , " the decision is often made in minutes — not days.
Now add another layer: artificial intelligence. Once locked behind enterprise paywalls, AI is now available to every entrepreneur. From creating content and optimizing ads to automating customer support, AI is the great equalizer.
When you combine local marketing (reaching the right people in the right place) with AI automation , you create a formula that allows small businesses to compete and, in many cases, outperform big bra