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Be a Knock Out in Small and Local Business Marketing

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In addition to running a marketing agency with customers around the globe and a seven-figure local business, today’s master is also a kickboxing champion and MMA fighter — making Jennifer Waters easily the marketer I’d least like to fight. Though Flo from Progressive seems like she’d be a scrapper, right? It’s not just me? But rather than spend our time arguing about which mascot would win in the octagon, today she’s here to teach you how to kill it… in small and local business marketing that is. But don’t worry; you SMB and enterprise marketers will get your kicks in, too. Meet the Master Jennifer WatersCo-founder, 7 Figure Dojo; Executive sensei, Seigler’s Karate Center Claim to fame: Grew her small business to seven figures (Thus the name of her agency!) Fun fact: She’s a sixth-degree Kempo karate black belt and purple belt in Tetsu Shin Ryu Jiu-Jitsu   Lesson 1: Forget omnichannel. Think omnipresence. “To survive as a local business, you need to think and market like a Fortune 500 company,” Waters says. If that reflexively made your wallet pucker, you can relax. She means that you need to think bigger than just a few scattered Facebook ads. “You need to do what I call omnipresence marketing. Digital marketing is just one arm of it,” Waters explains. So while omnichannel refers to coordinating your marketing across all of your digital channels, omnipresence means you include the real world. In fact, Waters says the foundation of small-business marketing is live events. “This is where you’re out shakin’ hands and kissin’ babies,” she smiles. For a karate school, this might be hosting a monthly parents’ night out. For a florist, it could be weekly wine-and-design classes. (As a real-life example, the kung fu school I go to hosts a monthly classic kung fu movie night.) The exact details will differ, but the goals are the same: generating leads and building visibility. “We want to be physically present in the community. We want to have internal events to bring people to us, to generate publicity. And because your name is constantly out there you become category king or category queen with your local business.” Meanwhile, as your digital marketing promotes these live events, your live events provide fodder for your digital marketing. And when you coordinate them both? Voilà! Omnipresence. Lesson 2: Relationships are everything. Because I’m a massive dork, I can’t resist asking the cheese question: What do martial arts masters know that marketers need to learn? Waters’ answer is anything but cheese. “Relationships are everything,” she says. “Your relationship to the individual customer, or in this case to your martial arts student, is what is going to keep them coming back. Or feeling comfortable referring other people to you.” Every touchpoint you have with your audience — at live events, on social media, on your website, on the phone — is a chance to build that relationship. Imagine you see a great video ad, so you call up the company and… some rude jerk answers the phone. “All that marketing did nothing because the relationship wasn’t there.” This is a good time to take stock: When you reply to your emails, are you maintaining that relationship? Are you proactively reaching out to customers who talk about you on social media? When they land on your homepage, are they getting the same vibe they can expect at your live events? Lesson 3: Cause a pause. For Waters, the current era of marketing is all about asking, “What can we do to get this person to stop?” Stop scrolling and watch your video. Stop clearing the inbox and read your newsletter. Stop walking and check out your booth at your local fair. “If I’m going out in person, I’m not going in plain clothes. I’m going to throw on a karate gi and now I’m stopping traffic.” “If I was advising a chef who was trying to get people to come over and taste the pastries, I’d say put on a chef’s outfit with the hat and everything,” she gestures at an imaginary toque like Ratatouille. And the same principle applies online; you just have to figure out the digital equivalent of your gi. Waters notes that, since they’re still new and novel to most folks, dropping AI-generated images into your social feed is a good way to get people to stop scrolling. The key is figuring out what makes your unique business stand out both online and off. Now, get out there and don your gi apparel.

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How We’re Building Breeze to Power the Future of GTM

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Two years after Generative AI took off, one thing is clear: AI will transform the way businesses operate. But for most small and medium businesses, the AI landscape feels overwhelming. They don’t need the hype; they need practical help. The reality is that 50% of small businesses fail within five years. Not because starting a business is hard, but because scaling one is brutal. When you’re caught between limited resources and ambitious growth goals, you need tools that deliver actual results, not more complexity. That’s what we’re building with Breeze — AI designed specifically for scaling companies, built directly into HubSpot’s customer platform. In this post, we’ll take you behind the scenes of how we’re building Breeze, the most common use cases, and how it’s already helping real businesses drive results. The Breeze Tech Stack: Building for the AI-First Era Software is evolving. What started as desktop programs in the 1990s and moved to cloud-based SaaS in the 2000s is now entering a new era: software that doesn’t just serve, but works toward outcomes. This is the shift from “software as a service” to “results as a service.” We’re not building AI because it’s the latest tech trend — we’re using AI to deliver what customers are actually after: more leads, faster sales cycles, and better customer satisfaction. With Breeze, scaling companies can quickly and easily get value from AI connected to their customer data. We’re distinguishing Breeze in three ways to enable HubSpot customers to get the most out of AI: Our platform unifies structured data (like CRM records) and unstructured data (such as emails, calls, and transcripts) with external data like buyer intent and company news to give Breeze the full picture. Our “all-on-one” approach provides context across the customer journey, unlike point solution AI agents that fall short without a full understanding of the GTM. Our agent ecosystem connects humans with AI agents to extend their teams — some built by HubSpot, others by partners and citizen developers — all seamlessly connected to customer data to solve any need. The Four Layers of Breeze We’re building Breeze in four layers with data and context as the foundation. It’s something HubSpot is uniquely positioned to provide as the source of truth for nearly 250,000 companies with millions of users. From there, we help customers make sense of that data, customize and extend Breeze, and use it to power their GTM — all without having to become AI experts themselves. 1. Context Layer: Unified Data for Powerful AI AI is only as good as the data that powers it. Imagine asking your AI assistant to help with a customer issue, but it can‘t see their recent emails, doesn’t know about their last support call, and has no idea about the new product update that might solve their problem. That‘s the reality of most AI tools today — they’re smart, but they’re working blindfolded. Providing complete customer context is essential to AI delivering on its full promise, and this is what makes HubSpot stand out from other tools in the market. Only HubSpot has the depth and breadth of data across the customer journey, and can unify it to train our AI systems. That’s what makes Breeze’s Context Layer so unique: Breeze Knowledge Models: Not one, but multiple specialized models that pull all of your data into one clear picture of your customer, their interests, objections, and more. We combine the latest foundation models — from OpenAI, Stability AI, Google, Anthropic, and others — with our own custom models and deep understanding of the GTM for scaling businesses, so you get the best of AI without worrying about which model is best this month. Structured Data: This has always been our strength — customer records, company information, contact data, and all the rich CRM information that HubSpot has organized for over 15 years. Unstructured Data: This represents up to 80% of a business’s data that, until now, has been trapped, unable to be used. Think emails, call transcripts, meeting recordings, conversations. Our acquisition of Frame.ai in 2024 allows us to use this data for the first time, a capability lacking in most solutions on the market today. External Data: Think of this as all the data that exists out in the world, beyond your company. We’re able to perceive this external data across text, audio, and video, including over 200 million buyer and company profiles, information from earnings releases, funding rounds, and other relevant news posted across the internet. When you’re building a business, you don’t have time to hunt through multiple systems or keep up with AI developments. We absorb that complexity and bring together your internal and external data so Breeze has the complete picture. 2. Intelligence Layer: The Brain of Breeze Our Intelligence Layer is the cognitive engine that processes your data into insights — it’s the “brain” of Breeze. While nascent today, we’re thinking about this in three ways to make Breeze even more powerful in the future: Reasoning: Breeze won’t just look up answers — it will think things through, connecting different pieces of information to work out solutions, like your best employees tackling tough problems. Memory: Unlike basic chatbots that forget conversations the moment they’re over, Breeze remembers. This is the next evolution in AI personalization and quality. Breeze will learn from previous conversations and remember key user facts and preferences that can be used across all of their interactions. No more repeating yourself. Prediction: Instead of just reacting to problems, Breeze spots patterns and anticipates what might happen next through predictive analytics. For example, instead of finding out a client may not renew 30 days before expiration, Breeze flags concerning signals (decreasing usage, logins, fewer support tickets) months before the contract ends. You shouldn’t need a massive data science team to turn raw business data into insights you can act on. With Breeze, every business will be able to reason through problems, remember every interaction, and predict what comes next. 3. Integration

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Marketing Like a Castaway

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Here’s a hint as to the identity of today’s master in marketing: When I asked what his pie-in-the-sky marketing dream was, he sighed like Ahab hunting the white whale. “I would love to get cast members from The Bear” — Hulu’s Chicago-set show ” — “to record announcements or do videos for us, highlighting what a Chicago icon we are.” “We’ve had quite a few cameos in it, and it’s made us look really good.” Any guesses? Meet the Master Eric Munn, Director of marketing, Chicago Transit Authority Job: Juggling the marketing of the second-largest public transit system in the U.S. with a government agency-sized budget. (That’s a lot smaller than it sounds.) Claim to fame: Introducing these sweet limited-edition throwback CTA passes Fun fact: Juggling isn’t just a day in the life of a scrappy marketer. Eric can also juggle apples … and take a bite of them at the same time Lesson 1: Digital is important — but it’s not everything. Munn is by no means a Luddite, but he cautions against focusing so much “on the current and latest trend [that you] forget about the reliability and success of some old-school marketing that’s as simple as mailers or billboards.” Yep, even if your audience is mostly Gen Zers and young millennials. I was surprised that the CTA’s target audience skews that young, but “those are the people still learning their transportation habits.” It makes sense — he’s marketing to older teens who are using public transit on their own for the first time and 20-somethings who moved to Wrigleyville after college graduation. So I was doubly surprised at how keen Munn is on old-school advertising. Mailers? Billboards? In this economy? Photo courtesy Chicago Transit Authority. But one of the CTA’s most successful campaigns is a new resident mailer, reminding them that the CTA is just $2.50 to ride. “I think it’s a great way for a Chicago icon like the CTA to welcome you to the city.” It may seem like an old-fashioned marketing tactic, but Munn says he hears from people who kept that postcard because it was the first mail they received as a newly minted Chicagoan. Old doesn’t have to mean passé. Mailers, billboards, sponsorships, partnerships — these are all “really great ways to still get your brand and message into places, and might be a lot more affordable.” Photo courtesy Chicago Transit Authority. Lesson 2: Go local (or at least regional). Last year, the CTA implemented its first influencer campaign, beginning with three Chicagoland influencers. Munn outlines two big advantages to this strategy: Affordability and a higher probability of success. Munn was pretty specific about what he wanted. “Our campaign was focused on using the CTA because it saves you money, which means more money in your pocket to go do all of the things that Chicago has to offer.” So he sought out influencers who make content like “five things to do in Chicago this weekend” or “Chicago’s hidden gems.” Because there aren’t as many creators doing this type of content as, say, a top travel influencer, these niche accounts often have extremely engaged, valuable followers. And compared to top travel influencer prices, local influencers are more affordable, even on a smaller marketing budget. (And FWIW, all evidence indicates that Munn’s onto something: HubSpot’s latest State of Marketing report identified niche-influencer marketing as a rising trend in 2025.) Lesson 3: Relationship-building stretches in every direction. Munn says that some days he feels like Tom Hanks’ character in Castaway, who “had to get really innovative with very few resources.” When you’re working for a government agency, “resources are very tight. You’re doing a lot of hard work.” And sometimes you want to knock out your own teeth with an ice skate. So when he talks about building relationships, he’s casting (pun intended) a wide net. Riders, social media users, even marketers at other public transport agencies (“a really cool group, because they’re not my competitors, right? We’re all rooting for each other.”). “I have introduced myself to many — I call them transit advocate accounts — people who are just regularly posting about the CTA or just about public transportation in general,” Munn says. He takes the time now to get to know them “so that when I have a campaign, I can reach out to them and say, ‘Hey, we’re thinking about doing this, and I wanted to get your thoughts.’” (I used to work in the same office as Munn, and can vouch that this isn’t a cynical marketing play; he’s as genuine as they get. I’m unsurprised to hear that he’s found success with this tactic.) If you’re facing leaner budgets, lower head count, or other belt-tightening measures, think about the meaningful relationships you can build outside of the usual stakeholders. Like Hanks’ Castaway character, use what you have around you to build your own success. Lingering Questions This Week’s Question What is a blind spot in the marketing world that, if addressed, would make people’s lives better? —Jeff Wirth, Co-founder of the Interactive PlayLab This Week’s Answer A major blind spot in the marketing world is forgetting that most people aren’t as aware of your brand as you are. Many brands use messaging that already assumes people know who you are or what you offer. Make sure you’re clear about what your product or service is going to do to help people. Witty and eye-catching is fun, but the conversion is in solving people’s problems. Next Week’s Lingering Question Munn asks: What‘s a career you’ve always wanted to get into but never have?  

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