Grow 2025 Recap: Top AI-Powered Growth Tactics for Small Businesses

How AI is transforming the way small businesses get found, win customers, and grow efficiently.

At this year’s Grow 2025 conference, one message came through loud and clear: AI isn’t just the future – it’s the engine powering small business growth today. From smarter marketing automation to websites built for the AI-driven search era, Thryv and its partners showcased how the next wave of tools can help business owners reclaim their time, boost visibility, and grow faster.

Across two sessions of Tech in Action, Thryv leaders and experts from Duda revealed how AI is being put to work in real, practical ways. The focus wasn’t on hype – it was on results.

From Manual to Magical: AI That Works Behind the Scenes

Thryv’s Chief Product Officer, Rees Johnson, began by outlining familiar pain points for small business owners: limited visibility, fragmented tools, and an overwhelming number of repetitive tasks. Managing customer engagement across multiple systems has long made it difficult to grow efficiently.

Thryv’s AI-powered growth platform aims to change that by automating time-consuming marketing and sales tasks. Tools like Caption AI and AI Review Response streamline social posting and customer review management, while AI Service Descriptions automatically generate polished business listings. The AI Content Assistant helps owners produce professional emails and landing pages, and the AI Automation Assistant builds entire marketing campaigns from start to finish.

Together, these solutions simplify marketing operations so business owners can focus more on strategy and customer relationships rather than routine work. The goal is to make automation feel intuitive – turning once-manual processes into seamless, behind-the-scenes support.

Websites Reimagined: Built for AI, Not Against It

In the following session, Russ Jeffrey from Duda and Ezra Witt from Thryv discussed how AI is changing the way customers discover businesses online. They highlighted data showing early signs of fragmentation in traditional search dominance and the rise of AI-driven discovery tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini.

This shift means websites are no longer just static digital brochures – they now serve as primary data sources for AI systems that surface business information. In other words, websites help train the very algorithms that direct customers to local businesses.

To stay visible in this evolving landscape, small businesses must keep their content optimized for both humans and machines. That means maintaining accurate listings across platforms, incorporating structured data like FAQs and schema markup, and consistently publishing credible, high-quality content.

Thryv’s AI Website Builder helps simplify this process by enabling quick site generation with built-in AI for text, image, and meta tag creation. The platform allows business owners to create optimized websites quickly without sacrificing their brand voice or design preferences. The session emphasized that the goal isn’t to compete with AI, but to use it as a partner that helps small businesses stay discoverable and credible online.

Harness AI, Don’t Compete With It

Throughout Grow 2025, a clear theme emerged: small businesses don’t need to outsmart AI – they need to use it strategically. New tools such as AI Lead Scoring and integrations between Thryv Marketing Center and Keap are designed to connect every part of the customer journey, from lead capture to retention.

By applying AI to automate follow-ups, analyze leads, and tailor campaigns, small businesses can work smarter, move faster, and deliver more personalized experiences. These capabilities once required enterprise-level resources; now, they’re accessible to any business ready to adopt them.

Practical Growth Moves to Take Home

The Grow 2025 sessions offered tangible steps business owners can implement immediately. 

• Start by automating everyday tasks such as follow-up emails and review responses. 
• Refresh your online listings and website content to ensure accuracy across search engines and AI platforms. 
• And experiment with AI writing and design tools to save time while maintaining consistent, high-quality communication.

Even as technology evolves, a website remains the foundation of trust and conversion. AI may help customers find you, but authentic content and clear messaging still make them choose you.

AI-Powered Growth Starts Here

Grow 2025 demonstrated that AI is more than a passing trend – it’s becoming the foundation of modern small business growth. Whether the goal is to attract new customers, streamline daily operations, or strengthen loyalty, AI tools are making it easier than ever to grow efficiently.

Thryv’s platform brings these innovations together in one place – helping small businesses get found, stay connected, and thrive in an increasingly AI-driven marketplace.

Discover how AI-powered Thryv solutions can power your growth.
Learn more here.