Article
Should You Test AI Training as a Marketing Service for Local Clients?
A 2026 survey shows small businesses are adopting AI faster than they're learning to use it, which points to a specific, testable service offer.
Owners of independent local service businesses in the United States
- Supporting sections
- 3
- Questions answered
- 4
- Research captured
- 2026-09-24
If you run a marketing service for local businesses, you have probably already sold clients on AI tools, or watched them adopt tools on their own. A 2026 Thryv survey suggests that adoption is happening quickly, but understanding is not keeping pace with it.
That gap is worth paying attention to because it is testable. Rather than assuming your clients need more software, you can check whether they need more instruction on how to use what they already have.
The argument
The thesis
A 2026 Thryv survey found small business AI adoption rose from 55% to 66% year over year, while 70% of small businesses said they needed more AI training, a combination that supports piloting a short, workflow-specific training offer rather than adding more AI tool access.
The case
What the research shows
What the survey found
According to the 2026 Thryv survey reported by Entrepreneur, small and midsize business (SMB) use of AI rose from 55% in 2025 to 66% in 2026. At the same time, 70% of SMBs said they needed more training on how to use AI. The two numbers together describe a market that is buying or trying AI tools faster than it is learning to apply them.
Why this matters for a local service business
If you offer marketing services to local businesses, this data point suggests that handing a client an AI tool, or running one on their behalf, may not be enough. The reported gap between adoption and training need means client confusion or under-use of AI tools is plausible even among businesses that count as "adopters." That is a reason to test a training-based offer before assuming tool access alone satisfies the need.
The proposed test
The concept under review is a short workshop that walks local business owners through a small set of already-approved, agency-standard AI-assisted marketing workflows. Rather than teaching AI broadly, the session would focus narrowly on how the agency itself uses AI in its client work. To evaluate the offer, three things get tracked: - Attendance: how many invited clients or prospects show up. - Confidence: a before-and-after self-rating of how comfortable participants feel with the workflows covered. - Follow-through: which of the demonstrated workflows participants actually use afterward. This is an internal pilot for review of the service concept, not a claim that the format works. The point is to generate the attendance, confidence, and usage data needed to decide whether to build it out further.
Takeaway
The adoption-versus-training gap reported for 2026 is a reason to test, not assume. Before expanding any AI tool offering to clients, a small pilot workshop can show whether local business owners actually convert new confidence into workflow use.
What to track
Attendance, pre/post confidence, workflow adoption
These three measures are the ones specified in the proposed test and are what would determine whether the training pilot is worth expanding.
Who to invite first
Existing clients already using or considering AI tools
The survey's 66% adoption figure suggests a majority of small businesses already use AI in some form, making current clients a reasonable first audience for a training pilot.
Questions
Frequently asked
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1 sources, captured 2026-09-24 · show· hide
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