AI and automation layered over broken processes just means you'll execute bad marketing faster Before you dive into AI automation and workflow orchestration, let's talk about reality. Most mid-market businesses haven't even nailed the basics yet. I see it every week—companies jumping straight to AI tools when their website still isn't converting, their marketing automation is a mess of abandoned workflows, and nobody can agree on what "qualified lead" even means. If your curr

How to Actually Measure AI Search Visibility When Your SEO Dashboard Stops Telling the Whole Story Earlier this week I wrote about where AI search is headed in 2026. I ended with this promise: "Next up: How to actually measure AI visibility when your SEO dashboard stops telling the whole story." Here's what's actually happening in most marketing departments right now: Traffic is down. Rankings look... okay-ish. Your SEO team is doing all the right things. But something feels

What the First Real AEO Benchmarks Tell Us Conductor just released the first comprehensive Answer Engine Optimization benchmarking study—13,770 domains across 10 industries, analyzing 3.3 billion sessions and over 100 million AI citations. And here's what the data is screaming at us: We're not preparing for a 2026 problem. We're already in it. Most brands just haven't looked at the numbers yet. Gartner predicts traditional search engine volume will drop 25% by 2026 due to AI

Why Your Google Ads Person Needs to Stop Acting Like It's 2015 Here's something I keep seeing with mid-market companies: you're paying someone to manage your Google Ads, but they're still using tactics from a decade ago. And when they try to run Performance Max campaigns? It's a disaster. Not because Performance Max doesn't work. It does, when handled correctly. But because they're bringing the wrong mindset to the table. Let me be clear upfront: Performance Max isn't always

Just Build Trust That Actually Converts and It Will Happen Everyone's losing their minds about ChatGPT and how AI is "killing SEO." Meanwhile, I'm sitting here with 30 years in digital marketing watching business owners panic about the wrong things. Here's what's actually happening: Yes, AI tools are changing how people search. No, it's not the apocalypse the LinkedIn thought leaders want you to believe it is. And the solution isn't some expensive AI optimization service your

Adobe announced they're acquiring Semrush for $1.9 billion. If you're using Semrush daily for keyword research, site audits, or competitive intel, you need to understand what typically happens when enterprise software giants acquire the nimble tools you rely on—not because of fear-mongering, but because there are predictable patterns here. Cut Through The Noise The official line is that this deal is about "brand visibility in an agentic AI era." Adobe's president warns that b

Let me start with something most consultants won't tell you: 65% of contact information from online forms is wrong. And 57% of marketers are getting bad outcomes because they're misreading their data. So when someone promises you AI-powered personalization that actually works, here's what they're not saying: AI can't personalize chaos. It just makes the chaos faster and more expensive. This Is The Same Problem I Keep Seeing A while back, I told you AI won't fix your broken ma

Last week, I told you that your martech stack is probably broken—bad data, botched integrations, sales and marketing still fighting over lead definitions, and tools you're paying for but barely using. I promised to show you what happens when you layer AI on top of those problems before you fix them. Here's the data: A recent survey by Intermedia Global of 250 C-Suite professionals found that 24% of companies lost customers over the past year due to martech stack failures. 93%

AI Will Force a Rethink of the Marketing Technology Stack But Do This First I'm going to tell you something your martech vendors don't want you to hear: You're getting fleeced. Every week, I talk to mid-market CMOs who've spent six figures—sometimes seven—on marketing technology that's supposed to revolutionize their business. Two years later? They're using maybe a third of it, nobody trusts the data coming out of it, and they're locked into contracts they can't escape. Accor

Google just expanded Opal—their no-code AI app builder—from 15 countries to over 160. If you haven't heard of Opal yet, you're not alone. It launched quietly earlier this year through Google Labs, and frankly, most businesses weren't paying attention. They should have been. Here's why this matters to you: we're watching the democratization of AI happen in real-time, and if you're not building custom automation into your business operations right now, you're already behind. Wh