Is it just me, or does "AI marketing" feel like the same tired playbook with a fresh coat of paint?
Everywhere I look, agencies are selling "AI visibility," "AI optimization," and "AI strategy" like it's some brand-new secret sauce. But here's the thing, it's not new. It's just marketing. Good old-fashioned, been-around-forever marketing. Except now it comes with buzzwords and a premium price tag.
We've seen this movie before. Dot-com bubble. NFTs. Crypto. The hype machine kicks into gear, everyone rushes to sell you the "secret recipe," and most people end up holding an empty bag.
So let's cut through the noise and talk about what AI actually does, and why most of what's being sold right now is just repackaged BS.
How AI Actually Works (In Plain English)
AI models, also called large language models, learn from two main sources:
1. Training data (foundational knowledge): Think of this like K-12 education. All that information gets locked into long-term memory. If your brand was mentioned across enough websites and talked about in enough contexts, the AI already knows about you. It absorbed that info while scanning the web.
2. Real-time web search: If the AI doesn't know something, it searches the web in real time. That means it's pulling from blogs, forums, review sites, social media, videos, whatever's out there.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: if no one online is talking about your brand, the AI won't either.
And it's not because your website isn't "AI optimized." It's because you're invisible.
So What's the Strategy?
Let me save you thousands of dollars and endless Zoom calls with agencies trying to sell you a quick fix:
You need to do real marketing.
You know, the classic stuff:
- Build a brand that people actually talk about
- Show up on different platforms
- Offer something worth sharing
- Provide good service that gets people talking
- Promote your customers and showcase their wins
- Call your leads back (seriously, do this)
- Make noise in your industry
- Host an in-person event
- Sponsor a local team
All of this is what AI sees. And it's the part most businesses skip in favor of some flashy tool.
This Reminds Me of 2010s Instagram Hype
Remember when Instagram was booming, and everyone was obsessed with "optimizing hashtags," "posting at the right time," and "curating the perfect feed"?
It was just another way to do marketing.
The platforms change. The fundamentals of marketing stay the same.
The Million-Dollar Question
What if, instead of chasing "AI strategies," we all just doubled down on good old-fashioned marketing?
- Call your leads back
- Improve your product
- Get people talking about you
- Post grade-A content across various platforms
- Share the wins and stories of your customers
- Show up where your customers are spending time, online and offline
Because, whether it's Google, ChatGPT, or some AI tool we haven't heard of yet, they're all just gathering information based on what's already out there.
What About All Those Technical Optimizations?
Yes, technical optimizations have their place. Things like embeddings, RAG, schema, and semantic SEO do matter.
But only after you've done the basics.
If you're already crushing it, killing it with your marketing, visibility, and customer engagement, then sure, maybe those extra two or three drops of juice from the lemon are worth it.
But should you be spending thousands of dollars trying to squeeze that last drop before you've even peeled the lemon?
That's where I start to question the ROI of these "AI optimization strategies."
How many of us actually have all our ducks in a row? Unless you're Red Bull, who absolutely crush their marketing, I think most of us would benefit more from fixing the fundamentals.
Here's What I'm Trying to Say
What's being sold right now isn't new. It's the same old marketing, dressed up in fresh, spiffy AI clothes.
And if you're already doing what you should be doing, building relationships, creating visibility, delivering value, then the AI will catch up to you.
So before you jump into the next big "AI visibility product," ask yourself:
Is this really new, or just old marketing with a fancier invoice?
I'm not saying I have it all figured out. I'm genuinely open to being proven wrong in the comments.
But from where I'm standing, good old-fashioned marketing is the foundation. Everything else? Just a cherry on top of a finished cake.
