AI in Marketing: What should you do now?

Everyone says AI is changing marketing, but most people don't appreciate how.

I’m calling it now:

We’re living through the biggest marketing revolution since paid social.

AI is chewing up the old playbook, and rewriting the rules faster than any of us realise.

After a month of expert interviews* the patterns are clear.

This is NOT an incremental shift, it’s tectonic.

What’s changing?

1. The demand for content is exploding: Although LLM usage is skyrocketing, Google’s search traffic continues to climb, along with social media traffic, podcasts and Substack.

2. But SEO as we know it is dying: Google will mostly return AI snippets, not links. So do ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude. Questions will generate answers, not links – they won’t send you traffic.

3. The bar is rising on quality: LLMs don’t care about generic repackaged content or backlinks. Neither do social algo's. You’ll only get brand recognition through original, high-value content.

4. Every marketing channel is becoming content-first:

   • Best paid ads? Boosted influencer content

   • Best outbound? Content-warmed leads

   • Best inbound? Creator-led social

   • Best brand? Unique content experiences

What does that mean for your team?

1. All channels now depend on ONE skill set: Understanding and satisfying your customer's information diet. The marketing talent stack is re-orienting.

2. Elite marketers will look more like information product managers. They'll master customer psychology & information needs, and remarkable content creation and taste, using AI tools. Speed of testing/learning becomes their key advantage.

What should you do now?

1. Map your audience’s information diet: What questions do they have before they need your product? Who do they follow? What do they read, like, comment and share?

2. Find your original content source: Examples: ChartMogul shares their benchmarks quarterly, First Round built a world-class editorial team, Ipsy produces makeup videos, and Redbull invents new sports.

3. Own your audience: Find them with ads or social, inbound or outbound, move them to a newsletter or community, forge a direct relationship.

4. Find and acquire emerging creators in your space: If I were running growth for a startup today, I'd scan social for niche high-growth accounts, newsletters or communities, and hire or acquire them. (Examples: Pendo acquiring MindTheProduct, Hubspot acquiring The Hustle)

I hope this helps!

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