A few days ago at an event, the CEO of a remodeling company told me he was spending $5,000 a month on Google Ads and getting almost NO leads.
I immediately replied, “Whoever set those ads up doesn’t know what they’re doing. Send them to me and I’ll take a look.”
Surprise, surprise – when the ads came in, they were riddled with mistakes. Sloppy setup, top to bottom.
But here’s the part that really bothers me:
Right now, today, this CEO could hand the WHOLE THING to an AI agent like Claude Cowork. Every single morning he could get a report: the agent goes in, checks the latest stats, optimizes the campaign, and tells him exactly what changed and what to approve.
I know this works because it’s exactly what I do every day with my charter fishing company. The advertising is run almost entirely by Cowork. It saves us thousands a month, and I’m getting powerful, real-time reporting every morning.
That’s why I made this frank challenge to the CEO: “Start taking AI seriously. You’re bleeding $5,000 a month on ads that don’t convert because it was set up by someone who didn’t know what they were doing, and you didn’t know enough to catch it.”
Friends, in 2026, “technical” ignorance isn’t an excuse anymore.
Right now, there are hundreds of thousands of business owners in this exact situation. Wasting money. Spinning their wheels. All because they’re using AI like it’s Google (a dang search box) instead of realizing what they actually have.
It’s NOT a search box. It’s an assistant. Hundreds of assistants, really. With world-class skills. Ready to work for you and consult for you, essentially for free, today.
So wake up CEOs and small business owners. Stop living in ignorance. And start taking advantage of the most incredible technology of our lifetimes.
Marcus
Other Stuff I’m Paying Attention To:
1. HubSpot solidifies the phrase “AEO”
HubSpot recently shipped new software literally named “Answer Engine Optimization” – we’ve been debating what AI Optimization was going to be called for 3 dang years now. This may have settled it. We’ll see. But the AEO guide in the following link is one of the best pieces ever written on the subject, so give it a read.
2. AI Driven Traffic Wayyyy Out Converts Google Traffic
AI-driven traffic is converting at 14.2% vs. Google organic’s 2.8% (roughly a 5x gap). The buyers coming from AI, in most cases, are better (and ready to buy).
3. Ranking #1 on Google no longer means AI quotes you
A study found ~80% of the URLs ChatGPT cites don’t rank in Google’s top 100.
→ AI citation data, Search Engine Land
4. B2B buyers LOVE AI for vetting businesses
94% of B2B buyers run their research through AI before sales knows they exist. Wowza!
→ Forrester: Trust is the ultimate currency for B2B buyers
5. Your AI problem is a leadership problem in disguise
88% of organizations have adopted AI. Only 7% have scaled it past the pilot. I see this a ton in my travels. It’s not an AI issue folks. It’s a leadership & change management issue. Full stop.
6. Local-Service brands have a visibility problem
78% of local-services brands are completely invisible to AI engines and 88% have no plan to fix it. I LOVED the following article that discusses this problem specifically.
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