The marketing playbook hasn’t changed. We just keep forgetting it.
Every few months there’s a new thing we’re all supposed to be doing. A new AI tool, a new channel, a new format, a new metric to obsess over. And I get it — it’s exciting, the FOMO is real, and some of it genuinely matters.
But we need to keep coming back to this: the fundamentals haven’t moved.
I gave a talk recently where I ran through five of the biggest trends doing the rounds right now — and held each one up against what’s actually true. The gap between the two is where most marketing budgets quietly disappear.
Here’s the short version:
AI tools don’t replace customer insight. Using Perplexity or ChatGPT to do your market research is fast and useful — but if you’re not pressure-testing it against real conversations with real customers, you’re building strategy in a research vacuum
Tactics are not strategy. Hooks, hacks, viral formats — they might spike your views. But if there’s no genuine value underneath, conversion doesn’t follow. Value drives conversion and it always has.
Consistency is underrated. If your messaging shifts every quarter based on what’s trending, your audience doesn’t know what you stand for. Trust is built by showing up the same way, repeatedly, over time.
Vanity metrics are a comfort blanket. ROAS and CTR look great in a deck. But if you can’t trace a campaign all the way through to actual profit, you don’t know if it worked. Profit is the metric that matters.
New tools should fit your strategy, not rewrite it. AI, social commerce, new platforms — these are tools. The mistake is treating them like strategy. Adapt your tools; don’t reinvent your direction every time something new arrives.
None of this is revolutionary. That’s kind of the point.
The brands doing consistently well aren’t the ones chasing every trend. They’re the ones who know exactly who they’re talking to, what value they deliver, and how to say it clearly — and they keep saying it.
If you want to do something with this today, here’s where I’d start:
- Run your AI research through Perplexity — then pressure test it with real customer conversations
- Pick one core offering and answer three questions: what pain does it remove, what outcome does it create, why is it better than the alternative?
- Audit your last five pieces of content — could someone tell they were all from you?
- Trace one campaign all the way through: revenue, margin, actual profit
- Pick one workflow and make it better with AI – priortise the one taking you and your team the most time
The brands doing consistently well aren’t the ones chasing every trend. They’re the ones who know exactly who they’re talking to, what value they deliver, and how to say it clearly — and they keep saying it.
None of these take long. All of them will tell you something useful. Get in touch if we can help you make your marketing more effective.
