#158 Future-Proof Your Business: AI Digital Marketing Shift with Wes Towers

The future of digital marketing isn’t about more content; it’s about deeper connections.

In an age saturated with AI-generated content, how do businesses ensure their message resonates and builds trust?

Wes and I discuss this shift, and that artificial intelligence is forcing us to be more human. For founder-led businesses, this means reflecting the founder’s values and convictions. Small businesses have a distinct advantage here, and large corporations struggle to replicate this personal touch but as AI models become more sophisticated, the challenge for businesses shifts from mere content quantity & quality to genuine quality and uniquely human branding.

The strategic move is to focus on what makes your brand uniquely human: case studies, core values, proprietary models, and authentic storytelling. The shift is clear: a strong personal brand, combined with the company brand, creates significant market advantage. This moves beyond traditional lead magnets (like free e-books) which are losing relevance as AI provides instant information. Instead, focus on demonstrating expertise and reliability through genuine connections.

How are you leveraging your unique human element to cut through the digital noise and build trust?

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

1. Uncertainty about the future is the death knell for a business’ value and a good motivation to adapt; the founder-led business model requires communication with and the involvement of other team members to bring about change.
2. An AI world demands constant reinvention and questioning; it is difficult to stand out in the marketplace unless a business is unique, but AI means we crave the human element of collaboration and authenticity.
3. It is all about creating relationships/human connection – the goal of social media is to get people off social media onto the website, and the goal of a website is to get people off the website into a human conversation (to make a sale).
4. Smaller, founder-led businesses can leverage advantages and opportunities that are not open to large businesses, with the combination of both a personal and a company brand providing a valuable competitive edge.
5. Privacy is paramount now; LLMs surface the best information, which means companies must provide genuine IP; the tools will get better at presenting this information to the right people at the right time = quality over quantity.
6. LLMs are challenging language and our use of it, and it is important to have a consistent voice and language (style guide) - tools can help by writing copy based on prompts but having your own unique language is powerful.
7. In terms of visibility and branding in a crowded market, it is imperative to focus on the most relevant platforms (e.g. LinkedIn for B2B) and use tools to syndicate out to other platforms - every business has a human story.
8. A high-performing website needs a UX that guides the eye through the core message in order to grasp it and interact with it – vibe coding will advance to meet the needs of website design, where tech provides the labour and the human adds the value (moving from content to process).
9. In the age of LLMs, businesses must build authority, trust and reputation, and indicate their sustainability; visits...