Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Amerilife Marketing Mentors Podcast. My name is David Belville.
[00:00:14] Speaker A: And I'm Joe Barker.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: And today we are talking about how AI has revolutionized the marketing landscape and in particular, how consumer behaviors are really being impacted by the rise of AI. But, Joe, you do this better than anybody else. Can you set the stage. Stage for us and kind of walk us through how we've got to where we are today?
[00:00:36] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So this is one of the. And you're right, it's one of the favorite things that I love to talk about. I always like to kind of set the pace or. Or set the tone for how we got to where we are by kind of taking a walk through history.
So for this one, I'm going to take it all the way back to really when we went offline to online, and really when the World Wide Web was introduced. So we're going to go all the way back to 1995. This is really when you started to see people change their behavior from going offline to.
This is when. It didn't all happen right away. It wasn't all in 1995. You know, it took about 10 years for people to adapt to that.
Next up. So we got used to being online and we started utilizing those message boards in those different areas. Well, next up was in 2005, we had Google hit. All of a sudden, the word just Google it came out. Actually, I find it funny. And I have to share this. I thought you were.
[00:01:25] Speaker B: I was going to make sure you didn't gloss over that.
[00:01:27] Speaker A: Yeah. So. And I just think it's funny trivia. So in case you ever play trivia, if they ever ask you what the original name of Google was, it was back.
And could you imagine, I joke about it, like, could you imagine just saying just back rub it? But the reason that it was named that is because of all the backlinks and the way that it does the sorting. It was thinking about the backlinks, and so that's why it was named. That was back rub. It was actually a misspelling. So they realized it probably wasn't the perfect name. So they came up with a version of Google.
Yeah. And then they ended up. Actually, it was a misspelling of how they got to the final name of Google and the way that it's spelled today. So it was pretty interesting. But really, that's when 2005 is that timeframe when everybody got to that point of like, just Google it. Everybody started researching, everybody started looking things up. And you really started to see us get used to having to go in there and search and find things on our own.
[00:02:16] Speaker B: So it's, it's reasonable to say that this is also where SEO 100% because it now here we are all these years later and SEO is still important. We'll get into some other strategies as well.
[00:02:27] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:02:28] Speaker B: So this is the dawn of SEO as well.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: Yes, absolutely. This is when everybody started to realize that keywords came into ranking. And this is when we started to realize how we could set up the websites and everything behind the scenes to be able to rank on Google. I mean, it was a joke for years that if you want your business to, you know, do, or if a business is going to go under, it's probably on page two or below on Google, because everybody wants page two or page one of Google.
[00:02:51] Speaker B: So we saw that major shift with the Internet and then Google.
What's next? The smartphone revenue.
[00:03:00] Speaker A: This was what we call it. This is the big one. So this is really, in my opinion, it was the last biggest shift we've had. That is the size of the shift we're in right now. This is where you started to see people really go from desktop to mobile. And so everything. We were constantly like able to search anything at any time. It was all in the palm of our hands. It's kind of amazing thinking back that we ever had to go to a computer and go sit down and go look it up. Cause right now we're just used to that instant access.
[00:03:29] Speaker B: I always think about before cell phones and smartphones, like what if you broke down somewhere? Yeah, I mean, what do you have?
[00:03:38] Speaker A: What did you do?
[00:03:38] Speaker B: You have to walk to a gas station or something like that.
[00:03:41] Speaker A: So I mean, you had to use a map, like an actual math that you had to learn how to refold at the end of it. I mean, that's where we were at that point in time. But yeah, I mean, it was a big shift. But think about it also from like a website perspective is we had to build websites originally for that desktop and now we have to change it and everything became mobile first. And we really started to see those mobile pages really take over again. That was in 2007 that the mobile phone and the iPhone and all the smartphones started to come out. It started. Still took many years before people got their first phones. You still had the flip phones, the BlackBerries, all of those in play.
[00:04:16] Speaker B: Back then I wasn't even. I was in college when I first got my first smartphone. And now you've got people, you've Got kids that elementary school students with them. So, I mean, that just speaks to how mainstream the smartphone has become and where we're headed.
[00:04:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:29] Speaker B: You. You almost can't operate anymore without a smartphone. Like, it's.
[00:04:33] Speaker A: It's expected now that you have one.
[00:04:34] Speaker B: Right, Right.
[00:04:35] Speaker A: Like, if I know, if I turn off my phone for a day or two and they're like, joe, where have you been? It's like, oh, my gosh, what a concept. That I actually off my phone and didn't answer for a day or two.
When, you know, before that, you're right. It was different times, but that's how quickly our behavior is adjusted.
[00:04:50] Speaker B: Yeah. And the practices, not even just consumer behavior, but you just mentioned it. Everything was optimized for desktop. Now you're on a small rectangular device. How you think about the visuals of your content totally changed everything.
[00:05:05] Speaker A: Yep. Absolutely. And then not far behind that one. So now, you know, we've gotten to this point where now we're mobile first. We're on our cell phones all the time. This is really what. What came next was that social media era. So this is where you started to see this shift from people searching to now we're scrolling. And now, you know, brands really had to shift. We had to switch. Switch in marketing and advertising to get in front of people. Now we're drumming up interest and we're trying to grab their attention as they're spending three hours a day on social media.
And that was another big shift. So all of a sudden, you know, the time spent researching or doing business, now it became entertainment. Now it became scrolling. And that was. That was a big shift for us.
And that was around 2009. Again, it didn't happen immediately. You had things like MySpace before that, but MySpace really was just getting us used to putting our information online. Sure. Wasn't necessarily. Didn't change huge behaviors like Facebook and all of them did years later.
[00:05:59] Speaker B: When I think about MySpace compared to Facebook, and this feels like such a blast in the past to be talking about MySpace, but I feel like MySpace walked so Facebook could run.
But Facebook really was the catalyst for all future social media platforms at which there are so many now.
[00:06:18] Speaker A: Oh, it's unbelievable.
[00:06:19] Speaker B: Truly. In this era that we were talking about, to your point, there, there was a time frame where there was maybe one or two prominent social media platforms that everybody was on. So it's fascinating to think that. And not that short, long amount of time.
[00:06:34] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:06:35] Speaker B: So much has evolved since then.
[00:06:37] Speaker A: Yeah. And you see people, you know, even from your traditional platforms as Twitter X and now you have Instagram threads and everybody's starting to. All the platforms are diversifying and they're all trying to get each other's mix and trying to garner that attention. I mean, even on LinkedIn now you can go live on LinkedIn and now you can have different. It's just everybody's adapting and trying to figure out how do you get people to spend more time on your platform? Because that's really what they're looking for. And that's where you see the algorithm switch and you see all these changes happen.
But that social media era again, it started in about 2009, but it took a lot of years for that to get implemented. And so that was kind of that shift though, where we started to really move into that scrolling and really quickly.
[00:07:17] Speaker B: Before you move on. If Facebook was the catalyst in the. As social media was just getting its footing, one of the biggest shift in social media was around 2020, 2019 when TikTok became popularized and we were all, you know, stuck at home during the pandemic. And so I really think of the social media era and kind of it's.
[00:07:40] Speaker A: You know, phase, it's still continuing, you feel like, like it's still, it's still going, it's still ad, still new ways of entertainment. So that's where you see that education and entertainment where they came together in short form video. And it really did shift behaviors and how addicting it is for so many people and you see how many hours they spend, you know, and that's the algorithm. The algorithm knows what you like and that's where it's coming into play. And it is pretty amazing what, what that social media area era continues to do.
[00:08:08] Speaker B: Yeah, it's continuing to evolve and that's why you'll hear us say, say time and time again, no matter what we're talking about, you got to say adaptable, you got to stay agile and you got to be ready to pivot because it only takes one platform to change everything and, and to get us, you know, back on track. After the social media era came to fruition, what, what was the next catalyst that changed consumer behavior?
[00:08:33] Speaker A: So the next one, I, I always call it an honorable mention. I don't think it was as big of an era as all the other ones were, but it was the one of the Alexa and the voice assistants.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: Oh yeah, of course.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: So I think, I think the reason it deserves an honorable mention is because it did shift a behavior. It actually more comfortable. So it got us into more of that conversational dialogue. With our devices to where before it was keywords and it was five words, and we weren't really having conversations with it. It was more of just transactions. We started to see that shift of us actually treating it like kind of a person. And we were like, hey, Alexa, help me out here. Hey, Siri, I need help.
[00:09:08] Speaker B: I tell people that on my watch, I set my Siri to be British because it makes me feel like I'm James Bond while I'm talking to it. But you're right. I mean, that behavior is sill, but it's a behavior that exists because of that technology.
[00:09:23] Speaker A: It got us comfortable.
[00:09:24] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:09:24] Speaker A: And I think that's why, even though it wasn't a huge shift and you didn't see people get rid of their phones or move, you know, we didn't get rid of it move to the Alexa devices, but it did change our behavior, and it had changed kind of what was acceptable and what we viewed as acceptable. It's okay to talk to our devices.
[00:09:40] Speaker B: And they're continuing to get smarter as well. I mean, they just figure out how social media is continuing to evolve, and that's, you know, get too ahead. But these smart voice assistants are getting smarter and they're continuing to evolve. So even though it's just an honorable mention, you know, who knows where that technology, you know, could take us?
[00:10:02] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, it's obviously, you know, it's learning over time, and it's collecting the data of everything that we're putting into it. And it's. You're right, it's just getting better, and it's learning how to help us more, which is what all of these platforms are trying to do. They're trying to keep us there, help us more. And so we utilize it more so it makes sense from the. From their perspective. And then that leads us to kind of what's feeding into all of that, which is AI. We're in the AI era. This is the beginning of it. So where a lot of people don't realize this huge behavior shift that's happening, we are literally in the beginning of it right now. As big as when the iPhone happened. Yeah, this is the big shift. This is where there's so many differences between, you know, back in 2005, when the Google era hit, to now of behavior changes and how things are about to change across the board.
And it's pretty amazing. And it's kind of fun to watch. I mean, I'm not going to lie. I look at it and I'm like, it's exciting to see what's happening?
[00:10:56] Speaker B: It's so exciting.
The biggest word that pops into my head when I think about where we are today with marketing is opportunity. There is so much more opportunity that never would have existed for us because of our human limitations. But now we can leverage, you know, the knowledge of the world at a moment's notice in a conversational manner as opposed to, you know, spending an hour doing research online, clicking through links and searching with just a few keywords, as you said. So now that we've kind of set the stage, and I have to say it's always fascinating to hear you walk through how we got here today because it's also fascinating to see how each layer kind of feeds into the next.
And so now AI is revolutionizing the Internet, our smartphones, social media, smart assistants. I mean, it's totally rocked the marketing landscape. And so what do you think is the biggest advantage for agents and advisors out there now that we're in this era specifically?
[00:12:00] Speaker A: I think, you know, AI did it, has done a couple of things, but one thing and one advantage that it really gives all of us is it's driven the need for human interaction more than, than ever and authenticity more than ever.
[00:12:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:12] Speaker A: And I really think that's going to be advantage for all of us. From us as marketers in, you know, in our industry, from agents and advisors in their industries. We're all still doing the same things. We're all out there building, you know, and building upon our knowledge. And this is where we're going to be able to share our insights, our expertise and we are what sets us apart. And that is when a world of AI and everybody being able to create 10,000 pieces of content every single month, it's us that's going to set it apart. And I think more than ever, those personal brands and us being able to show who we are, I think that is going to be the biggest advantage that many of us are going to see. People are going to crave that human interaction more than ever.
[00:12:53] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think that's important to talk about too because we are in a relationship trust oriented industry where no matter what advances there are in technology, consumers that are making decisions that are going to impact their lives and their family's lives. Lives, you know, are, are much more prone to wanting, talk to a person. Absolutely want to get in front of a person. But for those that are listening today, that doesn't mean you can't use AI or that you shouldn't use AI. AI is there to enhance your messaging, to find unique ways to approach your audience and your outreach and to really leverage it to set yourself apart from the competition.
[00:13:34] Speaker A: Yeah. There's a couple of things that I think we're seeing with that consumer shift that's happening is it used to be they were out there researching and they were out there trying to click on all these different blue links to learn as much as they could from all these different areas.
That's all changed now. So now when they go to AI, you know, it's not putting in five words, it's having a conversation and it's saying, hey, I'm looking for the best digital marketer that's in the Clearwater area that specializes in this industry. And it's very long winded and it's a full conversation. When AI is coming back, it's already giving its recommendation and that's going to be the critical piece that everyone's going to have to realize is getting in those AI recommendations.
But here's the other big consumer shift. By the time they come to us. So by the time somebody comes to me and says, like, hey, Joe, this is what I've learned, they already know everything they want to know. They probably already know everything about me by the time they found me. And so it's almost like by the time they get to us, we're not having to teach, we're not having to educate, we're not trying to tell them what is best. They probably already know. We're more validating and we're saying if what they learned is accurate and what may not have been accurate and more of them, they already trust us at this point because AI recommended us. Sure. And so it really is a shift of like realizing by the time they get to us, the trust is probably there, we're validating, and then it's just giving that confirmation and being there for them and, and helping them through the process at this point, because people still want that. That last piece of the confirmation. Is this right?
[00:15:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:02] Speaker A: And that's going to be a shift.
[00:15:03] Speaker B: That validation is the key word there. From everything that you just said, you are. You're just sincerely validating the consumer's research that they've already done, closer to the buying stage than they've ever been before when they approach you.
Another major consumer behavioral shift that we've seen, and this started before AI, but AI has just accelerated. It is how consumers are expecting personalized experience.
So in the social media era, we started to have content come to us rather than us doing the legwork to go find it just by simply scrolling and as these social media platforms have evolved and gotten smarter, their algorithms have, too. And so now they're recommending content based off of, you know, what you've enjoyed in the past, what you've interacted with in the past, what your interests are. And so really, we're on social media and we're getting content recommended to us.
[00:15:58] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:15:58] Speaker B: And that extends beyond social media to apps like Amazon, you're getting recommended products. Netflix, you're getting recommended shows. And so now the strategy with AI is to leverage it to create those personalized experience for your audiences. And especially with AI, all of those things that we just talked about is just getting smarter and smarter because it's also leveraging technology.
[00:16:25] Speaker A: Yeah. I think as you, as you bring this back to the agent and advisor perspective of what does this mean for us? It means that the expectations from the consumer is changing. So the expectation from the consumer perspective is everything is going to be customized to them. Everything is. You should know who they are, you should know what it is that they want. That is a shift that we have to realize how critical that is. So if you're blast messaging out of your CRM and you're sending an email to everybody, it's probably not going to do very well as if it used to, because the fact is, is if you've already sold them something or you already have a relationship with them, you should not be interacting with them or having emails with them the same way as somebody that you, you know, have been working with for years or just met like that. Those conversations need to be segmented. They need to be separate, and you really need to know your audience. And I think that's where it's critical to really tie that together, to say their expectation now is changing for everything to be personalized to them, including your interactions with them. Don't treat everybody the same anymore. You have to know whether I've been working with you for 10 years, five years, or I've never met you before, and we're beginning a conversation.
[00:17:31] Speaker B: That's such a good point. And so audience segmentation is also a huge pillar of marketing in 2026. And AI is making it easier to define those audiences as well. I mean, having a target audience has always been important for your business and for your messaging, but now you have a way to really speak to them in that segment as fashion. And AI can really be a tool to help. So if you know that you're targeting a specific audience, you can leverage AI to scrape Reddit threads and local Facebook groups and Google consumer reviews to generate a buyer Persona based off of real pain points and real objections that consumers may be facing. So it's becoming more and more important to personalize and segment. But AI is also making it much easier to do so.
[00:18:29] Speaker A: Yeah, the amount of tools that are out there and the amount of just information that's out there is just endless. I mean, I, I swear, I think it's every single day, there's a new AI tool that's released that will streamline and make something more efficient for you. And so I think you're going to see over this year that we're, you know, we're going to begin to share some of the tools that we use and really, you know, start to be able to teach people how to utilize a lot of this. But, but right now, at our fingertips, it's just so much access to things to streamline and make us more efficient and make our jobs easier.
[00:18:59] Speaker B: And that word popped right back into my head as the opportunity, the opportunity ahead for us is so exciting.
One more thing I want to make sure that we touch on and it kind of ties back to that human touch. But if we're building a brand to win in 2026 and we're leveraging AI, one thing I feel like we need to talk about is prompting. And we're going to do a whole podcast episode on nothing but prompting. But quickly, for this conversation, I want to bring it up because as consumer behaviors change, so too should marketing behaviors.
[00:19:34] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:19:35] Speaker B: And every marketer out there who's using AI is often using generic prompts. So you can truly set yourself apart by leveraging best practices when you're prompting. And therefore, you're not just going to blend in to the background as your audience behaviorals change. You're going to set yourself apart.
[00:19:56] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think, you know, you said it really well, things are going to keep changing. This morning, I, I probably read three articles about new prompting and new ideas that's going to keep happening. So you're going to, I think it's going to be kind of in phases, get the basics down really good. It's going to continue to evolve. We're going to get better and better. You're going to start to recognize feedback from AI tools that, that, you know, oh, AI generated this. You know, it used to be the M Dash, then now it's, you know, it's using a lot of this and that language.
And so we're going to keep recognizing that. We're going to keep telling each other and, and advising of like, oh, wait, watch that. Make sure you change that. But yeah, I think as we continue and great point. We will be coming out with a bunch of information about prompting and I'm sure a whole podcast on it.
But yeah, it's going to continue to evolve. And I think that is what keeps it really exciting though, is nothing is stagnant right now. Everything is moving very quickly. We're all learning very quickly. We're all evolving very quickly. And that's not going to stop anytime soon.
[00:20:55] Speaker B: No.
[00:20:56] Speaker A: The one thing I will add just going back real quick to our initial conversation, which was about the consumer behavior change, which I think is really, really important for our audiences and the industry that we're in. Even coming into 2026, the behavior shift from moving from like a Google to an AI search is only sitting around 15%.
Where that's a lot of people. And to put it in perspective for you, it took seven years, I think they said, for Google to get a hundred million unique users. It took AI and ChatGPT two months. That's my to give an idea of like how, how quickly it's happening. But still, when you put it in perspective to, to our agents and advisors and partners who are looking at the industry, we're still only at 15% by the end of this year. They're looking for that to be closer to 30% of people moving from Google to AI for search and for research, basically. So I say that because while we know this consumer shift is happening, we are at the beginning stages of it and our industry and our target audience of that 50 plus is at the back end of it. So even that 15% is sitting in younger generations. We still have time. And, and that is why it's a perfect time for us to be talking about this, putting it out there so nobody, you know, can act surprised and gives everybody time to prepare over the next two years when you start to see that number creep closer to that 40, 50%.
[00:22:16] Speaker B: Yeah. One thing I'm fascinated about is how AI is getting integrated into the tools that we use every day.
[00:22:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:24] Speaker B: So it's not going to be long before you don't even have to open a specific LLM app, whether that be Copilot or Grok or Gemini or ChatGPT.
It's just going to be built in natively to any tool that you're using. And you're starting to see this in a lot of different platforms like the Microsoft Suite. You can be in a Word document and talk with Copilot simultaneously.
[00:22:46] Speaker A: Well, look at Google. I mean, even go to Google. Now Google, you type in anything. The very first top left thing it says is AI mode. You select it, it switches you directly to that interface of an AI conversational platform. Google's doing that on purpose. Google knows it's losing market share and it knows where it's going. So why wouldn't they prepare for it and transform their own platform to meet the consumer need? And that shows you right there how much of a shift this is happening where Google is pivoting.
[00:23:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:16] Speaker A: And that AI mode is front and center right now, top left, you can't miss it. Go Google anything and you'll see it sitting there waiting to be used.
[00:23:24] Speaker B: Of course, there is so much more could be talking about. And we're going to be bringing you news, insights, trends, updates. You know, the, the education that you need to be successful all year long will be staying on top of all of these emerging technologies and how they're continuing to shape the marketing landscape. Joe, before we go, what's one big takeaway or final thought you might have?
[00:23:50] Speaker A: I think just the more that everyone can learn and just research it and realize like we still hear from a lot of people, oh, you know, I'm not quite ready to use AI. Fact is, is you've been using it all along. You mentioned it earlier. Netflix, Amazon, all of them have AI built into it. Fraud detection on all of your bank accounts. Bank of America, when you get that text that says, hey, we, we detected fraud, that's all AI. Google Maps. When there's an accident and it revert, you know, verts you off and says, hey, take this exit, it's faster, it's all AI. And so I think the more people can just get comfortable with it and the more they can research it and understand it, you'll get that much further ahead and honestly, you'll really start to see how it can help you. And I always say that first step is getting rid of your grunt work. Like let it do your grunt work for you. The stuff that, that annoys you, that you don't want to do. Just remember at the end of it that the human touch and make sure you set your eyes on it and make sure it is something that you would say or put out there with your name on it.
[00:24:43] Speaker B: Yeah, that's well said. I think that we can end on that note. Just rest assured everybody, we will have a lot more content just like this coming at you all year long. Make sure that you're following the Amerilife marketing mentors on, on all of the social media platforms, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and of course, on YouTube, where we'll be. Where we will be publishing a weekly podcast and content to help you get ahead in 2026. So for Joe Barker, I'm David Belleville, and we'll see you next time.
[00:25:13] Speaker A: Have a good one.
