02/09/2026
Everyone is talking about automating marketing.
Automated workflows.
Fancy ai agents taking over many marketing tasks even the strategy hat.
AI content.
AI agents.
Automated lead nurturing.
Automated everything.
𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝?
Businesses - management, leaders, owners, marketing teams are still asking:
“𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠?”
“𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩?”
“Why are we getting enquiries but not enough sales?”
“Where should I actually put my marketing budget?”
And honestly, I think we sometimes get too caught up in automating the workflow before fixing the fundamentals.
𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭?
𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭?
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭? (damn fast take up rate vs market doesn't want..)
We focus on the HOW.
But we need to step back and look at the WHAT.
Which channels actually play what role in the customer journey?
Because those roles are changing.
Meta is increasingly about DISCOVERY.
SEO captures SEARCH DEMAND.
AEO influences how your brand appears when people ask AI for recommendations.
Content, reviews and your website build TRUST during consideration.
Sales converts that trust.
And this matters even more for businesses with longer sales cycles:
Property.
Software & SaaS.
B2B.
Healthcare.
Education.
Professional services.
Renovation & ID.
Industrial solutions.
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡-𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡-𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭, 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐲.
That's why yes.. Ai helps with the volume game.. but..
High stake decisions? Decision makers are still gona..
research.
compare.
Google you.
They ask ChatGPT.
They check your competitors.
𝐒𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐌𝟏𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝.....𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.
That's why I've been looking beyond paid marketing.
As a fractional CMO, I've spent the last 4 years heavily involved in paid marketing.
Over the last 1–2 years, I've gone deeper into SEO, organic growth and now AEO.
Not because paid is dead.
But because paid and organic are becoming increasingly interconnected.
A client I helped got 450% more inbound leads just by building more AEO, SEO.
while yes..still running their paid marketing..
tldr:
Your ad gets attention.
Your organic presence helps determine what happens next.
And that's why I think marketers need to look at the macro before the micro.
Before asking:
“How do we automate this?”
Ask:
“Is this the right channel, at the right stage, for the right objective?”
Then automate the workflow.
Not the strategy.
