Tim Peter's Blog, page 3

Google Closes the Gate on Marketers (Thinks Out Loud)

Google’s AI Mode in search, to put it bluntly, sucks. At least it does if your job is to drive traffic and revenue for your business. We all know that “gatekeepers gonna gate.” Well, AI Mode is a sure sing that Google is closing the gate on marketers. They’re removing access to the kinds of traffic we’ve taken for granted for years.

Will AI Mode kill your company’s traffic? Not exactly. It’s slightly more complicated than that. It does suck, mind you. But it’s not as simple as “AI Mode won’t li...

Touch Grass — Memorial Day 2025 (Thinks Out Loud 462)

It’s Memorial Day weekend here in the US. And Tim’s got some quick thoughts for you to enjoy before you take off for the weekend. Be sure to give a listen and let us know what you think.

Want to learn more? Here are the show notes for you.

Touch Grass — Memorial Day 2025 (Thinks Out Loud 462) — Headlines and Show NotesShow Notes and Links"Touch Grass" (Thinks Out Loud Episode 358)The Only Way to Succeed Next Year (Thinks Out Loud Episode 444)AI Is Not the Future. You Are (Thinks Out Loud E...

Digital Reset is Here (Thinks Out Loud 461)

This is a slightly different episode than usual, and, to be honest, slightly more self-promotional than usual, too. You see, I am very excited to share the news that my new book, Digital Reset: Driving Marketing and Customer Acquisition Beyond Big Tech is now available.

This has been a labor of love over the last few years, informed by my experiences working with clients to drive direct revenues and lower the cost of customer acquisition. In this episode episode of the podcast, I focused on som...

Is Apple Dropping Google? What Does That Mean For Your Business? (Thinks Out Loud 460)

According to Search Engine Journal, Apple might be thinking about replacing Google with ChatGPT or Perplexity as its default search engine in Safari. I know, I know, it sounds crazy. How in the world could Apple drop Google?

Well, whether Apple dropping Google is likely or not isn’t the point.

Instead, the point is that while any one member of Big Tech could (at least in theory) get pushed out of the club at any time, Big Tech itself will continue to roll right along. And that gatekeepers gonn...

Is It Impossible for Marketers to Keep Up With AI? (Thinks Out Loud 459)

My friend Mark Schafer just asked a brilliant question on LinkedIn about whether small and mid-sized businesses are destined to fall behind when it comes to AI. It’s a beautiful post and I’d highly encourage you to read it.

Is it impossible for marketers and e-commerce folks to keep up with AI? Is your business doomed to fall behind?

In one way, yes. But, in a more meaningful way, I’m not convinced. Instead, there are a few ways that marketers can keep up—and keep ourselves relevant. And those...

Digital Reset: Build Customer Relationships Big Tech—and AI—Can’t Touch (Thinks Out Loud 458)

This is a huge week around here. I’ve just announced the release of my new book, Digital Reset: Driving Marketing and Customer Acquisition Beyond Big Tech. Which, yay, and all. I mean, good for me. But how does that help you?

Instead, what you need to focus on is the animating idea behind the book. And that is that Big Tech wants to be a gatekeeper between you and your customers. They’ve admitted it again and again. The question you should be asking is how do you escape their web and bypass Big...

Google Says You Should Not Use AI To Create Content… Kind Of (Thinks Out Loud 457)

Google may have just told marketers they can never use AI to create content. Or… maybe not. Their actual recommendations are somewhat more nuanced than simply “AI bad” or “AI great.”

What’s important about what they said, though, is that they’re being clear about what they’re looking for — and, more importantly, what your customers are looking for. And their guidelines make it relatively easy to understand when you can use AI, when you can’t, and what you should expect from your AI tools when c...

Here We Go Again: Marketing in Another Bizarre Economy (Thinks Out Loud 456)

So, the economy has been going through it over the last couple months — and especially over the last week in particular. That’s a plain fact. But it’s more than just a tough economy. It’s a bizarre economy.

It’s easy at times like this to get discouraged, distressed, or just plain confused about how you can make marketing and customer acquisition work in genuinely bizarre economic times.

So how do you do that? What works when the economy is… strange? What can you do to connect with customers w...

AI Can’t Save Bad Strategy: Why Fundamentals Still Matter in 2025 (Thinks Out Loud Episode 455)

If there’s one thing I hate to see, it’s marketers, e-commerce, and customer acquisition folks who talk about AI as if it’s going to solve every problem their business has. Yes, AI can be an incredibly valuable tool. But it’s only a tool. The fact is that AI can’t save your business from bad strategy. Only you can.

Thinking about AI as a “magic bullet” is a big reason why so many businesses still aren’t seeing the returns they’d hoped for from their AI efforts. Instead, the businesses succeedin...