Transcription
I used to think marketing changes fast, but I've never seen anything like 2025. I wasn't planning to make this video. My 2025 marketing trends video from January was supposed to last the whole year, but in just the last 6 months, so many strategies that were working perfectly have completely fallen apart. And what I'm seeing right now is the businesses that are thriving; they are not the ones with the biggest budgets. They're the ones embracing these five fundamental shifts that most service businesses don't even know are happening yet.
But before we get on to the strategies, why do we need to use them in the first place? Well, think about how you found the last new restaurant you tried. Last year, you probably Googled "best sushi near me" and clicked through a few websites or Yelp listings. But today, you might have seen it on a friend's Instagram story or watched someone eat there on Tik Tok. Or maybe you just ask ChatGpt, "Where should I eat tonight?" This simple change in how we choose restaurants is actually happening with every service. From finding a plumber to choosing a financial adviser, the ways that people discover and decide who to hire have really changed in just the last 6 months. That old path where someone searches on Google, finds your website, and contacts you, it's quickly disappearing. Instead, they're discovering businesses through video content or getting direct recommendations from AI tools. If your marketing isn't aligned with these new ways of discovering businesses, you're basically putting up billboards on an abandoned highway.
Let's start with what I call AI deep client research. So, I want you to do this strategy first because it makes all the other stuff work better. Think of it as your foundation. One of my students who did this was blown away by the results. But before I tell you about that, we need to understand the problem first. Most of us talk about our businesses using the words we use, even though our clients probably think and talk completely differently about it. Like, let's say you're a financial adviser. You might think it's important to talk about diversified investment strategies and tax-efficient withdrawals on your website. But your clients, they're thinking about completely different things like, "I'm scared I'm going to run out of money," or "I don't want to be a burden on my kids." And that gap in language is huge. It's like you're speaking French, they're speaking Spanish; you're never going to connect. But when you bridge that gap and start using their words, your marketing improves practically overnight.
So here's what you do. Open up ChatGBT, Perplexity, or Google Gemini and tell it about your business. Just make sure you're choosing the deep research option. Then ask it to search through real forums, Reddit threads, core threads, and review sites to find exactly how your ideal clients talk about their problems and their dream outcomes. It'll create this amazing report that shows you their exact words, the emotional triggers that make them take action, and the specific problems that they need to have solved. So, the student I was talking about, he's a web designer, and he'd been making his website all about, you know, things like responsive design, UI/UX optimization, and cross-browser compatibility on his website, but nobody was contacting him. But then when he used AI to research how his potential clients actually talk and what they wanted, he discovered they weren't looking for any of that technical stuff. They wanted things like, "a website that doesn't look terrible on my phone," or "a site that won't embarrass me in front of customers," or "one that actually gets people to call me." Then when he rewrote his website using these exact phrases instead of all the tech jargon, his inquiries doubled in about 2 weeks. Same exact service, just described in words that his clients actually use and care about. This is probably the easiest change you can make, and it cost you nothing. Just talk how your clients talk.
Okay, so Google search is fading fast, but that doesn't mean people stop searching. They just changed where they look. I don't know if you know this stat, but young adults now use Tik Tok more than Google when they're looking for something. And almost everybody uses YouTube to learn new stuff. Think about it. If you needed to fix something in your house, would you rather read an article or watch a quick video showing you how to do it? Video just works better for most things. And when it comes to hiring someone, video is powerful because clients can actually see your face, hear your voice, and decide if they trust you. It's like you're having a mini meeting with potential clients while you're doing something else. Anything else. So, instead of obsessing over your Google ranking, you should be making simple videos that answer questions that your clients actually ask.
Here's how to start. So, what are the top five questions that almost every new client asks you? Then just make a video answering each one of them. Super simple. Now, between YouTube and Tik Tok, which should you pick? Well, for most service businesses, I would go with YouTube. And here's why. Tik Tok might get you quick views, but YouTube videos stick around forever. I've got videos from years ago that still bring in new students to my paid programs every single month. And you don't need any fancy equipment, but what you do need is your own face and your own voice. So, no, don't try those faceless videos with robot voices. They are, yes, easier to make, but nobody hires a robot voice. Show your actual face. Let people see the real you. That is what builds trust. And if you're too scared to do that, you know, truth be told, and time here, that just means you're going to be at a disadvantage when video becomes the bare minimum standard in the very near future.
This next trend is huge, and almost nobody's talking about it yet. So, more and more people are skipping Google completely now, and they're just asking ChatGpt things like, "Who's the best accountant for small business owners in Denver?" or "What's a good local plumber that won't rip me off?" Why the shift, though? I think it's because chat GBT doesn't just show a list of options like Google does that you then have to go investigate each one of them. It is going to recommend specific businesses. Now, I actually have a pergola on my rooftop that I needed to get repainted. And sure, I could have done a typical Google or Yelp search to find someone, but I went to Chat GPT for it instead. And it gave me three great options, including their contact info, and I just got a bid from each one of them. And this business got my money because Chat GPT recommended them to me. It's kind of like asking a neighbor who just had the same thing done: "Hey John, who painted your pergola? Can you give me their number?"
So, how do you make sure that your business gets recommended by AI? So, first, you want to make your Google business profile as good as you can, right? Fill out every possible section. Add as many photos. Answer questions in the Q&A section. This is where AI tools get a lot of their information. Second, you got to get more reviews. You know, AI tools, they want to recommend businesses with lots of positive five-star reviews. So, you want to set up a simple system, right? Maybe a text message that goes out after you finish working with someone, just asking them, prompting them for a Google review. Third, be super clear on your website about exactly what you do and who you help. 'Cause AI tools, they definitely will scan your website to understand your business. So, don't be vague. I've even heard of businesses, uh, just writing an article on their own website that's basically, you know, a listicle of the best fill-in-the-blank business in their city. Then they just list like the top three to five in the category in the city. And wouldn't you know it, they put themselves number one. And a lot of AI tools are going to find that article and then directly use it in their power ranking. So yes, I do admit it's a little spammy, and it may not work forever, but it seems to be working for now at least. And this is only going to be getting bigger and bigger as more people get comfortable using AI tools. So, if you're the first in your niche to do this, you got a major head start.
Let's talk about something that can save you tons of money and make you look much more polished than your competitors, and that's using AI to create images and graphics for all your marketing. ChatGBT's new image tool is crazy good. It's like having a graphic designer on call 24 hours a day, except it doesn't cost you anything extra. Think about all the visual things that your business needs: you know, social media posts, ads, maybe website images, definitely maybe even a logo refresh. Normally, you'd be paying a designer hundreds or even thousands of dollars for all of that work. But with ChatGBT, you can create gorgeous, professional images just by describing what you want. Let's say you're a chiropractor. You could tell ChatGpt, "Create an Instagram ad for my chiropractic practice. Show a split image: on one side, a person hunched over a desk, grimacing in pain. On the other side, show the same person with perfect posture. Add text that says, 'Life without pain starts here. Book your first adjustment today.'" What you get back is usually pretty good. And if you want to take it to the next level, you can even give it an image as a style reference. Then their AI is going to create something new, but with the same vibe that you gave it. Now, this isn't some generic stock photo with text slapped on it. It's a custom-designed ad that speaks directly to your ideal patients' pain points and shows them exactly what relief looks like. You can use ChatGBT's image creation for, yes, Facebook and Instagram ads, but also social media posts, website header images, logo designs, and you don't need any design skills at all. Just describe what you want in your own words and just give it any images you like for style.
Okay, this next strategy is probably the biggest game changer of all. It's called Vibe Marketing, and it's basically like having an entire marketing team that works for you for free. Here's the idea. So, instead of learning all the technical marketing skills yourself, you just tell AI what you want, and it does all the heavy lifting. You know, it's kind of like being the director of a movie instead of the cameraman. You bring the vision, and then AI handles the rest. So, what used to take days or weeks can now happen in minutes. If you need a Facebook ad, just tell ChatGBT, "I need an ad for my plumbing business," targeting homeowners with old pipes. Show a split image, rusty leaking pipes on one side, beautiful new plumbing on the other, and make it feel urgent but trustworthy. For your website copy, you don't need to be a copywriter anymore. Just describe your business and your ideal client to AI, and it's going to write all your pages. And if you want to change the tone, just say, "Make this sound more friendly," or "This feels too salesy. Fix it." And if you're creating email campaigns, same thing. Tell AI about your service and what you want to accomplish. And it's going to write a whole email sequence for you. And the beauty is that you can test way more approaches when everything's this fast. You know, if you don't like how an ad performed, have it create five new versions in 10 minutes so you can see what works better. And one of my students actually used this for his accounting firm. He told AI exactly what his ideal clients were worried about and what results that he wanted to promise them. And within an hour, he had new website copy, three Facebook ads, and a whole month's worth of email content, all perfectly aligned and really professional-looking. And if you want to see some examples of what you can create with just your imagination in a Chat GBT subscription, check out this next video where I show you the true marketing power of ChatGBT's new image creation tool. It's absolutely crazy what it can do now without needing a graphic designer. And as an ex-graphic designer, it kind of hurts me to say it, but it's just where we are now. So, click on this video, and I'm going to show you some really cool...