Google Ads is an incredible platform—but it’s full of hidden traps. Many of these are Google’s default settings, and they’re designed to get you more clicks, not necessarily more customers. Welcome to “Marketing Philosophy,” where we use philosophy to understand marketing, and marketing to understand why your customers claim that they “ignore ads” and yet sometimes actually do click, get excited, and convert while simultaneously munching on potato chips and salsa, streaming football, scanning Instagram on their phone, and Google searching “Mexican restaurants near me.” Continue reading
Category Archives: Marketing Philosophy
The More Search Changes, The More It Stays the Same : Why Marketers Should Pay Attention to AEO
The French have a wonderful expression, Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. That is, “the more things change, the more things stay the same.” I asked AI about this, and it pointed out that this idea – that things may seem different but be the same or similar has a long history. We live in a technological age. AI (Artificial Intelligence) is clearly in HYPE mode. Be afraid, be very afraid! AI is changing everything! It’s coming for your job, your company, your cat, your car, your 401k…. Now, we are seeing the rise of AEO – Answer Agent Optimization. What’s that? Continue reading
Your Business is Having an Existential Crisis – Writing a Business Value Proposition with Sartre as Your Guide | Marketing Philosophy
The connections between French existentialism and marketing seem absurd. Well… “absurd” is an existentialist concept, so we’re off to a pretty good start.
Bear with me. In this video I’m going to explain what the existentialist philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre meant by his famous phrase, “existence precedes essence,” and why that idea has everything to do with writing a Business Value Proposition for your company. Continue reading
Social Media Marketing: Top Ten (Free) Tools & Tips for 2026
If social media is a “party,” then you are the “party thrower.” As a marketer, you want to throw engaging and exciting parties (largely via content marketing) on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube… even LinkedIn not to mention TikTok or even X. If you follow the party analogy, you’ll realize that just as people show up are your party for “food” and “entertainment,” on social media they show up (largely) to have fun. They want to watch that hilarious YouTube or TikTok video, that bizarre but engaging AI-generated meme on Facebook, and even when they are in “learning” mode on LinkedIn, girls (and guys) still want to have fun! How do you market on social media in 2026? Continue reading
Marketing Philosophy: A Google Review Solicitation Strategy that Doesn’t Suck (Too Badly)
What are reviews and why do they matter? Let’s look at this from a marketing philosophy perspective. The big picture – not just that marketers and small business owners love to complain about reviews. Google reviews. Reviews on Yelp. Amazon reviews. Pick your poison.
But why the entire review ecosystem feels like a swamp of hypocrisy. Fake reviews. Competitors gaming the system. Review gating. Super annoying pissed off customers slamming your business. Scammy reputation management companies. Meanwhile, the big tech companies threaten to ban you if you ask a customer to share their experience. Continue reading
