AI Changed the Rules of Marketing. Here's How to Play. | Alan Harned of Uptick Marketing

If your ads aren't performing the way they used to, if you keep hearing about AEO and wondering what it is, or if you have a Google Business Profile you haven't touched in a year, this episode is for you. In this episode of The Localist, Carrie Rollwagen sits down with Alan Harned, Director of Account Services at Uptick Marketing. Alan works with small business owners every day on digital ads, SEO, AEO and analytics. He's honest about what has changed, what still works, and what small business owners can do right now, even without a marketing budget. Alan and Carrie talk about why AI has accelerated changes in marketing analytics, why pausing keywords based on an AI report can actually hurt your campaign, and why platforms need 30 to 60 days to learn what a good lead looks like for your business. They get into hard conversions versus soft conversions, why Google Ads is now prioritizing conversion data more than ever, and how small changes to a website (like adding a schedule button) can turn analytics into a real business insight. The second half of the episode covers small-business AI use cases: how to use ChatGPT and Claude to analyze your own analytics, build an AI advisory board, critique your website, and catch things like spammy backlinks you did not know existed. Alan also answers audience questions on whether customers are actually finding businesses through ChatGPT and Perplexity, whether SEO is dead (spoiler: no), how to handle a Google Business Profile you have neglected, whether Google Ads are still worth the money, and what budget you actually need to start working with a marketing agency.   Watch on YouTube _______________________________________   Mentioned in This Episode •       Uptick Marketing •       Infomedia •       ChatGPT •       Claude •       Perplexity •       Google Business Profile •       Google Analytics •       Google Ads •       StoryBrand •       Yelp for Business •       Bing Places for Business •       Ohm Jiu Jitsu Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia. They are a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company. They help small businesses grow online. •       Contact Infomedia    Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is a free event series for small business owners. It meets on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Free tacos and coffee too. •       See upcoming events and register   Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Want more small business tips from Carrie? Sign up for her newsletter. •       Sign up here