Happy Tuesday, Reader!

Not to brag, but about this time last year, we shared two hot takes on what we were watching in AI, and they've held up pretty well:

1. The harder AI companies chased monetization, the less transformational their tools would become. ​
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2. The social web would keep getting less valuable for most micro businesses.

So we’re doing it again. But first, let's recap.

How Last Year’s AI Predictions Held Up

On AI monetization: AI is still growing, and it will likely keep growing. But for most companies, integration has been slower than the hype suggested. Meanwhile, OpenAI and Anthropic are focused on public offerings, and Google keeps shoving worse and worse Gemini-driven search experiences down our throats. As we said last year, the more monetization these companies seek, the less we like them, and the less innovation comes out of their tools

We’re starting to believe AI integration might look a lot more like social media did: a 15-to-20-year slow burn, not the five-year doomscape so many predicted.

On the social web: Between platforms rewarding their own algorithmic preferences and a flood of AI slop, social media has mostly collapsed as a powerful marketing tool for small businesses. Engagement is down across nearly every major platform, and yet so many small business owners still blame themselves for the declining results.

Trust us, it’s not you; it’s them. And it’s time to put your effort somewhere else.

Which brings us to what we’re watching as we head into 2027.

Hot Take #1: For Brick-and-Mortar Businesses, Google Just Got Demoted

Google is no longer the priority spot for brick-and-mortar small business marketing.

As the juggernaut keeps cannibalizing itself, businesses that can’t (or won’t) meaningfully pay to play need to find another way. Unless you’re heavily invested in ads, your Google Business Profile and your search engine optimized website won’t be the primary lead drivers for your business in 2027.

Small business owners are already feeling it. In BrightLocal’s 2026 survey of more than 1,000 US small business owners, AI tools edged out Google when owners ranked their top customer acquisition channels.

The key takeaway here: The old-school tools of email, referral-based marketing, and direct website traffic driven by local advertising and local marketing are more ownable, and they’re more effective over the long run. They always have been.

Hot Take #2: Platforms Should Get 30% of Your Pipeline, Max

To be a sustainable small business in the near future, AI and algorithm-driven marketing tools should account for no more than 30% of new business coming through your door.

There, I said it out loud and in public. (#SorryNotSorry)

I’ve spent nearly 20 years in digital marketing. I built my business, and many, many others, on digital strategizing using Meta, Google, and other platform-based methods. And from where I sit, I no longer believe a platform-first approach is a sustainable, viable way for micro businesses and many small businesses to find new customers.

Every big platform, particularly the ones you hear in the same breath as “AI-something” (Google, Meta, ChatGPT), is now almost entirely pay-to-play. Worse, to paraphrase Cory Doctorow, Google and Meta have essentially become parasites that extract value from the web’s publishers and offer little to nothing in return.

Unfortunately, most small businesses are still operating like it’s 2012, trying to squeeze maximum value out of organic tactics that have mostly gone the way of the dinosaur.

If You’re Keeping Google, Put a Cap on It.

With the right strategy and the right budget, Google is still an important and viable tool for some small businesses. But I now believe all platform-based digital marketing should follow the same rule of thumb we use to manage customer concentration risk: no single platform should account for more than 30% of your new customers or leads.

It’s a natural extension of The Trinity Principle™, which states that you only need three platforms, executed well, to get all the leads and sales your business needs.

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So What Do You Do Instead?

The good news is that the playbook we shared last year still applies, with one update. Focus your energy on:

1. Valuable content optimized for people that still clears the basic hurdles for showing up in LLMs and AI tools.
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2. Technically proficient, brand-forward websites. (I wrote recently about the 3 fixes that matter most.)​
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3. Leaning hard into relationships and moving online connections offline.

What we said last year is still true: tech is great for awareness but bad for relationship building, good for relationship management but bad for conversion, and good for customer service but bad for customer delight.

And if relationships are where you want to start, we’ve got you covered:

• ​Our guide to referral marketing without the networking ick walks through how to turn the people who already love you into your strongest lead source.
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• ​The VIP Scorecard guides you through taking an honest look at where your relationships stand, shows you what intentional relationship-building looks like in practice, and helps you hold yourself accountable for keeping it up.
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• And for a real-world example of community marketing done well, listen to my conversation with our longest-term client, Lisa Council, about the power of values-driven marketing.

The platforms will keep changing the rules. What you own (your list, referrals, relationships, and place in your community) is what lasts.

With you in this,

Renia C.

P.S. - Next week, I’ll share how these hot takes are changing the way we work at Realign Consulting in 2027, and why we’re choosing to make a big change from the best place our business has ever been.

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