If local customers find you on Google, your Google Business Profile is doing more work than you might think. Google has rolled out a handful of updates recently that point in one direction: Google is putting more weight on profiles that look active, current, and trustworthy.

In this episode of Get Digital Marketing Results, we walk through the practical Google Business Profile updates that matter for local businesses, and what to actually do about each one.

What's covered:

✅ Why Google Posts aren't meant to sit as a forgotten tab, and how to fill them without a new content plan ✅ What makes local video work: place, captions, and showing the actual business ✅ Connecting your YouTube and social links so your channels stop feeling disconnected ✅ The new option to connect your Business Profile to Google Analytics ✅ Google's tighter review standards, and the staff-incentive trap to avoid

Three action steps for this week:

• Publish one Google Post from something you already have: an event, offer, or helpful tip.

• See whether your Business Profile can connect to Google Analytics, and link it if it can.

• Review your video, social, and review setup: add local context and captions to videos, connect your social links, and remove anything that rewards staff for review counts or specific wording.

Show notes: www.delosinc.com/episode456

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For years, showing up online and sounding professional was enough to stand out. That's no longer true. AI made polished, competent content available to everyone in about thirty seconds, which means polished is no longer a differentiator. In a feed full of polished, polished is invisible. The one thing AI can't generate is your point of view.

In this episode of Get Digital Marketing Results, we cover why having a real point of view is the thing that sets you apart now, what a point of view actually is, and how to keep yours from getting flattened by AI.

What's covered:

✅ Why showing up and sounding professional used to be enough, and why that flipped

✅ What a point of view actually is, in plain terms

✅ Why "taste" is just judgment, and where it comes from

✅ The difference between handing AI the busywork and quietly handing over your voice

✅ A simple test you can run on any post, email, or page

Three action steps for this week:

• Look at one recent post, email, or page and ask: could any business in your industry have published this? If yes, it needs more of your point of view.

• Rewrite one section with what you actually believe: what you recommend, what you avoid, what you wish customers understood.

• Next time you use AI, give it your point of view before you ask it to draft anything, then edit like the final judgment still belongs to you, because it does.

Show notes: www.delosinc.com/episode455

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People decide whether to keep watching a video almost instantly, within about three seconds. So the part most local businesses spend the least time on is actually the part doing all the work. Your camera matters less than you think. Your lighting matters less than you think. What matters most is whether the first three seconds give the right person a reason to stop scrolling.

In this episode of Get Digital Marketing Results, we cover why hooks decide everything, what a good hook actually does, how to stack visual, text, and spoken hooks together, and why YouTube Shorts is the platform local businesses are underusing right now.

What's covered:

✅ Why your camera, lighting, and how you look on camera matter less than the opening

✅ What a hook actually is, and the three things a good one does

✅ How to stack visual, on-screen text, and spoken hooks for a stronger opening

✅ Why YouTube Shorts may reach people TikTok and Reels don't

✅ How to turn "Today we're talking about..." into an opener that earns the watch

Three action steps for this week:

• Take one video idea and rewrite the opening so it starts with the viewer's question, concern, or curiosity instead of your introduction

• Stack the three layers: visual, on-screen text, and spoken hook

• Post that video as a vertical YouTube Short, not just on TikTok or Reels

Show notes: www.delosinc.com/episode454

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AI-generated content has flooded every feed, and people are scrolling less than they were a couple of years ago. That sounds like bad news for businesses trying to reach people on social. For a local business, it's actually an opening. When the feed feels generic, what cuts through is real, local, and familiar. That's the thing AI and national brands cannot fake.

In this episode of Get Digital Marketing Results, we cover why social media fatigue is real, why AI is making it worse, and why local businesses have an advantage in the noise. We also cover how engagement has quietly shifted, and what to do this week so your content actually lands.

What's covered:

✅ Why people are scrolling less and getting pickier about what they stop for

✅ Why AI-generated content is making the feed feel even more crowded

✅ What local businesses have that national brands and AI tools cannot fake

✅ Why saves, DMs, and private shares matter more than public likes now

✅ The 500 neighbors vs. 10,000 followers reframe

Three action steps for this week:

• Look at your last ten social posts. Could they have come from any business like yours? If yes, add more real context.

• Create one post from something that actually happened this week: a customer question, a project detail, a local observation, or a lesson from the field.

• Start one real conversation from your content. Reply thoughtfully to a comment, send a helpful DM, or ask your audience a specific local question.

Show notes: www.delosinc.com/episode453

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AI will give you something fast, polished, and completely forgettable if you haven't done the harder positioning work first. It can only amplify what you give it. The real work happens before AI: getting clear about what you do, who you do it for, and why it's you.

In this episode of Get Digital Marketing Results, we cover why AI gives you the average version of your industry when you skip the clarity work, the three things you have to say plainly before AI can sharpen them, and why being specific (and turning some people away) is the win, not the risk.

What's covered:

✅ Why AI defaults to generic when you haven't made the important business decisions

✅ The three sentences that change what AI can do for your marketing

✅ Why trying to appeal to everyone makes you sound like everyone

✅ Where AI is genuinely great and where it shouldn't be the strategist

✅ The one question to ask of any AI-written content before you publish it

Three action steps for this week:

• Write down one service, product, or type of work you want more of. Not everyone you're able to serve. Just the work you'd happily take more of.

• For that customer, write a few plain sentences: the problem you solve, who you solve it for, and why you're the one to solve it.

• Take your homepage or a recent post AI helped you write. Ask: could this belong to any business in my field, or is it clearly mine? If it's generic, that's the gap to close.

Show notes: www.delosinc.com/episode452

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Google announced a major shift to AI-powered Search, and a lot of business owners are worried they need to throw out everything they're doing. You don't. The fundamentals of good SEO still drive whether you show up in AI answers. What's changing is the cost of being vague.

In this episode of Get Digital Marketing Results, we cover what Google actually announced, why this isn't the panic moment it looks like, and what specifically needs to be clearer on your site, profile, and reviews now that search is becoming more like an assistant than a list of links.

What's covered:

✅ What actually changed about Google Search and what's new

✅ Why people can understand the vibe of your website but AI needs the facts

✅ How AI search is starting to take action (booking, calling) for customers

✅ Why being cited in an answer matters even when clicks don't follow

✅ What to check on your service pages, Google Business Profile, and reviews

Three action steps for this week:

• Pick one main service and read its page on your site like you've never heard of your business. Does it plainly say who it's for, what's included, where you do it, and what to do next?

• Pull up your Google Business Profile and make sure it agrees with that page on hours, services, categories, and contact info

• Look at your most recent reviews. Do they mention the specific services and places you want to be known for? If not, start asking happy customers to be more specific

Show notes: www.delosinc.com/episode451

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LinkedIn is paying more attention to the connection between your profile, your posts, and the conversations you join. And now that LinkedIn content is showing up in AI answers for professional searches, that clarity matters beyond LinkedIn itself.

In this episode of Get Digital Marketing Results, Donna Botti and Bob Clark cover what's actually changing with the LinkedIn algorithm, why your personal profile usually matters more than your company page, and how to make your expertise easier for people and AI to understand.

What's covered:

✅ Why your LinkedIn profile is now a signal, not just a résumé

✅ How content pillars help LinkedIn (and your audience) understand what you do

✅ What kind of engagement actually moves the algorithm now

✅ Why text posts, documents, and carousels can outperform video for some topics

✅ How LinkedIn content is showing up in AI answers and what that means for your visibility

The simple test from this episode:

• If someone looked at your LinkedIn profile and your last ten posts, would they know what you want to be known for?

Three action steps for this week:

• Review your headline and About section so they match the work you want to be known for now

• Pick 2-3 content pillars and look at whether your recent posts support those themes

• Write one substantive post that answers a real customer question, then leave a few thoughtful comments on posts connected to that same topic

Show notes: www.delosinc.com/episode450

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AI shopping is moving from "help me research this" to "help me buy this." When companies like Stripe and Shopify start building the payment and checkout systems for AI agents, it's worth paying attention. In this episode of Get Digital Marketing Results, Donna Botti and Bob Clark cover what's behind that shift, what the data shows about consumer behavior, and what local businesses should clean up to be findable, comparable, and recommendable to AI agents.

Stripe just updated Link so AI agents can request purchases and wait for approval. Shopify is making merchants discoverable inside AI shopping channels. AI-driven traffic to Shopify stores is up 8x year over year since January 2025, and orders from AI-powered searches are up 15x. The infrastructure for agentic commerce is being built now, not in some far-off future.

You'll learn:

✅ Why AI is shifting from research helper to actual buyer ✅ How Stripe Link is enabling AI agents to make approved purchases ✅ How Shopify is preparing for shoppers who never visit your site ✅ What the data shows about consumer comfort (and limits) with AI shopping ✅ How AI agents read structured information instead of visually browsing ✅ Three things to clean up on your website this week

Key takeaways:

• AI is moving from research to purchase. Major commerce platforms are building the infrastructure for it now.

• AI agents read structured data. Thin product or service pages give them less to compare, recommend, or trust.

• Clear information helps everyone. Removing confusion makes you easier to choose for people, AI assistants, and agents.

For show notes and more resources, visit www.delosinc.com/episode449.

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Something a little more fun this week. AI image tools have improved a lot, so we tested a custom GPT we built that runs color and hairstyle analyses on a selfie. In this episode of Get Digital Marketing Results, we cover what's getting better with AI image generation, where it still slips, and how local businesses can use these tools in marketing without crossing into "fake your business" territory.

AI image tools like Nano Banana in Gemini and ChatGPT's Image 2.0 handle text, detail, and instructions much better than they used to. They're showing up in everyday tools like Google Photos and Google TV. And they're useful for thumbnails, carousels, and concept work, as long as you're not trying to fake the proof of your business.

You'll learn:

✅ What's noticeably better in the latest AI image tools (text, faces, instruction-following) ✅ How AI image features are showing up in mainstream consumer tools ✅ What we learned testing a custom color and hairstyle GPT on our own photos ✅ Where AI images still slip (consistency across multiple shots) ✅ How to use AI images in your business without crossing the proof line ✅ Three things to try this week

Key takeaways:

• AI images are worth a second look. The leap in text and detail handling makes them genuinely useful for everyday marketing.

• AI can package your expertise. It can't replace your proof. Real photos of your team, work, and customers still carry the trust AI can't fake.

• Concept work over exact likeness. AI is great for style guides, infographics, and thumbnails. Save tight brand consistency for the real thing.

For show notes and more resources including a link to our GPT to make your own color and hair analysis, visit www.delosinc.com/episode448.

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The headlines say search is dying because of AI. The reality is more layered. Google still sends far more referral traffic to local businesses than every AI platform combined, and Google itself is rapidly turning into AI search through AI Overviews and AI Mode. In this episode of Get Digital Marketing Results, Donna Botti and Bob Clark cover what these shifts mean for local visibility, why your Google Business Profile is now an AI source, and the small updates that matter most right now.

The core insight: AI tools are citing Google Business Profiles inside their answers. When your hours, services, photos, or reviews are out of date, you're not just losing map visibility. You're losing visibility inside AI search results too.

You'll learn:

✅ Why Google search isn't disappearing, it's becoming AI search ✅ How your Google Business Profile is now an AI signal, not just a map listing ✅ Why your service pages need to be clear enough for both people and AI tools ✅ Why Bing Places matters again because of ChatGPT ✅ Three things to update on your business this week

Key takeaways:

• AI tools cite Google Business Profiles. Outdated information costs you visibility in places you can't see.

• Google search is becoming AI search. AI Overviews and AI Mode change how results appear, but accurate information still drives who shows up.

• Bing visibility influences ChatGPT. If your Bing Places listing is missing or stale, take a few minutes to fix it.

For show notes and more resources, visit www.delosinc.com/episode447.

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