Monday, October 26, 2026
A 2026 Gartner survey found SMEs put just 12% of marketing spend into brand-building, against the 60% long-term research recommends. Here's what that costs you eighteen months from now.
A customer searching for your kind of business is now almost as likely to ask an AI chatbot as to open Google. In the past year, 45% of US consumers used an AI tool to get a local business recommendation — up from just 6% the year before — and 31% went straight to ChatGPT for it, according to BrightLocal's 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey of over 1,000 US consumers. Separately, Pew Research's 2026 study of US adults found that searching for information is now the single most common reason people open an AI chatbot at all.
Most SME owners have noticed this shift exists. Very few have changed a single sentence on their website because of it. After over 30 years in brand and communications, from McDonald's media plans to nine businesses of my own, I can tell you the gap between noticing a shift and acting on it is exactly where the opportunity sits.
The obvious move, and the one most agencies will sell you first, is schema markup — the behind-the-scenes code that tells search engines what's on a page. It's worth having for other reasons, but as a lever for AI visibility specifically, the evidence doesn't support it. A 2026 Ahrefs study tracking close to 6,000 pages over eight months found that adding schema markup made no measurable difference to how often a page was cited in AI Overviews, Google's AI Mode, or ChatGPT — the differences were statistically indistinguishable from zero.
What actually gets an AI engine to quote you isn't the code behind your page. It's whether the words on it directly answer a real question, in one specific, speakable sentence. AI engines summarise what's genuinely useful to repeat — and polished, on-brand marketing copy is, ironically, one of the hardest things for a machine, or a human skimming in ten seconds, to lift and repeat.
"Kevin, you distilled business, marketing and sales strategy into powerful simple concepts and actions with real life stories of your start-up business and corporate life. You walk the talk with empathy and passion. Feedback has been off the charts. The energy in the room was palpable."
— Nikki, MahiTahi / The Colab
Here's the real obstacle: specific, plain-spoken answers feel unpolished to the person approving the copy. Owners are trained to want language that sounds impressive, not language a machine would find easy to repeat verbatim. The two instincts pull in opposite directions, and brand polish usually wins the argument in the room — which is exactly backwards for how buyers, human or AI, actually find you now.
This is where an outside, evidence-first view earns its keep: someone who'll tell you the schema markup your last agency sold you isn't the lever, and that the plainer, blunter version of your FAQ is the one that actually wins the next ten customers.
If you don't know what your website would say if an AI chatbot summarised it to a customer right now, that's worth finding out before you spend another dollar on ads.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
When coaching starts feeling comfortable, most owners think they've outgrown their coach. Usually they've just outgrown the scope. Here's how the Scope Reset Conversation keeps a great coaching relationship producing great results.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
At five people, the founder is the system. At twelve, that system breaks. The Ten-Employee Wall is a predictable structural failure — and here's the Systems Reset framework that gets you through it.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
January is the hardest month to sell in — and the work that prevents the January gap needed to start in September. Here's the 90-Day Pipeline Bridge framework that fills the gap before it opens.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
Category managers at major retailers are making their Q1 2027 ranging decisions right now. Most FMCG founders find out too late. Here's the Buyer-Ready Proof Pack framework that gets you into the conversation.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
Most businesses plan for Q4 in January — after it's already over. The owners who consistently outperform their peers write their Q4 plan in September, while there's still time to act on what they find.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
A new survey shows the average small business owner is running five jobs at once — and burning 200+ hours a year proving it. Here's the two-hat framework that gets your time back within 90 days.
Tuesday, September 08, 2026
New 2026 consumer data shows most shoppers are value-seekers, not bargain hunters — yet 95% still rate brand trust as important. Here's the six-point test your FMCG brand must pass to earn the sale without discounting.
Tuesday, September 08, 2026
New 2026 grocery data shows branded FMCG products are being promoted twice as often as private label — and still losing share and loyalty. Kevin D'Ambros-Smith on why discounting harder is the wrong fix, and what pricing architecture looks like instead.
Monday, September 07, 2026
A 2026 Fed survey of 6,525 small businesses found owner confidence at a 6-year low — while actual revenue, employment and profitability held steady. Why the gap, not the economy, is the real risk for SME and FMCG owners.
Sunday, September 06, 2026
Burst campaigns reset to zero every time. Here's why a sustainable weekly cadence beats an intense one-month push, and how to protect it through the slow months.
Sunday, September 06, 2026
Most SME sales forecasts are built by adding up pipeline value — and it's almost always wrong. Here's how exit criteria, deal age, and weighted forecasting fix it.
Sunday, September 06, 2026
Most of what fills an owner's calendar isn't driving results. Here's how to run a structured 80/20 audit that identifies the real 20% — and what to do with the rest.
Sunday, September 06, 2026
One-on-one coaching diagnoses and designs strategy. A peer accountability group enforces it. Here's why the combination produces follow-through that neither achieves alone.
Sunday, September 06, 2026
Organic growth isn't the only path. Here's how well-chosen SME acquisitions can compress years of growth into one transaction — and where most owners get the due diligence wrong.
Sunday, September 06, 2026
Most SME roadmaps fail from what they never remove, not what they add. Here's the three-question kill list to run before your next planning cycle — and why pruning, not adding, is what actually frees up growth capacity.