Tim Peter's Blog

I’ve been talking about the idea of “the brand is the prompt” for a while now. But I think now would be helpful to dive into what that means in a lot more detail. Why? Because too many folks seem to think that AI agents and answer engines will always come between you and your customer.

I don’t believe that has to be true.

I’ve studied how we can build brands beyond Big Tech for over 20 years. That’s the core of what Digital Reset is all about. And while AI is different, I believe that the only...

We’ve seen a lot of work around agentic AI in the last handful of weeks and months, with Google adding agentic AI to Chrome and in its Search Labs; ChatGPT offering its Atlas browser that offers agentic capabilities, and Perplexity doing the same with its Comet browser. This last one seems to be ruffling some feathers, as Amazon has “demanded” that Perplexity stop using its agents to buy stuff on Amazon.

Part of me wants to say, “Boo-hoo, Amazon. Not so fun when the shoe is on the other foot, ...

With customers increasingly turning towards AI to get the answers they need for their business, you might be rethinking the value your website provides to those customers — and to your business. It’s absolutely worthwhile to ask the question. The answer, though, might surprise you.

In this episode of the podcast, Tim Peter looks at whether you still need a website in the age of AI, what its value is to your customers and your business, and, most importantly, how to make sure your website works f...

I’m generally bullish on AI and its potential benefits for customers and brands. What I’m less bullish about are all the folks essentially telling you that AI will make you give up building meaningful connections between your brand and your customers. Without meaning to, they’re describing a world where every brand becomes a commodity. And, frankly, I simply refuse to go along.

Instead, we need to do the work, right now, that will drive customers to ask for us by name. And that depends on build...

Are you as sick as I am of hearing people claim that SEO is dead? I mean, c’mon. How is that we keep regurgitating the same foul nonsense to drive clicks, engagement, and a little bit of anger among the marketing community. I promise I’m not going to ask “is SEO dead?” or claim that “SEO is dead” or anything similar anytime soon.

What’s also true is that how your customers search for what they need is changing — and quickly.

Some folks want to call these changes GEO. Some call them AEO. Some c...

I assume most people know that Google makes almost all of its money from ads. And, in practice, those ads are based on clicks. Paid clicks. That fact means that Google can’t survive in a zero-click world. While that same reality is not (yet) true for ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and other AI answer engines, they’re almost certainly going to need some form of ads—again, probably clickable ads—to fund their operations.

For example, ChatGPT alone is planning to invest over 1 trillion dollars in t...

OpenAI just introduced Instant Checkout and apps in ChatGPT, allowing customers to buy products and services directly within the AI. This is, as they say, “the next step in agentic commerce.” It’s genuinely a capital-B, capital-D, Big Frickin’ Deal. No doubt about it.

At the same time, some folks might be rushing to claim these a whole new world, or a complete upending of commerce as we know it.

I’m… not convinced. Instead, I’m concerned that too many people are going to trade the Big Tech int...

Google has now added agentic AI to Chrome and in its Search Labs. Google has enormous reach with these tools, which means your customers could start using them almost any day.

The question is, what happens to your content? Will agents replace the content you’ve worked so hard to create and curate, giving customers answers to their questions? In shortt, will agentic AI kill your content marketing?

I’m not convinced. More than that, I believe we must actively work to make sure that doesn’t becom...

Whether you want to call it SEO, AEO, AIO, GEO, or something else altogether, it’s clear that search is changing… or is it? Yes, customers are using AI answer engines much more often. Yes, Google and other “traditional” search engines are responding by adding more AI answers into their results.

The question, though, is how much you ought to change how you do what you do to answer your customers’ questions.

Is search as we know it completely different? Or do some fundamental truths remain that ...

While Judge Amit Mehta has imposed penalties on Google for its anticompetitive behavior, I’m convinced that the big winner in the antitrust trial is… Google. And, to a lesser extent, the rest of Big Tech wins, too.

Confused? Don’t be.

What did Judge Mehta’s ruling say? Why do I think Google won more than they lost? And, more importantly, what does all of this mean for your business?

That’s what this episode of the podcast is all about.

Want to learn more? Here are the show notes for you.