When I think about the future of marketing, two famous quotes come to mind: “Success leaves clues,” and “History tends to repeat itself.”
Right now, we’re in the middle of a major shift in the marketing landscape. AI is at the top of mind for everyone right now. Specifically, firm and business owners are wondering: How will this impact my marketing and when should I change my strategy?
Like we’ve seen throughout history, those who adapt fast and move with shifting landscapes often come out ahead. But you don’t have to make that shift blindly. You only need to look at those who are already succeeding and seeing positive results.
Today, I want to go over the changes that are working for firms and businesses and how they apply to the future of your firm.
Let’s begin with one of the most disruptive changes we’ve seen in years.
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1. Searching for an Accountant Doesn’t Just Start with Google Anymore
If you want to stay relevant today, you can’t just rely on Google or search engine optimization (SEO).
Why? Because many of your prospects are starting their searches with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or other AI tools.
And when they’re doing those searches, they’re getting super specific. For example, they may say, “Find me a CPA that specializes in real estate investors, is proactive, modern with technology and works with businesses around $5 million in revenue.”
More often than not, AI delivers a really close match to exactly what they’re looking for.
So, what does this mean for your firm?
It means that you need to make sure AI understands your business, including:
- Who you serve
- Your processes
- How you help clients
- What it’s like to work with you
Once AI understands all of these things about your business, you start asking, “Okay, am I showing up on AI?”
If not, you can take steps to optimize your content and strategy for AI tools.
2. Voice is Becoming the Default
Earlier, I mentioned the quote, “Success leaves clues.” Here’s a clue we should all pay attention to: OpenAI just released new voice models.
Why? Because people like using voice. They want to have conversations with, say, ChatGPT while they’re at their computers, on walks or out driving.
I know that personally, I barely ever type to these chat applications anymore. I just talk to them.
And the preference for using voice isn’t just me. I’m hearing this from a ton of other professionals that I speak with as well.
Eventually, people are going to want to just go on your website and say, “What services do you offer?” They won’t even be looking for a services tab. Yes, the classic web pages may still need to be there for those who want to navigate the old-fashioned way, but a lot of people will likely just want to chat.
They’ll ask questions like:
- What’s it look like if I become a client?
- What’s your pricing?
- What’s onboarding like?
What does this mean for you?
You need to start gathering together all of this information and be prepared for this new way people want to interact with you online.
Voice is going to be a large part of that, mark my words.
People Consume Your Firm Before They Even Speak With You
Prospects know everything about you before they even start working with you.
They’re:
- Looking for you on podcasts
- Reading your Google reviews
- Researching you on social media
Now with AI, they can ask it to gather all of that information for them.
It’s easier than ever for prospects to really consume you as a firm and as an individual before they’re ever actually met you or given you a chance.
This means that you need to be strengthening all these different outlets even more.
You need to be:
- Getting on podcasts
- Gathering Google reviews
- Posting on social media regularly (and avoiding these mistakes)
This way, if prospects are using AI tools, it can easily pull your information and relay it back to the person asking about you.
Plus, being everywhere online feeds strong trust signals that AI is making a good recommendation.
AI is Going to Pre-Educate Your Prospects
AI tools are being used for more than just recommendations. Prospects are using them to gather as much information as possible before they make a decision, like hiring a firm.
For example, they may be asking:
- What’s normal for CAS pricing?
- Do I need a cost segregation study?
- What tax strategies should I be asking my tax accountant about?
They’re using AI to get informed, and you need to be prepared for these pre-educated prospects.
But you also need to have some knowledge around the common misconceptions. Just because someone was pre-educated doesn’t mean that they were educated the right way.
We’ve all seen those TikTok videos that give bad tax advice. We’re going to see a lot more misinformation spread and people believing that a certain case applies to them when they don’t know the nuances of it.
Along with being prepared for these pre-educated prospects, you also want to make sure you’re answering common questions up front in your content or on social media. This way, when someone books a call with you, they already have these answers.
Your First Impression is Happening With or Without You
I’ve been saying this for years: You have a brand whether you’re intentionally creating it or not, so you might as well go out there and intentionally create it.
For example, you may not be posting on social media, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have a brand.
It means that you’re just not actively trying to shape the way people are perceiving you.
With AI, it’s even more important to control the narrative.
Let’s say that your competitor is posting content regularly, talking about how they work with clients and gathering reviews. Your firm? It’s not doing any of that.
Which firm do you think AI will recommend? The one with a solid online presence. Why? Because AI doesn’t have any information about your firm.
So, make sure that you are helping control and influence that first impression.
Human Trust is Bigger Than Ever
I once heard a guy named Brock Johnson say that we’re in a trust recession.
And it’s only getting worse, thanks to AI-generated content.
For example, I used to love solo podcast episodes, but now I’m noticing that many hosts are either:
- Outsourcing episodes completely to have AI clone their voice (they’re not even recording it), OR
- They’re still recording their episodes, but they’ve outsourced the script so much to one of these AI platforms that even I know what platform they’re using
Situations like this are happening everywhere. People are just seeing so much AI junk out there.
The biggest advantage you have in this type of scenario is you. Be willing to show up, as a human, and be like, “Look this is who we really are. It’s me. I’m a person. I’m human. This is not just AI slop.”
People will appreciate you putting yourself out there, and because they know it’s a real person, you can start laying the foundation of trust.
There is a time and a place for AI, and it can be used in your strategy. But just outsourcing it without a second thought is not going to get you anywhere.
The Common Thread: Your Content
If we look at all of these changes in marketing, there’s one thing that ties them all together: your content.
Content is the infrastructure to all of this. It’s helping you build credibility on social media because you’re showing up as a human. It’s helping you answer questions that you know your prospects are searching for answers to.
Your humanized content is how you can stay relevant in marketing even as things continue to change and adapt with AI.
