Hicks Marketing and Revenue Solutions

01/25/2026

Zoom out and this is a predictable inflection point: once an assistant becomes a daily habit, it starts to look like a distribution channel—and distribution channels get monetized.

What to do with that? Stay tuned.





https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2026-01-20/chatgpt-and-openai-are-starting-to-look-a-lot-like-facebook-and-meta?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc2OTM1Nzc1NiwiZXhwIjoxNzY5OTYyNTU2LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUOTVCNlZLR0lGUEkwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiI0NUFGNzhEOUJBRkU0MUZDQUVFRjFFOTc5RTMzQjI3MyJ9.NEb2zO-SLoEq1clxqd1bd_VbK02gjqwkOzJU2nl1mas

Having burned through about $8 billion of cash in 2025, OpenAI seems in desperate need of revenue. Now it’s jumping into what Chief Executive Sam Altman described in 2024 as the company’s last resort: showing ads in ChatGPT. Doing this so soon after that dismissal speaks to the financial pressur...

12/18/2025

AI tools are starting to send real traffic to websites. It’s still small compared to Google, but it’s growing fast—and it changes what “search” means for a business.

Because in an LLM answer, you don’t just need to rank. You need to be easy to understand and safe to recommend.

Practical shift:

•Stop writing pages for algorithms. Write pages that answer real questions clearly.

•Make your offerings painfully specific (who it’s for, what it includes, what it costs, what makes it different).

•Keep your key pages updated regularly.

•Build proof outside your website (reviews, mentions, forums, YouTube, community chatter).

SEO isn’t dead.

But “being findable” now includes being quotable. What’s your content plan to drive traffic and inbound leads in 2026?



Do marketers need to completely rethink their search strategies, or is AI search optimization simply a complement to traditional SEO?

11/19/2025

It's not just for teenage boys anymore. 85% of internet users now watch YouTube each month. Is your business there?

35-to-64-year-olds emerge as YouTube’s long-form ‘content super-consumers,’ according to Ampere Analysis

11/17/2025

Most of the headlines about AI are about big companies with big budgets and “AI roadmaps.” Meanwhile, small-business owners are doing what they always do: experimenting until something works.

No labs. No strategy off-sites. Just simple, specific problems and a willingness to tinker.

That’s what we’re seeing with the owners we work with, too. The payoff isn’t in “using AI” as an idea; it’s in shaving hours off the back office so you can put that time into sales, service, and thinking.

If you’re a small-business owner, where have you quietly put AI to work in a way that actually shows up in your numbers or your time?

Big companies have teams to guide tech strategy—smaller firms noodle until something works.

10/13/2025

“Make it go viral” sounds exciting—and is now a waste of effort. Feeds are fragmented, outrage still beats delight (and we’re all tired of it), and most impression spikes don’t convert to sales. The win doesn’t come from a public moment; it comes from persistent and consistent relevance inside the places where decisions get made.

Modern virality is private. It’s the clip a partner DMs to a buyer. The marked-up screenshot that gets forwarded to a CFO with “can we try this?” The one-pager that addresses a real problem. Design for transmission, not applause.

Stop optimizing for strangers who clap and disappear. Optimize for the 1,000 people who can buy, refer, or green-light—and make it effortless for them to pass your work along. That’s attention that matters now.

Spontaneous original content, shared by people all over the world, made the internet a fun place to be. It’s more complicated now.

09/29/2025

If AI keeps the clicks, what single page on your site would you bet your next lead on—and why that one?

The rise of ChatGPT and its rivals is undermining the economic bargain of the internet

05/12/2025

What makes a newsletter worth paying for and how many do you subscribe to?

What makes a newsletter worth paying for?

More people are spending money on newsletters from their favorite writers. They’re also having trouble keeping track of how many they subscribe to.

03/26/2025

I’ve been watching something shift: more and more people are skipping Google and going straight to AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity for answers.

That matters—because if your business depends on showing up in search results, you’re about to become invisible unless you adapt.

AI tools don’t serve up a list of links. They summarize. They decide what matters. And unless your name, business, or ideas are part of that summary—you’re out of the conversation.

That’s why thought leadership isn’t just “nice to have” anymore. It’s how you stay findable in a world where no one’s really searching. When your ideas are clear, original, and consistent, they start showing up in the places that matter—without relying on algorithms or paid traffic.

The game isn’t about getting clicks. It’s about becoming the answer.

Are you showing up in the places where people are no longer searching—but still deciding?

Ads and search-optimized junk made a mess of the go-to engine. Now ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude—and even Google’s own AI—do it better.

03/22/2025

You know, a lot of people see themselves as 'thought leaders,' and that's terrific—but research suggests many struggle to actually share fresh ideas."

A recent Edelman survey found that more than half of business leaders consider the thought leadership content they see as not very helpful or original.

Effective thought leaders don't just repeat what everyone else says. They're brave enough to share their own experiences and ideas, even if they're different or unpopular. And studies show that people who do this are more trusted and get noticed more.

If you want to raise your visibility and show thought leadership, you have to be okay with being curious, asking questions, and sometimes admitting you don't have all the answers. That's when people really start listening—because you're not just echoing everyone else, you're sharing something uniquely yours.

What’s an original idea you’ve hesitated to share – and what might happen if you did?

03/20/2025

Thought Leadership for Neurotic Thinkers: Why Overthinking Is Actually Your Superpower

Ever catch yourself replaying conversations, obsessing over small details, or second-guessing your own insights before sharing them? (If you’re nodding, we might have just become best friends.)

Here's a thought: Maybe that tendency to grind on things you've tried so hard to manage is actually the secret sauce behind great thought leadership.

Think about it:

1. Self-doubt isn't your enemy—it's your editor.
Over thinkers are naturally wired to refine their ideas, filtering out clichés and surface-level insights. If you're obsessively editing your own thoughts, congratulations—you're already ahead of those who don't.

2. Your anxiety is an early-warning radar.
If your brain constantly scans for risks or what might go wrong, you’ll likely spot trends and opportunities faster than your laid-back peers. That hyper-vigilance is invaluable for crafting thoughtful, relevant, and timely content.

3. Transparency builds real connections.
Audiences crave authenticity. When you openly acknowledge your struggles and vulnerabilities (without oversharing—let's keep it strategic), your audience doesn't just trust you—they root for you.

Here’s how to leverage your neurotic mind productively:

• Turn your "anxious insights" into thought-provoking content (e.g., “Here's why this trend concerns me—and should concern you too.”)
• Lean into nuance, challenge shallow narratives, and offer content that digs deeper—your grinding brain is already set up to excel here.
• Don't fight your internal critic; recruit it as your personal content editor.

Your tendencies to think too much might actually be your biggest competitive advantage as a thought leader.

So, instead of trying to silence that inner critic, try asking: What's the smartest thing my overthinking brain has noticed lately?

I'd love to know—drop your insights below!

02/14/2025

Why do we wave at the end of a Zoom call? No one does that when leaving a conference room in person. It’s just one of those funny quirks of virtual communication, where social norms are still figuring themselves out. We overthink punctuation in Slack, feel weird staring at ourselves on screen, and end meetings with an awkward wave.

What to do? Virtual communication needs a little extra effort. Be clear about your tone, sprinkle in some humor, and roll with the quirks. If waving at a we**am helps make a digital interaction feel more human, then hey, why not? And yes, I still always wave goodbye 🤣

Experts shared five strategies to make things easier.

02/05/2025

The slang game is now a speedrun, and if you’re not keeping up, your brand might get labeled “beta” faster than you can Google what that means. The takeaway? Language is evolving at the speed of social media, and brands that tap into the right lingo at the right moment can win big—just don’t try too hard, or you’ll get hit with a collective “no rizz” from Gen Z.

Every generation has its own slang. But the youngest generations have taken things to a dizzying new level, giving new meaning to “parents just don’t understand.”