2025 Letter: What the Year Taught Us and what to Master for 2026 Success.
My year has been about building, building a network, building skills, to change the way I work and ultimately where I want to be. The blog has been about touching on technical skills of sales and marketing to improved productivity. I will continue this trend but aim to have articles represent the novice person to someone more highly technical, broad approach.
In 2025 the big shift wasn't just using AI, but teaching it to handle entire jobs, end-to-end.
The core question has changed from "What cool things can AI do?" to "How do we safely manage the smart AI bots working that are already running parts of our business?"
The technical strategies that will pay off in 2026 aren't about adding complexity; they are about building smarter, more accountable systems that integrate.
🎯 Sales & Marketing: Trust and Intent
Old school marketing, marketing guessed and sales chased. I feel the strategy now is focused on building real value and trust with a decentralized buyer. Buyers are finding answers in AI Overviews and conversational interfaces before they ever hit your website. This shifts the directive from volume to content structure.
- ➡️ From SEO to GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation)
- The goal is no longer ranking for keywords, but structuring content so AI agents can instantly summarise and credit your answers. (The Reality: Clicks are down 👇, but conversion quality is up, and will keep going up ⬆️)
- 🗣️ From Personalisation to almost Real Interactions
- Chatbots are evolving into emotionally aware AI agents that handle complex service and sales inquiries. This relies on fine-tuned Small Language Models (SLMs) for high-accuracy, low-latency interactions. ❤️
- 🔒 From Ad Spend to Owned Channels
- Brands must shift budget away from unpredictable ad platforms and return to investing in Owned Channels (CDP/CRMs, Email, SMS/RCS). This mandatory investment in Customer Data Platforms (CDP/CRMs) achieves the clean, single source of truth required to grow Community Commerce. 🤝
✨ Time for the Human Tasks
This isn't about working harder. It's about eliminating the pointless work. By allowing the Agent Systems to handle all follow-ups, data synchronisation, and status updates, you are freed up to focus purely on high-value, uniquely human tasks, strategy, and building that business of yours. 🤔
📝 My Year 2025
Below is a complete index of my articles from the past year. Each one explores a piece of the puzzle, tips to build the systems you need for accountability.
- Nov25 - The Three Stack Series: Granola AI for your morning
- Oct25 - Beyond the Download Button: Automating Your Upsell
- Sep25 - The One-to-Eight Rule: Making Your Content Work Harder
- Aug25 - The Invisible Connector: From Download to Deal
- Jul25 - The One-Image Campaign: Automated Repurposing
- Jun25 - The New Creative Suite: Your Hands on the Wheel
- May25 - Steering Your Career in AI
- Apr25 - Make.com AI Agents are here
- Mar25 - WhatsApp: My Comms Hub
- Feb25 - AI Agents: Your New Invisible Assistant (and Why You Need One)
- Jan25 - Forget To-Do Lists. This is the Future of Getting Things Done.
Brad Rae, Director
P.S. Merry Christmas, enjoy your holidays ... back in 2026.