Last week a client told me his marketing “felt like a brutal out-of-bounds slice.” The harder he swung, the farther results drifted from the fairway. If you’re a small business owner who posts when you can, hopes Google finds you, and wonders why the phones are quiet, this playbook is for you. Let’s square the clubface.
Why Your Marketing Shot Keeps Slicing (and What Changed).
- First, the new ‘AI course’ has changed everything. When Google shows an AI summary on top, people click fewer links. In fact, users are less likely to click when an AI summary appears… that shrinks your fairway before you even step up to the ball.
- Second, the “bigger gallery” isn’t all human. AI and crawler traffic keeps climbing while real referrals lag, which means your content can be scanned without being chosen.
- Third, your ‘paid traffic’ isn’t a mulligan. As AI Overviews push organic links down, click-through rates drop and brands have to win on authority and clarity, not just budget.
So, how do you aim straight again? By simplifying your swing: short, consistent motions that you can repeat weekly, and by cleaning up the content you already own so answer engines and humans pick you.
The Video Replay (Simple & Weekly).
Get a Personalized Studio-in-a-Backpack.
Short-form video still delivers outsize ROI. 93% of marketers report positive ROI from video, and short-form ranks highest for social ROI. To own the feed (and the mindshare) ship one three-clip set every week:
- 20s starter offer with a rate/context hook (from $440)
- 40s Testimonial+proof (from $600)
- 60s Expert POV+clear CTA, with 40s/20s cut-downs (from $730)
Not posting weekly hands your reach to competitors. Conversely, owning the feed elevates you as the expert. If you want help setting this up fast, skim the Hot Take Engine, we turn one recording into a month of clips and articles shaped for AI visibility.
Remake Your website to be “Answer-Shaped”.
Next, fix your existing pages so they’re easy for answer engines to quote and for people to skim:
- Tight H2/H3s that state the answer
- One-screen FAQs with crisp definitions
- Evidence blocks (stats, quotes, screenshots)
- Schema parity (what’s on page = structured data)
- Internal links from proof-2-offer
This is the fastest way to turn invisible posts into revenue-ready assets—no redesign required. If you’d like us to do it for you, start here: ReadTomato Content Cleaning.
Turn 60 Minutes into a Month of Content.
Record one focused hour. We extract your best “on-course” insights, then spin them into 8 snackable articles and a dozen short clips designed to appear where buyers actually ask questions now (search, social, and AI surfaces). As a bonus, we generate cut-downs that match the 60/40/20s video cadence above (ReadTomato Hot Take Engine).
How to Shoot ‘AI-Par’ This Week.
Today
- Draft a 20s “Snap” with an offer hook & clear CTA.
- Outline a 40s “Story” with a testimonial & 1 KPI.
- Script a 60s “Authority” POV that ends with “DM us”.
Tomorrow
- Post the 40s Story in two versions:
- Version A: lead with the testimonial quote.
- Version B: lead with the number,
- An example: “+38% booked calls in 30 days”.
- Track 48-hour saves, shares, and click-outs.
- Keep the winner, reshoot the loser.
This Week
- Run a “10-Day Clean”: fix titles/H1s, consolidate duplicates, add answer blocks and schema, and point internal links to your offers.
- Add one authority explainer that your buyers can cite “up the chain,” including stats they’ll recognize (e.g., Wyzowl’s 93% ROI and HubSpot’s short-form ROI leadership.
- Publish your three-clip set. Repeat weekly.
Let Us Be Your Caddie.
When you’re ready to hand this off, we’ll perform a fast audit, clean key pages, and install your Studio-in-a-Backpack workflow, then measure presence and leads, not just rankings. Want to be good enough to join the tour? Talk to ReadTomato.
Competitive Check (Why This Works).
Teams that win treat AI Overviews as brand exposure and use short form + clean pages to convert elsewhere. They design for scanners first, then support with proof. Meanwhile, they accept that some impressions won’t click, the most human content (faces, stories, simple answers) wins.
