AI has made it easier for almost anyone to produce acceptable marketing. But when every business uses the same tools in the same way, acceptable quickly becomes forgettable.

Jeremy Yang speaks with Keith Lauver, Founder and CEO of Ellavator AI, about what Keith calls the “Ministry of Mediocrity”: the pull towards safe, average marketing created by general AI tools.

Keith explains why businesses risk losing their voice and point of distinction when they use AI purely to produce more content. They discuss how Ella was created to keep a business’s positioning, customer knowledge and marketing thinking connected to the work it produces.

They also discuss:

• Why below-average work may be the first thing displaced by AI
• How businesses can use AI without sounding like everyone else
• Keeping your own point of view while building a content system
• How MCP could connect marketing tools, advertising data and analytics
• Why small businesses are not behind on AI, despite how tools are pitched to them
• The risk of building an entire workflow around one AI platform

This episode is for SME owners, marketers and agencies that want help from AI without handing over the thinking, voice and knowledge that make their business different.

Learn more about Keith Lauver
Ellavator AI ➡️ https://www.ellavator.ai/
Keith Lauver on LinkedIn ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithdlauver/

Learn more about Jeremy Yang on LinkedIn ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-yang/

Listen on your preferred podcast app ➡️ https://pod.link/aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGkucml2ZXJzaWRlLmNvbS9ob3N0aW5nL2RmaGQ4QlltLnJzcw

Connect with Digital Goliath
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Looking for more practical ideas to help you run and grow your business?

Explore Digital Goliath’s latest articles and how-to guides for SME owners.

Expert Perspectives ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/expert-perspectives/
How-To Guides ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/how-to-guides/

Many business owners approach branding expecting to hand everything over and receive a finished brand in return. But a branding expert cannot decide what your business stands for without your involvement.

Jeremy Yang speaks with Solveig Petch, also known as Petchy, a strategic brandsmith with more than 20 years of experience working at the intersection of business, brand strategy and design.

Solveig explains why branding goes far beyond choosing a logo, colour palette or font. The real work involves understanding where the business is going, what it wants to be known for and how that thinking should influence every customer touchpoint.

They also discuss:

• How to recognise when your business has outgrown its existing brand
• Why founders cannot completely outsource the thinking behind their brand
• Which businesses benefit most from professional branding work
• How smaller businesses can build a useful foundation before hiring a specialist
• What business legacy can look like without building a huge company
• Why experienced creatives still matter in an era of AI-generated design

This episode is for SME owners whose business has grown but whose website, messaging or visual identity no longer feels representative of where the company is today.

Learn more about Solveig Petch
Website ➡️ https://petchy.co/
LinkedIn ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/petchy/
Instagram ➡️ https://www.instagram.com/petchy.co/

Learn more about Jeremy Yang on LinkedIn ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-yang/
Listen on your preferred podcast app ➡️ https://pod.link/aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGkucml2ZXJzaWRlLmNvbS9ob3N0aW5nL2RmaGQ4QlltLnJzcw

Connect with Digital Goliath
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Website ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/

Learn more about Digital Goliath
About Us ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/about-page/
Our Services ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/marketing-ads-services/

Looking for more practical ideas to help you run and grow your business?

Explore Digital Goliath’s latest articles and how-to guides for SME owners.

Expert Perspectives ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/expert-perspectives/
How-To Guides ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/how-to-guides/

Being busy can hide a future sales problem.

Many event businesses stop marketing when their teams are fully occupied with delivery. When the busy period ends, they discover that the pipeline has dried up and they need to start again from zero.

Jeremy Yang speaks with Dan Charles, founder of Codarity, a growth partner built specifically for B2B event service businesses.

Before moving into marketing, Dan spent nearly a decade in the events industry and scaled productions from small local gatherings to shows with more than 3,000 attendees. He later worked inside a large agency before founding Codarity and eventually narrowing its focus to the events industry.

Dan explains why relying on referrals creates unpredictable revenue, how long buying cycles affect event businesses and why running more ads will not necessarily fix a growth plateau.

They also discuss:

• Why serving every type of client made Codarity harder to scale
• The four pillars of Dan’s Evergreen Event Profit System
• How automation keeps the pipeline moving during busy seasons
• Why highly specific LinkedIn content can generate leads with only 150 impressions
• Losing around 60% of Codarity’s clients during COVID
• The hidden opportunities businesses miss when they depend on word of mouth
• Why short marketing trials lead to repeated restarts

This episode is useful for event businesses, agency owners and other service companies that experience uneven demand or rely heavily on referrals.

Learn more about Dan Charles
LinkedIn ➡️ https://uk.linkedin.com/in/dancharles
Codarity ➡️ https://codarity.com/

Learn more about Jeremy Yang on LinkedIn ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-yang/

Listen on your preferred podcast app ➡️ https://pod.link/aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGkucml2ZXJzaWRlLmNvbS9ob3N0aW5nL2RmaGQ4QlltLnJzcw

Connect with Digital Goliath
Instagram ➡️ https://www.instagram.com/digital_goliath_marketing/
Website ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/

Learn more about Digital Goliath
About Us ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/about-page/
Our Services ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/marketing-ads-services/

Looking for more practical ideas to help you run and grow your business?

Explore Digital Goliath’s latest articles and how-to guides for SME owners.

Expert Perspectives ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/expert-perspectives/
How-To Guides ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/how-to-guides/

AI can help a small business research ideas, develop products and move faster, but handing over all your critical thinking produces generic work.

In this episode of Marketing for SMEs, Jeremy Yang speaks with Tracy Brinkmann, host of The Dark Horse Entrepreneur podcast. Tracy draws on decades of experience across entrepreneurship, corporate marketing, coaching and podcasting to explain where AI genuinely helps smaller businesses and where human judgement still matters.

They discuss how microbusiness owners can use AI as a creative sounding board, test more specific product ideas and extract more value from knowledge they already have. Tracy also shares how his own path took him from addiction and a police raid to working with companies including Coca-Cola, Home Depot and Victoria’s Secret.

They also discuss:

• How one product grew from $250,000 to $5 million in annual Amazon revenue
• What early Facebook advertising was like for businesses
• Why advertising eventually appears on almost every new platform
• The current limits of vibe coding
• AI creatives and the “uncanny valley”
• How email reactivation campaigns can produce revenue from an existing customer list
  
  

This episode is for SME owners, solopreneurs and creators who want to use AI without losing the experience, judgement and original thinking that make their work valuable.

Learn more about Tracy Brinkmann
Website ➡️ https://www.darkhorseentrepreneur.com/
LinkedIn ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracybrinkmann/
YouTube ➡️ https://www.youtube.com/@DarkHorseEntrepreneur/videos

Learn more about Jeremy Yang on LinkedIn ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-yang/

Listen on your preferred podcast app ➡️ https://pod.link/aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGkucml2ZXJzaWRlLmNvbS9ob3N0aW5nL2RmaGQ4QlltLnJzcw

Connect with Digital Goliath
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Website ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/

Learn more about Digital Goliath
About Us ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/about-page/
Our Services ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/marketing-ads-services/

Looking for more practical ideas to help you run and grow your business?

Explore Digital Goliath’s latest articles and how-to guides for SME owners.

Expert Perspectives ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/expert-perspectives/
How-To Guides ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/how-to-guides/

A bigger business does not always create more freedom. Sometimes it creates more expenses, more offers to sell and more work that the founder never wanted.

In this episode of Marketing for SMEs, Jeremy Yang speaks with Lydia Lee, creator of the Tiny Business Method and founder of Screw the Cubicle.

After building a business with three full-time staff, eight offers and a constant cycle of launches, Lydia realised she had recreated many of the pressures she originally left corporate life to escape.

Lydia explains how established business owners can simplify their offers, marketing and operating model without automatically sacrificing income or impact. She also shares how to recognise whether you have outgrown your work or whether the business itself has become too complicated for you to manage sustainably.

They also discuss:

• Why choosing a profitable niche starts with understanding your skills and lived experience
• The hidden costs of pursuing arbitrary revenue goals
• How to replace constant online marketing with fewer, better-fitting channels
• Why a leaner business can sometimes leave the owner with more profit
• How founder burnout can be a business-model problem

This conversation is for established service business owners, coaches and consultants who have built something successful but no longer enjoy the way it operates.

Learn more about Lydia Lee
Website ➡️ https://screwthecubicle.com/
LinkedIn ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/lydiallee/
YouTube ➡️ https://www.youtube.com/screwthecubicle

Learn more about Jeremy Yang on LinkedIn ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-yang/

Listen on your preferred podcast app ➡️ https://pod.link/aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGkucml2ZXJzaWRlLmNvbS9ob3N0aW5nL2RmaGQ4QlltLnJzcw

Connect with Digital Goliath
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Website ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/

Learn more about Digital Goliath
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Our Services ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/marketing-ads-services/

Resources
Expert Perspectives ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/expert-perspectives/
Results ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/results/

Most advice about creating an offer starts with the target audience, their pain points and what keeps them awake at night.

Humaira Akhter believes established business owners need to start somewhere deeper.

In this episode of Marketing for SMEs, Jeremy Yang speaks with Humaira, creator of the Genius Offer Blueprint™, about finding the “red thread” that connects your experience, strongest work and personal history.

Humaira explains why multi-skilled experts can struggle to choose one clear offer. Being capable of solving many problems can leave a business fragmented, difficult to explain and easy to forget.

Her process looks at the high points, low points and turning points across your life and career. These patterns can reveal the work you are best placed to become known for, rather than forcing you into a niche that does not feel right.

They also discuss:

• The difference between a zone of excellence and a zone of genius
• Why capable business owners repeatedly create offers but never execute them
• How an aligned offer can remain relevant as the market changes
• Why dialogue can uncover context that an AI tool may overlook
• What happens when a business owner keeps waiting to feel ready
  
  

This conversation is for experienced coaches, consultants, creatives and service business owners who can do many things well but are struggling to decide what their business should be built around.

Learn more about Humaira Akhter
Website ➡️ https://humairaakhter.com/
LinkedIn ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/humairaakhter/
Genius Offer Diagnostic ➡️ https://humairaakhter.com/quiz/find_my_redthread
Genius Offer Blueprint™ ➡️ https://humairaakhter.com/geniusofferblueprint

Learn more about Jeremy Yang on LinkedIn ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-yang/

Listen on your preferred podcast app ➡️ https://pod.link/aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGkucml2ZXJzaWRlLmNvbS9ob3N0aW5nL2RmaGQ4QlltLnJzcw

Connect with Digital Goliath
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Website ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/

Learn more about Digital Goliath
About Us ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/about-page/
Our Services ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/marketing-ads-services/

Resources
Expert Perspectives ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/expert-perspectives/
Results ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/results/

Feeling uncomfortable on camera is not something you can easily hide. Even a small amount of awkwardness becomes far more noticeable once the video is published.

Jeremy Yang speaks with Jenna Oberstein, Founder and Director of ATAG Communication, about helping business owners create social media content that feels natural rather than rehearsed.

Jenna explains why she avoids scripts during content shoots, how she helps clients become more confident on camera and why the business owner is usually the right person to appear in the content. She also shares a practical way for small businesses to plan their own posts using a content calendar and repeatable content segments.

They also discuss:

• Why consistent content can matter more than going viral
• How social media helps potential customers validate a business
• When to manage social media yourself and when to hire someone
• What a social media manager should actually take responsibility for
• How Jenna uses AI without removing the human side of the content
• Why the right client and agency fit matters
  
  

This episode is for small business owners who manage their own social media, are considering hiring someone or want to judge whether their current social media work is being handled properly.

Learn more about Jenna Oberstein

LinkedIn ➡️ https://au.linkedin.com/in/jenna-oberstein-045684164

ATAG Communication ➡️ https://www.atagcom.com/

Learn more about Jeremy Yang on LinkedIn ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-yang/

Listen on your preferred podcast app ➡️ https://pod.link/aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGkucml2ZXJzaWRlLmNvbS9ob3N0aW5nL2RmaGQ4QlltLnJzcw

Connect with Digital Goliath

Instagram ➡️ https://www.instagram.com/digital_goliath_marketing/

Website ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/

Learn more about Digital Goliath

About Us ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/about-page/

Our Services ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/marketing-ads-services/

Resources

Expert Perspectives ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/expert-perspectives/

Results ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/results/

Most businesses try to generate referrals by asking for them. William “Billy” Sammons builds them by helping local businesses first.

In this episode of Marketing for SMEs, Jeremy Yang speaks with Billy, the creator of Live Local Warm Marketing and author of Warm Marketing: The New Currency. Billy explains how creating useful video content for local businesses helped him build trust, form referral partnerships and become more visible within his community.

They also discuss:

• Why pitching immediately after helping someone can undo the trust you created
• How to choose local businesses that align with your interests and values
• Why community-focused emails can outperform industry updates
• How introverts can use one-to-one interviews to build connections
• How to make relationship-based marketing manageable and repeatable
  
  

This conversation is for service professionals, salespeople and business owners who want to build stronger local relationships without relying entirely on cold outreach.

Learn more about William “Billy” Sammons

LinkedIn ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-sammons-9951181a/

Live Local Warm Marketing ➡️ https://www.livelocalwarmmarketing.com/

Get the free Connector Blueprint ➡️ https://www.referralblueprint.com/

Warm Marketing: The New Currency ➡️ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F6LMY1L8

Live Local Podcast ➡️ https://www.livelocalwarmmarketing.com/the-podcast

Learn more about Jeremy Yang on LinkedIn ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-yang/

Listen on your preferred podcast app ➡️ https://pod.link/aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGkucml2ZXJzaWRlLmNvbS9ob3N0aW5nL2RmaGQ4QlltLnJzcw

Connect with Digital Goliath

Instagram ➡️ https://www.instagram.com/digital_goliath_marketing/

Website ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/

Learn more about Digital Goliath

About Us ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/about-page/

Our Services ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/marketing-ads-services/

Resources

Expert Perspectives ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/expert-perspectives/

Results ➡️ https://digitalgoliath.com.au/results/