The Problem

Due to some health issues, I have stopped jogging. I used to run 1-2 miles every other day, but a case of sciatica and some other issues made me stop for a while.

My health insurance policy now gives me free access to a health club, so I ventured out and visited the local Planet Fitness and Anytime Fitness (both within 5 minutes of my house). I need to do some strength training again, along with some treadmill and elliptical work, to get my body back in shape.

The Task

I put on my 10-year-old running shoes, and they showed some unusual wear and tear. So I decided it was time to replace them.

I took the picture to the right and uploaded it to Perplexity and asked, “The shoe has a wear pattern on it. What kind of problem am I having, and what shoe would you recommend that would help me run?”

Here is what it said, “From the wear pattern, it looks like you’re a neutral to slightly supinating runner with a heavy heel strike, especially on the outer (lateral) side of your heel. If you’re not experiencing pain (knees, hips, IT band, shin splints), this pattern by itself isn’t something you need to ‘fix,' but you can pick shoes that better protect you and encourage a slightly smoother transition forward.”

Then it recommended

• Brooks Ghost
• Asics Gel – Cumulus
• New Balance 880

On to Amazon, and now I have a new pair of Brooks coming to my door based on ratings, availability, and cost.

The System

Then I asked Perplexity what exercises I could do to get my body back in shape for running while only being able to work out 3 times per week. It came up with a complete plan, week by week, for 4 weeks (and then some).

Each phase — walking, jogging, strength, and stretching — is a task. Each day has multiple tasks that work as part of the complete fitness system. I can't really skip steps, or jump to a day, or bypass a week without risking injury.

The bottom line is that if I want success, I have to execute tasks in a specific order to make the system work correctly for me.

The AI Marketing Success System

Early AI (accessible to us through Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc.) was pretty much a task system. Ask it to write a blog, make a spreadsheet, create an image, or edit a video, and it was pretty good at performing tasks.

With the new local or cloud-based advanced AI systems, we can now combine tasks into a single system. For example:

Export my client list from QuickBooks into a spreadsheet. Compare that spreadsheet with the list in my email broadcast program. Tag each client or prospect, then track which have been unsubscribed or bounced, write a report, and email it to me.

You may view that list as a big task that is part of your email marketing system, but you can't really skip steps, jump to an outcome, or bypass a process without risking unusable data.

You can also look at systems as part of a broader system for managing and reporting on your email marketing success. But in the end, it's going to take a knowledgeable person with a clear perspective on what success means to analyze the reports and update processes. Keep in mind that your email content needs to be created and distributed to make your email marketing system relevant to each person on that list.

Systems Within the System

You can look at creating content as one system, then distribution through your blogs, email, social media, and other channels as sub-systems built around your content, and finally, the reporting and data analysis as a global part of those subsystems.

There are software platforms (HubSpot, Salesforce, and others) that try to encapsulate as many of those systems in one package as possible, and that may work for larger enterprise operations, but small to mid-sized companies often employ multiple silos (CRM, QuickBooks, Email Marketing, Social Posting, and more).

We have the task of moving data and processes from one system to another to perform multiple tasks and achieve associated outcomes.

So it makes sense to look at each system and see where AI can actually save you time and improve outcomes, and where it actually takes more time and muddies the picture.

Look at your desired outcome and try to identify which systems can benefit from repetitive AI actions that will make your job easier.

What AI Really Does?

AI needs data to function. A good healthcare example is mammograms and breast cancer. Those images can be compiled into a database, but each image has to be associated with an outcome before the data has value.

Which images resulted in breast cancer, and which were benign? Those images have to be tagged and categorized to feed into an AI system. It takes some human interaction to do that. With quality data, AI can predict breast cancer earlier, leading to better outcomes.

In a podcast about curing cancer, the expert said that most systems are siloed. Meaning that multiple companies have data, but there is no national or international database that can combine them all to give AI better data to improve its ability to perform computations, which could result in earlier detection and better outcomes.

Solving cancer is much more of a complex system that requires defining what healthy is, which cell mutations (which differ by cancer) are present and in what form, and what progress, personal lifestyle, and genetic issues are present in each case. AI can help, but it will take an incredible amount of time, money, and expertise to achieve success.

AI tasks and systems are only as good as the data they are fed and the programming designed to analyze it and produce logical, repeatable outcomes based on the largest available data sets.

AI Improved Outcomes

You and your staff need to be the conduit between data, tasks, systems, and outcomes. So when incorporating AI into your marketing, it generally starts and ends with people.

What data are you gathering, categorizing, tagging, and inputting? What is the result that you are hoping to achieve with that data? Where can AI improve the process, and where will it hinder the goals?

It starts by working backward. What will reporting show if you are achieving desired outcomes? What systems do you have in place, and how can they be simplified or improved? Which tasks can be automated or repeated consistently without human interaction?

And finally, what data are you feeding your system, and does it help each task, system, and subsystem achieve the desired outcome?

Closing Thought

While technology is making marketing easier, it's also making achieving outcomes harder. One example: website traffic is down.

Small businesses are facing declines in organic search traffic in 2026, with 40% of SMBs experiencing disruption from Google algorithm changes and AI-assisted search. Larger SMBs (11-100 employees) are most affected, with 46% reporting traffic losses.

That means that your systems have to work harder to make up for the difference, and we are seeing data optimization and quality customer-focused content create a 5:1 ratio of direct traffic (email, ads, and social) over organic search.

While my new running shoes may not improve my health on their own, they are part of the tasks and systems I need to achieve my goal of better health, and hopefully better golf scores.

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Comment below and share your thoughts, ideas, or questions about business-to-business sales and marketing today! Do you have a sales or marketing communications strategy that works for you? What tips or techniques can you share that work for you and your business?

To learn more about this and other topics on B2b Sales & Marketing, visit our podcast website at The Bacon Podcast.