The AI Marketing Companion

Sandy Carter
  • 4.8 (87)
  • Marketing
  • Updated Semiweekly

The AI Marketing Companion, hosted by Sandy Carter, is the world's most entertaining marketing podcast. Sandy is a bestselling author of "AI First, Human Always," a Forbes Top 150 contributor, and a keynote speaker at Davos, CES, SXSW, and the United Nations. She took the mic in January 2026 from founding host Mark Schaefer, carrying forward 13 years of laugh-out-loud conversation, surprise guests, and sharp insight. New episodes dig into AI, agentic commerce, and the future of digital business, always fun, always interesting, always ready to turn your marketing intellect up to 11

  1. 2d ago

    Personal AI Agents vs. Brand Agents: The Next Battle in AI Commerce

    What happens when your personal AI agent starts shopping with a brand's AI agent? Sandy Carter talks with Diaz Nesamoney, CEO of DaVinci Commerce, about the shift from GEO to Agentic Commerce Optimization, why "mentioned is not bought," and how personal agents, brand agents and richer product context could reshape the customer journey. They explore what Meta Muse, OpenAI Dots, ChatGPT and the rise of agentic commerce mean for marketers, and what brands need to do now to make their products understandable, trusted and recommendable by AI agents.

  2. 2d ago ·  Bonus

    You Might Also Like: The Ben Shapiro Show

    Introducing Ep. 2519 - Tucker Carlson Just Got Schooled from The Ben Shapiro Show. Follow the show: The Ben Shapiro Show Tucker Carlson praises Russia, explains that it would have been no biggie if Hitler won World War II... and gets mogged; we explore the latest polling on 2026, and examine why there’s still a significant chance Republicans overperform; and Tom Cruise makes a crappy climate change film while Zach Bryan stands with Hamas. Ep. 2519 - - - Today's Sponsors: PureTalk - More than 120,000 wireless customers agree that PureTalk delivers. Switch today and get unlimited high-speed data for just $34.99 per month. Visit https://PureTalk.com/SHAPIRO to receive 50% off your first month. Helix Sleep - Don’t let an uncomfortable mattress become part of your October horror story. Go to HelixSleep.com/Ben for 20% off storewide during Helix’s Fall Sales Event. That’s https://HelixSleep.com/Ben for 20% off storewide. - - - DailyWire: Become a Daily Wire Member and watch all of our content ad-free: https://get.dailywire.com/infidels 40% off annual plans with code FIGHT 🍿 Watch Run Hide Fight: Infidels https://www.dailywire.com/videos/run-hide-fight-infidels 📲 Download the free Daily Wire app today on iPhone, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Samsung, and more. 📰 Follow me on the Daily Wire app or DailyWire.com to read my daily articles and receive my Friday newsletter. 📘 My book "Lions and Scavengers: The True Story of America (and Her Critics)" is available here:  https://dwplus.shop/LionsandScavengers 👕 Get your Ben Shapiro merch here: https://dwplus.shop/BenShapiroMerch - - - Socials: YouTube — https://youtube.com/@BenShapiro Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/officialbenshapiro Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/officialbenshapiro Snapchat — https://www.snapchat.com/officialbenshapiro TikTok — https://www.tiktok.com/@real.benshapiro X — https://twitter.com/benshapiro - - - Privacy Policy: https://www.dailywire.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices DISCLAIMER: Please note, this is an independent podcast episode not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in conjunction with the host podcast feed or any of its media entities. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the creators and guests. For any concerns, please reach out to team@podroll.fm.

  3. Sep 29

    Where Should Your Next Marketing Dollar Go? | Al, Budgets & the CMO's Dilemma

    CMOs are putting more than 15% of their marketing budgets into Al. But 70% say their own marketing processes aren't ready for it. Where Does Your Next Marketing Dollar Go? Before you spend your next marketing dollar on Al, look at what Gartner found when it asked 401 CMOs about their budgets this year. They are putting more than 15 percent of the marketing budget into Al, and 70 percent of them say their own processes aren't ready for it My guest on this episode of The AI Marketing Companion has an explanation for that gap. Marie Bahl is the CMO of Uptempo, whose software helps marketing teams at companies like IBM and IKEA plan and track every dollar they spend. She has marketed enterprise software for 30 years, and she writes for both CMOs and CFOs. Who Wires Together Every Marketing Dollar? A quick primer first. A point solution is software built to do one job: send email, run webinars, score leads, report attribution. Marie counts more than 15,000 of them sold to marketers. A large team might run 50, each bought at a different time by a different person, and few of them share numbers. In finance or HR, IT or a consulting firm connects the systems. In marketing, that wiring job landed on the CMO. Marie's description of the result: "We've allowed this crazy patchwork quilt of solutions to ineffectively represent us, and what happens in the mix is we lose credibility." Her one-line summary of the job today: "The CMO job today is mostly defensive. We're playing defense instead of offense." Marketing Is a Business, So Defend the Marketing Dollar Like One Marie argues that marketing is a business inside the business. Marketers build the market, and they create a series of products that deliver that market on behalf of what the company sells. Running it that way means trading impressions and clicks for measures a CFO already uses. She told me the story of IBM seeing its entire marketing budget in one view for the first time. The Kentucky Derby sponsorship couldn't justify itself next to everything else on the page, so IBM walked away from it. Could your biggest line item survive that same view? Play Along: Keep, Kill, or Hand It Back I asked Marie to sort five tasks that sit on a typical CMO's desk: Choosing and wiring the marketing software Reconciling the budget with finance Buying AI tools for the team Cleaning customer data Building the attribution report for the board Sort them for your own desk before you listen. Then hear which one Marie still owns herself, and the sentence she thinks every marketing leader should say to their CIO this week. Her challenge to all of us: "It's time to stop and ask for the underpinning that you need in order to be credible on behalf of your business." [Listen to the full episode] Hear Marie out, then decide where your next marketing dollar goes.

  4. Sep 15

    New Research! What's WRONG with Content Marketing Today

    Andy Crestodina has asked more than a thousand content marketers the same questions every year since 2014, which makes him the only person holding a twelve-year record of whether content marketing works. This year's answers are the worst he has ever published.   Only 13.9% of marketers report strong results from their blog, down from a range of 20% to 30% that held for nine straight years. Another 18.9% say they no longer know whether their blog works at all.   What makes it stranger is everything that happened alongside it. Posts got 115 words shorter. Time spent per post fell by 50 minutes. And 92.4% of marketers adopted AI, which his data shows correlates with no improvement whatsoever.   Andy joins Sandy Carter to explain what is actually driving the decline, which tactics still outperform, and why marketers are abandoning those exact tactics. Influencer collaboration runs at 2.6 times the benchmark and adoption dropped 22%. Guest blogging fell 29% in the same year AI systems started deciding which sources to cite.   The episode closes with a round called Dead or Alive, where Sandy names a content tactic and Andy has to rule on it using his own numbers.   Andy Crestodina is co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Orbit Media Studios and the author of Content Chemistry, now in its seventh edition.   Read the full 2026 report: https://www.orbitmedia.com/blog/blogging-statistics/ Connect with Andy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andycrestodina/   YouTube   Title: How to Lose Readers and Influence Nobody | Andy Crestodina on the Worst Year in Blogging Data   Description:   92.4% of marketers now use AI for content. Results just hit a twelve-year low. Those two facts are related, though not in the way you would expect.   Andy Crestodina has surveyed over a thousand content marketers every year since 2014. His 2026 report shows strong results falling to 13.9%, the lowest number he has ever recorded, in the same year effort dropped across the board and AI adoption hit an all-time high.   In this episode he tells Sandy Carter what is behind the decline, which tactics still outperform the benchmark, and why marketers are walking away from exactly those tactics. We also get into what belongs on a content dashboard instead of traffic volume, and why blocking AI crawlers hurts the brand doing the blocking.   Chapters (producer: adjust to the final cut) 0:00 Trees, scuba, and why he started counting in 2014 4:00 The worst year in twelve years of data 11:30 The least popular tactics work best 18:30 You are counting the wrong thing 25:00 Dead or Alive: eight tactics, eight rulings   The numbers from the report   • 13.9% report strong results, an all-time low • 18.9% do not know whether their blog works • 92.4% use AI, with no correlation to better results • Average post: 1,312 words, down from 1,427 in 2023 • Influencer collaboration: 2.6x the benchmark, adoption down 22% • Guest blogging adoption: down 29% • AI citations convert at 4.55%, Google search at 0.71%   Links Full 2026 report: https://www.orbitmedia.com/blog/blogging-statistics/ Andy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andycrestodina/ Orbit Media Studios: https://www.orbitmedia.com/   Subscribe for new episodes of The AI Marketing Companion with Sandy Carter.   #ContentMarketing #AIMarketing #SEO #MarketingStrategy #AISearch

  5. Aug 31

    40% of Marketing Budgets Are Moving to Creators. Here's Why

    Creators are dead. Long live creators. The experimental era of creator marketing is over, and 40% of marketing budgets now flow to creators. The brands still treating that spend like a test are already behind. Jeff Barrett has lived every side of the creator economy: Shorty Award winning creator, creator partnerships lead for Fortune 500 brands like Adobe and Oracle, It's No Fluke columnist on Yahoo Creators, and board chair of the Creator Guild of America. In this episode of The AI Marketing Companion, Jeff and Sandy Carter get into why trust is pulling budgets toward creators, how creators became the new creative department, and the mistake brands make when they pay for authenticity and then script it away. WHAT WE COVER: ▶ The lesson Jeff learned wearing all three hats: creator, agent, and brand buyer ▶ Why 40% of marketing budgets now flow to creators ▶ Trust and the parasocial relationships brands can't manufacture ▶ Creators as the new creative department, involved from ideation ▶ The "ick": what happens when brands over-script creator content ▶ Why Jenny Hoyos is the blueprint for the next generation of creators ▶ How to select the right creator: motivation and niche fit over raw metrics CONNECT WITH SANDY CARTER: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandyacarter/ The AI Marketing Companion is a top 1% podcast globally and a 5-time podcast award winner. #CreatorEconomy #InfluencerMarketing #AIMarketing #MarketingStrategy #JeffBarrett

  6. Aug 27

    The real AI Status Symbol

    What is the real AI status symbol in 2026? It may not be what you think. Artificial intelligence is changing how we work, create, communicate and compete. But beyond simply using AI tools, there is a bigger shift happening in how people and businesses think about AI, productivity and the future. In this video, we explore the real AI status symbol and what it reveals about the changing relationship between people, technology and artificial intelligence. You'll discover why AI adoption is becoming more than just a technology trend, what separates people who use AI from those who truly understand how to leverage it, and why AI skills could become increasingly valuable in the future. Whether you're a business owner, creator, professional, entrepreneur or simply interested in the future of technology, this conversation will give you a different perspective on what AI really means in today's world. #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #AITools

  7. Aug 18

    Shira Lazar: 5 Creator Lessons for Marketers

    TIME Top 100 creator Shira Lazar shares her creator playbook. Before "creator" became a career path, Shira Lazar was already building one. In this episode of The AI Marketing Companion, Shira shares the lessons she's learned from more than 15 years of building media brands, identifying trends, and helping creators navigate a rapidly changing digital landscape. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction and Shira's journey from early digital media to the creator economy 04:25 How to recognize a real trend before it reaches peak popularity 10:18 Why follower counts don't tell the whole story when selecting creator partners 16:42 How to use AI to enhance your work without losing your authentic voice 22:10 Authenticity in an era of AI-generated content and invisible watermarking 27:35 The Creator Bill of Rights and building healthier creator partnerships 31:12 Shira's homework assignment for every marketer What signals are you missing? Which creator partnerships are worth pursuing? And how can AI amplify your work without replacing what makes it uniquely yours? Listen in for a practical playbook from one of the world's most influential creators. Connect with Sandy LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandyacarter/ Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/sandycarter/ Sandy Carter: https://sandycarter.net/ Youtube: https://youtube.com/@aifirstmarketing?si=Qkyd3smETP8HQ7SM

  8. Aug 4

    The Devil Wears Prompts | Cathy Hackl on the Brand You No Longer Control

    Cathy Hackl on what AI is doing to brands. Fewer than 10% of the sources AI assistants cite rank in Google's top 10 for the same question. Your brand equity moved and nobody sent a memo. Cathy Hackl has spent a decade being early. She was calling the metaverse before most boardrooms could spell it. USA Today named her one of the best predictors of tech behavior in the world, Newsweek named her a top AI visionary, and she is the number one voice on LinkedIn for spatial AI. As CEO of Future Dynamics, co-founder of Journey, and Futurist in Residence at Nokia, she has guided Nike, Walmart, Louis Vuitton, and Estee Lauder through what comes next. But she did not just predict the technology. She built one of the most recognizable personal brands in tech while doing it. So this conversation is about both kinds of brand, the company one and the personal one, now that AI sits between you and everyone you are trying to reach. We get into what a slop moment really costs, and whether one machine-sounding post means you lose the benefit of the doubt on everything you have ever written. Why executives believe young audiences are fine with AI content far more than those audiences say they are. What happens to persuasion when agentic shopping goes from 19% to 46% of consumers and the buyer is software that does not care whether your brand is loved. And what proof of human survives when a convincing version of any of us can appear anywhere, voice clone included. CONNECT WITH CATHY HACKL LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cathyhackl/ THE AI MARKETING COMPANION New episodes twice a month with Sandy Carter. Subscribe: https://youtube.com/@aifirstmarketing?si=sy4P6ERqEzeQtFqK Sandy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandyacarter/ #AIMarketing #PersonalBranding #SpatialAI

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4.8
out of 5
87 Ratings

About

The AI Marketing Companion, hosted by Sandy Carter, is the world's most entertaining marketing podcast. Sandy is a bestselling author of "AI First, Human Always," a Forbes Top 150 contributor, and a keynote speaker at Davos, CES, SXSW, and the United Nations. She took the mic in January 2026 from founding host Mark Schaefer, carrying forward 13 years of laugh-out-loud conversation, surprise guests, and sharp insight. New episodes dig into AI, agentic commerce, and the future of digital business, always fun, always interesting, always ready to turn your marketing intellect up to 11

Information

  • Creator
    Sandy Carter
  • Years Active
    2013 - 2026
  • Episodes
    367
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © AI First, Human Always
  • Show Website
    The AI Marketing Companion

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