#40 - How to Not Make 2026 Your 2025

You can’t control the Kraken.

The internet isn’t a machine you command—it’s a living, chaotic environment. Yet modern marketing is often sold like magic: guaranteed outcomes, secret systems, and the promise of control.

In this episode of Over The Bull, we use mythology to explain a very real problem—how marketing became hijacked by certainty it can’t deliver. From there, we walk through a simple way to pressure-test whether a marketing plan has a real chance of working, or whether it’s built on assumptions, dashboards, and hope.

This isn’t about tactics.
It’s about clarity, restraint, and dealing honestly with reality before money is spent.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

You're listening to Over the Bull, where we cut through marketing noise. Here's your host, Ken Carroll.

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Conquering the Kraken on this episode of Over the Bull. Welcome to 2026. This is our first podcast of 2026. And I have a question for you. When you look back at 2026, are you going to be doing the exact same thing you're doing as you're looking back at 2025? This is a sobering thought because as people who own businesses, and I'm one of those people, oftentimes when we start to look backwards, we realize that we've really done nothing new than we've done the previous year. I mean, we may have had a little bit of an up or a little bit of change, but in terms of really making a difference and understanding the business that you have, typically doesn't change that much from year to year. So what I wanted to do, and why I use the term kraken, is I want to propose something to you in this podcast. And I think it deserves some careful consideration. And if you can properly address these issues, I really believe your 2026 is going to be your best year ever, but it's going to challenge you in a lot of ways. So the reason I use the term kraken is because the kraken is this mythological creature, right? There was no kraken. Just like there was no sirens that led sailors to their deaths in the old days. These are just fairy tales. They're myths. And unfortunately, the myth of our day today is the internet, and more specifically, the people that can harness the power of the Internet. And so when you think of the people that harness the power of the Internet, you're thinking that the Internet is this mythological beast that can bring you, you know, wealth upon wealth, if only you can find the right magician, the right person that can harness that mythological beast. And if we look at it, that's really what most business owners are thinking: that this internet, if they just find the right person, this somehow success will find them. Now, what I'm going to tell you today is absolutely that is the wrong mindset. Now, it's not your fault if you have that mindset, because this mindset has actually been cultivated by a lot of culprits. Designers, marketing agencies, and ignorance, a lot of them permeate these thoughts because they sell. Hey, are you looking to grow your business? We can help you find new customers. We can do this. We got the new magical AI tool that can harness the kraken. You see where I'm going with this. And so now the idea is that you have become to believe, because everyone says this, is that there's these magicians that call themselves marketing experts that can somehow harness the power of the Kraken. And you just seem to be finding all the people that cannot do it. And so you go through this cycle of hiring and firing magicians that are claiming that they can harness this mythical beast in hopes that at some point you're going to find the right person that you can pay money and they will make your phone ring. They will have forms filled out, they will get the online bookings. And all the stuff is just going to come pouring in once you find that right person. Now, the other thing is, is this myth was also permeated by all the do-it-yourself systems. You know, hey, uh, why hire a web person when you can go and build your website yourself? Years ago, if you go back and look at the marketing pitches by these do-it-yourself website builders, they would say, pick a template, add your text and photos, publish the website, get found on the internet, grow your business. They still say that message. They just say it a little bit different. Now here's the only problem with it. It's false. It doesn't exist. If they ever use an example, it's a one in a million example, or they bring somebody in that already has a lot of momentum and with a lot of people that are already following them, and they're just using that as a way to bait you in to do the same thing. I mean, that's why these big do-it-yourself programs are advertising on TV when you're probably barely uh able to afford your local newspaper. It's because their sales pitches are working and yours aren't. And so the idea is that this mythology about the internet takes place, and now you have people that are basically they've been flood-filling marketing and design for years. I mean, this market is full of people who have no business designing for other entities. I mean, not even themselves, but they're doing it because they can make money at it. And if they just get the slick enough sales pitch, if they can just make you think that they can work the magic and harness the kraken, then they're going to sign you up. And then you're going to spend money with them. Then you're going to get tired, then you're going to look for somebody else, and then you're going to repeat the process, and then you're going to follow the next pitch. Now, this is also one of the reasons why I've said repeatedly: if anyone ever emails you something, you know, the good Samaritan writing you an email saying, hey, I saw this on your website and it's wrong. Or we got this great new product. Give me five minutes and I'll show you how we can revolutionize your business. You know, all these things are just magicians trying to peddle goods. The emperor has no clothes. This is all just myth. It's selling fantasy. And when you buy into it through your emotion or through your hopes, just like if you were looking to buy a lottery ticket and you think that you might win the lottery, it's preying upon that same thing. And this is why you're caught in that loop where you're constantly reinventing the wheel, where you're going through the process where you meet the next person and they go, Oh, we got to redo your website. How many times have you heard that? Now, the truth is you may need to redo your website. There, there may be some real truth to that. Um, but redo your website, redo your pretty soon it sounds like a broken record, right? You're spending thousands of dollars every time you hire somebody else thinking that maybe, just maybe, and boy, they're using big words, and it sounds like they know what they're talking about. And so then you dive into it, and then you're disappointed yet again. So this is why your 2024 looks like you're 2025. And if you don't get out of the loop, your 2026 is going to look like you're 2025, and this is going to continue over and over again. You're going to have small climbs and you're going to have small dips, but you're never really learning anything. So the idea is you want to learn. The idea is you want to grow. But in order to do that, you're going to have to inoculate yourself against the magician pitch, the we got the latest and greatest AI tool. We got the latest and greatest thing that's going to grow your business. We can help you gain visibility through this mythical SEO, which is seldom explained from what I've seen, especially recently. They just sell the term SEO as though it's some kind of spell that they cast and make your website pop up on the uh the top page of Google. All this is false. And unfortunately, because it's a complex subject, a lot of business owners just simply fall forward, hook, line, and sinker, cross their fingers, hope for the best, or they go based upon a referral from somebody else and they're not really tracking their marketing. And so they have no idea if their magician's doing any better than your magician. So the idea is to get away from the illusion, the cracking, the ideas, the hopefulness, the emotions that come along with it, the fear of missing out when someone says they've got the greatest tool for your industry, and it's going to bring people clamoring to your door. You have to resist that. And, you know, and they put it at price points. I mean, let's face it, they put the price points out there where you look at it and you go, well, it's just a few dollars. And if it works, I mean, the reason I'm saying these things and the reason this resonates with you is because I work with business owners all the time. I see it. I've seen the web addresses that people are selling for thousands of dollars that aren't worth 25 bucks because they sound good. I've seen it. I've seen it. I've seen the marketing people say email marketing is dead. No, email marketing is not dead. Matter of fact, email marketing is going to arguably be one of the big things you can do in 2026. And so, you know, people are looking for shortcuts and they're buying the pitches and they're thinking that they want AI to answer their phone calls and all that. But think about you, for example. Do you like talking to AI? Do you like having those situations, or do you want to speak to a real person? You know, you got to ask yourself the hard questions. And you got to find out within your market if some of this thing even makes sense for you to even do it or not. Because just like every human being is different, there's no one size fits all in two separate businesses. What's an advantage for you may not be an advantage for someone doing the exact same thing you're doing in your area. So what happens is businesses they fail quietly. They fail quietly over time, and then skepticism grows. And so here's the thing. What I want to do today is I want to talk to you about five basic questions we now ask before touching any project. And if you're being asked these questions, then I think what it can do is help you maybe find out if your marketing people are selling you marketing or are they selling you magic. Now, before we get into those questions, let's ask, let's talk about your business. So let's break it down very fundamentally. You have a business, you're offering products or services that you want people to purchase. Now, they may be consumers, you know, the uh, you know, the regular general public, or it could be other businesses. So you have something that you want to sell to other people that they can use, and you're hoping that it's in a good place where people want it. Now, the reason people want to use your products and services are things that are special to your business. You know, and so the idea is to understand what's unique about your business and understand the basic concept that if your business has qualities that people want and it offers a service that isn't like everybody else's services and is properly positioned, then you have an opportunity for success. Now, what you think is good about your business may not be at all what's really good about your business. So here's the first hard question. If you're hiring a marketing firm to represent your company and your advantages and what's good about your company, and they don't fully understand your value proposition and what you believe is good about your company, then you're trusting them to guess about what's good about your business. Not only are you paying them to guess what's unique about your business, but they could also misrepresent your business. They may say things that aren't true. Now, this doesn't mean simply uh a very cursory conversation. That's not what this means. There are some strategic questions you can ask to kind of draw out the strategic advantages that you have with your business. And then the role is to actually identify the problem that is that we're trying to solve. And we're trying to see if what your position is in the market can actually work. Okay, so let me say that in a little more common language. You have a value proposition for your business. You believe that people are doing business with you for a certain reason. The question is, are you right? Is that true? And if it is true, can you put in all the pieces to make that to where people understand that in a way where they would want to do business with you if that's true? And if that's not true, then what needs to change? Okay, so clarity is knowing the real problem before ever choosing a tactic on how you're going to market and design and all these other things. It's not we need more traffic. It's not we need better branding. But what is broken first in the business? So marketing is used to solve a few problems: sales problems, operational problems, uh, pricing problems, positioning confusion. And so there's a gentleman by uh Peter by the name of Peter Drucker, the uh effective uh executive, and one of his quotes is there is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all. So if the problem is misdiagnosed, efficiency just um accelerates the waste. So what I mean by that is you've got to understand your business, and you just don't want to pay somebody just because if you're an electrician, they do electrical websites, because they don't understand you. They don't understand your environment, and they're not properly setting up and going, okay, we're testing this theory out based on this discussion, and we want to know if that's true or not. We want to know if that's actually a competitive position, or if it's your perception of that that's the wrong thing. You see, there's a big difference there. And so your first big clue with the clarity aspect of this is did you pay an agency money to start running ads for your business or build a website? And they did not get intimate understanding of exactly what they're testing, trying to validate or prove to begin with. Now, my guess is pretty much every one of you are going to say that that did not happen. Or if it did happen in some way, it didn't happen where it's robust enough to fully test out the theory. Now, if it is, then great. Let's move on to the next one. Now, the next thing is let's talk about landscape. So, do you understand the environment? So, what is landscape? Landscape's understanding your competition, the saturation, and alternatives. So, plainly said, what other options are out there for people looking to buy what you offer? How saturated is the market? Did it increase? Did it decrease? Is there something out there that's new and innovative that's starting to take away a little bit of your business? What are the alternatives? Are there some do-it-yourself systems out there that maybe people shouldn't even think about doing? But maybe some people are peddling those as packages. And so the idea is to really understand the landscape. It's not just who else does this, but how crowded is attention? How educated is the buyer? What substitutes exist? Now, common failures. Um, acting like you're competing in isolation, um, or assuming effort equals differentiation. That's not true. Okay. Acting like you're competing in isolation, meaning that if you think that when someone's looking for your services, that they don't back out and look for other uh options and they don't do comparisons, then you're fooling yourself. I mean, if you're selling a product that can be sold on Amazon and people can buy it with their points, and you're not making yourself differentiate in some way because they're conditioned to buy those on Amazon, you're going to fail. It doesn't matter what you do, because people are used to buying it. Just like with uh vacation rentals. If people are used to using things like Airbnb and you're not on Airbnb, um, they may never buy from you because they trust and they know that they can trust their money and their credit card information with that company because they always use them. You see, you've got to understand exactly what's going on in the market. So here's another um another quote. This is from uh Michael Porter, and he's with Competitive Strategy. If you don't know who you're competing against, you don't know who you are. You see, you're not just competing against businesses, you're competing against inaction, familiar vendors, price anchoring, and also buyer fatigue. There's a ton of things that go into the equation. So the question is, how much of this is being addressed before you have spent any money on your advertising? Have they just jumped right in? Did they really ask these questions? Did they look beyond the competitors? Did they see what else is available? Have you offered your insight into that? Have they asked for your insight into that? Have they said, okay, offer me some clarity here. What do you think makes this different? Okay, so then let's talk about evidence. This is the next one. Now, evidence is cause and effect. It's not dashboards. Okay, I get these dashboards. Look at these impressions and look at this engagement and look at this vanity growth. Wow, how many video views do you have? That's not evidence, guys. Okay, and as a matter of fact, some of these metrics, they really don't contribute to the bottom line. They're mainly vanity numbers in a lot of ways. Now, I'm part of a board and I've seen the vanity numbers contribute to this one marketing agency getting a ton of money every year from this group. And it's strictly off vanity, not action. So let's look at this. What changed because of this? What evidence are we are we looking at? So, what we want to do is we want to not mistake uh activity for progress and using reports to justify decisions instead of testing them. And um what I mean by that is humans overtrust visible data and underweight what's missing. The loss leads, the friction, the confusion, the missed intent. Okay, so when we're looking at evidence-based stuff, a lot of times what happens is that your marketing firm is presenting you with these raw numbers, and they're not really showing you how to progress through it. And so you get these vanity numbers and you look at it and you go, wow, that's really good. I've got this much engagement. And boy, my engagement has increased this much. Okay, but what does that truly mean for your business? And how do you make these items actionable and not just this kind of noise that's going on in the background? So the question is, is are you getting noise? Or are you getting things where you can actually go, you know what, we can take this and learn from it. And if we change this, then maybe this will happen. Okay, now the next one is alignment. Um what we do is we look for alignment. What I mean by alignment, okay, let me slow down here for a second. Alignment is matching marketing ambition to operational reality. It's not what could work in theory, but what can your business sustain? So complex funnels, content strategies that no one maintains, ad traffic sent to weak infrastructure. Basically, what happens is once you get the clarity and once you get all these other pieces of the puzzle, then what you want to do is start aligning your marketing pieces, your website. Okay, so let me ask you this question. How in the world does a do-it-yourself website builder do this? How does it do it? It doesn't. It just simply can't. Because you have to go through the mental exercise of asking yourselves a lot of questions before you can build the uh the assets that actually address what we're trying to test. And you don't do that by picking a pretty template. You don't pick that by haphazardly creating content using artificial intelligence. You don't create that haphazardly. It's got to be very intentional because that message, all those assets, all those things that need to be aligned from the website to the button that they click, to how they do it, to how you route the phone numbers, how are you tracking phone calls, all the way down has to be aligned from beginning to end. And that what that does is create this message that's consistent all the way from the beginning when someone first starts exploring your website, your business, to the end. And then what you can do is start to understand things and you can actually start to test it and you get rid of all the noise, all the things that are just distractions. And then you can start to really test if what you think is right is right. And the last step is a big dose of reality. Because the reality is people could be doing business with your company, but you could be completely wrong about what makes them engage with you on the internet and why they want to engage with you on the internet. You could be absolutely right. It could need to be fine-tuned in certain ways, but not other ways. And so the idea is in order to have a win, in order to understand and grow, you've got to put these things to the test. You need to align all the assets, you need to understand what your competitive market looks like. Look at it realistically with the budget and the advertising and everything that you've got. And then you put all that together, you look at it at the end of the day, and you go, does this work? Does it not work? What needs to be changed? And how does that need to be changed? Now, this is where we get into, I believe it was Thomas Edison, who wrote that uh when he failed making light bulbs, I think one of his quotes was, you know, he didn't come up with, you know, um, what was it, 990? He didn't fail 999 times building the light or trying to build a light bulb or create a light bulb. Um, he found 999 ways not to do it. And so what he did was he saw progress. Okay, if you're randomly jumping from person to person and you're not making progress and you're not testing and you're not going, okay, why didn't that work? What's different? What's changed? And you don't make progress as you go through it, then basically you're running in circles. Okay, now this is why your 2026 has the potential to look like 2025, and your 2025 looks like your 2024, and your 2024 looks like you're 2023, with little minor ups and downs and blips and all that. So in the end, when you're looking at this, you can see that there is a way to create things where you can look at the assumptions, you can prove them to be accurate or inaccurate, you make adjustments because that landscape we're talking about, that L is always going to change. I mean, you start being successful at it, someone's gonna look at what you're doing and they're going to go after you using what you know against you. And so there's always going to be this cat and mouse game involved in this whole thing, too. And you're going to do the same thing. If your marketing company is worth its salt, then they're doing the same stuff. If they're not, then they're just basically you give them a uh you give them some money, they build your website, they run you some uh Google ads, uh, run you some meta-ads, they tell you how many videos, views you got, how many impressions you've got, how many clicks you got, and then they they cloud up what conversions are and make you think that something's going on that it's not. You learn nothing, you go nowhere, and then you rinse, lather, and repeat. So, guys, hopefully this will give you some food for thought and help you sit back and really look at what's going on with your business and your marketing strategy to date. Okay, so good marketing. Here's the reality it's not the kraken, it's not magic, it's not mythological, it's not clash of the titans. Okay, good marketing, it does not feel exciting. It can feel mundane, it can feel like you're walking in mud sometimes because you're building all these pieces and it just feels like you're, you know, it's just not exciting. But you know what? This is where your growth is real. Okay. Guys, hopefully this will help you out. Hopefully this will uh get your juices flowing in the right way. You know, if you're interested in a uh free consult at Integrist Design.com, we do have limited um, we do have limited room at IntegristDesign.com. And so if you want a free consult, feel free to uh jump over to IntegristDesign.com, book your free consult, and uh, you know, maybe we can get connected and talk a little bit about your business and what may be holding you back for having your big year in 2026. All right, until we meet again, God bless, this is Over the Bowl.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

Thanks for tuning in to Over the Bowl, brought to you by Integrist Design, a full service design and marketing agency out of Asheville, North Carolina. Until next time.