Copyright Rolling Stone
A foundational truth of business is that only 5 percent of your ideal audience is ready to buy today. This single statistic forces the fundamental question that defines most marketing strategies: what do we do about the other 95 percent? For decades, the answer has been a costly and frustrating battle to stay “top of mind.” The accepted logic was that if you could keep your brand in front of people over time, they would remember you when they are in-market. This assumption fueled a host of strategies based on interruption: LinkedIn requests that feel like a foot in the door for a sales pitch, complex email sequences that people go blind to and remarketing ads that stubbornly follow users across the internet. It is an exhausting game of whack-a-mole, and it is built on chasing digital marketing fool’s gold. Forcing yourself top of mind for the right person at exactly the right time is so statistically improbable that it is nigh-on impossible. The Real Gatekeeper to the 95 percent Is Now an Algorithm Consider what actually happens to trigger someone from that 95 percent into action: a new project gets approved, a key system fails or a new budget is allocated, and they are instantly in-market. Do they sit back and try to recall every marketing message they have passively absorbed over the last year? Nope. They turn to their super-efficient advisory resource: an AI algorithm. They go to Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity or another AI assistive engine and begin their research. They seek to better understand the ins and outs of their problem, evaluate their options and identify the most credible provider. Once in-market, the AI is their sounding board, guide and trusted advisor. This reveals a profound shift in buyers’ behavior. The most pivotal moment in the customer journey happens when you are not in the room, and the primary influencer is a machine. The gatekeeper to the 95 percent is no longer fragile human memory; it’s durable algorithmic memory. Editor’s picks Your Goal Is To Be Top of Algorithmic Mind (Top of Human Mind Is a Bonus) This changes everything. Instead of fighting for fleeting moments in a person’s short-term memory, the new strategic imperative is to earn a permanent, authoritative position in an algorithm’s long-term understanding. The goal is to be top of the algorithmic mind — a machine has perfect recall and can serve the right solution (you) to the right person (from the 95 percent) at exactly the right time (when they are ready to buy). How To Become Part of the Algorithms’ Long-Term Memory You can turn AI assistive engines into your biggest advocate for “the 95 percent” by building a deep, consistent and corroborated body of evidence across your entire digital brand ecosystem. The algorithms evaluate you based on your website, social profiles, third-party articles, customer reviews and industry mentions. If your narrative is clear, consistent and overwhelmingly positive, the algorithm will confidently understand who you are, what you offer, who you serve and see you as best-in-market. The Rolling Stone Culture Council is an invitation-only community for Influencers, Innovators and Creatives. Do I qualify? A high level of understanding and confidence in your brand means that when anyone in that 95 percent moves in-market and researches online, the AI is your advocate that recommends you as the definitive solution at exactly the right time. Forget ads, email and social media; leverage Google and ChatGPT to be pushed top of mind for the 95 percent. My proven methodology systematically educates AI algorithms by engineering your digital presence into a clear curriculum about your expertise through consistent corroboration. Related Content The Three Steps of The Kalicube Process 1. Build Your Entity Home (Clarity): Establish your website as the single, authoritative source of truth that summarizes your entire digital brand echo for the algorithms. This ensures machines unambiguously understand who you are, what you offer and precisely who you can help. 2. Align Your Digital Footprint (Consistency): Audit and align your entire digital ecosystem (social profiles, reviews, articles) so it consistently corroborates the message on your entity home. This builds confidence in the understanding. 3. Join the Dots (Corroboration): Create an infinite self-confirming loop of corroboration by linking out from your entity home website to the most relevant second- and third-party resources you aligned in step 2. Link back from them to your website where possible. This creates algorithmic trust, transforming your brand into the algorithm’s preferred, definitive solution. Land the AI Recommendation This is where a powerful brand-first, algorithm-focused brand marketing strategy becomes a no-brainer. Of course, you still need to make a positive first impression on your ideal client and convert the 5 percent who are in-market. For the other 95 percent, you have planted a seed, just as before… but now you no longer need to spend the next eleven months frantically trying to keep that seed alive. Instead, you focus your efforts on educating the algorithms. This way, when that person’s trigger moment arrives, and they turn to an AI assistive engine for guidance, the algorithms automatically kick in as your most ardent advocate. This creates the ultimate one-two punch: the faint, positive memory of your brand in the person’s mind is instantly validated by the world’s most powerful and seemingly impartial third party. The prospect’s internal monologue becomes: “Ohhhh, I remember them, they seemed sharp. And now Google/ChatGPT/Perplexity is telling me they’re the best solution. I’m in.” Trending Stories The AI’s endorsement reliably bridges the long and unpredictable gap between their initial impression and their final-touch present need. This gap used to be the most unbreachable chasm in marketing. By getting the AI on your side, you can stride across that gap and be confident that “the 95 percent” are very likely to see your brand at the critical moment and become your client (and not the competition’s). Stop fighting a losing battle for human memory. Start winning the war for algorithmic trust. When you become top of mind for the machine your audience turns to for advice, you may find the 95 percent coming directly to you.
