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Welcome back to the AI Driven Marketer. I'm Dan Sanchez. My friends call me Dan Chez. And today is the first episode of 2026. And it's been a few weeks since I've posted anything to this podcast or YouTube channel because I kind of needed a break. And today I want to talk about some of the things I've been reflecting on during that break. To think about the past, because this show's two years old now, and the future of what's coming with AI, what's coming with for marketing and what it all means for us. Because as you all know, I started this show as a just a personal. A journey, a quest to figure out what it means to master this thing called AI in marketing. When I first started, there was only like a half dozen podcasts out there and a few YouTube channels, but very few of them were dedicated to just AI in marketing. And I'm a marketer. I like to grow businesses my own or as employers at times. And I wanted to figure out what this was gonna. I wanted to find out what was working, what wasn't working, and figure out what news was actually helpful. And that became this show. And it worked, it grew. Other people thought it was interesting. Interesting enough that 6,000 of you now subscribe to the show across all the different podcast platforms and YouTube. It seems like most of you are split out between either Apple, Spotify, or YouTube, so you're either watching or listening. And this show gets about 20,000 downloads a month. Every episode probably averages, you know, a thousand to two thousand downloads, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. You know how it goes. And we've had an awesome time discovering all kinds of things together, right? Like we've. We've broken news. I guess we don't break news. We really just contextualize AI news for marketing or what it means. I've shared tons of different things that I've learned, little experiments that I've shared, even failed experiments that I've shared. And it's been an awesome journey. Two years have gone by. I love what marketing's becoming. I love what we can do with AI, and it just keeps getting better and better. But I had to take a step back over the last couple of weeks because, as you noticed, from the last few episodes I published, I started talking about the growing platform problem. I think AI is getting good at a certain rate now, and it's a. It's alarming how fast and how. How good it's getting and how capable and how they seem to overcome every barrier. That comes against AI to the point where I'm, I'm pretty convinced now that it's, it's probably going to be detrimental to marketing or to marketers. It'll be great for marketing. Hard for us who have marketing jobs, right? Or consultants or freelancers or working in house agencies, all these things. I think it's going to be impacted. So I don't think there will be more marketing jobs. I think there might be less. But I'm still hopeful and I'm still optimistic because as I look at these tools and I see what I can do now because a result of AI, I only get more excited about the opportunity, about being creative with these things, about being able to do the best marketing of my life at a faster rate and a deeper rate and a much more, I don't know, like the content's just so much better as a result of what I can do with AI now that I can never do before. So that also just gets me so excited about the future. So it's like we're living in a tension right now of like this possible job loss reality. It's becoming more and more apparent that there's going to be something. It's not just going to be marketing, it'll be a lot of white collar work. In general, of course, there's safer industries, there's less safe industries, there's safe marketing jobs, there's less safe marketing jobs. And in the last couple episodes I talked about what I think the future jobs of marketing will be. So you can go check out that episode. I'll link to it in the show description, but I'm not going to cover that here. What I wanted to talk about now is the bet that I'm making on AI and marketing over the next five years. Because the next five years are going to be, is going to have a lot of tension in it. There's going to be, it's going to be, it's going to be the best of times and the worst of times from. And it'll take a couple of years, it'll take, you know, three, five years for this to see its way through and for a new normal to be set. But I wanted to talk about the main thing and I think the big topic that is going to be probably the main conversation piece across all of us and I don't even see this on LinkedIn right now, but I think this will be the main thing we see on LinkedIn in a couple of years is this word called trust. Marketers have been talking about trust for A long time. We know that without trust, people don't buy. They have to believe what you're saying and in order for them to buy is why we have all the credibility indicators and the testimonials and the endorsements, why we even have graphic design to our large degree, to look quote unquote professional so that people believe that we're actually legit. But as AI comes in or makes it easy for anybody, including the worst of us, the scammers, the people actually trying to harm, people are going to look more and more legit all the time. All the credibility indicators will be easier to fake than ever. It'll be. There'll be influencers out there making video after video, and it'll look like real people. So who do we trust? Trust is going to be the key thing that we are fighting for or striving for and trying to build. So that's going to be a big topic. Moving forward with this podcast to the point where I've created a mission statement, something that I want to champion and be known for with this particular show going forward. And that is make marketing more honest, helpful and human with AI. And it almost seems like a contradiction, like, how do you become more human with AI? But that's the thing that I was excited about. The thing, the optimism that I have is that with these tools I could do more human work. Not only set aside time for the relationship building and the things that only humans can do, but also be more creative and more prolific because I can create content faster and repurpose things that are truly my thoughts and ideas and just recrafted for different mediums faster. And that's what good tech has always enabled us to do. But in this show, moving forward, this mission, I guess, is almost the promise that I have crafted and I'm now setting forward to create this year in 2026, is to help you become more honest, more helpful and more human. But with AI, we're still the AI driven marketer, but we want to use AI to bring out the best parts of us, the most honest parts of us and the most helpful parts of us that's always been at the core. Like the, the, the, the roots of my values is to be helpful, just to be humble and to be optimistic. And so we want to lean into that with this show with Ken and with Travis, my brother, the co host that we'll be doing the show with tomorrow, is to lean into those values and to help you walk in them too. So if you continue to listen to the show, just know that everything I'll be producing, we'll try to push towards that mission. And here are three things that you can expect to hear more from me about in this marketing show. One is that we're still going to be covering very practical, step by step guides, practical experiments that I'm running. The good, the bad, the ugly. Things that you need to know as marketers in order to do better with AI. Because I think that's a big component that we still need to master. We can't ignore AI, we really need to lean into it, learn how to use it to the best of its abilities. So that's one, that's what most people love about the show is the practical use cases. And we're going to continue doing that. The next one is we're going to be leaning in a little bit more, as you could probably tell from the last few months into some of the soft skills around AI or the human part, the part that I can't actually duplicate yet can come alongside and amplify. These are things like your values, like your personal brand like stories. How can AI assist in helping you pull those things that are uniquely yours out into the world to advance your business or your cause or whatever, your marketing. How do we do that in the most human way possible? We're gonna be talking a lot about that this year. In fact, Ken and I just finished publishing the book that becomes the foundation for a lot of that content. If you wanna check it out, it just like it literally just hit Amazon yesterday. It is @ownthe show. Yes, it's one of those creative domain hack websites because all the good domains were taken. So it's own the we got creative with it. So go check it out. The book is available on the website for free. You can read it all on the website and if you subscribe to our newsletter, you can get the PDF and the audiobook as well. We're going to be seeing a lot more tutorials on how we created the whole book and all that kind of stuff coming up on the show really soon. So. But still, number one, more practical advice on AI marketing and some of them about how we made a whole book with AI. Two, the soft skills around AI or the part that AI can't fit fake. And number three, vibe coding. Yeah, we're going to be talking a lot about vibe coding this next year because it's finally hit a level where it's accessible to marketers to do even if you don't know anything about code. It's a little bit harder right now, but Those who lean into it early will have a massive advantage over those who where it becomes really, really easy later on. I think Vibe coding is even not a great way to put it because we're not coding, we're building really. And a lot of the things we do is online, it's digital. A lot of the things we build aren't just designs and videos and copy. It's dealt with code. And nowadays you don't have to know how to code in order to build things. And this is going to be really important. I think things like using a Vibe coding tool is even going to replace our a lot of our automation tools, our in between tools, our zapier tools, even our website builder tools. I've been a long time fan of WordPress and I'm like, I don't think I'm going to be building WordPress sites anymore. I think I'm just going to vibe code them all and build them specifically the way I need them or the way my clients need them or whatever I need. I could just ask AI to build it and there it is. Of course it's not that simple. There's still a lot to learn with all these things and it's a. And it'll get better over time. But we're going to be talking a lot about that on the show. How to start leveraging these vide coding apps in order to build things we had no business building before as marketers. That's exciting. So those are three things again. The practical systems and steps everybody loves about this show. The soft skills of AI that can never be stolen by AI but amplify the great parts that make us truly human and thirdly, Vibe coding so we can begin building better as marketers. So thank you for joining me this last year or two years, however long you've been subscribed and I'm looking forward to learning and mastering this thing called AI and marketing in 2026.
Podcast: AI-Driven Marketer: Master Practical AI Marketing Skills
Host: Dan Sanchez ("Dan Chez")
Date: January 8, 2026
In this first episode of 2026, Dan Sanchez reflects on two years of running his podcast about AI in marketing. He shares candid thoughts on the rapid progress of AI, its ongoing impact on marketing jobs, and lays out his guiding mission for the next five years. The heart of this episode is a personal and professional bet: that trust—and a human approach—will define marketing’s future in the AI era. Dan also outlines three core content areas for upcoming episodes.
Dan recounts his reasons for starting the podcast: to document a personal quest to master AI in marketing, emphasizing transparency and ongoing learning.
Listener Stats: The show has grown significantly, hitting about 6,000 subscribers and 20,000 monthly downloads.
Content Philosophy: Dan stresses he's focused on practical insights, experiments, and honest conversations about what’s working (and not) in AI marketing.
“I wanted to find out what was working, what wasn't working, and figure out what news was actually helpful. And that became this show.” – Dan Sanchez (01:00)
Dan notes the increasing speed and capability of AI, calling it "alarming," particularly for marketers' job security.
Tension between Optimism and Concern: While AI enables better and faster marketing, he worries about marketing jobs shrinking.
“It's probably going to be detrimental to marketing or to marketers. It'll be great for marketing. Hard for us who have marketing jobs, right?” (04:22)
Forecasts a period of tension over the next 3-5 years as AI transforms the industry before settling into a "new normal."
Dan predicts that "trust" will become the dominant theme in marketing—especially as AI makes it easier to fabricate credibility and simulate human influencers.
“Trust is going to be the key thing that we are fighting for or striving for and trying to build. … All the credibility indicators will be easier to fake than ever.” (08:20)
References the professional challenges ahead: real marketers must double down on honesty and authenticity to stand out.
Dan introduces a new guiding mission for the show: “Make marketing more honest, helpful, and human with AI.” (10:30)
He acknowledges the paradox but expresses optimism that, with AI, marketers can focus more on relationship-building and creative work.
“How do you become more human with AI? But that's the thing that I was excited about… with these tools I could do more human work.” (11:00)
Emphasizes leveraging AI to enhance—not replace—core human values: humility, helpfulness, and optimism.
Continues commitment to step-by-step workflows, case studies, and sharing both successes and failures.
Will share behind-the-scenes details—such as how he and co-host Ken authored a new book using AI.
“We're still going to be covering very practical, step by step guides, practical experiments that I'm running. The good, the bad, the ugly.” (14:00)
Plans to cover the “part that AI can't fake”—values, personal brand, and authentic storytelling.
AI's biggest opportunity: helping marketers amplify what makes them uniquely human.
The new book co-authored with Ken will be fundamental content—free to read on their website and available as a PDF/audiobook via newsletter signup.
“We're going to be leaning in a little bit more... into some of the soft skills around AI or the human part, the part that AI can't actually duplicate yet can come alongside and amplify.” (15:15)
Introduces "Vibe coding," a term for using accessible, AI-driven tools to build digital assets (websites, automations, etc.)—no coding needed.
Predicts these tools will soon replace traditional website/automation platforms.
Encourages early adoption for a competitive advantage.
“Those who lean into it early will have a massive advantage over those where it becomes really, really easy later on… I don't think I'm going to be building WordPress sites anymore. I think I'm just going to vibe code them all…” (19:00)
On the show's core values:
“Like the, the, the, the roots of my values is to be helpful, just to be humble and to be optimistic. And so we want to lean into that with this show…” (13:30)
On job security:
“There's safe marketing jobs, there's less safe marketing jobs… I talked about what I think the future jobs of marketing will be. So you can go check out that episode.” (06:20)
(Dan points listeners to a prior episode for a deep dive.)
Call to listeners:
“So thank you for joining me this last year or two years, however long you've been subscribed and I'm looking forward to learning and mastering this thing called AI and marketing in 2026.” (22:45)
For further reading and resources, check out the hosts’ new book (available for free at ownthe.show) and subscribe to the newsletter for even more practical AI-driven marketing content.