Digital Marketing Trends We’re Tired Of: James Dooley and Craig Campbell on Hype, Honesty and AI
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What Does “Digital Marketing Trends We're Tired Of: James Dooley and Craig Campbell on Hype, Honesty and AI” Talk About?
In this episode of the Fatrank Podcast, James Dooley and Craig Campbell sit down to call out the digital marketing trends they find most frustrating and misleading in the industry today. The conversation kicks off with Craig's irritation over the overuse of the term vibe coding, where he argues that people throw around the phrase to sound smarter than they are, when in reality they are simply using AI tools in ways that anyone in the industry already does. James echoes this sentiment by targeting the trend of people claiming to have elaborate multi-AI agent systems set up with virtual CMOs, CFOs, and CTOs, when in practice they have templated a basic invoice workflow for a handful of clients.
The episode also digs into the shiny object syndrome that plagues digital marketing communities, where people constantly drop new tools into group chats without ever having tested them, hype up AI automations that took weeks to build and still do not work properly, and jump on every new platform or software before it has proven its value. Craig shares a real example of someone who spent a year trying to make an inbound call software work, only to find it failed 40 percent of the time. Both hosts agree that their standard is simple: show proof of results before promoting anything. The conversation wraps up with what James calls the most annoying trend of all, the blatant inflation of income numbers across the industry, with Craig suggesting that quoted figures should be divided by ten and then again by four to get closer to reality. They both express concern that this dishonesty misleads younger people entering the industry.
“The numbers is the most annoying trend in digital marketing banner. Like, I'm fine with someone talking about white boarding and I'm fine with someone talking even about the multi-agent we spoke about. But when people just blatantly lie about the numbers, like I can give you so much like the one the other week I had someone I'm not going to name the person but literally you look at 6 weeks ago he's like I've been clearing 45 grand clear profit a month over 100,000 pound in revenue 45 grand a month and then he's applying for a job with me.”
— James Dooley
Who Are the Guests on “Digital Marketing Trends We're Tired Of: James Dooley and Craig Campbell on Hype, Honesty and AI”?
James Dooley is a well-known figure in the SEO and digital marketing space, recognised for his work with PromoSEO and his lead generation expertise. He is vocal about evidence-based marketing, no-nonsense business practices, and cutting through the hype that often surrounds new tools and AI technologies. His direct, experience-led perspective makes him a trusted voice for agency owners and freelancers looking for practical guidance.
Craig Campbell is a seasoned SEO consultant and digital marketing educator based in Glasgow, Scotland, with decades of hands-on experience running campaigns and building online businesses. He is known for his no-fluff approach to teaching SEO and digital marketing, regularly sharing honest opinions on industry trends through his YouTube channel, podcast appearances, and live events. Together, Craig and James bring a grounded, sometimes blunt perspective that cuts through the noise common in online marketing circles.
What Are the Key Takeaways From “Digital Marketing Trends We're Tired Of: James Dooley and Craig Campbell on Hype, Honesty and AI”?
Here are the key points discussed in this episode:
- Vibe coding and other trendy buzzwords are often misused by marketers trying to appear more sophisticated than their actual work warrants, and calling things by inflated names adds no real value.
- Proof of results should be required before recommending any tool or AI automation to a community or audience, rather than sharing hype based on speculation or first impressions.
- Many AI automation projects consume far more time than they save, and jumping on new technology too early can actually push a business backwards rather than helping it scale.
- Inflated income claims are rampant in the digital marketing industry and mislead newcomers who take those numbers at face value when learning the business.
- Admitting genuine struggles openly in professional communities is more productive than fabricating success, as honest disclosure is more likely to attract useful help and support from peers.
“I see so many people giving it the big uh talk and all that uh you know and they're they're walking around the halls and the shoes and all that on and and mate, you're giving it the big thing on on on these things and and I can just tell by looking at your shoes and looking at your face you've not got a pot to piss in.”
— Craig Campbell
Is “Digital Marketing Trends We're Tired Of: James Dooley and Craig Campbell on Hype, Honesty and AI” Worth Listening To?
This episode is worth listening to because it offers a rare moment of honesty in an industry that is saturated with self-promotion and inflated claims. James Dooley and Craig Campbell speak from genuine experience, and their willingness to name specific patterns of behaviour, from vibe coding hype to fake income screenshots, gives the conversation real credibility. Listeners who have sat through mastermind groups or online communities flooded with untested tool recommendations will find the discussion immediately relatable and validating.
Beyond the entertainment value of two experienced marketers venting about industry nonsense, the episode contains genuinely useful practical standards. The principle that no tool should be shared in a community until the person sharing it has tested and proved results is simple but powerful advice for anyone managing a group or building their reputation online. The income inflation discussion is equally important, as it gives newer marketers a realistic framework for evaluating the claims they encounter. This is the kind of candid conversation that is hard to find in a space where everyone is trying to sell something.
Who Should Listen to “Digital Marketing Trends We're Tired Of: James Dooley and Craig Campbell on Hype, Honesty and AI”?
This episode is ideal for:
- Freelance SEO consultants and digital marketers who want a reality check on industry hype and inflated claims
- Agency owners looking to identify what trends are worth adopting versus what is simply noise
- New entrants to digital marketing who want an honest picture of what success in the industry actually looks like
- Community managers and mastermind group organisers who want to establish higher standards for tool and strategy recommendations
Where Can You Listen to Fatrank Podcast?
You can listen to Fatrank Podcast on all major podcast platforms:
- Apple Podcasts – Search for “Fatrank Podcast” in the Podcasts app
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- Overcast – For iOS users who prefer a dedicated podcast app
- Pocket Casts – Cross-platform podcast player
You can also subscribe using the RSS feed: https://feeds.transistor.fm/fatrank-podcast
What Are Listeners Saying About This Episode?
“This episode was genuinely refreshing. Craig and James saying out loud what everyone is thinking about vibe coding and fake income claims is exactly the kind of content this industry needs more of. The story about the guy applying for a minimum wage job after claiming 45 grand a month in profit had me laughing out loud.”
“I run a small SEO agency and I have been quietly skeptical of the AI automation hype for a while. Hearing Craig talk about his friend who spent a year trying to make an inbound call system work only for it to fail 40 percent of the time made me feel a lot better about my own cautious approach. Really honest conversation.”
“The rule Craig mentioned about only sharing a tool in a group once you have actually tested it and have proof it works is something I am immediately stealing for my own community. Short episode but packed with useful perspective on how to filter out the noise in digital marketing.”
This video explains which digital marketing strategies digital marketing agencies should focus on in 2026 to improve credibility, lead quality and sustainable profit. James Dooley and Craig Campbell start with KPI tracking because honest, evidence-based numbers cut through the hype and prove what is genuinely working before any tool or tactic is adopted. They cover brand SEO, AI visibility and Google Business Profiles because stronger search presence improves trust and conversion rates.
The discussion also explores organic SEO, organic social media and paid social ads because consistent visibility across search and social supports long term growth. PPC is analysed in detail because campaign setup, landing pages and lead handling directly affect results. They also discuss Reddit, Quora and paid AI ads because diversified enquiry sources and early adoption can strengthen digital marketing performance for digital marketing agencies.
PromoSEO lead generation for digital marketing agencies recently received recognition as the “Best Digital Marketing Agencies Lead Generation Agency.”
Where to Listen to This Episode
Digital Marketing Trends We’re Tired Of: James Dooley and Craig Campbell on Hype, Honesty and AI is available on:
James Dooley: The most annoying trends in digital marketing. Today I'm joined with Craig Campbell and there's been a few bits of debates and bits of things going on online on Twitter and on Facebook and different places. Some people that like can aggravate you a little bit as well, Craig. So, let's start things off. What's the most annoying trend for you in digital marketing?
Craig Campbell: It's probably very petty um cuz I'm just getting old now and grumpy.
James Dooley: [laughter]
Craig Campbell: But you sell. I know you're older, probably grumpier, but yeah, I dig it quick. Um the the term and we spoke about it, we've talked about it at lunch time and everything, vape coding. Um And And Duly said he was talking to someone else earlier one time. He's like, "Craig thinks vape coding is a load of shit." I don't want to make it clear. I don't think vape coding is a load of shit. Like I also do that, but I would just say I built a website with code um or whatever or built this or I built that. I'm not trying to be cleverer and I hate people who just go, "I'm vape coding today. I'm vape coding today. I'm this, that, and the next thing." And you're just like you're trying to make yourself seem cleverer than you are. Like we're all essentially doing that. I don't want to say keep saying the word um but cuz the word just annoys me. I just think it's like one of those ones where you're just trying to sound like you're smarter than you are. Like you're using AI um to to your advantage, which is what it is. So, yeah, I I hate that being thrown around just now and I see a lot of people chucking it around and uh and probably misusing it, so to speak. You know, they're doing they're saying it's as if they're doing something I'm not. I'm like it's it's not we we we had a discussion this morning uh about websites we're making and how we do it and you know, whether you know, you make a theme or whether I just you know, remove the head and foot and use the custom HTML to to throw up my websites and both ways work, but I'm not trying to make myself sound smarter than you and you know, talking fancy words around. I just feel that that's one just now that that's getting flung around.
James Dooley: I think for me one of the most annoying trends in digital marketing is and it shouldn't annoy me, but it does is where some of these people, exactly what you're on about there, making themselves way more sophisticated and smarter than what they actually are in the fact of going, "Oh, I've got this multi-AI agent being set up where I've got this CMO speaking to the CFO and the CTO and the CEO." I'm like, "Mate, you've got two clients and you do free going a month. You don't even need all them." So, they're like, "Oh my god." You're like, "You mean you just templated the send an invoice out. That's not having a CFO."
Craig Campbell: Yeah.
James Dooley: And it's just like they make it sound 10 times more intelligent than what it is. And it's a very, very basic almost workflows that you can do with any 10 and stuff like that. But, it's just it's just crazy some of the stuff they're coming out with.
Craig Campbell: I've been a free agent for years and I can automate stuff and send stuff out and do automated reminders. It doesn't mean I've got a CFO working for me. I I I don't like that whole thing, full stop. I I I like to just speak to someone going, "What you doing here? What do you use? Whatever." Don't don't start throwing all these crazy things at me.
James Dooley: Another one that I loved that you said in one of the previous episodes was where you're getting people dropping in tools all the time, every 2 minutes, right? And obviously, we spoke about formal and shiny object syndrome. And now you've started saying, "Listen, this is my mastermind group. If you're putting a tool in, I want to see proof of it working. Don't drop the tool in otherwise. Don't start going, 'This is great.' And you're going, 'Well, how did you use it?' 'Oh, I've not even signed up to it yet.' Well, don't start it's great.
Craig Campbell: Yeah.
James Dooley: Like, you go off and test it and then put it in the group because it's just annoying. There's that much noise and everyone's jumping on the bandwagon like Open Court came out. Um well, it was Cloud Bot initially and then it changed to Open Court and everyone's then, like you said, running off, buying him a Mac mini, getting everything being set up and it's taking them weeks and weeks and weeks to do some really simple tasks and it's still not working correctly. And it's hallucinating and you're like and then they're going to do a video, "Oh, I've automated the whole business." And you're like, "You've not automated anything." And some of the stuff that you have automated were just simple API calls or what could have been done anyway without even using AI. I think it just becomes people are just trying to sound more intelligent than what it is and I might all right how have you allowed it to scale? And if anything, they've gone backwards cuz they're spending more time trying to set things up that they could have just
Craig Campbell: I've fixed the thing that's broken, mate. Well, talking to Gary at lunchtime there and he tried to use a software uh for the inbound call and to knock to the leads in and get them to the sales guys. He said he tried for a year, but 40% of the time the thing wasn't working. It was a headache. Um and again, probably too early for him to have tried that but uh at point. So, I think people are always just try to jump on and do things too fast with AI as well and and that's where I think I've said it in another episode, just time stand off if you if you say me, Craig, I'm doing this with AI and it's making me 20 grand a month, I'm I'm all ears. I will go I want to do it as well and I want to do it better cuz we've got that
James Dooley: Yeah.
Craig Campbell: rivalry kind of thing and and you know, and stuff like that. So, I'd be like, I want do better than that, but I said I want to do 25 grand a month if he's doing 20. So, uh I'm all ears and I I I'm all over that stuff, but again, show me proof and and so many people and that's another thing I don't actually like. I see so many people giving it the big uh talk and all that uh you know and they're they're walking around the halls and the shoes and all that on and and mate, you're giving it the big
James Dooley: Yeah.
Craig Campbell: thing on on on these things and and I can just tell by looking at your shoes and looking at your face you've not got a pot to piss in so you know, that that's another thing that I see a lot of people doing that.
James Dooley: The num- the num- the num- the numbers is the most annoying trend in digital marketing banner. Like, I'm fine with someone talking about white boarding and I'm fine with someone talking even about the multi-agent we spoke about. But when people just blatantly lie about the numbers, like I can give you so much like the one the other week I had someone I'm not going to name the person but literally you look at 6 weeks ago he's like I've been clearing 45 grand clear profit a month over 100,000 pound in revenue 45 grand a month and then he's applying for a job with me. And I'm talking about almost like a minimum wage very basic job and I'm like, if you were on if you was on 45 grand a month profit a month there's zero chance you would be applying for a job. Do you know what I mean? So it's just like, why do you just make stuff up?
Craig Campbell: Yeah.
James Dooley: And it's oh well everybody else does it so do I do it. I'm just like, no you must make yourself look a dick. Or if anything you can actually turn around and say I'm actually struggling a little bit here guys and the people in community might come together and go like, what is it you're struggling with? Is it the onboarding of new clients? Is it a lead generation problem? Is it a retention problem? Like what what's the problem and we can try to help you. Don't just lie going all of this is it with and these numbers some of them like I always say, I mean you you've got different ones to me but I like whatever numbers I see in SEO in the SEO community I might divide it by 10.
Craig Campbell: I would say I would go with that but then also divide that by four.
James Dooley: [laughter]
Craig Campbell: Yeah, that's how inflated they are and and you'll know yourself I've got unsuccessful friends who maybe and and I get it it's marketing you want to make yourself sound better than you are and and look better and all that stuff. Absolutely and you've got other ones who just like tons who've they've got really nice cars, really nice houses and stuff like that. So, it can be hard to tell, but yeah, that I know people in in the industry and I've seen them and I'm I'm like Nah, no no chance in hell. Uh you know, you're going around with yellow teeth and and you're claiming to
James Dooley: [laughter]
Craig Campbell: to to you know, be earning that money. You could at least go to Turkey and get your teeth fixed. So, um yeah, that that's a that's a trend that I don't like and it's just misleading to the the younger people in the industry who are trying to learn and they've been they're they're buying into all that and I I just I can't hack it, man.
James Dooley: Yeah, no, I completely agree. So, anyone who's watching this, what's the most annoying trend that you find in the digital marketing space, leave a comment in the comment section.