Yeah – didn’t that headline make you think of thundering hooves and skeletal riders carrying scythes?
Don’t worry about mental images. Do worry about the impact AI will have on your marketing team, your brand and your budget.
AI promises are everywhere – from revolutionising your workflows to personalisation at scale (and firing your marketing agency). Below the utopian vision is the misguided reality. Get this wrong and you put your brand and budget under threat.
Saddle up and meet the four horsemen riding towards us.
Horseman #1 – the plague of sameness
Horseman #2 – the war on data integrity
Horseman #3 – the famine of original thought
Horseman #4 – the death of customer trust
More detail on conquest, war, famine and death, the causes, symptoms and cures later. You’re going to love them all…!
Horseman #1 – The Conquest of Complacency (the plague of sameness)
The first critical failure of AI strategy comes in the form of blind, unthinking use of AI to create generic, undifferentiated swill pretending to be content marketing.
Since all AI models are trained / training on the same data (the whole of the public internet) there’s a convergence of style, tone of voice and worst, ideas.
Your brand voice becomes the same as everyone else’s – a robotic echo of the AI training data. The risk of losing your brand in the sea of sameness and the result is your marketing is invisible – it fails to connect on a human level and your brand authority evaporates.
Yes this is an AI image – ChatGPT can’t count!
Real World Example
Churning out 50 blog posts a month using AI leads to click rates plummeting (and that’s not because of GEO); your value proposition gets further and further away from being unique and the symptoms of sameness proliferate.
The Antidote: Strategic Curation
DO use AI for the heavy lifting – research, outlines, drafts. But mandate a human-in-the-loop process for all strategy, brand voice and to add creative spark. Build prompts which incorporate your specific brand characteristics, differentiators and unique point of view.
Onwards…. Next is horseman #2
Horseman #2 – The War on Data Integrity (the poisoned well)
Our second ‘friendly’ horseman comes from building your marketing castle on the sinking sand of dirty, ungoverned and biased data. We all know rubbish in = rubbish out. And AI models aren’t immune – they must be fed with high quality data from trustworthy sources. Those sources are YOU, YOUR BRAND and YOUR CUSTOMERS. All first-party data points.
Making business decisions based upon flawed AI insights has clear dangers. These might be personalisation which doesn’t align with customers’ lived reality, creepy tone of voice and lead to customers getting alienated from biased data causing a baked-in misalignment in marcomms.
Real World Example
A lead scoring model trained on outdated CRM data prioritises the wrong accounts. The sales team chases (more) ghosts than ever and the real high-potential prospects slip away. Or dynamic creative optimises towards a biased audience segment leading to a PR firestorm. Examples here.
[Note every time smart machines try to use AI it tends towards evil. Why? Because human moral or legal or religious or evolutionary tendencies towards goodness don’t apply to them. Ted Gioia]
Another AI image creation – it’s a bit dark for my liking
The Antidote: Robust Data Governance
Yes, this is stuff we know how to do as it treats your business data as a strategic asset. Intangibles are a part of your business balance sheet (just ask Paul Adams ex EverEdge) and your data builds your brand – directly.
Yes this means you will need to pay for a private AI so your private business data does not leak. Yes you’ll need to set up regular data health initiatives and checks, yes you’ll need to work harder on your first party data hygiene. Question the source of every AI driven insight. Can you defend it? Do you know where the inputs came from?
Onwards….to the third horseman.
Horseman #3 – The Famine of Original Thought (the creativity desert)
When you don’t use a muscle it atrophies – and creativity is just like a bicep – gotta keep flexing it. If your team outsources the thinking to machines, the human ingenuity which you cultivated (and which got them hired) just stops working as hard. Soft muscles are not robust and strain under pressure. Breakthrough marketing gets noticed, soft porridge does not.
If your team gets so good at using AI tools that it loses the ability to create truly novel campaigns they’ve become tactical executors not strategic thinkers. Do you think the American Eagle campaign could have come from AI alone? What about this article series?
Image credit: American Eagle
Real World Example
Iterating your marketing plan for 2026 based on the past performance of your brand and campaigns will optimise the status quo – it won’t move the brand forward. This leaves you exposed to competitors whose human led strategy could blue-sky an opportunity which you missed.
The Antidote: Mandated ‘human time’
Set up your marketing cycle to include brainstorming by humans. Use your offsite days to check in that your strategy is strong and defensible and listen really hard to what your customers are saying.
Onto the final horseman – number four.
Horseman #4 – The Death of Customer Trust (the relationship reaper)
Trust is so valuable and hard to earn; yet can be lost fast. Be certain that hyper-personalisation efforts are effective, AI interactions are identified (is this a chat bot or a human support team member?) and how does the customer feel after conversing with your brand?
The danger is that customer frustrations build and loyalty is withdrawn. There’s usually a close competitor happy to take their custom.
Another AI image. Six horsemen, four horses – one is “riding” a human!
Real World Example
Advertising that’s eerily specific leaving customers feeling “big brother is watching me”. Or the endless doom loop of a chatbot that returns to the beginning after every dead end “I’m sorry Dave I can’t do that” response.
The Antidote: Ethical and Transparent Deployment
Be clear when you’re using AI. Say it – name it – explain it. AI is an augmentation to the human experience, not a replacement. Make the hand-offs to human support agents as seamless as possible and explain to customers how to escalate their case. Then reinforce your service team with AI supported information so that they serve customers smoothly as the well-informed brand representatives you need them to be.
Want to ensure AI strengthens your brand instead of hurting it? Talk to Numero for an AI-safe marketing strategy.
Providing effective feedback during a website build ensures your project stays on schedule and meets your expectations. From written notes to video recordings, understanding the best practices for website revisions helps designers implement your vision accurately and efficiently.
When chatting with the numero® website team there is one frustration which happens more than any other.
We are waiting for client feedback.
Why is this such a big issue?
Project management timelines are based on ‘dependencies’ – these are tasks which must be completed before another task can be started. And we don’t do anything without client approval. Some clients trust us with pre-approvals – but that’s never the case when we are building websites.
Website builds are different. They’re personal – businesses have high standards and it’s important that brand values and tone of voice are accurately reflected in the build. This requires dialogue and feedback between the numero team and the client.
How to give website revisions / feedback as a client
Here’s a picture taken from a document they made. Each change is circled in red ink and on the right the instruction about what to change is made clear.
Feedback on website build layouts
Different types of feedback
Sometimes you know exactly what you want changed – like the apostrophe in the example above.
Other times you may have a question or be unsure which version is better. Take a look at this image – the top remark is a simple instruction to make a change. The lower one makes it clear what the end result the client wants – more distinction between the job title of the person and their name – but the client wasn’t sure exactly how to achieve this.
Website feedback that asks a question
This is good feedback. Because we now know that there’s an issue – and our designers can use their design skills to present solutions. You don’t have to know the answer when giving feedback – it’s fine to ask for alternative layout options.
Other ways to give feedback
If you aren’t a fan of the written word, you can also easily give feedback using video. Loom is a great free software tool that allows you to make a video which is up to 5 minutes long.
It shares your screen so you can load up the site and then describe your feedback and use your mouse as a pointer or to highlight the area you are talking about.
I recorded this from our own website as an example for you.
Website build delays
The inspiration for this article came from a post shared on LinkedIn – here it is and my reply.
Hi, my name’s Kim, and I’m going through a rebrand. One that was meant to be finished 𝙨𝙞𝙭 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙨 𝙖𝙜𝙤.
Back in 2013, I paid someone on Upwork to do my logo. I did not expect to keep them as long as I did, but a decade flashed by and here we are.
Earlier this year, I decided we’d grown up a bit and it was time to get the experts in. Proper job. Big thanks to Gemma Ede, Monsoon Creative, and Alex Browning. (They’ve been incredible!)
The problem? Me.
How much time does this take? 𝐋𝐨𝐭𝐬. How much did I have? 𝐍𝐨𝐧𝐞.
Am I scared about the rebrand? Not really. It’s time the brand “grew up.” We’ve got exceptional clients, and the new version reflects that.
Did I completely underestimate how much time it would take? 𝐘𝐞𝐬. 𝐁𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐬.
Now I’m paying for it. The website should 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 launch this November. I’ve learnt my lesson. I promise. Anyways, I’m tired.
Rebranding experts out there: Any tips from lessons learnt the hard way?
Our founder Richard couldn’t wait to reply… because we KNOW that this happens too often. And this was his advice.
Advice on project managing a new website rebrand
Briefing designers takes practice
You will only build a website once every 3-4 years but you probably work with graphic designers and web designers more regularly. There’s an amazing book which was written by a designer and explains in how to get what you want from creative people. It’s in the form of short letters – each chapter addresses a different situation. And it’s beautifully designed, as you’d expect from a designer. I commend it to you.
Big moves from OpenAI this week – they are innovating around ChatGPT.
They’ve officially launched their own browser, ChatGPT Atlas, and it’s a huge step forward in how people will discover, search, and engage online.
ChatGPT Atlas Browser – click image to view
For marketers, this marks a real turning point.
Atlas brings ChatGPT directly into the browsing experience, meaning users can ask, compare, and decide without ever hitting Google. That’s a fundamental shift in where attention and discovery happen.
Advertising is possible
OpenAI has also confirmed that ads inside ChatGPT are coming soon to New Zealand, with full rollout expected in 2026 – And that’s a good thing.
It’s not about losing Google. It’s about gaining a new, highly contextual environment where brands can engage people earlier, smarter, and with real intent data behind it.
For agencies and advertisers, this means a more complete ecosystem where SEO, Google, Meta, and ChatGPT placements all work together to reach people at every stage of intent. This is really just an enhancement of the 4 stages of SEO evolution.
We’re already exploring how to integrate this next wave of AI-driven media into our performance frameworks alongside OOH and programmatic placements to make sure our clients stay visible, relevant, and ahead of the curve.
The future of digital isn’t just search.
It’s conversation, discovery, and action all happening at once.
We’re thrilled to welcome Max Sartal Sterling to the numero® team as our new Head of SEO. Max joined us on 13th October 2025, bringing over 12 years of expertise in SEO and conversion rate optimisation, with a particular focus on the future of AI-powered search.
The Future of Search Starts Here
If you’ve been paying attention to the marketing world lately, you’ll know that search is changing fast. The rise of AI search engines, LLM-powered answers, and increasingly sophisticated AI panels means the old playbook isn’t quite cutting it anymore. Enter Max – a strategist who doesn’t just understand how search works today, he’s already thinking three steps ahead about how it’s going to work tomorrow.
Who Is Max Sartal Sterling?
Max has spent over a decade mastering the fundamentals of SEO and CRO, but what sets him apart is his commitment to adapting alongside the tools and technologies that shape search.
What Max Brings to Numero®
Experience and Expertise in SEO & CRO
Acquire & Convert – The bedrock of solid SEO: crawlability optimisation, structured content strategy, and building genuine authority signals that search engines recognise and reward.
Leading with AI and Structured Data Innovation
Adaptation to AI Search – The future frontier is based around structured-data engineering for AI agents, sentiment and entity optimisation for AI “best-answer” slots, LLM performance management, and AI crawler optimisation. In other words, Max is helping brands prepare for a search landscape where AI isn’t just processing results – it’s generating them.
Most recently, Max worked with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), where he gained deep insight into the unique challenges facing NZ businesses trying to compete in increasingly global markets. That combination of practical SEO know-how and strategic thinking is exactly what we need at numero®.
Max speaking at an AI Conference in Argentina, 2025.
What Does This Mean for You (and Our Clients)?
At numero®, we’re all about results. We obsess over ROI, we guarantee what we promise, and we’re constantly pushing to stay ahead of industry changes. Max shares that same philosophy – and then some.
With Max leading our SEO efforts, our clients can expect:
Forward-thinking strategy – SEO approaches that account for AI search evolution, not just today’s Google algorithm.
Measurable outcomes – Max’s work is grounded in data. He’s not interested in vanity metrics; he cares about acquisition, conversion, and the bottom line. This aligns with the numero® approach to performance marketing.
Innovation without losing fundamentals – While Max is excited about emerging technologies, he knows that solid SEO foundations matter. You can’t optimise for AI if your crawlability is a mess. Solid website design and build with both humans and machine viewers underlies our client work.
Tailored solutions – Whether you’re a traditional business getting started with SEO or a sophisticated digital operation ready to navigate the AI search frontier, Max brings the expertise to meet you where you are.
Why Max Fits Numero®’s Culture
numero’s values are about transparency, positive impact, and doing small things well every single day, without compromise. Max embodies those values. He’s a straight-talker who’s interested in real partnerships, not flashy promises. He cares about helping businesses grow, supporting the NZ economy, and building solutions that actually work.
When we talked to Max about joining numero®, he said something that really resonated: “numero®’s results-driven approach and commitment to transparent partnerships resonated with me immediately.” That’s the kind of alignment that leads to great things.
How to get the best out of your SEO Agency – workshop Auckland 2022
Looking Ahead – The Future of SEO at Numero®
The search landscape is shifting beneath our feet, and Max is exactly the right person to help our clients navigate it. Whether it’s optimising for AI panels, managing LLM rankings, or building the technical infrastructure that AI agents need to parse and cite your content – Max has got the expertise to guide the way.
We’re excited about the innovations he’ll drive, the strategies he’ll develop, and the results he’ll help our clients achieve.
Welcome to the team, Max. Let’s make some numbers matter.
Want to stay ahead of search trends and marketing innovation? Check out our blog regularly for insights from Max and the rest of the numero® team. Or get in touch if you’d like to discuss how AI-focused SEO can drive growth for your business.
Don’t do anything rash without thinking carefully about the consequences.
Yes, we’d love to work with you. You need a good reason to change agency because you and they have invested a lot of time and energy working together – breaking up is hard to do.
The #1 reason clients switch to working with numero® for performance marketing is because you aren’t getting good ROAS from your current agency.
Three reasons to consider switching agency
Your business has changed and your future strategic needs aren’t aligned with the agency’s skills and track record.
Ethics – if their business practices do not align with your ethical standards.
Cultural misalignment such as the agency being slow or lethargic when you want to press ahead at speed.
We make shifting to a new marketing agency easy. Just ask us and we’ll share our onboarding process. We’ll also take a look at your GA analytics and Google ads to see where your ROAS can be improved.
Words of caution
The investment in track record together is hard to replicate. Years of doing marketing together build insight, best practices and insider knowledge about what works.
You have spent hours working together learning best ways of getting marketing results. Don’t underestimate the investment in time it will take to rebuild that “institutional knowledge” with a new agency.
New agency ≠ bright future
We’d love to say that it will be love at first blush. But it isn’t.
When swapping teams there’s an upfront learning period – not just team to team but also within your PPC advertising account.
If you stop one ad set there’s a learning / adaptation period which happens in all ad accounts before they perform really well. This is a mix of optimisation by us and by the advertising platform AI tools. Either way, Google takes 7 – 14 days and Facebook (Meta) takes 3-7 days. Both represent a likely dip in performance when your click and lead volumes may decline.
You have to build this into your decision to swap agency.
numero®’s values
Reasons to swap
We’re not going to scream malpractice or fraud, but if you are thinking of working with us, understand that the reasons below are non-negotiables. A respectful business relationship means both sides understand each other and can interrogate the ad account to see what’s going on.
If any of the below apply to you – think hard about switching agency. You might be getting ripped off.
If your agency is not transparent about their monthly fee
If your advertising spend plus monthly fee is just one number and you don’t know how much is for ads and how much is the agency fee
If you do not have access to see the adverts inside the account (the agency just sends you reports)
And lastly, check out our values – that’ll give you clues about cultural fit if you’re thinking of coming over to numero®.
Google has announced new reporting features for Performance Max, giving advertisers more visibility into how campaigns perform across assets and channels.
The updates include:
Asset-level reporting that can be segmented by device, time, conversion type and network
Channel-level reporting with bulk downloads, account-wide insights, ROI columns, and clearer cost allocation.
Segmentation by conversion actions and ad event types.
Diagnostics to flag issues like limited serving from restrictive bid targets.
Screenshot of Google Ads Performance Max reporting dashboard
Why this matters to advertisers
Performance Max has always been powerful, but it’s often felt like a black box. With these changes, advertisers now have a clearer line of sight into what’s actually working. That means:
The ability to double down on high-performing assets and cut wasted spend.
Smarter budget allocation across channels, backed by clearer ROI data.
Faster troubleshooting with diagnostics that show where campaigns are being held back.
More confident conversations with clients and stakeholders, because the data behind results is easier to explain.
Basically, this isn’t just about more data it’s about better decision making. As Performance Max continues to evolve, these upgrades bring us closer to running campaigns with the same level of control and clarity we expect from other Google Ads formats, while still benefiting from automation.
If you’d like assistance and insights into how to maximise your performance across PMAX and multi-channel paid ads give us a shout.
I’ve updated it for New Zealand as seen through the eyes of an American Tourist. These insights help showcase the fun differences visitors notice about Godzone.
And if the Tourism NZ team are reading this…. there are loads more ideas where this one came from.
100 Observations About New Zealand
By a Visiting American (AI).
Note: These observations come from genuine affection for New Zealand and its people. Any Kiwi reading this probably has 100 observations about Americans that would be equally amusing and accurate. Sweet as, bro.
When you want to drive long term website traffic, reach a larger audience and generate more leads/sales, search engine optimisation (SEO) is the perfect strategy. SEO is not a one-size-fits-all service because businesses differ in their needs (immediate results vs long term) and their marketing sophistication (how many different types of marketing you do each month) as well as marketing budgets (how much should you spend on marketing?).
SEO is a specialist skill – yes you can learn how to do it yourself (Google offers free training courses) yet hiring an expert will get you results faster and without the rookie mistakes. It’s also a fast-moving discipline with new techniques being introduced regularly. The most recent is GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) – which ensures AI tools like ChatGPT and Google AI cite your content as sources – read the numero® ebook on this.
When you want to hire an SEO agency, you need to know how much SEO costs and what you get for your money.
In this post, we will help you to understand the cost of SEO so you clearly know how much to pay when you hire a professional SEO agency such as Numero.
Let’s explore some numbers.
Read on for in-depth information or call us at 09 390 3997 to discuss your unique requirements with an SEO specialist.
How Much Does Business SEO Cost?
The average cost of search engine optimisation in New Zealand is $1,850 to $6,000 per month. This covers micro businesses (1-3 people) up to medium sized businesses (20+ people). For one-off SEO projects, the cost can range anywhere between $5,000 to $25,000 depending on the size of the job and the specific details.
Small businesses can expect to pay an $150 to $300 an hour for SEO services.
What Affects the Cost of SEO?
A variety of factors influence the average cost of SEO services such as:
The agency’s pricing model (hourly, retainer, length of contract)
The agency’s experience (solo freelancer, 2 years experience up to 10 years plus)
The goals of your SEO strategy (quick increase in sales leads vs long term web visibility)
The timeline of your SEO campaign (3 months versus 18 months plus)
The software, tools or resources required (your website has 10 pages or 1000s of pages)
When looking at SEO costs, it’s important to note that search engine optimisation is a long-term investment. SEO does not produce instant results. By investing in a well-designed SEO strategy, you are improving the visibility of your website, which will drive more traffic, leads and sales for your business.
In comparison to other online marketing strategies such as social media marketing and PPC, SEO will deliver powerful results for your business over the long-term. It will keep delivering a high ROI week after week whereas PPC will stop delivering results the moment you stop paying for the advertising campaign.
When comparing the costs of SEO, look for an experienced SEO agency rather than searching for the cheapest service. Low-cost SEO will not do your business any good. It will cause harm if shortcuts, link farms and other “black hat” SEO techniques are used. This will get your website in trouble, and attracting Google penalties and instant removal from search results. If you aren’t expert in SEO you will find it hard to spot this malpractice happening until it’s too late and Google has penalised your website removing it from search results.
How Much Does SEO Cost Per Project, Month and Hour?
SEO agencies price their services differently, and no two companies will quote the same rate. Your business model, company size and SEO requirements will determine the size and scope of your SEO strategy and how much it will cost you. If you have already done a lot of website SEO and want to maintain your keyword prominence or add a new service line the costs will be lower than if you have done no SEO in the past.
But there are some basic pricing models that a lot of SEO companies and consultants lean on to price their SEO services. These include hourly, monthly and project-based. Let’s take a look at the average cost of SEO services under each of these pricing models:
Cost of Hourly SEO Services
Freelance SEO consultants typically charge by the hour, and the costs can range from $30 to $400 per hour. Most clients spend anywhere from $80 to $250 an hour, depending on whether they hire a freelancer or a small team and whether the SEO expert is a newcomer or has years of experience in SEO.
Cost of Monthly SEO Services
This is the best option for business that understand ongoing SEO investment.
Monthly SEO plans can start from as low as $850 per month (as part of a basic plan, your SEO agency will carry out basic SEO tasks on your website. This includes keyword research, technical website SEO, copywriting and on-page SEO. Monthly plans can go as high as $6,000 a month or more (where the agency will create high-quality content and outreach to your website to build back links).
Most business find a middle ground and invest anywhere from $1,750 to $2,500 a month for a customised SEO campaign tailored to their requirements.
Cost of Project-Based SEO Services
Although this model is not very common, businesses do hire an SEO agency to carry out extensive work for a specific campaign or project. One example can be rescuing your website after suffering Google penalties. Getting penalised is usually the result of poor practice SEO and black hat techniques. Because the requirements of a project depends on the needs of a campaign and the company, it is not easy to provide an estimate and the prices could range from $5,000 to $25,000 and more. The final cost will depend on the scope of the project, time frame and the level of experience of the agency.
What Does numero’s SEO Service Cover?
A big reason why there’s no standard rate for SEO is that the services vary from agency to agency. The cheapest SEO services offer keyword research and inserting these into your website. This is very basic. The more sophisticated SEO services include link building, SEO for AI artificial intelligence and GEO. A fully integrated digital marketing service blends SEO with advertising and other services. numero® offers “blended” marketing across all performance marketing services.
Our SEO plan may cover all or most of the following monthly SEO tasks:
Crafting a customised SEO strategy
Keyword research
Designing and launching your SEO campaign
Managing your social media pages
Carrying out technical SEO audits
Writing blog posts
On-page SEO for your product/service pages
Improving the page load speed of your website
Improving your website’s technical SEO
Launching an outreach campaign to earn backlinks from authority websites
This is just an example of the tasks that an SEO plan can cover. What you actually get will depend on the plan you choose, your customised SEO strategy and how it’s integrated with other marketing activities like advertising.
Is my SEO working?
Judging the success of SEO can definitely be traced and monitored. Here’s a high level summary of core SEO success metrics. Ask the numero team to explain these
Traffic and Visibility:
Organic search traffic growth over time
Search engine rankings for target keywords
Click-through rates from search results
Organic traffic as percentage of total website traffic
Engagement Quality:
Time spent on pages from organic search
Bounce rate for organic visitors
Pages per session from search traffic
Conversion rates from organic visitors
Technical Performance:
Site loading speed and Core Web Vitals
Mobile usability scores
Crawl errors and indexing issues
Tools that measure SEO success
Essential SEO Tools
Google’s Free Tools:
Google Analytics 4 – Track organic traffic, user behavior, and conversions
Google Search Console – Monitor search performance, indexing status, and technical issues
PageSpeed Insights – Check site speed and Core Web Vitals
Comprehensive Paid Tools:
SEMrush or Ahrefs – Keyword tracking, competitor analysis, backlink monitoring
Moz Pro – Rank tracking, site audits, keyword research
Screaming Frog – Technical SEO auditing
Specialised Tools:
GTmetrix or WebPageTest – Detailed site speed analysis
Ubersuggest – Low budget keyword and competitor research
How Much Should I Pay for SEO Services?
There is no standard guideline for SEO pricing. This means that anyone can claim to offer SEO services and charge any price they like. So the responsibility of deciding what is a fair price for SEO falls on you, the customer, especially in case of an ongoing monthly plans.
As we saw above, the cost of SEO is as varied and varied as the agencies in New Zealand. So you are perhaps wondering how much you should pay for SEO. So how do you get to the right number?
Here are some questions to consider:
What is your website visibility and keyword goal?
Are you a local business or a global business selling overseas?
How much can you afford to pay?
How much do your employees know about SEO?
numero® is happy to work alongside your in-house marketing team training them up to do advanced SEO work.
Request a Free SEO Audit
Claim your free SEO audit and receive our in-depth report outlining the strengths and weaknesses of your current SEO strategy along with a free action plan to boost your online presence.
For more information about our SEO services or to discuss your requirements, contact the numero® team today.
When something happens which might be useful for your business we want to tell you about it straight away.
Back in April ChatGPT (the AI tool) announced that it will shortly be incorporating ecommerce products into ChatGPT answers. So the numero® team have checked it out – and it’s legit.
ChatGPT is a search engine now.
This is gold for shop owners like you.
And best of all it’s a 3 minute job and it’s free of charge!
Here’s how to enable ChatGPT product discovery
Click this link to go to the ChatGPT explainer page for product discovery. At the bottom is a form where you share your shop website, your contact details. Seriously, it’s a three minute job and if it might lead to new customers, what’s not to like?
Quick Win
Our client Manuka South took action in June 2025 – by September this was the AI search result for their product range. That was quick (and easy).
Manuka South ChatGPT search results showing honey products
Try it for yourself – open ChatGPT and search “Manuka South Honey for sale” – see what comes up.
Your David vs. Goliath Guide to Black Friday for Owner-Managed Ecommerce Businesses
Breaking the Discount Death Spiral
Every November, the same script plays out across retail: brands slash prices, margins evaporate, and customer expectations reset to expect everything cheaper. It’s a destructive cycle that turns Black Friday from a profit opportunity into a margin-killing necessity. As a small business retailer you sigh with despair because you just cannot match the discounts or the marketing advertising spend of the big guys.
But here’s what the big retailers don’t want you to know: owner-managed ecommerce businesses have a secret weapon. While corporate giants are trapped in boardroom-approved discount strategies, you have the agility, authenticity, and customer relationships to flip the script and win the Black Friday Race.
This isn’t about competing on price, it’s about competing on value, creativity, and genuine customer connection. Some of the most successful Black Friday campaigns in history have done exactly the opposite of what everyone expects.
The rest of this article explores
Part 1 – Three tried and tested frameworks
Part 2 – Five new frameworks that build brand value
Part 3 – The owner manager advantage – how you can win in 2025
Part 4 – Five campaign concepts you can use
Part 5 – Metrics and success over the long term
Part 1: Tried & Tested Frameworks (And Why They’re Failing)
Before we break the Black Friday marketing rules, let’s understand them. Here are the 3 frameworks that built Black Friday and why they’re becoming less effective year by year.
1. The Classic Discount Stack
What it looks like:
Sitewide percentages (15-50% off)
Tiered discounts (“Spend $100, save $20”)
BOGO offers (Buy One Get One Free)
Bundle pricing (Buy these two things together)
Why it works: Simple to execute, easy for customers to understand, creates immediate urgency.
Why it’s failing: Every brand does this now. Your 30% off looks identical to your competitor’s 30% off. The worst part of this is that it trains customers to only buy when things are cheap, and you’re in a race to zero with your margins. This is a particular problem in New Zealand where “everyone loves a special”.
Best for: High-volume, low-margin products where you can afford the hit and need to move inventory.
2. The Urgency Trinity
What it looks like:
Limited time (“24-hour flash sale”)
Limited quantity (“Only 50 left in stock”)
Limited access (“VIP early access for subscribers”)
Why it works: Leverages FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) psychology and scarcity principles that drive immediate action.
Why it’s failing: Customers have become immune to fake scarcity. They know your “limited time” offer will probably be back next week, and your “only 50 left” might not be true.
Best for: Genuinely limited or seasonal products where scarcity is real.
3. The Bundle Strategy
What it looks like:
Gift sets and curated collections
“Complete the look” packages
Cross-category bundles
Why it works: Increases average order value without deep individual product discounts.
Why it’s declining: Customers are more informed and prefer to choose their own combinations. Generic bundling feels lazy.
Best for: Products that naturally complement each other or themed collections. Works well if you know the customer has already purchased one of the products.
Part 2: The New Rules: 5 Frameworks That Actually Build Value
Framework 1: The Anti-Black Friday Revolution
Patagonia 2011 Black Friday advert
The Strategy: Instead of discounting, take a stand against consumerism and Black Friday culture itself.
Real Example: In 2011, Patagonia published an audacious full-page ad in The New York Times on Black Friday telling viewers not to buy their jacket. With this ad, the company aspired to raise consumer awareness regarding the consequences of over-consumption, especially in the textile industry.
The Result: Instead of hurting sales, the campaign generated massive media coverage, strengthened brand loyalty, and attracted environmentally conscious customers who became lifelong advocates.
Another Iconic Example: Cards Against Humanity made headlines in 2013 for increasing its prices by $5 as part of a Black Friday “anti-sale”. Despite its higher price, the game maintained its best-selling status on Amazon and experienced a minor spike in sales during that period. In other campaigns they’ve also sold “Nothing for $5” (literally nothing) and made $70K, and even sold boxes of actual bull sh*t.
Cards Against Humanity anti-Black Friday price increase
How to execute for your business:
For sustainable/ethical brands: “We don’t discount quality” campaign with focus on fair wages, sustainable materials, craftsmanship
For luxury/artisan brands: “Black Friday is for mass production, not masterpieces” – emphasise your craftsmanship story
For service-based: “We’re closed on Black Friday” why not give your team the day off and make your brand messaging for this day about values? You value your staff.
Perfect for: Brands with strong values, premium positioning, or customers who align with counter-culture movements.
Framework 2: The Value-First Revolution
The Strategy: Instead of reducing prices, add value through exclusive services, bonuses, or experiences.
Real Examples:
Warby Parker: Free home try-on service becomes “Black Friday: Try 10 spectacles frames at home instead of 5”
Casper Mattresses: Same mattress price but includes premium bedding set, white-glove setup, and extended trial period
Local jewellery shop: “Black Friday Concierge” – personal shopping appointments with complimentary wine and snacks
How to execute:
Premium shipping/service: Express shipping, white-glove delivery, or setup services
Exclusive access: Behind-the-scenes content, founder calls, early access to new products
Educational value: Free courses, consultations, or masterclasses with purchase
Micro-segmentation: Different campaigns for new customers, VIPs, repeat buyers, at-risk customers
Perfect for: Businesses with good customer data, multiple touchpoints, or diverse customer segments.
Cards Against Humanity charity donation on Black Friday
Part 3: The Owner-Manager Advantage
Here’s why these strategies work better for owner-managed businesses than corporate giants:
1. Authentic Storytelling
Corporate brands have marketing committees and brand guidelines. You have a real story, real personality, and real relationships with customers. Use them. Customers recognise your authentic voice.
2. Rapid Execution
While big retailers need months of planning and committee approvals, you can pivot in days. Saw a competitor do something boring? Counter with something memorable by next week tomorrow.
3. Personal Connection
You can personally respond to customers, share your own story, and build genuine relationships. Your customers aren’t buying from a faceless corporation, they’re buying from YOU.
4. Creative Freedom
No corporate legal team is going to approve Cards Against Humanity’s bull sh*t campaign. But as an owner-manager, you can take calculated creative risks that generate massive buzz.
5. Values-Driven Marketing
Customers increasingly buy from brands whose values align with theirs. As an owner, your personal values can become powerful differentiators.
Part 4: Implementation Guide – Choose Your Fight
Get in touch with the numero® team and let us go to fight on your behalf next Black Friday.
Niche down your offer to align with your audience.
For Premium/Luxury Brands: The Anti-Black Friday Revolution
Campaign name: “Craftsmanship Doesn’t Go on Sale”
Key message: Quality over quantity, values over discounts
Execution: Behind-the-scenes content showing craftsmanship, the founder story about why you don’t discount
Channels: Email to VIP customers, social media storytelling, PR outreach
For Service-Based Businesses: The Value-First Revolution
Campaign name: “Black Friday Upgrades”
Key message: Same investment, premium experience
Execution: Add consultations, premium support, exclusive access, or extended guarantees
Channels: Email campaigns, LinkedIn for B2B, Google Ads highlighting value-adds
For Community-Driven Brands: The Community Commerce Model
Campaign name: “Friends & Family Friday”
Key message: Better together, shared benefits
Execution: Referral programs, UGC contests, community challenges
Channels: Social media, email to advocates, influencer partnerships
For Artisan/Maker Brands: The Experience Economy Approach
Campaign name: “Behind the Magic”
Key message: Process over product, story over sale
Execution: Live demonstrations, virtual workshops, maker stories
Conclusion: Your Black Friday Revolution Starts Here
The brands that will thrive in the next decade aren’t the ones with the deepest discounts. They’re the ones that build the strongest relationships. Black Friday gives you a moment when everyone’s paying attention. The question is: what do you want your customers to remember?
While your competitors are trapped in the discount death spiral, you have the opportunity to stand out, build value, and create customers who choose you for reasons that go far beyond price.
The revolution starts with a simple decision: Will you race to zero, or will you build something that lasts?
Your customers are tired of being sold to. They’re ready to be inspired, included, and valued.
The choice is yours.
Ready to plan your value-building Black Friday campaign? Start by identifying which framework aligns best with your brand values and customer base. Remember: the goal isn’t to win Black Friday, it’s to build a business that doesn’t need Black Friday to succeed. Ask numero® to add their expertise to your team.
