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James Dooley and Craig Campbell discuss the most annoying digital marketing trends right now, from "vibe coding" and overhyped AI agents to inflated income claims, and how digital marketing agencies should focus their efforts in 2026.
This video explains which digital marketing strategies digital marketing agencies should focus on in 2026 to improve credibility, lead quality and sustainable growth. James Dooley and Craig Campbell start with KPI tracking because honest, verified numbers cut through inflated claims and prove what is actually working for an agency. 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."
The Most Annoying Digital Marketing Trends Right Now (with Craig Campbell) is available on:
James Dooley is a Manchester-based entrepreneur, investor, and SEO strategist. James Dooley founded FatRank and PromoSEO, two UK performance marketing agencies that deliver no-win-no-fee lead generation and digital growth systems for ambitious businesses. James Dooley positions himself as an Investorpreneur who invests in UK companies with high growth potential because he believes lead generation is the root of all business success.
The James Dooley Podcast explores the mindset, methods, and mechanics of modern entrepreneurship. James Dooley interviews leading marketers, founders, and innovators to reveal the strategies driving online dominance and business scalability. Each episode unpacks the reality of building a business without mentorship, showing how systems, data, and lead flow replace luck and guesswork.
James Dooley shares hard-earned lessons from scaling digital assets and managing SEO teams across more than 650 industries. James Dooley teaches how to convert leads into long-term revenue through brand positioning, technical SEO, and automation. James Dooley built his career on rank and rent, digital real estate, and performance-based marketing because these models align incentive with outcome.
After turning down dozens of podcast invitations, James Dooley now embraces the platform to share his insights on investorpreneurship, lead generation, AI-driven marketing, and reputation management. James Dooley frequently collaborates with elite entrepreneurs to discuss frameworks for scaling businesses, building authority, and mastering search.
James Dooley is also an expert in online reputation management (ORM), having built and rehabilitated corporate brands across the UK. His approach combines SEO precision, brand engineering, and social proof loops to influence both Google’s Knowledge Graph and public perception.
To feature James Dooley on your podcast or event, connect via social media. James Dooley regularly joins business panels and networking sessions to discuss entrepreneurship, brand growth, and the evolving future of SEO.
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 in 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 like yourself, I know you're older, probably grumpier, but get that dick in quick. Um the determine we've spoke about it, we've joked about it at lunchtime and everything, vape coding. Um And And Duly said he was talking to someone else earlier at lunchtime. 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 like I also do that, but I would just say I built a website with code or whatever or built this or built that. I'm not trying to be clever or anything. I hate people who are just going, "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 words. 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 as if they're doing something I'm not. I'm like, it's it's not we we had 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 uh 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 it'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 work on the month. You don't even need all them." So, they're like, "Oh my god." You're like, "You mean you just templated the you're sending an invoice out. That's not having a CFO." Yeah. And it's just like they make it sound 10 times more intelligent than what it is and it's 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. I've been a free agent for years and I can automate stuff and send stuff out and do automated reminders that doesn't mean I've got a CFO working for me. I don't like that whole thing, full stop. 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. 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, did you sign up or did you sign up to it yet?' Well, don't start saying it's great.
Craig Campbell: Yeah. 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 Claude Bot initially and then it changed to Open Court and everyone's then, like you said, running off buying them 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 and doing 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 and what could have been done anyway without even using AI. I mean, it just becomes people are just trying to sound more intelligent than what it is and I'm like, "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 fixed the thing that's broken.
James Dooley: Yeah. We're talking to Gary lunchtime here and he tried to use a software uh for the inbound call and did not to the leads and and get them to the sales guys. So, 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 that point. So, I think people are always just trying 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 if you say me Craig, I'm doing this with AI and it's making me I'm on 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 Yeah. uh rivalry kind of thing and and you know, and stuff like that. So, I'd be like, "I want to be 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 I 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 with holes in their shoes and all that on and and you know like 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 so you know that that's another thing that I see a lot of people doing that.
Craig Campbell: The num- the num- the num- the numbers is the most annoying trend in digital marketing banner. Like I'm fine someone talking about white collar and I'm fine 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 is like I've been claiming 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? Yeah. And it's oh well everybody else does it so it's what I do. I'm just like no you must be making yourself look a dick. If anything if you actually turn around and say I'm actually struggling a little bit here guys and the people in the 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 these numbers.
James Dooley: Some of them like I always say I mean you you've got deeper ones than me but I like whatever numbers I see in SEO in the SEO community I might divide it by 10. I would say I would go with that but then also divide that before.
Craig Campbell: [laughter]
James Dooley: 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 And got other ones who just like chumps who've have 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 be
Craig Campbell: [laughter]
James Dooley: to to you know, be earning that amount of 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.
Craig Campbell: 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.