Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Welcome to Street Level Marketing, the show where we cut through the noise and provide actionable insights that help businesses grow smarter and faster. I'm your host, Mark Lamplu Jr. And today we have a very special guest, Dr. Alan Badot.
Dr. Badot is a leading expert in AI digital transformation and practical technology solutions for businesses of all sizes.
With years of experience helping organ organizations implement AI tools effectively, he brings clarity, strategy and confidence to business owners who may feel overwhelmed by the fast pace of innovation.
Today's conversation kicks off with a topic many of you have told us about AI. It can feel big, confusing, and intimidating.
But Dr. Bideau will show us how to use without fear and get real results.
Many business owners feel intimidated by AI, unsure where to start, and anxious about falling behind competitors. Dr. Badot will break down practical steps to use AI effectively. Thanks for coming on the show.
[00:01:29] Speaker B: Yeah, it's great to be here, Mark. Thank you.
[00:01:32] Speaker A: Why do you think so many small businesses feel scared or lost when they hear the word AI?
[00:01:39] Speaker B: Well, I think generally it's really just an overwhelming feeling because they're, they're being thrown so much information from every possible side that there is. And, you know, AI is, it's a, it's a complex, you know, field, but, you know, if you're a small business and you try to take all of that in, it's not going to, it's not going to help you. And it really just does start to overwhelm you and, you know, you don't know where to start.
You think it's going to be a huge investment, whether it's time or money. And then there's this, you know, misconception that only big companies can use it, and that is a, that's a challenge for them, too. And so that pace of technology and the advancement is intimidating. And then when you throw in money and time and effort and the unknown, you know, it's, it's enough to really confuse anybody.
[00:02:37] Speaker A: Yeah. And I know, I know for myself, you know, we're implementing a lot of AI strategies here where I, you know, I work full time and so daily I'm getting, you know, ads and, you know, feeds of the next AI tool. You know, they all do this, they all do that. And you really can fall down a rabbit hole, one of wasting your money, you know, if you're not really strategic and planning out, you know, what you want to try to, what problems you want to try to solve, and what are the best tools to do that.
[00:03:05] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:03:06] Speaker A: Can you share a simple way? Any business Owner can start using AI today without a huge budget.
[00:03:12] Speaker B: Well, I tell everybody, you know, you may not need to use AI.
You know, it can help you. But if you have a strategic plan and AI is not in your strategic plan, one, you better put it in your strategic plan somehow and figure out what that would look like. But then two, you know, you, if you know, take the time to, to really plan things out and how you want to use it. Because if you're using AI for the sake of AI, it's not going to help you. It's not going to help you in the long run, it's not going to help your customers and it's not going to help you grow. It's not going to really, you know, save you time.
So what I, you know, the other things that I tell folks are that, you know, okay, maybe it's not in your strategic plan. Look at it from a personal perspective. Maybe have it start to check your emails, maybe have it start to, to write, you know, some of the, the documents that you may have to pull together. Have it do research for you, things that you feel comfortable with first that you can use on the personal side before you try to do it in your business. Because oftentimes you've got more than yourself and your business and you don't want to just throw something at folks and not have a plan and how you want them to use it, how you want them to interact with it. And if you have customers, you sure don't want your customers to interact with it if you haven't, you know, done so first and tested it and all those other things. So, so baby steps is always the best way and using it for yourself, feeling good, that's the, that's the easiest way for folks to be able to get comfortable with it.
[00:04:47] Speaker A: Yeah, the, the email I, I've tried about three or four and I'm, I'm with fixer AI now and that's a good point. The, the email AIs are really, really helpful if you, you know, use them correctly. And it's an easy way to kind of start using AI application without it being customer, you know, faced, you know, where you're using in the back end kind of get comfortable what it does. Another one would be the, the note takers for the zoom calls.
[00:05:18] Speaker B: Oh yeah.
[00:05:20] Speaker A: Was it Firefly or whatever? It's another one that I, I, you know, love.
[00:05:26] Speaker B: And I use a bunch of those.
You know, one of the things too what I've found, you know, and it's really, I, I would say it's just our, you know, people are just becoming more comfortable with it. The first time that I brought one of those to a conference call, they wanted it kicked out.
And I was on, literally, I was on a call an hour and a half ago, and there were 12 of us and there were 12 AI note takers on there. And so people are starting to embrace it because it makes it so easy and, you know, there's so many different ones. That's another good place to start. Just something where you don't have to worry about. I've got to integrate it into my systems. I've got to do all these other things. These are very easy things to sign up for, try it, and then feel good about it.
[00:06:16] Speaker A: What's the biggest mistake people make when trying AI tools for the first time?
[00:06:21] Speaker B: Well, you know, if it's a. From a business perspective, it's them throwing it out there and not testing it and not having a plan how they want to use it. If you do that, you know, I warn people, you will probably call me after the fact because it won't go well and you're going to want me to help fix the problem. Because if you have, you know, FOMO fear of missing out and you just throw something out there, the realities are that it takes, you know, a lifetime to build a reputation for a business with your customers. It only takes one AI engagement that goes wrong for that to go out the window.
So that's the biggest mistake that I, that I see people make. But then also it's. It's really just rushing. It's not having a plan for it. It's trying to bite off too much thinking that AI is an easy button now and it's going to solve all of their problems. It's not thinking that, you know, oh, if I deploy this tool, I'll be able to replace, you know, X, Y and Z amounts of staff. More than likely, it's not going to be that case either because of the way that these tools behave and act and, you know, sometimes lie and hallucinate and stuff. So, you know, it's just really rushing it and not. Not taking your time and planning things out.
[00:07:36] Speaker A: Yeah, that's. That's probably one of the biggest questions I get is the, you know, you have the people that really embrace it and you have the others that are, like, very fearful that it's going to take jobs. And I think there's going to be a shift in how people do their jobs.
And I think embracing the technology now will probably safeguard you when you can Learn how to use these tools in your daily practices.
Being in the marketing world, I, there probably are going to be some agencies that probably close, but I think agencies will have the opportunity to serve a lot more customers at a much lower cost.
You know, then it would be having like five contracts for 10, $10,000 a piece. You might have a hundred contracts at 200 a piece and helping a lot more businesses.
So I, I think it's, you know, it's really how you're looking at it.
[00:08:36] Speaker B: Yeah. And I, I, you know, and, and from what I've seen in multiple industries, I have customers that are financial institutions. I have customers that, that are working in quarries and running rock crushers around the world. And you think, oh, how does the rock crusher do it? Well, it's maintenance. It's O and M. It's using AI to help with those problems. There's not an industry that I have found yet where you cannot use AI Somewhere if you take your time, plan it out, and do it the right way. And you're exactly right. I mean, in some cases it will allow staff that you have, you know, within your company to do more. It's, you know, it's really a capability increase that, that folks have. You know, I always give the example that I am the worst artist. I'm terrible. If you want an engineering drawing, I'm your guy. But if you want a creative art piece, I'm awful. But I can use AI to draw pictures if I have a vision. Now, any market space or any vertical business, business that you're in, if you have a vision, you can start to use AI to help flush that vision out, bring new products to market a lot faster than you could. You know, you could before. But you can't get rid of folks because it's not ready yet to do that. No.
[00:09:58] Speaker A: For someone who feels left out of the AI wave, what words of encouragement would you give them?
[00:10:04] Speaker B: Well, you do it especially right now. The technology is changing so fast that there's a new wave coming and you can jump on that next wave in some cases. You know, it depends on your market space, of course, and it depends on, you know, your type of business and those kind of things. And so you've gotta, you've gotta look at that. You've got to understand that. But there are waves coming every other month, it seems like, and, well, every month almost now. And you, you really can't miss them because, you know, there's been some missteps recently. People have thought, oh, I'll get rid of all my call center staff and I'll replace it with AI. Well, that's a disaster. That's a disaster waiting to happen. So you sure didn't miss that wave if you have waited. So, you know, just if you stick to a plan and it aligns with your strategy, your go to market and your, everything that falls out from that is going to be, it'll be just fine.
Yeah.
[00:11:00] Speaker A: One of the tools that I use that I can think that just change so fast is the, the AI voiceover apps. Just a couple months ago, I mean we wouldn't use them because they sounded too robotic and advertising to three months later, now you can, you know, they sound like a real person.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: Oh, it's phenomenal. Yeah. And then, and this is, and the technology is going to continue to, to evolve. You know, there's more and a lot of folks don't realize this. There are more than just chat, GPT and large language models out there. AI as a field has over 250 different sub specialties in it. And as we merge these capabilities, you know, that's really what I'm known for and what I do is taking a whole bunch of different types of AI, merging those with something like chat GPT so you can really solve hard problems. And that's what we're trying to do and that's causing everything else to be, you know, to really evolve as well. And it's really, it's, it's really an exciting time and you know, these things are, you know, adapting, changing, you know, so fast that you know, if you, if you do it the right way, you'll be okay.
[00:12:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, we're out of time for this segment.
We'll be right back. And next we'll discuss how businesses can turn the data they already have into smarter decisions.
[00:12:25] Speaker B: Foreign.
[00:12:30] Speaker A: Welcome back to Street Level Marketing.
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Welcome back. We're now exploring how businesses can transform their existing data into actionable insights.
Many sit on valuable information without knowing how to use it to grow.
Collecting data is only the first step. Using it effectively is where businesses often struggle. Dr. Bideau shares practical ways to turn raw information into business growth.
Dr. Bideau, why is it so common for businesses to have data but not know what to do with it?
[00:13:44] Speaker B: Well, I think, you know, fundamentally it's, it's really, you know, they, they have tools that allow them to just collect a whole bunch of different types of data. They don't necessarily have the tools or the expertise to analyze it the way that it should be analyzed or, you know, even use it effectively. And, you know, you know, especially in the marketing space, there's so much data that you can get that talks about, you know, customers and Google and all the other analytics pieces out there. And when you try to mash that all together, it gets pretty difficult. And now with AI, then it really starts to escalate.
Data by itself is a field that's overwhelming to a lot of folks without putting AI in there. And then when you have AI and the additional analytical systems that you may need, it starts to frustrate a lot of people. And if they don't see immediate results too, then that is another. They see that as a negative. They're doing something wrong. They're, they're gonna, you know, they, they in essence, really stop collecting it. And that's definitely the wrong, you know, thing to do. So being able to interpret, again, align it with your strategy, you know, that's going to be the important thing. And it's, it's especially important as you try to train these large language models, if that's what you want to do.
[00:15:10] Speaker A: Yeah. What's the first step in turning data into decisions that actually help grow?
[00:15:16] Speaker B: Well, again, it's really around that business objective and identifying what kind of data that you need to achieve those goals. And oftentimes I tell folks, again, that if you don't have that expertise, you got to go get it. Because if that really is what you need to do, you've got to get some help from folks that are used to telling and strategizing and really putting together what that data ops life cycle is. And what I mean by that is, is you've got to figure out how you're going to collect it. You got to figure out how you're going to analyze it. You've got to figure out how you're going to use it, how you're going to distribute that data to your customers or your models, and then really, what's the expectation around those, around the data? And if you can't answer all five of Those, then you're not ready. So you know, get some help to do that. And then that's, you know, you'll, you'll get the right tools, you'll get the, the right platforms that you need. And then when you're ready to use AI, then you're, you, you'll be, you'll be on your way and you'll be ahead of a lot of people.
[00:16:20] Speaker A: Yeah. And I, I think in the marketing aspect, the more data you have on an individual, the more personalized you can make the messaging, the more personalized you can make the messaging, the more the, that customer feels connected to your business, you know, so it, it really raises the opportunity to sell something to somebody.
[00:16:41] Speaker B: Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, and we build, we build Personas that have, you know, human traits and that's what we're training our, our AI to act, look like, behave, judge, model, you know, even, even do selections for, you know, proposals and things like that. And you're right, it's a huge, huge difference in what you can get and the results that you get from that because it's, it's, it's night and day compared to just putting something in chat GPT and asking it to do something. However, there are some downsides to that as well that folks have to be, be prepared for.
[00:17:21] Speaker A: Yeah. Can you share an example of how data revealed a surprising insight for a business?
[00:17:27] Speaker B: Well, you know, one of the things that I can say is really around it's forcing companies to look outside of themselves, you know, and whether it's banking, whether it's marketing, whether it's, you know, any, anywhere in between, oftentimes in the past they would just use their own data do to do the analysis and they would think, oh geez, you know, our data is clean.
You know, we don't need any more customer data, you know, because we have years and years of customer data. And so we're, we're, we're in a good place.
Well, when you start asking questions that are, you know, around well, how come they're not buying my stuff as much as, as they used to? Well, if you only have your data that you're, you're analyzing, it's, it's going to skew what the answer is because you don't know anything else about. Maybe they've got, maybe they're going to school, maybe they're going, they got a different job, maybe they moved. You know, there's so many things that you have to take into account. And I tell people, you know, look at the ancillary Impacts, what are those influencers to that specific data? It may be marketing data, it may be Nielsen data, it may be census data, it could be weather data. Right. Whatever those other impactors are, you've got to get that information as well because that's going to be just as important when you start to build out what your models and your data analysis capabilities are going to look like.
[00:18:59] Speaker A: How did small companies compete with the bigger ones when it comes to data use?
[00:19:05] Speaker B: Well, this is, you know, in some cases the large companies have too much data and they have too much confidence in their data.
So they have years of whatever type of data that it is and they think, yep, we're in great shape, we can do AI, we'll do this, we'll do that, we've got all this other data.
And the reality is oftentimes it still boils down to one or two people that are analyzing the data, that are using the data, that have access to the data. And so a small business though has a different mindset because they're hungry, they want to, they want to go after a lot of different things. And so, you know, when you pair a small business up with AI now against a large business that has some AI, may or may not have some AI and have three, you know, three chains of approvals above them, small businesses are starting to have an advantage.
[00:20:03] Speaker A: Yeah, you know, any free or low cost tools that businesses can use now to start analyzing their data.
[00:20:11] Speaker B: You know, if you have something like a ChatGPT, if you have Claude and you know, Claude is actually really great at something like this. And these are the basic versions. Even, even Copilot, you know, with Excel and Spread, you know, spreadsheets now make a huge difference in what you can do with that. And if you wanted to add like a Power BI or even some open source data analysis toolkits that have some AI in them, it's going to help you significantly, really take that data, analyze it and get to where you're trying to go. A couple years ago if I would have told you we're going to do some real in depth analysis around marketing or manufacturing or those kind of things. You're talking about, you know, three to six months study, you're talking about interactions with people, you're talking about your other data and analyzing it and the expense software with, with those, you know, that's all that's almost gone by the wayside now. We've all had to rethink it and the tools that have, have really gotten a lot cheaper.
[00:21:21] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a Little example I can give of that myself is, you know, you could take a month's worth of your social media data, your Facebook analytics, and upload them into chat GPT and have it analyze it for any irregularities, things that stick out, you know, what posts are doing well, which ones aren't. It'll analyze whatever you feed into it and give you, you know, insights on.
[00:21:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:52] Speaker A: Something you might have missed.
[00:21:53] Speaker B: That's right. And, and one, you know, there's some great, that's, that's a great way to, to start, especially if you want something that's just so easy to get that information and drop it in there and interact with it and ask it questions and, you know, there's so much more insight that you can, that you can get from that. Now, one of the things I do warn people about too, though, is just make sure that you're not putting, you know, and we had, you know, I know this is one of those things that I've heard you talk about is making sure you're not putting PII or customer information in there because you don't want, you know, even, even your own proprietary stuff. Just make sure it's guarded and, you know, click the button that says that Chat GPT can't learn from it. You'll be, you'll be in, in good shape.
[00:22:38] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a good point.
We're at it. We're out of time for this segment. Dr. Bedell, where can viewers connect with you to learn more about applying AI and data strategy?
[00:22:49] Speaker B: Well, the easiest way is on my LinkedIn account. They can go there, they can find me, just type in, you know, my name and my bald head will pop up. Or they can go to my website the same way. Or, or they can watch my AI Today show, you know, on NOW Media on Wednesday nights. So, you know, we talk strategy, you know, tools. I show them some crazy things and how to break it, and it's a lot of fun.
[00:23:13] Speaker A: Nice. Up next, cybersecurity isn't just for techies. It's about protecting trust in your business.
Welcome back to Street Level Marketing. Many small business owners overlook cybersecurity until it's too late. Dr. Bideau will show how protecting digital assets is really about protecting trust.
Cybersecurity is critical to protect businesses, organizations, customer data and brand reputation. Simple steps can prevent major losses and maintain trust with clients. Dr. Berdo, why should even the smallest business care about cyber security?
[00:23:58] Speaker B: Well, it used to be. And when I say you the, the good old days, probably two years ago. Right. It's it was, they only went after big fish and it was harder for them. And so, you know, they have to put time into, you know, the, you know, into those efforts. You know, I'm a certified ethical hacker. And you know, from that perspective, you want a bigger payday, so you're going to focus on the bigger things. Now with AI, you know, whatever is easiest. And oftentimes it can be a small business, it can be a small hospital.
Heck, it's even, it's even starting to get to a personal level. You know, you're you, you may be profiled and they may get a hold of your information and they will start to do those same things from a personal perspective as well. And so nobody is safe now.
And the scary thing is that you don't have to be a hacker anymore to be able to do some of these things because there are some AI tools out there that allow novices, junior, you know, programmers to turn themselves into a, you know, a hacker and really get into some systems and cause, cause some havoc. So, you know, there's, there's nobody that is safe. It doesn't matter how large you are, how small you are, or, you know, or, or just at home. It's always, it's always a worry. There are so many threats. Everybody just has to pay attention.
[00:25:28] Speaker A: Yeah, I know for the, I'm in the automotive industry and you know, we're collecting a lot of consumer credit info and things like that. So we have to be really, you know, cautious about, you know, what we do with that and protecting it and, you know, keeping it internal.
Yeah, I, I noticed. Another thing is, it's something I've noticed over the last few months that credit card, and like banks had, have become really like stringent and protective of fraud alerts on credit cards now. I mean, I, I get all, I get purchases blocked a lot more now than I did a few years ago where you get the text and you have to, you know, confirm whether you made the, you know, the attempted purchase and if you hit yes, then you have to do the transaction over again.
[00:26:21] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:26:22] Speaker A: It's been happening a lot more. I think they're really getting, cracking down, trying to anyway, crack down on it.
[00:26:29] Speaker B: Yeah. And, and the good thing is, and I'm working with a couple of them, is that, you know, they're, you know, the credit card companies and the financial institutions have really been at the forefront of fraud detection for a while now. You know, you've got the federal government, of course, and then you've got those big Banks in the manual, you know, in the, in the credit card guys. But they are continuing to reassess, you know, how they classify fraud. They're looking at newer algorithms, they're looking at, you know, new ways that they can pick some of these things up. And the good thing is, you know, it may be a little bit of a burden that we might have to run something, one, you know, maybe an extra time or something like that.
But they're being more proactive in stopping those just because, you know, when there's so much fraud that takes place on a, you know, in a specific company, that means your fees go up, too. Right. And so they're trying to, they're trying to balance all of those things with the user experience. And you don't often think about the user experience with a credit card, but if you're standing in line and you're trying to check out and they deny it, that's a bad experience.
And, and they're looking at those, those sort of things. And, you know, I think it's, I think it's really great that they're starting to, you know, to, to do that kind of stuff. And, and, you know, just being able to, to give folks a little bit of comfort that when they use their card, it's going to be okay and nobody's going to get a hold of it. You know, that goes a long way.
[00:28:01] Speaker A: Yeah. And somebody's got to pay for it. I mean, yeah, you get your money back as a consumer, but it's coming from somewhere.
[00:28:08] Speaker B: That's right. And there's, you know, you know, I've heard folks describe, you know, hacking and, you know, when they go in and they encrypt your hard drive and then you have to send them a ransom or something like that. I've heard folks say, oh, well, it's kind of a victimless crime because, you know, they give you back your data, you just, you know, give them some money. Well, somebody is paying for it and that's not victimless. And if, you know, if you and I and the audience has to pay for stuff like that, we don't want to do that. You know, it's. Things are expensive enough. And so, you know, I give it to them that they're, they're doing a pretty good job with that.
[00:28:44] Speaker A: Yeah. What's a simple step someone can take today to better protect their business?
[00:28:50] Speaker B: Well, you know, I would, I would. I'm smiling because I, I get this question a lot and I always, I always answer it a little bit different, but the, the Biggest problem that businesses have are not hackers. It is the people that are working for them. Ah, don't click everything.
Just, you know, if you, if you got a message or you get an email from a, you know, a supposed relative in India that's going to send you a million dollars, don't click it. You know, let's, let's not do those kind of things because human error is the largest driver around these, these attacks that are taking place. You know, whether it was the MGM attack, you know, out in Las Vegas, that was because the same sort of thing, somebody clicked the button, put in their codes that they had for their, their access, and boom, they were able to spoof it.
Fraud and banks, same sort of things. You know, it's just read things, don't click them. And, you know, if you're the business owner, you've got to have some sort of training and education around that because that's going to kill you in the long run. And AI cannot fix that.
[00:30:06] Speaker A: Another one I noticed kind of popping up over the last year. I'm a senior, you know, executive, so, you know, I would be a target for these things is individuals pretending they are one of your employees to update their direct deposit.
[00:30:23] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:30:24] Speaker A: I would get these emails saying, hey, it's so and so, I need to update my direct deposit. And I know I just met with the employee, it's not them, but I can see how you could fall for that, you know.
[00:30:36] Speaker B: Yeah, and like we were talking about in the break too, where, you know, now with AI, you can create videos, you can spoof people, you can spoof their voices. You know, there was a case in, in Canada, you know, a female executive was working, you know, for a bank, and they, unfortunately, she was on a zoom call. There were six other folks on the Zoom call. Two of them were her bosses, and they told her to wire 20 some million dollars to a certain account. And she of course thought, oh, well, you know, they're my bosses. Why, why would I not, why would I not listen to them? They had spoofed the entire thing and she transferred the money and they were able to get away with it. So you got to be, you got to just be careful with, with any sort of thing, you know, now. And just, you know, if somebody gives you human instinct is something that AI still doesn't have. So if somebody gives you an order or somebody, you know, makes a request of, you know, that just doesn't feel right or is out of the norm, then ask, you know, did you really want me to do that, or if you're worried about that or scared, you know, come up with some silly question to say, well, you know, I can't remember what day you wanted me to, to send that. Can you give me a little more detail?
Right, and so just give yourself some ideas on, on ways out and double checking if it doesn't feel right.
[00:32:11] Speaker A: Well, one of my questions was, can you share a real life story where cyber security. Heard of business?
[00:32:18] Speaker B: It's all over too. Yeah, Yeah. I mean, these hot, you know, hospitals are the worst target right now because think of all the data and the personal information that they want.
However, that's not what they're trying to do. They don't want Jimmy's, you know, health records. They don't care about Jimmy's health records because it would take them too long to get into Jimmy's health records. What they want to do is prevent the hospital from doing anything. And if they can do that and they lock up the entire database, they're not billing, they're not seeing patients, they're not doing any of that, that's where these ransomwares come into place. They're not attacking you as much as they used to because now they've got bigger fish that they can go after and it's a lot easier.
[00:33:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
How does cyber security tie directly to trust and brand reputation?
[00:33:11] Speaker B: Well, you know, I think there's an awful lot of examples out there where there's been a big cyber incident. And what is it?
One of them was 6 billion, you know, emails and personal information and everything else. It really, it really hurts it. I mean, there's no other way to put it. It really hurts it because, you know, just having faith that, you know, your information that you give to somebody is protected is one thing, but now everywhere is asking for it. They all want your information because they want to market you. They want to sell it to somebody else or they want to use it for something and it could be AI or something like that. And now people are starting to pay attention that they're taking back their digital identity because they don't trust a lot of these brands that have had incidents in the past. And I don't, I don't blame them.
[00:34:06] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, there's been a, a few cryptocurrency ones that I can think of recently over the last year that I've noticed.
[00:34:15] Speaker B: Oh, sure, yeah.
[00:34:18] Speaker A: So while we're out of time for this segment, we'll be, we'll be right back. And finally we'll, we'll explore Blockchain Beyond Bitcoin and why it Matters for marketing Future.
[00:34:33] Speaker B: Foreign.
[00:34:39] Speaker A: Welcome back to Street Level Marketing.
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Welcome back. We're closing with blockchain. Not just cryptocurrency, but a revolutionary tool shaping marketing trust and customer engagement.
Many business owners dismiss blockchain as irrelevant, yet it can improve transparency, security and customer relationships while opening new marketing opportunities.
Dr. Berdo, in simple terms, what is blockchain and why should business owners care.
[00:35:46] Speaker B: So Blockchain, if you it's a decentralized digital ledger. And what I mean by that is that, you know, as transactions are being, you know, are taking place, they're going to get recorded across many different computers. And it's done so in a way that if, you know, somebody tries to access it from the outside, then you know, it's going to get, there's going to be a notification that goes out to everybody that, hey, something has changed, there's an issue. And so it really helps pretty prevent things from being altered or tampered with. Now that's a, that's a broad definition there, but, you know, it allows you to really just make sure that things are, are moved and tracked, you know, in a secure and a transparent way. Because if you're a member of the blockchain and a transaction takes place, everybody that's a member can see that. If you're not a member, you can still see different types or different parts of that transaction, but at least there's, you know, some transparency that goes into that. And so from a business perspective, then, you know, if you have contracts or if you have even down to baseball cards or, you know, antiques and memorabilia, if they're authenticated and you put them on the blockchain, then that means that if somebody buys it, they're going to see that you owned it in the past and they'll have a record moving forward of what transactions took place and how that was done. And so things like payments, supply chain, you know, contracts, even mortgages today are really a great, you know, it's a great opportunity for those types of businesses to use that to guarantee, you know, a, a transaction that's going to be secure.
[00:37:40] Speaker A: How can blockchain actually change the way we market or sell products?
[00:37:44] Speaker B: Well, I think, you know, like we talked about in the previous segment, you know, having some, you know, transparency and some confidence in what you're doing, how you're giving your information out is important and it's really revolutionizing marketing sales because of that transparency and trust.
So, you know, looking at it from, you know, authenticity, let's say you've got a signature, you know, you've got a, oh, let's say you got a, a Mickey Mantle baseball card that you've got a signature on.
Well, those pop up all the time and you hear about these kind of scandals, you know, all over the place. And if you have that on the blockchain and you know, maybe you're the original owner and you know, or your grandfather was or whatever that is, and you can trace those kind of things back.
Once it's there, it's there. And moving forward, like I said, it's, it's, it's gonna always be there. You're starting to see a lot of commercial brands like, you know, you know, really high end luxury goods, purses are starting to use it, watches are starting to use it. And so you may get a little card that comes with your watch that says, hey, it was manufactured here, it's on the blockchain.
[00:39:00] Speaker A: Boom.
[00:39:01] Speaker B: You know, go put your name up there because you're the new owner. And that just, that just enhances your ability to sell it when the time comes because it's authenticated. And that's a huge, that's a huge deal, especially with these things coming, you know, out of China and those kind of things that are such good lookalikes now that people get a little gun shy with, with that kind of stuff. Any way that you can enhance the trust that you're buying the real deal goes a long way.
[00:39:30] Speaker A: So how would it be just, you know, for instance, like a purse?
What would there be some kind of like QR code in there that, that goes back to that, that blockchain and, and you may scan it and then. Is that right?
[00:39:45] Speaker B: Yeah, you can use your phone in a lot of cases and you know, take a picture of that QR code. It will take you to that, that blockchain or whatever. You know, if it's a, an item like a purse or a watch, it'll take you directly to that item and you know, it'll Allow you to then associate your name with that item. And then if, if you sell it, then you can give it to the next person and they'll be able to see, oh, geez, you know, Alan Badot owned X, Y and Z watch or whatever that is.
You know, that, that, that, that kind of trust comes at a premium today. And it's, it's not very easy to get. And you know, blockchain is a great place for that.
[00:40:28] Speaker A: Yeah, especially at the level that counterfeit, you know, items are now. I mean, some of them, you can't even tell, you know, that they're, they're not real.
[00:40:39] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:40:42] Speaker A: For those who feel like blockchain isn't for me, what would you say?
[00:40:46] Speaker B: Well, I would say never say never.
Because, you know, blockchain, you know, when it first came out, you know, everything was associated with digital currencies. And I think that was good. If you were in the digital currency space and you were a miner, for example, I don't think it was good for all the other things that it can be used for. And so from that perspective, as we're starting to use AI more, we're starting to use different tools more, we're starting to realize that applying AI with a blockchain to maybe secure agents, AI agents that you deploy into your environment, or just securing the data itself. Because if you take your data that you have and you put it on the blockchain, then that means everybody else is going to understand, oh, they got their data, they got it from here. It's a good source of data, I can use it. It's those sort of opportunities that folks are starting to realize that, you know, they weren't believers before, and now they're starting to say, geez, you know, this, this whole digital ledger thing might be, might be more impactful than I thought it was. And so that's, you know, it's starting to change a lot of people's minds. So don't say, don't say never.
[00:42:13] Speaker A: Do you think the blockchain is like the next big shift, you know, like the Internet once was?
[00:42:20] Speaker B: Well, you know, it could be. You know, you've got web three activities that are coming out and, you know, there's a lot of, a lot of Web3 sites out there today.
It, I don't think it's going to be as massive of, you know, a shift like the Internet was.
However, you know, we're in the early stages and as supply chain folks use it more as healthcare, you know, entities are using it more data Finance, those kind of things, it could be, it could be just as impactful. However, you know, I preface that by saying that when you take blockchain and you combine it with AI and some other technologies, now you're really starting to, you know, to, to become a game changer. And it's not so much these individual technologies that are, that are really going to crush and you know, have that same sort of impact. It's when you combine them because you're not getting one plus one equals two anymore. When you put blockchain with AI and doing all this data and, and making sure that it's safe and trustworthy and those kind of things, you are having a multiple effect on so many other markets and industries that it's, you know, that, that impact for you as a small business could be huge.
[00:43:45] Speaker A: How do you see blockchain like falling into customer loyalty programs? Because I look at this as like things you can offer your business.
[00:43:52] Speaker B: Well, you know what's interesting if you think about it, you know, going, you know, with COVID you know, coming out of COVID you know, we'll use the airlines as a good example of that. Because the airlines, you know, the only thing that they could really bargain with when they were trying to get some additional loans was their customer loyalty programs and protecting those, you know, and, and using that as collateral to get additional, you know, loans that they needed. That changed the game. And that's why, you know, now it's so important for them to protect that information, for them to be able to say, okay, I've got all of this now. This, this valid information on a customer. I'm gonna market them different, I'm gonna treat them different, good or bad, you know, but they're gonna understand that the data that they have is going to be a lot better than it used to be because they're paying a lot more attention to these, you know, these loyalty programs. Now that sort of data in combined with blockchain is power.
[00:44:56] Speaker A: Yeah, well, we're out of time. But Dr. Badeau, it's been incredibly valuable. Where can people follow you, your work and continue the conversation?
[00:45:06] Speaker B: Yeah, go to, go to LinkedIn or you know, my web, my website, AlanBedo. AI has a lot of information and it's got some more up to date date things that we're doing. And I'm, I'm really all over the place. And so even, even our AI today TV show on N Media on Wednesdays in the evening, you know, go there and I, I get a lot, I get a lot of emails every week. I love answering them, so, you know, reach out to me.
[00:45:34] Speaker A: A huge thank you to Dr. Alan Badeau for sharing his insights on AI, data and cyber security and blockchain.
Today we've seen how these tools, when understood and applied thoughtfully, can empower businesses to operate more efficient, build stronger relationships and innovate the future.
Viewers, take these lessons and start applying them today.
Every small step counts towards building a smarter, safer and more future ready business. This is Mark Lampley Jr. Reminding you that marketing and technology don't have to be intimidating. They just need the right strategy and guidance. See you next time on street level marketing.
4, 3, 2, 1.
AI just isn't a buzzword. It's a tool that can empower your business, but only if you know how to use it without getting overwhelmed.
And data isn't just numbers. It's insights waiting to turn into actionable decisions that grow your brand.
I'm Mark Lampley Jr. And this week on Street Level Marketing, I'll be joined by Dr. Alan Badot. Together we'll unpack how businesses can leverage AI, cybersecurity and blockchain to make smarter marketing choices, protect trust and stay ahead in rapidly changing landscape. Join us Tuesday at 4pm Central only on Now Media Television. Because effective marketing starts at a street level, it.
