The 3 Keys to Online Marketing for Small Business

Patrick McFadden • November 25, 2013

What does it take to be the best?

The best accountant firm, the plumbing contractor, the best law firm, the best landscaper?

There’s always a spot for the best in the market.

Now that every business can connect to millions of people worldwide, become a media company, build a website, do business globally, create content and distribute that content. It’s easy to get lost in the chaos of mediocre, of discount, of close and cheap. But if you’re the best, among a segment of mainstream who care to seek and have conversations about the best, no market is too crowded.

Those who sit back and wait for their business to explode online will be waiting a long time. The 3 keys to online marketing for small business are visibility, credibility, and relationships, and that means one thing: work.

1. Visibility

Getting a website is easy. In fact, the days when having a website as a online billboard, gave you a competitive advantage in terms of visibility are over.

Now, in the same way that this philosophical question, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” is commonly asked. The same is true for your website. “If your website is not visible, if nobody knows where it is and why they might want to go visit it, does it make an impact.” I think we all know the answer.

Visibility comes by placing your message, your website, platform, or location address in front of as many of your prospects and customers as possible. This means:

  • using a signature on your e-mail messages that directs people to your website for further information;
  • posting relevant and valuable content on your status updates, in discussion groups, forums, in the comment sections of blogs,etc.
  • creating and posting classified ads in appropriate places
  • establishing links or listings on as many major business directories as possible. For example: I have a listing on manta.com (the worlds largest community of small businesses)

2. Credibility

Visibility is great, but it works against you if you’re not building a credible identity. Notice I didn’t say image. “Image” is a word worth striking from your marketing vocabulary!

An image is a façade, something phony. A far better “I” word is “identity.” Your identity is automatically honest. If you communicate a real identity, people sense a feelings of comfort and relaxation when they contact you. What they see in your marketing is ultimately what they get from your products and services, and that builds trust and rapport.

Credibility comes from being a good resource and from providing useful, relevant and valuable information. For example:

  • Don’t post or make a comment to a LinkedIn interest group just for the sake of posting or commenting. Or don’t like an update “giving it your vote of confidence” just for the sake of agreeing. If you can’t add value to the discussion or answer a question, keep searching and poking until you can.
  • Don’t waste other people’s time with long forum information in a discussion, forum, or interest group. Time is life, not money. If you waste a person’s time, they will never do business with you.
  • Don’t post lengthy articles either. Instead, post a summary and place a “call to action” telling the prospective reader where they can get the full article.
  • Try keeping your signature to a minimum. Anything long like 12 lines can be considered self-indulgent. When was the last time you bought something from somebody who did nothing but talk about himself?

3. Relationships

If you’re visible and credible, you’ll begin to establish relationships with individuals. Just remember that your prospects and customers are human beings, not names on a list.

Show a little personality in your e-mail messages. Follow up after the sale to make sure everything is great. If you focus more on what your prospects and customers want than on how you can make them buy what you’re selling, you’ll develop long-term relationships with customers that are the basis of continued profits.

Your job also changes from trying to find more customers for your services, to finding more services for your customers.

The Missing Layer in AI: Why Judgment, Not Just Data, Will Define the Next Era of Intelligence

By Patrick McFadden • May 2, 2025
Everyone is scaling outputs. Almost no one is scaling judgment.

Everyone Talks About AI Judgment. We Built It.

By Patrick McFadden • May 2, 2025
Ask anyone in tech where AI is headed, and they’ll tell you: “The next leap is reasoning.” “AI needs judgment.” “We need assistants that think, not just answer.” They’re right. But while everyone’s talking about it, almost no one is actually shipping it. So we did. We built Thinking OS™ —a system that doesn’t just help AI answer questions… It helps AI think like a strategist. It helps AI decide like an operator. It helps teams and platforms scale judgment, n ot just generate output. The Theory Isn’t New. The Implementation Is. The idea of layering strategic thinking and judgment into AI isn’t new in theory. The problem is, no one’s been able to implement it effectively at scale. Let’s look at the current landscape. 1. Big Tech Has the Muscle—But Not the Mind OpenAI / ChatGPT ✅ Strength: Best-in-class language generation ❌ Limitation: No built-in judgment or reasoning. You must provide the structure. Otherwise, it follows instructions, not strategy. Google DeepMind / Gemini ✅ Known for advanced decision-making (e.g., AlphaGo) ❌ But only in structured environments like games—not messy, real-world business scenarios. Anthropic (Claude), Meta (LLaMA), Microsoft Copilot ✅ Great at answering questions and following commands ❌ But they’re assistants, not advisors. They won’t reprioritize. They won’t challenge your assumptions. They don’t ask: “Is this the right move?” These tools are powerful—but they don’t think for outcomes the way a strategist or operator would. 2. Who’s Actually Building the Thinking Layer™? This is where it gets interesting—and thin. Startups and Indie Builders Some small teams are quietly: Creating custom GPTs that mimic how experts reason Layering in business context, priorities, and tradeoffs Embedding decision logic so AI can guide, not just execute But these efforts are: Highly manual Difficult to scale Fragmented and experimental Enterprise Experiments A few companies (Salesforce, HubSpot, and others) are exploring more “judgment-aware” AI copilots. These systems can: Flag inconsistencies Recommend next actions Occasionally surface priorities based on internal logic But most of it is still: In early R&D Custom-coded Unproven beyond narrow use cases That’s Why Thinking OS™ Is Different Instead of waiting for a lab to crack it, we built a modular thinking system that installs like infrastructure. Thinking OS™: Captures how real experts reason Embeds judgment into layers AI can use Deploys into tools like ChatGPT or enterprise systems Helps teams think together, consistently, at scale It’s not another assistant. It’s the missing layer that turns outputs into outcomes. So… Is This a New Innovation? Yes—in practice. Everyone says AI needs judgment. But judgment isn’t an idea. It’s a system. It requires: Persistent memory Contextual awareness Tradeoff evaluation Value-based decisions Strategy that evolves with goals Thinking OS™ delivers that. And unlike the R&D experiments in Big Tech, it’s built for: Operators Consultants Platform founders Growth-stage teams that need to scale decision quality, not just content creation If Someone Told You They’ve Built a Thinking + Judgment Layer™… They’ve built something only a handful of people in the world are even attempting. Because this isn’t just AI that speaks fluently. It’s AI that reasons, reflects , and chooses. And in a world that’s drowning in tools, judgment becomes the differentiator. That’s the OS We Built Thinking OS™ is not a prompt pack. It’s not a dashboard. It’s not a glorified chatbot. It’s a decision architecture you can license, embed, or deploy— To help your team, your platform, or your clients think better at scale. We’ve moved past content. We’re building cognition. Let’s talk.

We Found the Missing Layer AI Has Been Waiting For

By Patrick McFadden • May 2, 2025
In every era of innovation, there’s a silent bottleneck—something obvious in hindsight, but elusive until the moment it clicks. In today’s AI-driven world, that bottleneck is clear: AI has speed. It has scale. But it doesn’t have judgment . It doesn’t really think . What’s Actually Missing From AI? When experts talk about the “thinking and judgment layer” as the next leap for AI, they’re calling out a hard truth: Modern AI systems are powerful pattern machines. But they’re missing the human layer—the one that reasons, weighs tradeoffs, and makes strategic decisions in context. Let’s break that down: 1. The Thinking Layer = Reasoning with Purpose This layer doesn’t just process inputs— it structures logic. It’s the ability to: Ask the right questions before acting Break down complexity into solvable parts Adjust direction mid-course when reality changes Think beyond “what was asked” to uncover “what really matters” Today’s AI responds. But it rarely reflects. Unless told exactly what to do, it won’t work through problems the way a strategist or operator would. 2. The Judgment Layer = Decision-Making in the Gray Judgment is the ability to: Prioritize what matters most Choose between imperfect options Make decisions when there’s no clear answer Apply values, experience, and vision—not just data It’s why a founder might not pursue a lucrative deal. Why a marketer might ignore the click-through rate. Why a strategist knows when the timing isn’t right. AI doesn’t do this well. Not yet. Because judgment requires more than data—it requires discernment . Why This Is the Bottleneck Holding Back AI AI can write. It can summarize. It can automate. But it still can’t: Diagnose the real problem behind the question Evaluate tradeoffs like a founder or operator would Recommend a path based on context, constraints, and conviction AI today is still reactive. It follows instructions. But it doesn’t lead. It doesn’t guide. It doesn’t own the outcome. And for those building serious systems—whether you’re running a company, launching a platform, or leading a team—this is the wall you eventually hit. That’s Why We Built Thinking OS™ We stopped waiting for AI to learn judgment on its own. Instead, we created a system that embeds it—by design. Thinking OS™ is an installable decision layer that captures how top founders, strategists, and operators think… …and makes that thinking repeatable , scalable , and usable inside teams, tools, and platforms. It’s not a framework. It’s not a chatbot. It’s not another playbook. It’s the layer that knows how to: Think through complex decisions Apply judgment when rules don’t help Guide others —human or AI—toward strategic outcomes This Is the Missing Infrastructure Thinking OS™ isn’t just about better answers. It’s about better thinking—made operational. And that’s what’s been missing in AI, consulting, leadership development, and platform design. If you’re trying to scale expertise, install judgment, or move from tactical to strategic… You don’t need a faster AI. You need a thinking layer that knows what to do—and why. We built it. Let’s talk.
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