Inside Marketing with MarketSurge

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hello and
welcome back to another episode of

Inside Marketing with Market Surge, where
bold ideas and smart strategy collide.

Today's guest is Gil Golan, the
driving force behind Zenith Marketing

Group, a digital marketing shop
that's been helping businesses stand

out in the online arena since 2025.

This year.

Uh, with insights on SEO social media, uh,
PPC and Measurable Growth, Gil regularly

publishes forward thinking perspectives,
uh, like his digital marketing 1 0

1, winning digital strategies and
top social media trends in 2025.

From foundational tactics to
cutting edge strategy, gill's your

guide to building brand visibility
and scaling with real ROI.

Welcome to the podcast ga.

Yeah, my pleasure.

It's real.

It's always nice to meet a, a fellow
marketer and, and it looks like

you have some great experience and
are doing some great new things

with, with Zenith Marketing Group.

Um, now, you know, you've
published some great documents.

Uh, one of the ones I noted was
the Ultimate Guide to Winning

a Digital Marketing Strategy.

Sorry.

Ultimate guide to a winning
digital marketing strategy.

Sorry, I struggle to read when I'm,

Gil Golan: Yeah.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: uh, it's
like, it's like, uh, rubbing my stomach

and patting my head at the same time.

Um, you, so you walk through audience
research, smart goals, channel selection,

content creation, and me measurement.

What's a big mistake you see
brands consistently making in this

area that you wanted to address?

Gil Golan: Um, so

I, I would say, uh.

Just not, not having a plan.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hmm.

Gil Golan: going into the marketing
space and essentially not knowing what

your goals are or obviously everyone's
end goal is to generate revenue.

So you, you have whatever
business you have and you say,

okay, I want my more, more money.

What, what can I do to
achieve more that money?

I mean, what I do in, with my experience
when I speak to, to prospects or

clients, uh, that is what I ask them.

Uh, what is your goal and how
fast do you wanna achieve that?

And also, what is your marketing budget?

Um, so, know, some people may not
have the, the correct, uh, guidance.

They don't know what they can
do with a specific budget.

So if they go into like SEO, a lot
of people say, okay, SEO is the

way to go and, and I recommend.

Any type of business to SEO OI think
it's very important, but a lot of, um,

business owners, people in general, they
don't understand that SEO can take time.

Um, so, know, one thing is, you know,
my job is to set proper expectations,

but also for people to understand.

And that is going back to the,
the mistake that I see people may

make is going into a specific, uh,
digital marketing strategy without

understanding, uh, what the outcome can
be, expectations, how much it can cost

them, and not having a full fledged, uh.

Overarching, uh, strategy for
everything to do with marketing.

I don't know if that
answered your question.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
Yeah, I think so.

And, and just to build on that, um, I
think you and I both work with a lot of

small and medium sized business owners
and, and something you mentioned made

me, uh, uh, think of that concept that.

They don't necessarily understand
a lot of the marketing concepts.

You know, like, you know, a lot of these,
uh, say like a home service business, you

know, a plumber, they've done, they've
done extensive training in the, um, their

field and are, are quite expert at it.

But they, that training didn't
really include like new client

AC acquisition or, or even SEO.

How do you.

How do you both, uh, you know, so when
you're approaching a new client, how do

you, how do you educate them and inform
them of the need for these kinds of,

uh, you know, best marketing practices?

Gil Golan: So I personally
just like to be transparent.

Um, and I don't try to over promise.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: I.

Gil Golan: um, going back to what I,
what I mentioned as far as like a goal.

So, you know, a plumber.

As your example, um, they might
want more leads so they can generate

more revenue, get more clients.

Um, now how fast do they wanna do it?

I mean, obviously they wanna do it
quick, but what's your expectations?

If you wanna do it, you know, within a
month, then you gotta go the PPC route.

Um, if you, if you go the SEO route,
you gotta, you gotta know that also

there are factors involved with SEO.

Where are you right
now with your rankings?

How old is your domain?

You gotta take the ranking
factors into account, so.

I mean, with that being said, is it gonna
take six months, 12 months, et cetera?

So I think setting, setting the
proper expectations or you know, that

business understanding, uh, with it,
with their goals, what it looks like.

That's, that's really important.

And, and on my book.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Yeah.

No, that, that's a, that's
a great way to, to frame it.

And I think people can understand it when
you talk about like, well, this is actual

bookings that, that, uh, we're discussing.

It's not, you know, these niche
metrics that, you know, it takes

a, takes years to understand.

Um.

Well, okay, so let's jump a
little bit to social media.

Now, I, I know you've written
about social media trends.

Um, what do you think as far as an
emerging social channel or trend,

which of those has the strongest upside
for, uh, you know, a marketer or a,

a business owner trying to, trying
to get more visibility for the brand?

Gil Golan: So it really
depends on the brand.

I mean, if you have something like a
viral product, I would say that looks.

Cool.

And maybe has a, a younger demographic.

I mean, TikTok is, is the way to go.

Um, and there's you, you know,
uh, now TikTok has, you know,

their own like business manager,
like, like Facebook and Meta has.

Um, so, but when it, when it comes to,
let's say, like service-based industries,

I, I, I probably wouldn't go that route.

I mean, I, I still like meta for those.

Um, again, like Facebook
and Instagram, um.

Again, de depending on the business, but
I would say, you know, the normal social,

social channels, uh, Facebook, Instagram,
TikTok, again, depending on the industry.

Um, and I know Google's not
necessarily social, social channel,

uh, you know, excluding like the
Google business profile, you can

obviously do host of that as well.

Uh, but yeah, depending on the, the
industry, you know, running PPC.

using Google as, as the, as a
meeting might be the way to go.

But yeah, going back to the answer,
uh, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok

are the top three I would say.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Fantastic.

Have you done much with, um, any of
the, uh, like, like the other outside

of that, like LinkedIn or um, Snapchat,
or have you done much work there?

Gil Golan: Uh, I've dabbled
a little bit in LinkedIn.

LinkedIn, um, my opinion is really
good, uh, uh, in the B2B space.

So, um, you know, as, as an agency,
um, I, I'm trying to get clients.

I, I go to LinkedIn for myself and,
you know, if I was dealing with

another business that's targeting
other business owners, I mean, uh,

LinkedIn would be a good way to go.

Um.

But like in my specific niche
where I target mostly, uh, service

based industries in, you know, the
home service based industries, um,

LinkedIn is, is not, not the best.

Um, and also Snapchat.

Snapchat would also, again, it
depends if your demographic is also

younger, kind, similar to TikTok,
uh, Snapchat is the way to go.

And, um, again, de depends on the
product, depends what the service is.

But yeah, I, I would
say those are good too.

Um.

on the industry.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Um, that,
yeah, that's, I, I would agree with that.

The, um.

I, I haven't done, I've done a
little dabbling with, uh, TikTok,

um, and none with, with Snap.

But my daughters who are both in
high school tell me that I sound

like a grandpa when I say, say that.

So, um, now you, you're a founder, you
know, you're very active in this space.

You produce some great content.

Um, do you.

Do you find that it is, you know, I, I
guess where I'm trying to go is you're,

you're promoting great content, great
thoughts, and um, you know, helpful tips.

Where do you find the balance
between building your own brand?

Uh, versus building your agency's
brand, like, you know, where

do you put your face on things?

Where do you at, you know, and
position yourself as as the expert.

Where as you try to position your
company more as, um, you know, the

entity you're trying to promote.

Gil Golan: Yeah, good, good question.

Um, and I would say me as an individual,
I, I am important to, to the brand itself.

Um, because I mean, you.

You mentioned earlier that, you
know, Zenith Marketing Group, my,

my company, we've been around,
you know, since this year.

I founded it this year.

But my knowledge and my, my
expertise extends over 10 years

in the digital marketing space.

So for me to say, Hey, I just founded my
business, you know, this year, someone

might look at me and say like, okay,
why would I, why would I hire you?

But, um, if you go to the, about.

The about Us page on my website,
it's, it's a whole bio about me

and my experience and my resources
and what I offer and what I

bring to the table for those.

So, uh, yeah, I mean, branding,
branding myself is important.

I mean, I am, if you, if you check on my
Instagram and Facebook, uh, the posts I

have right now, they're, they're also,
you know, some informative posts, uh, but.

some videos of me just talking about
something, talking about what I offer.

Um, Reid, are you there?

Oh, I, I thought you
got stuck for a second.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: You know, and

Gil Golan: I see you.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: one failing of
the Descrip platform, which I generally

love, is that it will, um, the, the video
on the other side sometimes will lag or

freeze, especially while you're talking.

Um,

Gil Golan: Mm-hmm.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: but
yeah, I could, I could hear

all that clearly, so, yeah.

Gil Golan: Okay.

Perfect.

Yeah, and I, I like the script.

I, I, I used it for my, my video editing.

Actually, I didn't

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Oh, awesome.

Gil Golan: this as, as, as
an option, but that's cool.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Yeah.

And you know, I think there's, there's
a couple bells and whistles I haven't

tried, but, um, overall it's been good.

I, I feel like I, it is a little
bit of a, uh, experimental platform.

They keep throwing new features on there,
and once in a while something just won't.

Won't work, but, but I do kind of,
that's kind of my, my jam is the, the

kind of platform that has, they're
trying things and breaking things.

So I kinda like that.

But,

Gil Golan: yeah, yeah, for sure.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: um, well, I'm
sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off if,

if you were, um, finishing something, but

Gil Golan: no, you're, you're good.

Uh, so just to, to go back, I, I was, I

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Gil Golan: off.

It was, um, yeah, just, just, uh,
as far as marketing myself, yeah,

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.

Gil Golan: Um, it depe like, it's not, I
don't, I wouldn't say it's a necessity.

Um, I would say in my case, it just,
just, it doesn't make things a little

bit easier, you know, putting my
background and my bio information

on something, uh, slapping my name
on it and saying like, Hey, this

is, this is the background I have.

Um.

I wouldn't say it's an absolute necessity.

If, you know, people will start from
scratch, you can start a business from

scratch, and that's a hundred percent
fine as long as you educate yourself.

As long as you know what you're selling,
what you're talking about, and you could

deliver, you know, that's good too.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Yeah.

And, and I agree.

You know, and I, I would say from personal
experience, um, you know, I come from

more of a software sales background
where, um, you know, I was dialing for

dollars, you know, and, and usually the.

Amount of activity determined my success,
but as I've taken over a marketing agency,

I've found that putting myself out there
and, and having, you know, creating

educational content and, and helpful
content and putting myself out there,

like through podcasts, for instance, um,

Gil Golan: Mm-hmm.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: seem to,
it does seem to help the brand.

It's like, it's like, um, I'm, I'm
helping the brand by helping myself.

Sounds totally selfish and
capitalistic, but I think it's, I think

there's, there's some wisdom there.

Um,

Gil Golan: For sure.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: so.

Okay, so ai, you know,
we've gotta talk about ai.

Any, any, uh, marketing or tech
conversation has to, um, bring up ai.

Has AI affected the way you
do business as a marketer?

Um, you know, and, and have you, do
you have any, any experiences where AI

has, you know, really helped your, your
work or, or help you find solutions

you wouldn't have found otherwise?

Gil Golan: Oh, oh yeah, for sure.

Um, so I mean, one, one example, I think
we were, we were talking before the

call and I, I was saying how I found
you and, and how that connected us.

Where I asked Chad G, pt, you know,
what's a way that I can, you know, uh,

get in front of people and talk to people.

And, and that was on the
list of 10 different items.

You know, why don't you submit
yourself, uh, to podcasts

and just have conversations.

So, uh, I mean, there,
there's one right there.

That's why we're, that's
why we're talking right now.

But, um.

Yeah, I mean, AI is super prevalent, so
I mean, I, I use Chachi, Tiana daily.

Um, my wife sometimes jokes that I, that
I'm like cheating on her with Chachi, bt

um,

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: that guy?

Gil Golan: yeah.

Um, so.

I would say that, uh, you know,
large language models, like, like

chat, GPT, I mean, and in general,
I, I would say AI is more of a tool.

I don't think it's a hundred
percent refined to the point where

you can type something in and,
and fully trust what it says.

I, I use it as a tool and, and I
catch it making mistakes regularly,

but it's, it's pretty prevalent.

I mean, whether, um, I need.

for, um, or help writing like my
blogs or my social media posts, a

script for a video that I'm shooting.

Um, just, just like an
assistant that's there.

And, and obviously it helps with,
I, I mean, I set up, um, an ai, uh,

bot to answer calls when I'm away
from the phone, uh, um, answering,

answering support tickets on my website.

Uh, what else we got?

I mean, on, on, if you message me
on Messenger, just the list goes on.

I mean, uh, yeah.

It's, it's a great tool to have.

Um, and I, if you, you're not on
it, I would, I would get on it.

Uh, there's a slight line, uh, learning
curve, but it's worth, worth it.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Yeah, I, I endorse that as well.

Um, conversely, do you think it in any
way it has made work harder for you

or maybe shifted client expectations?

Um, you know, we're, AI helps us do things
faster generally, and, and, you know, like

speeds up the research process or, um,
you know, content generation potentially.

Have you seen clients expect
you to do things faster?

'cause, uh, you know, because so
many people are using AI or, um,

you know, or has, has it affected
their expectations around pricing?

Have you seen any of that?

Gil Golan: Um, Uh, I would
say the most part, no.

Um, but it's, it's also
a matter, I guess, of.

Framing things in a certain
way and and transparency.

I usually come off the bat and if I'm
using AI for a service, I say, yes,

I, this is, this is what I'm doing.

I'm using AI for this.

Um, if they have a question about
pricing, then why does it cost as much?

I say, well, I'm still checking
because AI is not perfect.

Or Why does it cost as much because
I'm still in there checking.

So that's labor that's associated with it.

Um, why isn't it faster?

Again, maybe the same answer.

I'll change it up a little bit, but,
um, yeah, so it's, I, I usually say, um.

I, I usually don't come across that
that much complaints, but, uh, I

mean, it happens here and there.

Um, but as long as you know what,
what, what I do is just be transparent.

I mean, from the jump I say, Hey, I'm,
I'm building out some copy for using

ai, but I'm also, um, there's quality
assurance and professional oversight

on my end just to make sure that
everything is, is on point because, uh.

AI is not perfect.

Um, it, it might come to a point in
the next five to 10 years where it is

perfection and it doesn't require human
oversight, but we're not there yet.

And even when we get there, you know,
still, still have to manage the machine.

So

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Yeah.

And, and building on that, do you
find that, you know what, like, I've

observed that AI has gotten a lot better.

I've, I've, uh, you know, I started using
Jasper a few years ago, and it, the.

Blogs are terrible.

You know, I was the only hope was that it,
that Google, uh, crawlers couldn't tell,

but, you know, nobody, nobody reading it
would, would think it was a good piece.

But, but now over time I think
it's become very readable and

sometimes, um, hard to tell.

Um, I wouldn't say always,
but, um, really improved.

But, uh, how would you say that?

That AI compare, like just, do you
think it would be a good practice to

go all AI for content generation or do
you think that there's still the need

for some human touch, uh, you know,
when you're, when you're describing

your brand or, um, you know, what,
how would you balance those two, uh,

those two content generation channels?

Gil Golan: I, I would say we're at
the point where, uh, like I said.

Uh, ai la large language models
have come a, a pretty long way,

and I, I use Jasper also years ago.

Um, yeah, and it's, it's,
it has come a long way.

Um, I, I think the, the latest model
has been chat GT five, and, you

know, messing with that a little bit.

I mean, it's, it's, it's,
it's just really good.

I'm good and comfortable on my
end with copying and pasting.

Copy, it is.

I, I, I need to read it first.

Uh, there are some things that
I might backstage delete, maybe

alter a word here and there.

Uh, so there is still that I, I will, I,
I'm not at the point where I'm copying and

pasting and, and shipping and publishing,
uh, but very, very minor modifications to.

Uh, to make, make it,
humanize it a little bit.

Um, but, but also just, just make
sure it's, it's, it's completely,

uh, right for, for what I'm doing.

And, um, I, I wanna touch on
something, something else I mentioned

as far as, uh, the, the Google bots.

And, and this is something
that I've kind of, you know,

done some research on my end.

And from my understanding, and
I think Google has actually made

an announcement that said, as
long as your, your content is.

Uh, relevant to the page, to the
user, to whatever it is, and it knows

that it's ai, it, it doesn't matter.

It's not gonna penalize you.

Um, and your, your sites
are gonna continue to rank.

Now, I've heard other
specialists, you know.

Negate that and say, uh, you know,
Google might say that, but it's not true.

Uh, again, I mean, Google
algorithms are, are mysterious.

So we, we don't know.

But, uh, again, it's, it's uh, you know,
chat GT launched just a few years ago.

That's where we are right now.

It's just the AI just emerging everywhere.

Uh, and obviously it's,
it's worth the conversation.

But, yeah, to answer your
original question, it's just,

I just make slight alterations.

We're still not at the point that, that
it's a hundred percent perfect and.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Yeah.

No, I, I think that's, that's wise.

It's, um, and it is, I think overall
it's really hard to make like

hard and fast rules or like, um.

Eternal principles as it regards to ai,
just because it has changed so much.

I mean, I think at one point
you could maybe say like, oh

man, this is the best AI can do.

You know, I, I just don't see the vision.

I don't think that it's ever
gonna replace copywriters.

And then, um.

It, it, it like just takes these
huge leaps forward and, and

you're like, well, I don't know.

Maybe I, maybe I can't
make predictions like this.

Um, you know, and, and as regards to
video too, like how, how great are

the, the videos that like VO produces
and, and it's, um, it, you know, it

does, it does make me want to just.

Consume every bit of news that
comes out of these LLMs, just to

make sure I'm, I'm still relevant.

Gil Golan: Yeah.

And, and and that's a good point.

You, you definitely want to know
what's going on with, with the

updates, if there's new tech.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.

Gil Golan: you know, if, if you're not,
then you're probably gonna be left behind.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.

Gil Golan: even, even if you're
still using, you know, actual video

to take care of everything you're
writing your own copy and all that.

And it's better.

Um, now I'm, I'm definitely big on quality
over quantity, but if it's just a small

marginal difference between the quality
and you could pump out much more quantity,

then it might be worth looking into.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah, I, yep.

I, I think that's exactly it is,
like, we might, we might make a few

trade offs, but, um, but the speed and
the quantity that you can get from.

From, uh, the, these LLMs is
just, just remarkable and you

wouldn't, like, I wouldn't believe
it from just a few years ago.

It's, um, kind of, kind of mind blowing.

Um,

Gil Golan: for

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: well, well,
Gil, this is super interesting and

I, I would love to pick your brain
again in a, in a future conversation

if people are interested in working
with you or would love to get.

You know, have you as a guest on a podcast
or, or just, just, uh, learn from you.

Where, where can they find you?

Gil Golan: Uh, so a couple
of different places.

Feel free to email me, Gil GIL,
at zenith marketing group.com.

Um, uh, you can find me on
Instagram, Zenith Marketing

Group, or my personal Instagram.

Uh, feel free to follow
me, G-G-O-L-A-N 23.

Gil Golan 20 3G.

Uh, sorry, that's just
G-G-O-L-A-N 23 is my Instagram.

Uh, Zen of Marketing Group.

Is is the business Instagram.

And, um, check on my website,
zen marketing group.com.

Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Awesome.

Well, uh, thanks for
coming on the podcast.

I'm glad we connected and, and, uh, look
forward to continuing conversations.

Gil Golan: Awesome.

Thanks.

Thanks, Reid.

Appreciate it.

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