The New Front Door of Discovery
This holiday season, shoppers aren’t typing so much. They’re tapping, snapping and circling. Visual search and short-form video have become the new front doors to discovery.
With over 25 billion visual searches every month and 81% of shoppers using YouTube to research products, the way customers find and evaluate what to buy has completely changed.
They don’t start with a search bar.
They start with a sightline. An image, a creator video, a thumbnail and then decide whether it’s worth learning more.
If your marketing still assumes discovery begins with words, you’re already behind.
Discovery Is Now Multimodal
As someone marketing for three decades, the shift is jaw-dropping. Consumers don’t move through a funnel anymore, they move through formats.
They can see a product on a video, circle it on their phone, search it in a tab and buy it on another screen. All within 60 seconds.
Your marketing systems need to follow that same path.
Every surface, from Shorts to Search to your store, must carry the same cues of trust, consistency and relevance.
If one of those surfaces breaks, so does the sale.
Most marketing teams still operate in silos:
YouTube campaigns live in one platform.
Product feeds in another.
Ad creative somewhere else entirely.
That disconnection creates friction.
A shopper might see your product in a video, click to learn more and find outdated pricing or mismatched visuals.
The result? Instant loss of trust and an abandoned cart.
You don’t lose sales because of bad products.
You lose them because your systems aren’t speaking the same language.
The AI Advantage
AI isn’t here to replace your creative team. It’s here to connect your creative systems.
Google’s tools including Product Studio, Asset Studio, and Performance Max are super-charged with AI. They now synchronize visuals, copy and offers across YouTube, Search, Display and Discover.
When wired correctly, your marketing flows seamlessly:
A product featured in a YouTube video instantly syncs to your Search listing.
Your visuals update automatically for holiday themes.
Your product feed pulls consistent data everywhere your audience looks.
AI is the wiring that connects your discovery engine to your decision engine.
Your Next Move: Run an AI Audit
Before the holiday spike, run a quick diagnostic on your marketing systems.
Ask yourself:
Are your visuals and data consistent across every platform?
Do your videos and product pages tell the same story?
Are you still managing discovery and decision in silos?
If the answer is “not sure,” it’s time to run an AI Audit.
The Audit exposes the gaps. I’m talking about the mismatched assets. Your broken data feeds. The blog full of outdated content. Plus it gives you a blueprint for reconnecting it all.
Because in today’s market, it’s not about more creative.
It’s about connected creative.
Check Your Wiring Before You Scale
Before you launch another ad, check your wiring.
The AI Audit shows exactly where your content, feeds and data aren’t talking. And how to fix them fast.