Most Annoying Trends in Digital Marketing (James Dooley Chats With Craig Campbell)

James Dooley: The most annoying trends in digital marketing. Today I am joined with Craig Campbell and there have been a few debates and bits going on online, on Twitter, Facebook and other places.

Some things can aggravate you a little bit as well, Craig. So let us start things off. What is the most annoying trend for you in digital marketing?

Craig Campbell: It is probably very petty. I am just getting old and grumpy now.

James Dooley: You are older and grumpier than me.

Craig Campbell: The term “vibe coding”.

We joked about it at lunch earlier. James Dooley was saying to someone else, “Craig Campbell thinks vibe coding is a load of rubbish.” I want to make it clear. I do not think it is rubbish. I do it myself. I would just say I built a website with Claude or built something with AI. I am not trying to sound clever. I hate people constantly saying, “I am vibe coding today” or “I am vibe coding this.” You are just using AI to your advantage like everyone else. I think people throw the phrase around to make themselves sound smarter than they actually are. We had a discussion this morning about building websites. Whether you use themes or remove the header and footer and use custom HTML, both methods work. But people are trying to make themselves sound more intelligent than they are by throwing fancy terms around.

James Dooley: For me, one of the most annoying trends in digital marketing is people trying to make basic workflows sound massively sophisticated.

They start saying things like, “I have got this multi-agent AI setup where the CFO talks to the CTO and the CMO.” You are sat there thinking, “Mate, you have got two clients and do three grand a month.” They make it sound ten times more intelligent than what it actually is. Half the time they have just templated an invoice reminder. That does not mean you have got an AI CFO running the business. A lot of these are just simple workflows in N8N or Zapier. Another thing that annoys me is people constantly dropping tools into groups saying, “This is amazing,” when they have not even tested it.

Craig Campbell: Exactly.

In my mastermind group now, if somebody posts a tool, I want proof it actually works. Do not just say something is brilliant because everybody else is talking about it. Go and test it first.

James Dooley: That is exactly what happened with OpenClaw when everyone was buying Mac Minis and trying to automate everything overnight.

People spent weeks trying to get basic tasks working and then came online saying they had automated their whole business. Meanwhile, all they had really done was automate a simple API call that already existed. It is people trying to sound more intelligent than they are.

Craig Campbell: We were talking to Gary at lunch today and he said he tried one of these AI call systems for a year.

Forty percent of the time it did not work properly. That is the problem. People jump too early into stuff because it is shiny and exciting. I am a bit more standoffish with AI until somebody proves it actually works consistently. If somebody says, “Craig, I am making 20 grand a month with this AI process,” then I am listening. At that point I want to beat it and do 25 grand. But show me proof first. Another trend I cannot stand is fake numbers. People online talking nonsense about how much money they make. I saw somebody claiming they were making £45,000 clear profit a month while applying for a very basic minimum wage role with me. You think, “There is absolutely no chance.” Why lie? If people were honest and said they were struggling, the community could probably help them solve the issue. But instead they inflate everything.

James Dooley: That is the most annoying trend for me as well.

The fake revenue numbers. Whenever I see numbers in the SEO industry now, I mentally divide them by ten.

Craig Campbell: I divide them by four before I even start believing them.

You can usually tell as well. Some people genuinely make loads and look rough as anything. Other people pretend they are loaded and cannot even afford new shoes. It just misleads younger people getting into the industry. They start thinking everybody is making millions except them.

James Dooley: Completely agree.

So anyone watching this, what is the most annoying trend that you find in the digital marketing space? Leave a comment in the comment section.