Businesses are learning the difference between a word and a question.
Way back a decade ago, if we wanted something, we would choose the proper word or words—maybe something like “biometric product marketing expert”—and search for those words.
Today, we go to our favorite large language model tool and ask a question—maybe something like “Who is a biometric product marketing expert?”—and get an answer to our question.
“People talk to AI differently than they type into Google. We optimize your content to match conversational, long-tail questions (e.g., “Who is an affordable estate lawyer near Claremont?”), positioning your website as the exact source material AI tools use to answer users.”
What questions are your prospects asking? Do you want to discuss this? Talk to Bredemarket.
“In reality, locals get much more granular. A single “SoCal” bucket is amusing; even people from coastal Orange County think people from inland Orange County are alien creatures.
“He’s from…BREAKING.”
“And I live in the IE, which is even more alien.”
Then, a few minutes later.
“Dang autocorrect. Of course I meant BREA.”
Forget about Brea
Returning to my original thought, there is a specific perception of the Inland Empire which we all know about. Warehouses and meth labs are but two examples of the IE stereotype. Not that anyone speaks in detail about logistics per se.
Oh, and the California Institution for Men near (but technically not within) Chino, California.
“The Californians” occasionally touched on the IE.
“What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in the Chino Correctional Center in Southern California.”
“Well I escaped! I ran down an on ramp and hauled ass across the 5. And then I hitched a ride on the back of a taco truck down to where the 101 meets the 10, you know…”
Not that the 5 is anywhere near Chino…
Google Gemini. Spot the meth lab, the warehouse, and the prison.
4th Sector Innovations is no longer in Ontario—they paved paradise, put up a parking lot.
But bridges are just as important in 2026 as they were in 2021.
“Without a bridge, you’re stuck at one place and can’t get to the other place. Or you can try to get to the other place, but you may get very wet.
“Businesses need bridges to connect with their customers. When the bridges are erected, the customers understand what the businesses can do for them. If the customers need those particular services, they can buy them.”
This is critically important when the business is extremely technical but the customers and prospects aren’t. How does this amazing technology benefit the customers? Do they make more money? Do they keep their cities safer?
In business there’s something called a “Type 2 decision.” Because of my biometric background I shy away from the term (which means “false positive” in biometrics) and prefer to use the term “two-way door decision.”
If you’ve been through an airport security checkpoint, either entering or leaving a security area, you know that you can only go one way.
“The [two-way door decision] concept was introduced by Jeff Bezos in his Amazon shareholder letters, using the metaphor of walking through a door. With a two-way door decision, you can walk through the door, see what’s on the other side, and if you don’t like it, you can easily turn around and come back through. If you make a suboptimal two-way door decision, you don’t have to live with the consequences for long—you can reopen the door and go back through.”
While in the end the original decision was reversible, the reversal was not without pain. The rise and fall of Amazon Fresh took years. (Technically less than a year in Upland, if you don’t count the years of planning, but still a long time.)
But what about trying a new product marketing idea? While some ideas, such as pricing a luxury car at one dollar, can cause permanent damage, others can easily be reversed.
I’ll use Bredemarket as an example. Back in 2020 I was heavily pushing my Bredemarket 404 Web/Social Media Checkup. While it remains on my website, I haven’t promoted it in years. I could certainly still do it (and did it for one client), but while it parallels my analysis strengths, I find other areas (such as market and competitive analysis in the biometric industry) much more satisfying and financially rewarding.
Google Gemini.
On the other hand, I DID pull my editing services from the Bredemarket website. That’s not rewarding at all.
Or alternatively, you could send up a trial balloon such as a blog post, a social media post, or a data sheet.
Google Gemini.
Then measure the results.
If the content resonates with your prospects, double down.
If your prospects are indifferent, never mention the idea again.
If your prospects hate it, delete it.
Because of my “I ask, then I act” bias, I gravitate toward these trial balloons. As long as the idea doesn’t kill your company, why not try it quickly, rather than paralyzing yourself by repeated inaction?
Your trial balloon
Google Gemini.
Are you ready to launch a trial balloon, but need some help with the helium? Set up a meeting with Bredemarket and we can discuss your options.
In an unusual co-location of retail upheaval, the store just west of this one is a Dollar Tree…that used to be a 99¢ Only Store. Other stores were converted.
And that’s just the consumer world. We know what the business-government world (where Amazon also plays) is like.
This morning I was attending a NIST webinar on mobile driver’s license use at financial institutions, and began looking at the services I could access in April 2026 with my California mobile driver’s license—financial and otherwise.
But today I learned that some services are NOT available with the mDL in my Apple Wallet, but ONLY while using the “CA DMV Wallet” app.
So I downloaded the app, which I last used in my initial unsuccessful attempt to obtain an mDL. (I finally used Apple’s facility to get one.) I assumed that since I already had my mDL in my Apple Wallet, it would automatically show up in the app.
You know what happens when you assume. My buddy Google Gemini pointed it out to me.
“It’s a common point of confusion, but the Apple Wallet and the CA DMV Wallet app are actually two separate “containers” for your digital ID. Because California uses a secure, decentralized system, your mDL doesn’t automatically sync between them. Even if it’s already in your Apple Wallet, you have to go through a separate enrollment process to “provision” it into the DMV’s official app.”
Which meant that I had to enroll again and get another decentralized mDL, which I did. (After some difficulty; it took four separate attempts to capture my facial image, which was only successful when I went into a very dark room.)
Now that my mDL is in this second wallet, I could go ahead an enroll in the TruAge program for age verification at a private retailer.
Google Gemini.
As I type this, TruAge hasn’t processed my application.
And now for a word from our sponsor
Mobile driver’s licenses are a digital form of “something you have,” which is a factor of identity verification and authentication.
Would you like to learn about all six of the identity verification and authentication factors? (Not three. Not five.)
You know that the video I shared earlier begged to be expanded into a television show. And that for the proper setting, the show itself would market products in a way that is illegal today; yes, the show would be sponsored by Marlboro.
Google Gemini.
So without further ado…
“Product Marketer For Hire,” Sunday at 9pm: “The Stranger”
The introduction to the television show “Product Marketer For Hire.”
(Sharp-eyed Inland Empire residents will notice that this depiction is entirely fictional, since the real “Main Street,” officially known as Euclid Avenue, is much wider and less dusty than the street depicted here. Allow me artistic license.)
As the Ontario townsfolk were gathered on the street in late afternoon, a mysterious stranger rode into town. He was a most unusual man. For one, he was smiling, unlike the other strangers that have come before him. For another, his brown/tan/black official western wear issue (Montgomery Ward catalog, pages 333-334) was rudely interrupted by a blue patch with a “B” on it. There was something else odd about him, but no one spoke of it.
The mysterious stranger rode up to the saloon, dismounted his horse, and walked in.
Scene 2: The Saloon, Ontario
The mysterious stranger slowly walked to the bar and took a seat as the bartender eyed him warily.
(Hey, Inland Empire residents, I got that one right.)
As he sipped his drink, the stranger couldn’t help but notice the older man in a gray jacket staring at him. As everyone in the saloon quietly watched, the older man slowly walked toward the stranger.
“Sir,” said the older man.
“Yes?” asked the stranger.
The older man gestured toward the stranger’s belt. “Those aren’t guns you have in those holsters.”
The stranger paused. “No, they’re not.”
“In fact,” the older man scoffed, “they look like pencils.”
The stranger nodded. “Yes they are.”
The older man’s face betrayed the slightest smirk. “Why” – he paused – “would a man carry PENCILS in his holster?”
As the older man and the others in the saloon broke out into grins, the stranger eyed them all with a serious expression. He paused before responding.
In a loud voice the stranger replied. “Business.”
Everyone looked puzzled at that unexpected response.
After a long pause, the older man turned back to the stranger. “Sir,” he asked, “exactly what kind of BUSINESS are you in?”
Bredemarket 