If every brand’s weaving AI into their business… where’s the competitive advantage?

Answer: Nowhere.

Not unless you’re thinking outside the ChatGPT box.

Lately, I’ve been revisiting some foundational ideas that feel more relevant than ever - especially in this AI Era, when nearly every team (including ours) is racing to automate their business.

One of those ideas comes from Michael Porter’s 1996 classic, What Is Strategy? If you haven’t read it (or haven’t in a while), bump it to the top of your list.

But, here’s the general takeaway:

Efficiency will keep you in the game. But strategy will help you win it.

AI Alone Is Not a Strategy

Today's business world feels eerily similar to the late ‘90s, when Porter first warned that operational effectiveness isn’t the same as strategy.

Back then, companies were copying Japanese lean methods and adopting the same tech to stay competitive. Short-term wins, sure - but long-term? The edge disappeared fast.

We’re seeing the same dynamic today with AI. Everyone has access to the same large language models, image generators, coding copilots, and automation tools.

If your AI rollout just saves time or reduces headcount, it might improve your operations, but it won’t protect your brand, your margins, or your client base.

So, What Is “Strategy” in the AI Era?

Porter defined strategy as “the creation of a unique and valuable position, involving a different set of activities.”

That’s more relevant than ever now that every business can plug into the same generic models.

How to use AI to Win:

1. Use It To Sharpen What Makes You Irreplaceable

If you’re fine-tuning models, use your voice. Your data. Your POV.

AI should amplify your uniqueness, not dilute it. Everyone can use the same public prompts. What’s defensible is how you train, guide, and apply AI to your specific audience, offering, and brand.

At Buyist, this is core to how we help brands convert. Our AI doesn’t just generate content - it learns from your actual customers, your top-performing products, your value props, and your business goals.

2. Say “No” on Purpose

AI makes it easy to say “yes” to everything: blog generation, CRM workflows, ad headlines, infinite A/B tests. The potential is endless.

But strategic focus requires discipline. You have to choose which AI capabilities deepen your mission and positioning - and which ones might actually cheapen your value.

3. Design for Fit

True strategy is about systems, not hacks. A single AI tool is easy to copy. A tightly integrated loop - where one model feeds another, where AI and human inputs reinforce each other - is much harder to replicate.

Think of a brand that uses AI to predict micro-trends, personalize emails, then optimize their PDPs in real time based on that behavior. The value isn’t in any one output - it’s in how the pieces fit together.

4. Measure What Actually Sets You Apart

Yes, AI can save you money. But are you using it to create value?

Strategic AI efforts should be measured by more meaningful metrics like:

The question isn’t “Are we faster?” It’s: “Are we harder to compete with?”

Where Buyist Fits In

We built - and continue to evolve - Buyist with this exact mindset.

It’s not just about churning out more, faster and cheaper. It’s about closing the loop between your audience, your creative, and your data – which if done right, will show in your conversion data.

AI helps us scale. Strategy ensures that scale actually works.

As a business, we’ve kicked our strategy into overdrive since the AI arms race started, constantly iterating in sync with shifts in technological advancements and consumer behavior.

Each pivot has been driven by the same principle: Not to chase trends, but to get closer to the edge.

Final Thought

AI is the biggest shift in decades - but like any tool, it’s only as powerful as the hands that wield it.

If you’re using it to cut costs, you’re playing defense.

If you’re using it to double down on what makes you different, now you’re playing to win.

Still stuck at 2% conversions? You need a better strategy. Schedule a demo today to discover how we’re using technology to drive 8-14% conversion rates for DTC brands.

TV, TikTok, and the Truth About Creative

So when he tells you something about marketing and creative… you listen.

One of his best tests? Running his Fox News TV commercial on TikTok.

“I've gotten into fights over this, especially with our TikTok team,” he admits. The TikTok agency said there's no way this product is going to work on TikTok. Different audience.”

It crushed.

"They came back a few days later and said, AJ, you were right. The TV commercial is crushing it on TikTok."

What happened?

Good creative happened.

AJ’s take: "Just because a 65-year-old is buying it on TV doesn’t mean a 25-year-old won’t buy it on TikTok.”

We talk a lot about segmentation and optimization. But sometimes, marketers needlessly blow through their budget and even destroy a good thing when iterating. They assume different age groups require new messaging . Or that creative can’t cross channels.

That’s not always true.

Reality? The fundamentals still win:

That spot worked on TikTok because it followed those principles. It also worked because AJ moves fast. He tested it and doubled down when the data backed it up.

Great products and strong creative are more universal than marketers think. Don’t overthink the platform or overcomplicate your strategy.

"People still want the same stuff. It's just a new generation of people that want it,” AJ explains.

Moral of the story: Trust AJ. Or test first; debate later.

Schedule a demo today and learn how Buyist helps brands A/B test cross-channel creative for 10–20% conversion rates.

The Need for Speed: 

DTC Growth Tips from DTC Legend, AJ Khubani

In an industry where complexity is growing and attention spans are shrinking, speed is your edge. Just ask AJ Khubani, the infomercial pioneer turned modern DTC heavyweight who's launched 350+ products and generated $100 million - just in the last five years. Here's how he does it - and what you can steal from his playbook.

In the fast-moving world of direct-to-consumer (DTC), speed isn’t just an advantage – it's the cheat code.

Just ask AJ Khubani, the DTC king behind 40 years of "As Seen on TV” household products like PedEgg, Perfect Bacon Bowl, and Star Shower, just to name a few.

With output this high, AJ doesn’t have time to overthink. He needs to move fast and test often. Because if it doesn’t convert this week, it’s dead next week.

So, he switched to Buyist in 2019. The result? 350+ products launches, $100 million in sales, and 1.5 million customers.

"We get a Buyist site up and running hours before a campaign starts," he told us. "And we usually know within a week if it’s working."

Speed like that isn’t about shortcuts. It’s about building a system where testing is frictionless, launches are rapid, and pivots happen in days - not quarters.

Here’s what that looks like:

In AJ’s words: “We test more than anyone in the industry.” That testing discipline only works when the tools keep up.
With Buyist, it does. That’s why his average conversion rate across high-performing brands is over 10% - compared to Shopify’s 1-2%.

Trust us, AJ keeps testing us, too.

“We've tested over and over and over again ... And we always come back and say ‘Buyist beat Shopify.”

If you’re still stuck waiting for dev tickets to clear or duct-taping together countless plugins, you’re not just wasting time, you’re losing sales.

Schedule a 15-minute demo today to see what Buyist can do for your brand.