[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":4158},["ShallowReactive",2],{"podcast-marketing-leaders-building-marketing-from-scratch-without-burning-out":3,"header-articles":686,"updatesSection-all":2425,"updatesSection-all-team":3171},{"_path":4,"_dir":5,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":8,"description":9,"date":10,"audio":11,"guest":14,"iframe":15,"series":16,"authors":17,"episode":19,"minutes":20,"guestimg":21,"guesturl":22,"seotitle":8,"guestabout":23,"body":24,"_type":680,"_id":681,"_source":682,"_file":683,"_stem":684,"_extension":685,"category":5},"/podcasts/marketing-leaders/building-marketing-from-scratch-without-burning-out","marketing-leaders",false,"","Building Marketing from Scratch Without Burning Out","In this episode, Aerin Paulo discusses what it takes to become the first marketing hire at an early-stage company and how to build sustainable marketing systems from the ground up. She shares how to prioritize channels, work effectively with contractors, create scalable processes, and balance the pressure of doing “all the things” while still building intentional, impactful marketing programs.","2026-04-29T19:26:00Z",{"url":12,"length":13},"https://share.transistor.fm/s/71b58880","65716125","Aerin Paulo","https://share.transistor.fm/e/71b58880","Back on T-R-A-C-K",[18],"Kerry Guard","217","57","/images/podcast/Aerin-Paulo.webp","https://www.linkedin.com/in/aerinpaulo/","Aerin Paulo is a marketing strategist who helps early-stage companies turn scattered ideas into clear, sustainable marketing that drives growth.",{"type":25,"children":26,"toc":675},"root",[27,40,46,55,60,65,70,75,80,85,90,95,100,105,110,115,120,125,130,135,140,145,150,155,160,165,170,175,180,185,190,195,200,205,210,215,220,225,230,235,240,245,250,255,260,265,270,275,280,285,290,295,300,305,310,315,320,325,330,335,340,345,350,355,360,365,370,375,380,385,390,395,400,405,410,415,420,425,430,435,440,445,450,455,460,465,470,475,480,485,490,495,500,505,510,515,520,525,530,535,540,545,550,555,560,565,570,575,580,585,590,595,600,605,610,615,620,625,630,635,640,645,650,655,660,665],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":30,"children":32},"element","h2",{"id":31},"overview",[33],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":35,"children":36},"strong",{},[37],{"type":38,"value":39},"text","Overview:",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":42,"children":43},"p",{},[44],{"type":38,"value":45},"Aerin explains how being the first marketing hire often means stepping into ambiguity, asking the right questions, and building processes before campaigns. She highlights the importance of understanding what already exists, identifying gaps, and using customer insights to shape marketing strategy and messaging.The conversation also explores the role contractors play in helping lean teams scale, why generalists are critical in early-stage environments, and how clear communication, documentation, and prioritization help prevent burnout while building sustainable marketing practices.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":47,"children":49},{"id":48},"transcript",[50],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":51,"children":52},{},[53],{"type":38,"value":54},"Transcript:",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":56,"children":57},{},[58],{"type":38,"value":59},"Kerry Guard 0:11",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":61,"children":62},{},[63],{"type":38,"value":64},"Hello. I'm Kerry Guard. Welcome to Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders. Welcome back to the show. This episode was brought to you by MKG Marketing, the digital marketing agency that helps complex brands build trust with their complex audiences via SEO and digital ads. Complex brands like Extra Hop Networks, a cybersecurity company that mkg, went on a seven-year journey that accumulated in a $900 million exit to Bain Capital and CrossPoint Ventures. Thank you, mkg. We are live on LinkedIn and YouTube. If you're here with us, say hello. We look forward to hearing your questions and your and answering all of them. It's the beauty of being alive. We want you to know you're here with us, and we want to make sure you're part of the conversation. So chime in. Chime in with me. Today is Aerin Paulo, a marketing strategist and leader. She loves helping early stage companies build marketing functions and teams, and she comes with a book of stellar contractors ready to go as the head of marketing at complyant, her previous company, she built out the marketing function focusing on taking a complex topic and creating a brand content and strategy that kept things simple and easy to understand for the user, she built and led a small but mighty team that was passionate about helping entrepreneurs and small businesses navigate the complex world tax Yeah, to say the least, she's been a team of many times. So she's learned a ton, but she excels the most in marketing strategy, communication, content marketing, go-to-market, social media, and demand generation. She is certified in agile marketing, meaning she's super organized, analytical, and able to pivot when needed. She's on a mission to help early-stage companies and startups build and scale sustainable marketing practices and develop nimble, amazing teams. Aerin, welcome to the show.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":66,"children":67},{},[68],{"type":38,"value":69},"Aerin Paulo 2:04",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":71,"children":72},{},[73],{"type":38,"value":74},"Thank you. Nice to be here.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":76,"children":77},{},[78],{"type":38,"value":79},"Kerry Guard 2:06",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":81,"children":82},{},[83],{"type":38,"value":84},"I'm sort of kicking myself for not getting your name right, because I grew up in a household of Depaolo, so I'm like, I just needed to drop the D, and I was there, and like, how did I mess it up? So yes, it happened as you do, as you do. So excited to have you here with me before we get into the heart of our conversation, which I cannot wait to unpack. You have joined companies, one after the other, as the first marketing hire and helped them build a full marketing team, and that journey to help others along the way. I want to know your story. I mean, that's sort of like what you do, but like, how'd you get there, right? Like, that's the brilliance of it all. So whether marketing found us or you found marketing, it's always an interesting, interesting journey. So why don't you tell Trevor and me hello, Trevor, thank you for joining us. Tell Trevor and me your story. Aerin, what do you do, and how did you get there?",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":86,"children":87},{},[88],{"type":38,"value":89},"Aerin Paulo 3:02",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":91,"children":92},{},[93],{"type":38,"value":94},"Sure, so I think, to answer your question, I found marketing, but I fell backward into it. So I was in college when social media was becoming a thing. I think our school was in the top 100 schools; the first 100 schools to get added to Facebook and YouTube were becoming a thing. And I was at school for this thing called New Media that nobody really knew how to define, but there were elements of film, photo editing, online storytelling, and all these different mishmashes of new media. And I really took to the Facebook and the YouTube of it all. And once I graduated, I got a job in retail and decided to ask them if I could run social media for them, if I could set up their accounts and post for them, and run their email newsletter. And they weirdly said Yes, I got the opportunity to start doing that, and from there, I was able to get marketing jobs. I'm from Central Maine originally, which is a pretty small local area, so there weren't a lot of job opportunities. So, as I got marketing jobs, I tended to be the first or the only marketing person. So it kind of just snowballed from there. And I kept getting the opportunity to build, which I found out I really like, so I keep doing it.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":96,"children":97},{},[98],{"type":38,"value":99},"Kerry Guard 4:32",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":101,"children":102},{},[103],{"type":38,"value":104},"That's amazing. Let's talk about the startup energy of it all, especially being in Maine, which isn't necessarily known for its startup.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":106,"children":107},{},[108],{"type":38,"value":109},"Aerin Paulo 4:38",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":111,"children":112},{},[113],{"type":38,"value":114},"See it? Nope, no at all.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":116,"children":117},{},[118],{"type":38,"value":119},"Kerry Guard 4:43",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":121,"children":122},{},[123],{"type":38,"value":124},"But apparently, it is. Have you been remote all the time to find that startup scene? Or did you start in Maine at companies that were startups, what was sort of like that journey and transition from into those into those companies",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":126,"children":127},{},[128],{"type":38,"value":129},"Aerin Paulo 4:57",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":131,"children":132},{},[133],{"type":38,"value":134},"Yeah, so when I was in Maine. That was mostly small businesses, which you could call a startup, but there's no VC backing. There's no startup mentality. But small businesses aren't that far off. If you ask me, especially a lot of them, you have to convince them that they need to spend money on marketing. It's very difficult to get them to understand how important it is and that you can't; it's pay-to-play, and getting them to understand that was a challenge. And then I ended up moving to Connecticut eventually, and around here, there, there really isn't a startup culture either, not much of one, anyway, but I found a remote role through a startup or at a startup, and kind of got into the official startup world from there.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":136,"children":137},{},[138],{"type":38,"value":139},"Kerry Guard 5:45",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":141,"children":142},{},[143],{"type":38,"value":144},"Was a little bit culture shocking, going from like a small business to an actual to a to a startup, or was it pretty similar?",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":146,"children":147},{},[148],{"type":38,"value":149},"Aerin Paulo 5:53",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":151,"children":152},{},[153],{"type":38,"value":154},"No, yes, and no. I think there are a lot of similarities between small businesses and startups, and the way that they're run and the messes and the fires that you're constantly putting out because nothing is well organized. But at the same time, I think the startup culture is very different. The expectations are much, much higher, the need to not even need, the necessity to track everything is really important. Not only do you know the KPIs for the activities that you're doing, the tactics and the channels, but you, you as a marketer. How are you doing? How can you prove your value to the executive suite and therefore the VCs, to make sure that you get to stay and keep going?",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":156,"children":157},{},[158],{"type":38,"value":159},"Kerry Guard 6:43",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":161,"children":162},{},[163],{"type":38,"value":164},"That's sort of like trying to understand, you know, I'm a small business, but I'm not a startup, right? I don't have the same necessary I have my own pressures, not necessarily the same pressures. I have, like a byproduct of pressures, right? Because I work with clients who are in the start, right, scale up stage, and so they have those pressures, and I want to support them, but it's not as direct as it is. And so in navigating that world and going from the small business pressures to that kind of mentality, what was the shift there for you, of like, how did, of how you sort of show up in the space? Was it like, was there a different kind of urgency? Was it like we got this? What was paint? Is it like a feeling picture for a second?",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":166,"children":167},{},[168],{"type":38,"value":169},"Aerin Paulo 7:35",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":171,"children":172},{},[173],{"type":38,"value":174},"Yeah, my experience, I think, was a bit unique. I actually felt less stressed than when I worked at the small businesses, and it was very much because of the group that I worked with at the company that I was working at. Unfortunately, it folded in September this past year, but they built with culture in mind from the start, and the founder had a very clear vision: like, I don't care when you get your work done; I don't care how you get your work done. I don't care where you get your work done. I want you to do your work. Want you to do your best work. If you're not doing your best work, figure out how to do your best work. Take a break if you need to. It was all very modern, and I felt empowered to do that. It was also one of the first roles where I was given not just autonomy but trust. I was hired to do a thing. I had experience doing that thing, and the founder and my teammates put trust in me that I knew what I was doing, and there was no micromanagement. There was no hand-holding necessary. It was nothing but support. It was a really good environment to be in. So I'm sure that's not the same for a lot of folks who joined startups. Unfortunately, I kind of wish that was everybody's experience joining every company, but I recognize that's not necessarily possible. So yeah, a little different, I think, for me than most.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":176,"children":177},{},[178],{"type":38,"value":179},"Kerry Guard 9:02",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":181,"children":182},{},[183],{"type":38,"value":184},"How did you find so, you know, going from the Small Business sort of in person, how you said that you sort of, like, fell into that, that remote position. So did you just go online and start looking for jobs? Did you find it through a friend? Like, how did you make that leap? It feels like pre-COVID; mind you, it feels like a kind of leap to go into that and be intentional about it.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":186,"children":187},{},[188],{"type":38,"value":189},"Aerin Paulo 9:31",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":191,"children":192},{},[193],{"type":38,"value":194},"So I think it was all kind of happenstance. I was fairly unhappy at the role I was in; all of those things I just mentioned to you were not really happening at that company, and so I was looking for new roles. We had just gone remote in March of 2020, and so I had been kind of like passively looking, but conveniently, when you're remote, it's a lot easier to look for a job while you're working. So I was able to do. That was actually really beneficial to my mental health, because I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have gone so well if I had stayed so. I ended up finding this job on LinkedIn, or indeed, or something, and I had a meeting with the founder, and she was great. I kind of knew it was a fit right off. She actually asked me, in my initial interview with her, what I did to keep track of my mental health and make sure that I was, like, in a good place. And I was like, That's a weird first interview question, but also amazing.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":196,"children":197},{},[198],{"type":38,"value":199},"Kerry Guard 10:37",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":201,"children":202},{},[203],{"type":38,"value":204},"Writing that one down.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":206,"children":207},{},[208],{"type":38,"value":209},"Aerin Paulo 10:39",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":211,"children":212},{},[213],{"type":38,"value":214},"And we just got along really well. It was actually funny. So she had, she was, it was for a head of marketing role, and at the time I was at like a marketing manager level, and we chatted, and she came back to me, and she was kind of ready to offer me the role. And I said, Look, I'm not really a traveler. Travel is a thing that I enjoy doing occasionally with my family. But I'm not. I'm not someone who wants to be on the road 1020, 30% of the year, and the head of marketing role that she was thinking of at the time was going to require that. And she said, You know, I appreciate that. You know that about yourself. And she went with somebody else come to find out they were working their own freelance job full-time at the same time as trying to do a full-time job with the company. So she came back to me and said, You know, I think we should try to figure this out. So she actually hired me on as a marketing manager there and gave me the time and the freedom to, like, grow, make mistakes, and figure out how to get to my next step. And I grew to the head of marketing role there, and the rest is history, I suppose, at that company, at least.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":216,"children":217},{},[218],{"type":38,"value":219},"Kerry Guard 11:55",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":221,"children":222},{},[223],{"type":38,"value":224},"Yes to all that. I mean, I think on, you know, now that we're now that we're all remote, generally speaking, now that we're, you know, four years in post, I guess technically, three years post covid, mental health playing a really significant role in us, sort of putting our stake in the ground, of this being important to us, of what we're all looking for. It's nice to see that companies are leaning into that. So thank you to that lovely human who started that company and brought in people in a world that offered them that kind of support. Yes to all of that. I'm striving for that, that's amazing. Let's talk about where you are now. You got it. You were you, you had a bit of a break, and now you have found a new job. Congrats. Thank you. Your first weekend. How's it going?",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":226,"children":227},{},[228],{"type":38,"value":229},"Aerin Paulo 12:48",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":231,"children":232},{},[233],{"type":38,"value":234},"It's going well. I am. I actually found this at my last role as well. I'm stressed in a good way, which, like you don't want to feel stressed, but also it's because I see all of the possibilities. I see all of the things that could be done that isn't, aren't being done yet, all of the impact that I could make myself, or that I could help the team make together. And I think I'm an anxious person, unfortunately, by design, so that I am seeing all of these things, I'm like, yes, let's do them now, that's not how that works. So I'm very I'm trying to balance, you know, the anxious excitement and all of the things that I'm going to get to do with the reality of like, okay, at the end of each week, let's make a task list. Let's prioritize all those great ideas and make sure we're not trying to do all the things in a week, because that's when burnout happens. Let me tell you.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":236,"children":237},{},[238],{"type":38,"value":239},"Kerry Guard 13:45",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":241,"children":242},{},[243],{"type":38,"value":244},"Yes, it is how burnout happens. And I love feeling the same way. I have a few companies I'm working with as their head of marketing, and I just want to, like, do it all. And they're slowing me down by design, and I appreciate that, because they want to get very specific things right. And it's, it's hard because I'm like, but let's go all these things we want to do, like, go time. And they're like, Well, yes, and there's, we get certain things about this, right? It's okay to fail in other ways. But like these things you want to get, like, okay, fine, you're right. So I love that, and I feel it. I'm with you, Aerin. I'm totally with you and the challenge. I'm feeling it. I'm feeling it. Let's talk about so you've joined this company. Are you the primary marketer, the only marketer who paints a picture of the team that you're on?",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":246,"children":247},{},[248],{"type":38,"value":249},"Aerin Paulo 14:39",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":251,"children":252},{},[253],{"type":38,"value":254},"Yeah. So I have a great former, now current colleague that I worked with a previous e-commerce company, and he pulled me on board. I am the first official, I suppose, marketing hire. They had some folks that are kind of like marketing adjacent, but it's. So this is a D to C E comm company that previously did a lot, or actually still does a lot, on like QVC and wholesale. So they're really just building this D to C arm pretty recently. So they have some folks who do marketing, marketing adjacent to marketing, very like things, but they're currently on a creative team, so they're not called marketing, right? So I'm the first official, like I am. I am a marketer. That's me. That's what I do. And I think we're trying. That's one of the things we're starting to figure out, like, how do we all work together? How can I help them? What can I help improve? Because I'm coming in from this position, I've been the first person a bunch of times, so I have, I know what to look for. I know what to ask. So far, it's been really good. Everyone's got amazing feedback, and they're being really candid out of the gate, which is great. That's kind of hard to find sometimes. Yeah, it's exciting. Everyone's been incredibly nice to like help.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":256,"children":257},{},[258],{"type":38,"value":259},"Kerry Guard 16:02",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":261,"children":262},{},[263],{"type":38,"value":264},"Yay. More hands on board. Let's do this. Yes, in terms of starting out as the first marketing hire, which you mentioned, you've done a couple of times now, a bunch of times. Where do you start? You know you. Is it always the same channels, the same playbook, or does it vary, like, where do you figure out where you can make the most impact right out of the gate?",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":266,"children":267},{},[268],{"type":38,"value":269},"Aerin Paulo 16:30",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":271,"children":272},{},[273],{"type":38,"value":274},"Sure. So I usually start by asking a metric ton of questions, and typically that will be, do you do this yet? What exists here? What processes do we have for this? Is there one, and then I will usually ask to see any assets that they have that are relevant, like a brand book or something like that, and data that they can show me how things are. You know, if they already have social channels, for example, a lot of companies will set up their profiles and do nothing with them, or set up their profiles and do the whole spray and pray across them thing. So in those cases, it's helpful to look and see, like, Okay, did any of that work? So it's a lot of questions. It's a lot of digging into what exists and then looking for opportunities that I've seen work elsewhere.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":276,"children":277},{},[278],{"type":38,"value":279},"Kerry Guard 17:27",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":281,"children":282},{},[283],{"type":38,"value":284},"It's the baseline, right? So, establishing benchmarks, yes, benchmarks, Fanta benchmarks, I feel like they get a bad rap. Yeah, is that fair to say that they get a bad rap? I feel like,",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":286,"children":287},{},[288],{"type":38,"value":289},"Aerin Paulo 17:41",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":291,"children":292},{},[293],{"type":38,"value":294},"I mean, I think it's like anything, you it's not the gospel. Don't take it as gospel. It's a guideline. It's a place to start, rather than starting with something instead of nothing. So I think if you look at it as gospel, then yes, I agree, they probably would get a bad rap.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":296,"children":297},{},[298],{"type":38,"value":299},"Kerry Guard 17:58",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":301,"children":302},{},[303],{"type":38,"value":304},"But baseline, yeah, somewhere to like, say, I always find data is wonderful and useful if you can actually compare it to something. But if you're just looking at a number, we got our 2000 visits to our website, cool.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":306,"children":307},{},[308],{"type":38,"value":309},"Aerin Paulo 18:17",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":311,"children":312},{},[313],{"type":38,"value":314},"Yeah. And let me tell you, those numbers are not necessarily available on the internet either for you to compare them to. So do your best, is my recommendation. Yeah. So you",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":316,"children":317},{},[318],{"type":38,"value":319},"Kerry Guard 18:29",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":321,"children":322},{},[323],{"type":38,"value":324},"need to compare them to something. So having those baselines in 2000 is a great start. Okay, great. Now let's look at next month and see where we go from there, right? So I love baseline and benchmarks as to that. So, where you said that you generally know where opportunities are. Do you have, like, obviously, every company is a little different, and so you'll have to play it by ear, to your point, understanding the lay of the land, but you've done this a couple times. So, do you have general places you tend to start out around the gate?",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":326,"children":327},{},[328],{"type":38,"value":329},"Aerin Paulo 19:06",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":331,"children":332},{},[333],{"type":38,"value":334},"Yeah, my background is mainly in social media and content. So those are the places that I typically start. And honestly, that's a lot of marketing. It all trickles down some way or another. So I usually look there first. I've done paid before, not long enough for me to feel confident that I'm an expert by any means. But I know you know a few triggers or levers you can pull for paid, and I'm also very comfortable asking other people who are actual experts for their opinion and going with that. So usually that might look like getting someone like a paid contractor, before doing too much with paid, because they're going to know more than me, so I'm going to take their word.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":336,"children":337},{},[338],{"type":38,"value":339},"Kerry Guard 19:54",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":341,"children":342},{},[343],{"type":38,"value":344},"Yeah, contracts. Contractors are definitely a blessing. Let's talk about this. Thanks. We're getting into the people side. Design of it, in regards to the team you build. So you start off, it sounds like you know a lot about social, you know a lot about analytics, you know a lot about content. Do you consider yourself a specialist in that regard, or a generalist? Let's define those for folks.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":346,"children":347},{},[348],{"type":38,"value":349},"Aerin Paulo 20:20",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":351,"children":352},{},[353],{"type":38,"value":354},"Yeah, I would consider myself a generalist in that I have never had the opportunity to focus on any one thing in a job, and I very often, because I've either been a team of one or I've been the person with the most experience across the most things, I've been asked to do things I've never done before to figure it out. So, you know, I've done email, and I did a Product Hunt launch a couple of times. I done events, all kinds of stuff, all over the board for marketing. So I would call myself a generalist. And I would say that's, that's generalist, is you've, you've put your fingers in a bunch of pies, to use a really weird phrase, and it's a specialist, would be more like there's just one guy, yeah, go figure it out. Or social, yes, I'm a figure-it-out.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":356,"children":357},{},[358],{"type":38,"value":359},"Kerry Guard 21:10",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":361,"children":362},{},[363],{"type":38,"value":364},"I think there's beauty to being a figure it outer. Do you? I'm gonna make a statement. You're gonna tell me what you think, because I could have more experience here. I think there's power in going from being a figure it out or to becoming a specialist.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":366,"children":367},{},[368],{"type":38,"value":369},"Aerin Paulo 21:29",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":371,"children":372},{},[373],{"type":38,"value":374},"Yeah, for sure. I mean, it translates right like you're you're figuring out, instead of figuring out an entire channel or an entire tactic that you've maybe never done before. You're figuring out something more deep or specific that can actually move needles. Yeah, I think that's fair.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":376,"children":377},{},[378],{"type":38,"value":379},"Kerry Guard 21:51",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":381,"children":382},{},[383],{"type":38,"value":384},"And I feel like the channels have gotten more complex over the years, too.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":386,"children":387},{},[388],{"type":38,"value":389},"Aerin Paulo 21:55",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":391,"children":392},{},[393],{"type":38,"value":394},"Yes, absolutely. I actually just was setting up a Twitter account for the company I now work for. And come to find out, I think they this used to be the case, and then they went back on it, and now it's the case again, but handles can only be 15 characters, and I it was news to me. It had been a while, I suppose, since I set one up, but Twitter is just like, I feel like that's the massive example.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":396,"children":397},{},[398],{"type":38,"value":399},"Kerry Guard 22:25",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":401,"children":402},{},[403],{"type":38,"value":404},"Can't call it. The other thing, it is Twitter best to that when you're talking about being in general. So it's basically like being a T-shaped marketer, right? You know, you just figure out the stuff up here mostly, and then you have some expertise in an area or two, to your point, social and content. So when you're showing up to a new company, do you generally immediately go into social and content, because that's really what a company needs, and you know that? And then you layer in these other things in terms of contractors and what to bring in, or does it really? It really depends. And then you're able to bring in those content, you know, that contractor expertise and social, and content can wait, like, what are sort of your go-to initiators out of the gate? And does it change?",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":406,"children":407},{},[408],{"type":38,"value":409},"Aerin Paulo 23:11",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":411,"children":412},{},[413],{"type":38,"value":414},"Yeah, I think it depends. It depends on where the company is and how much they've got. If they've got nothing, then it's a pretty efficient use of budget for me to set up the things that I know well and get those rolling. If they've got something, then it makes more sense to me to do what I talked about kind of at the top, which is like, dig into who are you? Why should anyone care? What does that mean? What are we saying to who is our audience? Why did why do they want to listen to us? What are we saying and getting answers to questions like that, and therefore using that to drive, okay? What channels do we use to reach those people and how?",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":416,"children":417},{},[418],{"type":38,"value":419},"Kerry Guard 23:58",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":421,"children":422},{},[423],{"type":38,"value":424},"Yeah, I think that's a really important step, right? If, like, hopefully they have that figured out. But it sounds like that's not always the case, or they think they have it figured out. That's always my favorite, where they're like, this is our audience. But then you look at the customer list, you're like, is it?",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":426,"children":427},{},[428],{"type":38,"value":429},"Aerin Paulo 24:15",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":431,"children":432},{},[433],{"type":38,"value":434},"And a lot of companies at the size that I joined them at, not all of them, but a lot of them, have never really done customer research. So that not only have they never done market research, they've never done customer interviews, they're not even looking at the data they have. So, like all of the questions that get submitted to customer service, that's free marketing data right there. Like, what are they asking? Why are they asking that? Is something broken? Or do they not understand something we could easily educate them on? So getting gathering all that up and figuring out what we have to work with is important as well.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":436,"children":437},{},[438],{"type":38,"value":439},"Kerry Guard 24:51",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":441,"children":442},{},[443],{"type":38,"value":444},"That's so cool. That's so cool because it's the stuff as marketers we see, like a no, it feels like a no-duh moment, but as a marketer, you wouldn't know. To use it for that, if you so yes to fresh eyes, not being so key and important. So let's talk about the transition that happens, right? So you come in, you gather the data. You understand landscape, you understand what channels they need to activate and what you know where what makes most sense for them, whether it's content and social or layering and some paid How do you at what point does it make sense to get a little more specific, I'm not saying like, fully, full on, all of a sudden, you're going, like, overnight, you're going from a one man, one person team with a bunch of contractors, to all of a sudden having a 15 person team of a bunch of specialists. Like, let's build that bridge for people, because it needs to be a thoughtful transition. So when do you start thinking about, oh, we need a person to do, like to bring in-house, to do a very specific thing? Is that, pretty early on, do you hire generalists begin with, sort of talk me through those initial steps, like it starts with you, and then what?",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":446,"children":447},{},[448],{"type":38,"value":449},"Aerin Paulo 26:07",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":451,"children":452},{},[453],{"type":38,"value":454},"Yeah, so I think it depends on the structure and the plan. So not at every company that I've been at was I in the works to become leadership. So if I, if I'm just a manager, and they're not planning on making me anything above that, then it makes sense to have you know you're effectively like a player-coach. You're I see slash management. So it makes sense to do as much as you can yourself, and when you are feeling stretched too thin, get support, whether that looks like a contractor or it just like a specialist, or a marketing specialist, the title or marketing coordinator, or whatever makes sense. I will say that in the year of our Lord 2024, where we have all of these layoffs for almost two years straight, and all of these amazing humans just getting let go for what feels like no reason. I am leaning towards contractors for as long as I can, because I don't ever want to hire somebody I can't keep. So I feel like that's a that's a good start, and that's probably where I'm going to go as often as I can, just because that doesn't. That isn't to say, by the way, because I don't, I don't tend to use agencies myself. I tend to lean more towards individuals, so that isn't to say that that individual couldn't become a full-time hire. In fact, that's a perfect scenario. I actually almost had that happen a couple of times in my previous role, which would have been super cool if the company had shut down. But I think treating contractors like their employees to an extent, obviously, you can't control their time. They're still their own boss, etc, but including them in things, giving them information, you will get a really great relationship, and you will get a lot of what you get from a full-time employee, just without the full-time hours. So I think it's valuable to do contractors as much as you can. When it makes sense, you hire another generalist, but potentially someone a little bit more junior, so that the marketing manager could do a little bit more of like, here's what we're doing and why, and the junior associate can do the things. And then once you're there, you start looking at bandwidth, and you start looking at return on investment. So are the freelancers or the junior associate, whomever are, spending too much time on something that will actually move the needle on the revenue side. How much is that costing? At the point where it makes sense, or it makes no difference even, whether you have a contractor or a full-time person, then it makes a ton of sense at that point to pull someone in-house, because there's a lot to be said. Where about having someone on the team versus them being a contractor as well has benefits to both.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":456,"children":457},{},[458],{"type":38,"value":459},"Kerry Guard 29:13",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":461,"children":462},{},[463],{"type":38,"value":464},"But you said so many things there that I want to unpack. So let's talk about the coordinator first, because I think this is a lost call. It's a lost role, because I feel like I'll speak for myself as an agency owner, right? So we leaned into it as a small company, hiring experts, primarily because they can hit the ground running, and they can go, and there's no hand-holding that's sort of necessary in that, in doing so, though we left a generation behind. We didn't bring people up and through. And so there was a time, to your point, Aerin, there's been a total layoff. So it's not so much at this very moment, but there was a time when hiring felt impossible because there was a huge gap between i. Experts do not want to leave their current jobs because things were so unstable, and then not having a pull to pull from because we all were hiring experts. So I'd love that you're talking about the coordinator. Let's paint that picture a bit better in terms of what a is, it somebody right? You know, how many years of experience do they have? Or they write at a college. And then what types of things do you do? You personally lean on a coordinator for?",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":466,"children":467},{},[468],{"type":38,"value":469},"Aerin Paulo 30:31",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":471,"children":472},{},[473],{"type":38,"value":474},"Yeah, I think it depends on the company that you're working at and how much flexibility you have if you if they're not expecting you to do all the things, and you can focus on, let's use social media as an example, because it's easy. If they're not expecting you to be on every channel and post to every channel. They're allowing you to focus on one or two channels and get really good at doing a good job on those. Then the coordinator can come in out of college. It depends on your bandwidth of yourself as well, right? Because it depends on how much training and teaching you have the ability to do. I really enjoy that piece of it, so I didn't mind. We had a few interns in my last role that we were helping learn the ropes effectively. But then if you don't have the bandwidth to train and teach quite as much than a couple of years of experience, I would say, it works just fine.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":476,"children":477},{},[478],{"type":38,"value":479},"Kerry Guard 31:25",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":481,"children":482},{},[483],{"type":38,"value":484},"Yeah, I think that's really important, because it is huge. It doesn't feel like a huge difference. But somebody straighta College who's never had a job before where you literally have to tell them everything that they have to do and like minuscule step by step process is night and day from somebody who's had at least a year of experience, who are starting to get that figure it out, mentality of anticipating and taking things to that next step, I think is, is very interesting to your point. Aerin, I don't think it matters which way you go. It's just what, what's right for you, and the company and the budget are all things to take into consideration. Let's talk about the contractor piece, because, to your point, and I agree, oh my gosh. Are there some phenomenal humans out there right now who are in between and are, you know, while we all can't hire full-time right now? There are lots of folks who can jump in. So I Gen I'll speak for me, and I'd love to hear from you. Obviously, is for me, the contractor piece is the specialist. I don't need a generalist. From a contractor standpoint, I needed somebody who can come in. I'd rather have a couple of different contractors all specializing in different areas, because I can control the hours, than bringing in one contractor who can do a couple of things relatively okay. Is that fair? How do you do that?",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":486,"children":487},{},[488],{"type":38,"value":489},"Aerin Paulo 32:58",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":491,"children":492},{},[493],{"type":38,"value":494},"Yeah, I think that there's something to be said for bandwidth here as well. I think I haven't done this myself, but I've thought, I thought it would be interesting to, when you join early on as a first marketer, or something similar, to hire a generalist contractor to get their thoughts on what the company should be doing. So, not saying you don't do that work as well, but you kind of like, what did you miss? Like, it's two heads are better than one type scenario, and that can be a temporary situation, or you could bring them on to do something more specific once you get their feedback, because that's the nice thing about generalists, is that theoretically, they can become a specialist if you need them to, they've done email, therefore you can say, Okay, can you focus on email for us, you've already got this person. But I do agree that that's the typical route I go as well, which is, like you have, we have a PPC specialist, we have an email specialist, we have a social specialist, and contractors. So I depend. Again, that's, that's, I think I saw that the other day. That's marketing, a marketer's favorite phrase.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":496,"children":497},{},[498],{"type":38,"value":499},"Kerry Guard 34:12",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":501,"children":502},{},[503],{"type":38,"value":504},"It's okay, it is. It really is, and it does. I think what's fascinating and helpful in these conversations is hearing your what, what you've done in the past to work for you. So it's helpful to see, like, Okay, this is how you've used these particular roles. And I love that you're talking about contractors in particular in a way that's like a gut check, especially as a single, as a single hire, like, you know, as an island, you need a thought partner. You need to bounce. We are out loud. I don't know about all marketers, but generally, I feel like we're out loud. Processors don't need to hear things like, but together, am I correct through it? Yeah. Talk through it. Hear their points of view, their expertise. Yes, the other thing I heard you say that I really loved was when you're thinking about contractors, you might need a specific thing, but you might find a generalist who can start there, or maybe they see a bigger picture, and then they hone in there. But there are interesting ways to start thinking about generalists versus specialists, and that it's not necessarily a person being a generalist or a specialist, but a thing being a general strategy, overarching navigation, and then being able to hone in on a specific area to get something done. So it's an interesting way of thinking about the conversation in that way, as well as what I hear you saying, which I love, in terms of that first hire. When you do start getting more specific, let's, I feel like content is probably a really great area to start, because it's so time-consuming. Right to do it.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":506,"children":507},{},[508],{"type":38,"value":509},"Aerin Paulo 36:00",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":511,"children":512},{},[513],{"type":38,"value":514},"Well, yes, and that is an area that I like. I can write. I enjoyed English in all of school, but I wouldn't call myself a copywriter, and I would not say that I am anywhere near as good as the contractors that I've worked with, either. So I tend to do for myself. I focus on the what we are talking about. How do we get there? How do we talk to these people? How do we answer the questions? How do we educate them, the question, the big questions. And then the contractor tends to help me with, you know, maybe they can help with what the best channels are. They'll, they'll be a gut check for me. They are very often, if they're not experts in SEO, they're knowledgeable enough where you can do something good. And SEO, I feel like you would know. I feel like it's been changing to the point where you don't need to be quite so technically knowledgeable about it, because the whole point is search intent. The whole point is getting the right content to the person who needs it in the right place. And AI is doing weird things with that. Now, the point being, don't rely on me and oh no, no, just like, it's going to be real interesting to see what that does to content, considering what's showing up above the fold now and then ads, and then organic contractors, the content contractors I've worked out with have all been fantastic, and they all have they're almost generalist, specific, specific, generals or something like that, where they like, they know a little SEO, they know a little strategy, they know a little content, they know a little analytics and distribution, and all of the things that are encompassed under Content, which is very helpful to someone like me, who's I've got a bit of expertise in some of those areas, but not in all of them. And again, when you're a solo marketer, you need gut checks. You need folks to talk to. I think it's my community, my marketing community, has really grown, really just like in the last six or eight years. I didn't know any other marketers for so long, and I can't tell you how lonely that was and how hard it was to get work done. I relied on the internet so much. HubSpot, blog, like your friend.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":516,"children":517},{},[518],{"type":38,"value":519},"Kerry Guard 38:18",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":521,"children":522},{},[523],{"type":38,"value":524},"I don't know what the catalyst was. Maybe it was LinkedIn, but it does feel like maybe it was COVID. But the community has definitely stepped itself up in terms of how we navigate the marketing world and lean on each other a bit more, which I am so grateful for. It's how we met. We met the marketing women's community. If you are a woman in marketing and you're not part of this community, hop on in. I will share a link. Yes, that is fantastic. The women who run it, we're actually on my podcast, Gabrielle and Natalie, wonderful humans who've built a wonderful network. And I think that has been an absolute fuel to how we find each other and find great people to work with. I just found somebody, I don't know if you know Matt Delman. He was on my podcast while ago. He's also a content writer in cybersecurity, specifically. I know you're more in the B2B SaaS and tax space, but these worlds collide all the time. Anyway, he just made a reference for me to somebody in his network who's a PPC contractor who's amazing. I can't wait to work with this human, so yes, to our network becoming so important, and thank goodness for that, because Google could only get you so far back at the desk. So yes to that, something that's coming up for me, Aerin, as you're talking about all these different channels, all these different activation areas, is I as one person. I. I don't know how your men are managing it all. You got a little PPC over here. You got some social channels activated. You got your content creators. Like, how is, how is one person? Are you keeping all of these things going? Are they all happening at the same time? Or do you generally, like, layer them? Talk to me about a little bit about your process, like, how you get these things up and running? It feels like it's all happening at once. I don't know if that's the case, though.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":526,"children":527},{},[528],{"type":38,"value":529},"Aerin Paulo 40:28",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":531,"children":532},{},[533],{"type":38,"value":534},"Yeah, I mean, simultaneously is probably fair to say I, because I'm an anxious person. I got really good at reminding myself to do things because I was very worried I would forget, and that has somehow translated into me being very, very organized. So I typically have a project management system, whatever they allow me to get, or whatever I could get for free, depending on the budget, and I try to put everything in there. And since, like you mentioned, being agile certified and learning more about how that system works. I will very often do like a now, next, later list, and then have like a backlog, future log type thing for all my ideas, because I want to do all the things. And when I get contractors in the group, I add them to that, and we start having stand-ups. I typically, especially if they're at least part-time. If I have, like, a 20-hour-a-week or more contractor, we have a one-on-one, and then I try to do a stand-up with everybody. So all the contractors, we find the time that it works for all of them, plus me, or all of them, plus, you know, the couple other humans on my team, plus the contractors also. They're not humans, but you know what I mean? And we try to have a one-on-one and a stand-up every week so that everyone knows what everyone's working on. It's the opportunity to chat and get to know each other, because you're still a team, even if you're not officially on the team. It's an opportunity to ask for support. Sometimes you have to, kind of like, bug people to ask for help, and that's a thing that's a good reason to get in there. And it's also a really good time to bring up blockers. Like, is somebody else not getting something done, which is blocking you, or is there some red tape that I could help cut through? So yeah, to answer your question, a project management system. I'm also a huge fan of notion, or some similar tool for documentation, so that the next time you bring a contractor on, you have it all written down and you can just share it with them. Yeah, it's just been a lot of Yes. It's been a lot of anxious organizing, I guess is what can say about that?",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":536,"children":537},{},[538],{"type":38,"value":539},"Kerry Guard 42:41",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":541,"children":542},{},[543],{"type":38,"value":544},"Yes, I think that's so key. I love that you bring contractors in, too, in terms of a team-oriented way; I do the same thing. I have them join stand-ups. We have a retro every week, every other week, that I have them join. I even have them join all hands. Like, here's what's going on in the company, and here's how you're impacting it. Like, I think that's so key to making sure that they don't feel, I don't think, like contractors are just, they're not outsiders. They just have less hours, right? They y'all still need to get along and work together. And so I love that you're think that you plan that way, and you do the strength, you do the stand up, you do the one on ones, and you bring them into the fold. I think that's necessary to have a productive, organized team. So hats off to you, Aerin, for figuring that out. In terms of one of the questions I had for you in terms of writers, and I think this is hard to do, is capturing the brand's voice as a contractor.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":546,"children":547},{},[548],{"type":38,"value":549},"Aerin Paulo 43:53",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":551,"children":552},{},[553],{"type":38,"value":554},"Yes, I agree. It's very hard to do. So the most experience I have doing that is in my most recent role, where I was at the startup for three years. I You can ask. I don't know if you've met Jess, but she was my contractor at compliance, so she can tell you more, but I think some of the things that helped us were getting super clear on the brand voice. We had a four to six-page document that talked about, yeah, it had examples, like, that's the thing. If you can visualize it or duplicate it, then it's a lot easier. So it wasn't just like, we're friendly, we want to educate people. It was, in fact, I think this was actually the brand voice we are, the aunt or uncle that you look forward to seeing at Christmas every year, and is an absolute expert in their field. They're super fun-loving. They're very relaxed. And you know that you can talk to them about sports or your kids, or you can ask them about their expertise in. In my case, tax, and they will totally give you no BS advice, and they'll break it down in a way that you can really understand it, rather than using a lot of jargon or confusing talk. So it was that specific. And then we would have examples, and we would say, like, here's what we don't want, because that's really important as well. And so we worked together. I believe Jess was a part of that, and we built out that document. And then I try very hard to give autonomy even to my contractors. I don't want to micromanage anyone. I want to. I'm holding people accountable, of course, but I don't want to, like be looking over your shoulder. So it's the first, you know, however long it takes for them to get comfortable with that voice, I or someone on my team is reviewing their work to make sure it fits, and then eventually they get the hang of it. You don't need to do that. You can spot check if you want to or if it feels necessary. But the idea is, they've become enough of an expert where they can switch gears. They have this document that you've built out that's really clear, and you also ask them regularly, \" Is there anything that came up that felt unclear or that we should add to the brand document? I think those things make it better. It's not going to be perfect, because you're right. Being in-house is really helpful if you're a content writer, but I think that's a good way to go.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":556,"children":557},{},[558],{"type":38,"value":559},"Kerry Guard 46:23",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":561,"children":562},{},[563],{"type":38,"value":564},"I love the like, aunt uncle piece, like actually attaching it to sort of a persona, like a person that you could feel like you were sitting next to and having a conversation with. Like, that's so cool. I'm thinking about that for a brand that is, I will ask that I feel away. I'm totally sealing that. That is fantastic. Aerin, I love this conversation, and I could clearly keep going help people make that leap. Now they've, they've been the first hire. They've brought on their hoard of contractors to help them get started. They're on their way now. They need to scale, and they need to go. Do they keep staying the course with bringing in the contractors, maybe a higher here or there? Or do they have to switch gears?",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":566,"children":567},{},[568],{"type":38,"value":569},"Aerin Paulo 47:16",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":571,"children":572},{},[573],{"type":38,"value":574},"It depends. It depends on where your company is. If you're a startup and you're you just went for your Series C, and you have a bazillion dollars, then it's a lot easier to say, take a look at the contractors. Ask them how much more they could be doing if they were doing it full-time. Assuming you trust your contractors, they will give you a good, solid answer on that, and you will be able to do the math of what's their hourly how does that translate to 40 hours a week, plus benefits, and then figure out the math of this that, if that makes sense, otherwise, I mean, honestly, if you can go and find contractors that will stick with you For a while, then that's great. I would keep doing that. If you have the bandwidth and you've triple-checked the numbers so that there won't be layoffs in the future. Ideally, then, I think hiring on a couple of in-house folks is always helpful, especially just because you have someone else available to help or answer questions or do a thing at the same hours you're working, for the most part.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":576,"children":577},{},[578],{"type":38,"value":579},"Kerry Guard 48:23",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":581,"children":582},{},[583],{"type":38,"value":584},"That's a good point. That's not something we've touched on. Let's, let's, let's wrap this up with that. In terms of how you navigate the accountability piece with contractors, it's a lot easier to hold internal people accountable. They're subject to working with you and only you of everything that needs to go on within the company. But when you have people who are also working for other clients and their hours are a bit restricted, how do you communicate in a way that makes sure that those deadlines are hit? How do you communicate in a way that's probably a bit more asynchronous? I'm assuming that the project management system is a huge piece to that, but",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":586,"children":587},{},[588],{"type":38,"value":589},"Aerin Paulo 49:01",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":591,"children":592},{},[593],{"type":38,"value":594},"Yeah, slack in the project management system, so we communicate on Slack, and I personally, for my team, always set the expectation that, like, I do not expect that you're sitting on top of Slack waiting to answer me. Like that's not even for my full-time people, I'm not expecting that of you, but I would ask that you respond in a reasonable amount of time, typically a few hours. And for contractors, the ask is basically like, I'm going to leave you messages. I do not expect you to respond immediately, but I would appreciate you answering within a day or so, assuming we haven't already talked about you're going to be off your it's a weekend like those situations, and we include them in the project management system so that they know what to do when, if something's missed, we used clickup, which I really enjoyed, so it will send me an email, and then I can touch base with them and say, like, what happened? How can we prevent this in the future? And in my case, our contractors were so fantastic that we kept a lot of them for a long time, and they had their own OKRs that they were kind of responsible for, obviously, with me as a backup. So our PPC folks, they were trying to hit specific numbers, specific users onboarded through the ads. So they spoke to that every time we had a meeting as a group,",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":596,"children":597},{},[598],{"type":38,"value":599},"Kerry Guard 50:24",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":601,"children":602},{},[603],{"type":38,"value":604},"I love it. Wow. That's a lot of trust putting that on contractors to actually own numbers, I mean, as vendors, that happens to us, but I guess it's similar. That's awesome. I think that again, that brings it into the fold, that makes them feel empowered, that holds him accountable naturally. Oh my gosh, I love this conversation. And Aerin, I am. Ah, it's so helpful to just think about a different way to do it, especially when you're in a crunch right now, where there was probably a ton of layoffs that happened, and you went from having a whole team at your fingertips to being a team of one, and how you might navigate that. And this is a brilliant way to think about this lovely web of contractors that you bring in on very specific hours to do very specific things, to get things off your plate, you are don't have to do it all. It's really hard to like, navigate, and to feel you don't have to do it all. It's so true.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":606,"children":607},{},[608],{"type":38,"value":609},"Aerin Paulo 51:24",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":611,"children":612},{},[613],{"type":38,"value":614},"I think getting to the point where you're comfortable calling out when you're overloaded is really important as well. Hopefully, you have leadership that supports that. But even with contractors, sometimes you can't do it all. Sometimes things have to be deprioritized. And when, inevitably, when people come to you and say, Hey, can you do this thing? Getting comfortable saying, absolutely, what can I push off in order to get it done? And also, when do you need it? By asking for dates, ask for dates, and ask for prioritization always and every time, very helpful. It's so helpful.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":616,"children":617},{},[618],{"type":38,"value":619},"Kerry Guard 52:00",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":621,"children":622},{},[623],{"type":38,"value":624},"I'm terrible at that, and yes, to the importance of that. So, about Aerin, where can people before I ask you my last question, we do my people's first question? Where can people find you? Where can they learn more about if they want to become a contractor, maybe with you. What's the best place to get in touch? LinkedIn, yeah, good.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":626,"children":627},{},[628],{"type":38,"value":629},"Aerin Paulo 52:20",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":631,"children":632},{},[633],{"type":38,"value":634},"Good home base for us all. For us all. My other stuff is all personal because I have a kiddo, and I keep that private for him.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":636,"children":637},{},[638],{"type":38,"value":639},"Kerry Guard 52:29",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":641,"children":642},{},[643],{"type":38,"value":644},"Yes to that, yes, that I love. Ah, Aerin, last question for you before you are more than a marketer. In 2024, we've figured out this COVID thing. It's here to stay. We're navigating it. It is what it is, but we're traveling the world is open again. Remote work is here to stay. What are you most looking forward to in this new era, this new dot?",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":646,"children":647},{},[648],{"type":38,"value":649},"Aerin Paulo 52:59",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":651,"children":652},{},[653],{"type":38,"value":654},"That is a great question that I don't have because it's the answer is not nothing. I know that I you know, I am trying to. I don't do New Year's resolutions. I do words, focus words, and this year, my focus words are curiosity and balance. So balance to figure out, making sure I have that work-life balance. I'm signing off at the end of the day and not thinking about work, that sort of thing, and curiosity, both in learning new things and also questioning my own mindset when I'm thinking, you know, when you catastrophize, think about, why are you, why are you doing that? Does it need to happen? That sort of thing? And those words are, I'm hoping, going to help me grow as a person, maybe get out of my comfort zone, and do something interesting. I don't know what it is yet, though.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":656,"children":657},{},[658],{"type":38,"value":659},"Kerry Guard 53:52",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":661,"children":662},{},[663],{"type":38,"value":664},"Well, I'll follow up with you and find out, because that's important work, and it's hard work, and I commend you for putting those words to work and figuring those out. It's yes to that we all, we all need to be doing both of those things, and good for you for putting intention behind it. Aerin, I cannot say it enough. I'm so grateful for this conversation. Thank you so much. Thank you, me too. If you liked this episode, please like, subscribe, and share again. This episode is brought to you by mkg marketing, the digital marketing that helps complex brands build trust with complex audiences through SEO and digital ads. Is hosted by me, Kerry Guard, CEO of MKG Marketing. And if you'd like to be a guest, ping me. Let's hang out. I'd love to have you on the shelf.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":666,"children":667},{},[668,672],{"type":28,"tag":669,"props":670,"children":671},"br",{},[],{"type":28,"tag":669,"props":673,"children":674},{},[],{"title":7,"searchDepth":676,"depth":676,"links":677},2,[678,679],{"id":31,"depth":676,"text":39},{"id":48,"depth":676,"text":54},"markdown","content:podcasts:marketing-leaders:building-marketing-from-scratch-without-burning-out.md","content","podcasts/marketing-leaders/building-marketing-from-scratch-without-burning-out.md","podcasts/marketing-leaders/building-marketing-from-scratch-without-burning-out","md",[687,988,1296,1655,2082],{"_path":688,"_dir":689,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":690,"description":691,"date":692,"img":693,"imgAlt":694,"body":695,"_type":680,"_id":984,"_source":682,"_file":985,"_stem":986,"_extension":685,"category":689,"minutes":987},"/blog/seo/the-2026-brand-visibility-audit-is-your-icp-finding-your-competitors-in-the-llm","seo","The 2026 Brand Visibility Audit: Is Your ICP Finding Your Competitors in the LLM?","When your target accounts use AI search to shortlist vendors, do you exist? Here is how to audit your brand presence and reverse competitive displacement.","2026-05-27T14:44:51.901Z","https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/1ebdbd36-b81a-40c3-b8d6-528986294139-mkg-blog-the-2026-brand-visibility-audit-hero-image.webp","Brand Visibility Audit",{"type":25,"children":696,"toc":975},[697,702,707,729,734,742,751,756,761,766,771,780,785,790,810,815,822,831,836,841,846,851,860,865,870,883,888,895,904,909,914,932,937,946,951,956,961,970],{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":698,"children":699},{},[700],{"type":38,"value":701},"For years, B2B marketing operated on a straightforward logic: win the search engine results page, win the pipeline. Teams engineered content to capture specific keywords, mapped backlinks to boost domain authority, and celebrated when landing pages claimed the top spots on Google. If a prospective customer in your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) looked for a solution, your site appeared.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":703,"children":704},{},[705],{"type":38,"value":706},"That logic no longer holds. A complete decoupling has occurred between traditional website traffic and the actual vendor shortlisting process. B2B buyers are bypassing the endless lists of blue links entirely. Instead of clicking through five different websites to read corporate marketing copy, they are leveraging large language models (LLMs) to perform the heavy lifting of vendor evaluation.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":708,"children":709},{},[710,712,727],{"type":38,"value":711},"This behavior is a structural reality. Data from",{"type":28,"tag":713,"props":714,"children":718},"a",{"href":715,"rel":716},"https://company.g2.com/news/g2-research-the-answer-economy",[717],"nofollow",[719,721],{"type":38,"value":720}," ",{"type":28,"tag":722,"props":723,"children":724},"u",{},[725],{"type":38,"value":726},"G2’s 2026 Answer Economy Report",{"type":38,"value":728}," reveals that 51% of B2B software buyers now begin their vendor research inside an AI chatbot rather than a traditional search engine. Buyers are leaning into a centralized discovery model in which they issue a single, structured prompt to an LLM to compare market options. The model synthesizes data from across the web, evaluates capabilities, and surfaces a definitive recommendation.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":730,"children":731},{},[732],{"type":38,"value":733},"The challenge arises when your target accounts run these prompts, and your competitors are consistently cited as the preferred solution while your brand is completely left out of the answer. It is a highly efficient form of Competitive Displacement. If your organization does not appear in the model's synthesized output, you are filtered out before a sales representative is even considered. Reclaiming your place in the funnel requires moving past traditional SEO and mastering Brand Visibility Optimization (BVO).",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":735,"children":736},{},[737],{"type":28,"tag":738,"props":739,"children":741},"img",{"alt":7,"src":740},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/15431b64-54bd-447a-b57e-c64f2f7b9398-mkg-blog-the-2026-brand-visibility-audit-image-1.png",[],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":743,"children":745},{"id":744},"the-reality-of-llm-synthetic-vetting",[746],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":747,"children":748},{},[749],{"type":38,"value":750},"The Reality of LLM Synthetic Vetting",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":752,"children":753},{},[754],{"type":38,"value":755},"When an LLM builds a B2B vendor shortlist, it doesn’t scan the web like a human. It isn’t impressed by a sleek homepage or polished brand copy. Instead, it treats the digital landscape as a single, connected dataset and assesses vendors based on entity clarity, semantic relevance, and pattern recognition.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":757,"children":758},{},[759],{"type":38,"value":760},"If an enterprise software buyer asks an LLM for platforms that meet specific compliance standards, deployment models, and pricing structures, the model goes back to its processed data layers for hard evidence. It searches for alignment across technical documentation, community conversations, and independent sources before producing an answer.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":762,"children":763},{},[764],{"type":38,"value":765},"That creates a serious blind spot for teams still operating on legacy marketing assumptions. You might own the top spot on a traditional search engine for a high-intent keyword, but if the model can’t confidently interpret your product architecture or validate your customer satisfaction, you’ll be excluded from its comparison set. Instead, it will surface competitors whose data is clean, structured, and consistently verified across the web.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":767,"children":768},{},[769],{"type":38,"value":770},"In this new reality, visibility is less about acquisition and more about indexation and structure. To influence how models evaluate your company, you must deliberately manage the information they ingest. Treat the public web as your LLM training data layer—and consider audited, third-party environments as your core competitive arena.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":772,"children":774},{"id":773},"executing-a-diagnostic-brand-visibility-audit",[775],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":776,"children":777},{},[778],{"type":38,"value":779},"Executing a Diagnostic Brand Visibility Audit",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":781,"children":782},{},[783],{"type":38,"value":784},"To correct a deficit in AI search visibility, an enterprise cannot rely on guesswork. You need a systematic, repeatable diagnostic protocol to discover exactly where the models are pulling their information, why they favor alternative solutions, and how they perceive your overall Search Sentiment.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":786,"children":787},{},[788],{"type":38,"value":789},"This diagnostic process requires three foundational execution phases:",{"type":28,"tag":791,"props":792,"children":793},"ul",{},[794,800,805],{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":796,"children":797},"li",{},[798],{"type":38,"value":799},"Intent-Based Prompt Baselining: Test a standardized matrix of procurement prompts across major models like Gemini, Claude, and ChatGPT. Document the exact terminology used to describe your category, track which competitors populate the shortlists, and analyze the specific source citations generated by the engines to back up their recommendations.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":801,"children":802},{},[803],{"type":38,"value":804},"Review Ecosystem Quantification: Assess the volume, recency, and detailed text sentiment of your third-party evaluation profiles. Models rely heavily on independent customer validation to verify brand claims; a stagnation in your review pipeline signals a high risk of model omission.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":806,"children":807},{},[808],{"type":38,"value":809},"Entity Verification and Mapping: Inspect how consistently your core capabilities, naming structures, and integrations are stated across public channels. Inconsistent nomenclature across your website, product registries, and press releases dilutes the LLM's pattern-matching capability, causing it to bypass your brand due to data uncertainty.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":811,"children":812},{},[813],{"type":38,"value":814},"By treating this audit as a precise engineering diagnostic rather than a creative exercise, you reveal the specific technical gaps that are causing your competitive omission. You shift the conversation from a vague discussion about brand awareness to a concrete roadmap for structural data optimization.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":816,"children":817},{},[818],{"type":28,"tag":738,"props":819,"children":821},{"alt":7,"src":820},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/7ff92deb-11ff-4c70-acaa-433b513eeac0-mkg-blog-the-2026-brand-visibility-audit-image-2.png",[],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":823,"children":825},{"id":824},"establishing-narrative-control-via-consistency",[826],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":827,"children":828},{},[829],{"type":38,"value":830},"Establishing Narrative Control via Consistency",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":832,"children":833},{},[834],{"type":38,"value":835},"The definitive solution to an AI visibility deficit is a relentless dedication to operational Consistency. In a marketing landscape that changes every quarter, consistency is the operational framework that turns sporadic actions into a predictable, compounding authority engine. For a language model to confidently output your brand name as a trusted option, it must recognize a steady, unfragmented pattern of authoritative data over time.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":837,"children":838},{},[839],{"type":38,"value":840},"This operational rhythm applies directly to how you structure and distribute your subject matter expertise. Language models prioritize information that is backed by verified experts, deep industry use cases, and recurring, high-value concepts. When your technical leaders contribute regular, deep-dive insights to reputable public engineering repositories, trusted community hubs, and authoritative industry spaces, you continuously feed the exact data pools that models crawl.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":842,"children":843},{},[844],{"type":38,"value":845},"A short-term, campaign-driven approach fails completely under this model. You cannot run a one-time push to force your way into an LLM's next update cycle. The models are designed to identify long-term consensus and verified domain expertise.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":847,"children":848},{},[849],{"type":38,"value":850},"Maintaining a disciplined, predictable cadence of technical data output ensures your company is recognized as an immutable category leader. This approach hardcodes your product capabilities into the data layers that models rely on to construct competitive matrix responses, thereby protecting your pipeline from displacement.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":852,"children":854},{"id":853},"why-structured-data-ingestion-wins-the-funnel",[855],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":856,"children":857},{},[858],{"type":38,"value":859},"Why Structured Data Ingestion Wins the Funnel",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":861,"children":862},{},[863],{"type":38,"value":864},"The primary advantage of a fully optimized brand footprint is the velocity at which you can capture modern buyer intent. When an AI search engine is tasked with compiling an urgent vendor shortlist, it favors the path of least risk and highest data integrity.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":866,"children":867},{},[868],{"type":38,"value":869},"Consider the contrasting outcomes between two distinct structural approaches:",{"type":28,"tag":791,"props":871,"children":872},{},[873,878],{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":874,"children":875},{},[876],{"type":38,"value":877},"The Unstructured Site: A company relies on creative, stylized copywriting buried inside static image layouts or gated PDF forms. The LLM cannot confidently extract technical metrics, security protocols, or API pricing structures. Fearing a hallucination, the model excludes the company from the generated answer.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":879,"children":880},{},[881],{"type":38,"value":882},"The Structured Knowledge Base: A company deploys an advanced technical semantic layer that utilizes clean schemas, verified review pipelines, and consistent cross-platform definitions. The model instantly extracts, categorizes, and validates the company's compliance credentials, placing them at the top of the recommended shortlist with explicit trust citations.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":884,"children":885},{},[886],{"type":38,"value":887},"This dynamic demonstrates why modern technical documentation is an essential component of a mid-funnel conversion strategy. API tables, security registries, and integration matrices are no longer just assets for post-sale implementation; they are high-value entry points for automated procurement discovery. By making this information perfectly machine-readable, you eliminate the friction that keeps your brand from being detected by automated evaluation systems.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":889,"children":890},{},[891],{"type":28,"tag":738,"props":892,"children":894},{"alt":7,"src":893},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/80069c1b-7cc2-44cd-abe9-bc52ca56473f-mkg-blog-the-2026-brand-visibility-audit-image-3.png",[],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":896,"children":898},{"id":897},"systematized-brand-visibility-optimization",[899],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":900,"children":901},{},[902],{"type":38,"value":903},"Systematized Brand Visibility Optimization",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":905,"children":906},{},[907],{"type":38,"value":908},"Succeeding in this decentralized landscape requires moving past ad-hoc optimization tactics and installing a repeatable, unified operational system. Marketing programs must stop acting like creative experimental centers and begin running like structured technical operations.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":910,"children":911},{},[912],{"type":38,"value":913},"This requires aligning your cross-functional execution around three operational areas:",{"type":28,"tag":791,"props":915,"children":916},{},[917,922,927],{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":918,"children":919},{},[920],{"type":38,"value":921},"Citations and Authority Share: Track how frequently major models cite your domain or your trusted third-party profiles relative to your primary competitors during category-focused prompts.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":923,"children":924},{},[925],{"type":38,"value":926},"Data Pattern Uniformity: Enforce a strict internal governance model to ensure that every public reference to your product capabilities, pricing architectures, and compliance standards matches perfectly across the web.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":928,"children":929},{},[930],{"type":38,"value":931},"Review Ingestion Velocity: Build an automated customer feedback mechanism that continuously streams fresh, high-context review text into independent directories, keeping the models supplied with recent trust signals.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":933,"children":934},{},[935],{"type":38,"value":936},"When these operations run on a fixed, uninterrupted schedule, your organization builds an enduring market advantage. You stop chasing shifting search engine algorithms and start managing the foundational data infrastructure that governs all automated business decisions.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":938,"children":940},{"id":939},"reclaiming-the-initiative-in-the-era-of-inference",[941],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":942,"children":943},{},[944],{"type":38,"value":945},"Reclaiming the Initiative in the Era of Inference",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":947,"children":948},{},[949],{"type":38,"value":950},"The emergence of the AI-driven buyer is not an existential threat to organizations that lead with deep expertise, operational clarity, and strict engineering discipline. It is a threat to organizations that rely on high-volume, generic content inflation and unverified marketing claims. If your digital presence reads like an un-indexed corporate brochure, automated systems will drop you from consideration.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":952,"children":953},{},[954],{"type":38,"value":955},"We specialize in designing and implementing the technical architectures and operating cadences that keep organizations highly visible across the entire modern discovery funnel. By combining technical semantic layer engineering with disciplined execution rhythms, we ensure your brand authority is clear, verifiable, and undeniable to both human buyers and machine-learning algorithms.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":957,"children":958},{},[959],{"type":38,"value":960},"Do not allow your company to be quietly displaced from your ideal market segments by an information structure failure. Audit your digital footprint, structure your institutional knowledge, and implement a brand-visibility operating model built to dominate the modern synthesis.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":962,"children":964},{"id":963},"summary",[965],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":966,"children":967},{},[968],{"type":38,"value":969},"Summary",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":971,"children":972},{},[973],{"type":38,"value":974},"The B2B purchasing journey has undergone a dramatic structural shift, with 51% of software buyers now launching vendor research inside AI chatbots rather than traditional search engines. This behavioral change introduces a major risk of Competitive Displacement for brands that are missing from model outputs or excluded from automatic shortlist synthesis. To protect your pipeline, enterprises must deploy a rigorous Brand Visibility Optimization (BVO) strategy. By running systematic prompt diagnostics to audit Search Sentiment, maintaining a regular schedule for publishing expert content, and ensuring that all product capabilities are cleanly embedded in LLM Training Data, organizations can secure automated market discovery and reclaim narrative control across every AI search interface.",{"title":7,"searchDepth":676,"depth":676,"links":976},[977,978,979,980,981,982,983],{"id":744,"depth":676,"text":750},{"id":773,"depth":676,"text":779},{"id":824,"depth":676,"text":830},{"id":853,"depth":676,"text":859},{"id":897,"depth":676,"text":903},{"id":939,"depth":676,"text":945},{"id":963,"depth":676,"text":969},"content:blog:seo:the-2026-brand-visibility-audit-is-your-icp-finding-your-competitors-in-the-llm.md","blog/seo/the-2026-brand-visibility-audit-is-your-icp-finding-your-competitors-in-the-llm.md","blog/seo/the-2026-brand-visibility-audit-is-your-icp-finding-your-competitors-in-the-llm",8,{"_path":989,"_dir":689,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":990,"description":991,"date":992,"img":993,"imgAlt":994,"body":995,"_type":680,"_id":1293,"_source":682,"_file":1294,"_stem":1295,"_extension":685,"category":689,"minutes":987},"/blog/seo/escaping-the-black-box-installing-an-svo-operating-system-that-runs-without-you","Escaping the Black Box - Installing an SVO Operating System That Runs Without You","When marketing feels like a high-priced experiment you have to babysit, it's time to build a system that captures AI demand autonomously.","2026-05-20T16:17:50.900Z","https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/24970ef5-a49e-4a91-b5fd-c8c55d107084-mkg-blog-escaping-the-black-box-hero-image.webp","Thought leadership workspace with AI strategy planning.",{"type":25,"children":996,"toc":1285},[997,1002,1007,1012,1026,1031,1036,1043,1049,1054,1059,1092,1097,1102,1108,1113,1118,1151,1156,1163,1169,1174,1179,1212,1217,1223,1228,1233,1238,1245,1251,1256,1261,1266,1271,1275,1280],{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":998,"children":999},{},[1000],{"type":38,"value":1001},"Many founders eventually hit a point where marketing feels less like a predictable growth engine and more like an expensive experiment. Budgets get spent, campaigns go live, and specialized agencies share intricate dashboards full of surface-level metrics. But despite all that activity, what's actually happening inside the operation remains unclear. Pipeline swings up and down, and the real drivers stay hidden in a \"black box\" of technical jargon, fragmented reports, and assumptions no one can confidently prove.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1003,"children":1004},{},[1005],{"type":38,"value":1006},"When marketing runs this way, the burden shifts back onto leadership. You're pulled into weekly status calls to fix strategy on the fly, interpret conflicting channel data, and manually translate between siloed teams. Instead of guiding the company's growth, you're stuck overseeing execution. You effectively become the project manager of your own growth engine—a role that drains your attention and pulls you away from running the business.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1008,"children":1009},{},[1010],{"type":38,"value":1011},"As the digital landscape continues to evolve, this model simply doesn't hold. The old approach, buying traffic and sending it to a static landing page to collect a form fill, is breaking down under new buyer behavior. The customer journey has split into multiple paths, and traditional search alone can no longer capture every qualified prospect who raises their hand.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1013,"children":1014},{},[1015,1017,1024],{"type":38,"value":1016},"According to",{"type":28,"tag":713,"props":1018,"children":1021},{"href":1019,"rel":1020},"https://learn.g2.com/g2-2026-ai-search-insight-report",[717],[1022],{"type":38,"value":1023}," G2's 2026 Answer Economy Insight Report",{"type":38,"value":1025},", 51% of B2B software buyers now begin their purchasing research inside an AI chatbot rather than a traditional search engine. These buyers are bypassing search results entirely, using structured prompts to command large language models (LLMs) to synthesize vendor shortlists on their behalf. They are looking for direct, synthesized comparisons rather than an endless list of blue links to open individually.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1027,"children":1028},{},[1029],{"type":38,"value":1030},"If your marketing program only works when you're personally involved, it isn't built for a world where machines are increasingly evaluating other machines. When a large language model scans the web to build a vendor shortlist for an enterprise buyer, it's not admiring your branding or clicking on your clever CTAs; it's processing data.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1032,"children":1033},{},[1034],{"type":38,"value":1035},"Breaking out of this pattern requires moving away from one-off tactics and toward Systematized Growth. That means putting a true operational structure in place, a Search Visibility Optimization (SVO) framework, designed to automatically capture demand from generative search, so your company can scale without constant founder oversight.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1037,"children":1038},{},[1039],{"type":28,"tag":738,"props":1040,"children":1042},{"alt":7,"src":1041},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/01d3c7af-7410-4a50-8d1c-d1ed6728438d-mkg-blog-escaping-the-black-box-image-1.png",[],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1044,"children":1046},{"id":1045},"the-operational-breakdown-of-gated-marketing",[1047],{"type":38,"value":1048},"The Operational Breakdown of Gated Marketing",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1050,"children":1051},{},[1052],{"type":38,"value":1053},"When marketing turns into an unmanaged black box, it's often because the company has grown on random acts of marketing. One contractor runs ads, an agency owns organic search, and someone in-house is responsible for content. Each group uses its own tools, cadence, and success metrics—leaving the founder to play interpreter and enforcer, tying everything together by hand.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1055,"children":1056},{},[1057],{"type":38,"value":1058},"This manual oversight introduces severe structural vulnerabilities across the organization:",{"type":28,"tag":791,"props":1060,"children":1061},{},[1062,1072,1082],{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1063,"children":1064},{},[1065,1070],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1066,"children":1067},{},[1068],{"type":38,"value":1069},"Fragmented Data Layers:",{"type":38,"value":1071}," The advertising team measures cost per click, while the content team tracks page views. Neither team can tell you how their efforts affect the AI models actively shaping your industry's vendor shortlists, leaving a massive gap in your overall pipeline attribution.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1073,"children":1074},{},[1075,1080],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1076,"children":1077},{},[1078],{"type":38,"value":1079},"Wasted Executive Energy:",{"type":38,"value":1081}," You spend critical leadership hours in meetings that read updates out loud, rather than making strategic adjustments based on data trends. Instead of reviewing outcomes, you are tracking tasks.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1083,"children":1084},{},[1085,1090],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1086,"children":1087},{},[1088],{"type":38,"value":1089},"Invisible Funnel Leaks:",{"type":38,"value":1091}," When a buyer asks an LLM to compare your product to a competitor, and the model misrepresents your pricing or ignores your core security features, your team doesn't catch it. The loss happens in private, untrackable environments before a lead is ever generated.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1093,"children":1094},{},[1095],{"type":38,"value":1096},"To remove this friction, marketing needs to run on a repeatable, transparent operating system. Work can't live in someone's inbox or on a personal drive—it has to move through a shared workspace where priorities, blockers, and owners are immediately clear.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1098,"children":1099},{},[1100],{"type":38,"value":1101},"With this kind of systemic visibility in place, you can achieve true off-my-plate execution. The founder can quickly check progress at any time, without chasing down updates or pulling the team into extra status meetings.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1103,"children":1105},{"id":1104},"structuring-the-svo-operating-system",[1106],{"type":38,"value":1107},"Structuring the SVO Operating System",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1109,"children":1110},{},[1111],{"type":38,"value":1112},"A scalable marketing engine cannot rely on human vigilance; it must rely on a closed-loop infrastructure. We apply a standardized architecture that aligns strategy, processes, and people into a singular operating rhythm. This framework ensures that your technical authority is structured correctly for both the human prospect and the LLM crawler, operating entirely without founder hand-holding.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1114,"children":1115},{},[1116],{"type":38,"value":1117},"This structural shift requires executing three distinct operational deployment steps:",{"type":28,"tag":791,"props":1119,"children":1120},{},[1121,1131,1141],{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1122,"children":1123},{},[1124,1129],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1125,"children":1126},{},[1127],{"type":38,"value":1128},"Funnel Bottleneck Diagnosis:",{"type":38,"value":1130}," Strip away channel-specific commentary to analyze exactly where pipeline value is stalling—whether it is an attribution deficit in your digital advertising or a visibility failure inside AI search databases. We locate the single point of failure rather than spreading focus across twenty different minor metrics.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1132,"children":1133},{},[1134,1139],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1135,"children":1136},{},[1137],{"type":38,"value":1138},"Weekly Sprint Cadence:",{"type":38,"value":1140}," Shift execution from monolithic quarterly goals to predictable weekly sprint cycles. Each sprint must assign clear deliverables, explicit ownership, and measurable output criteria to eliminate execution drift and keep the team focused on high-priority tasks.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1142,"children":1143},{},[1144,1149],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1145,"children":1146},{},[1147],{"type":38,"value":1148},"Semantic Layer Integration:",{"type":38,"value":1150}," Map your product specifications, technical case studies, and compliance data into clean, structured schemas that LLMs use to validate brand capabilities, turning your website into an authoritative knowledge base that can be indexed programmatically.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1152,"children":1153},{},[1154],{"type":38,"value":1155},"When these components run in harmony, marketing ceases to feel like a series of disconnected bets. It becomes a predictable workflow that converts institutional knowledge into structured data, ensuring your business is automatically indexed wherever buyers are conducting research. The machine does the heavy lifting of discovery, freeing up your team to focus on conversion and retention.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1157,"children":1158},{},[1159],{"type":28,"tag":738,"props":1160,"children":1162},{"alt":7,"src":1161},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/0d285696-fa87-49eb-8fb7-497be4070be7-mkg-blog-escaping-the-black-box-image-2.png",[],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1164,"children":1166},{"id":1165},"why-a-systematized-infrastructure-always-wins",[1167],{"type":38,"value":1168},"Why a Systematized Infrastructure Always Wins",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1170,"children":1171},{},[1172],{"type":38,"value":1173},"The primary benefit of removing the founder from the daily execution loop is speed and consistency. When your marketing is run through a rigorous operating system, it builds a compounding data advantage that ad-hoc campaigns cannot match. It shifts the organization from a reactive posture to a proactive, predictable model of demand generation.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1175,"children":1176},{},[1177],{"type":38,"value":1178},"Consider the operational differences between an ad-hoc marketing structure and a systematized environment:",{"type":28,"tag":791,"props":1180,"children":1181},{},[1182,1192,1202],{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1183,"children":1184},{},[1185,1190],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1186,"children":1187},{},[1188],{"type":38,"value":1189},"Continuous Market Alignment:",{"type":38,"value":1191}," While an unmanaged team waits for a monthly review to pivot strategy, a sprint-based system adjusts execution every seven days based on real-world data signals and performance trends.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1193,"children":1194},{},[1195,1200],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1196,"children":1197},{},[1198],{"type":38,"value":1199},"Automated Authority Building:",{"type":38,"value":1201}," Instead of treating executive thought leadership as a sporadic task dependent on free time, a systematized cadence turns your team's subject-matter expertise into machine-readable assets on a fixed schedule.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1203,"children":1204},{},[1205,1210],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1206,"children":1207},{},[1208],{"type":38,"value":1209},"Predictable Scaling:",{"type":38,"value":1211}," By isolating the exact variables that drive discovery—such as peer review frequency, schema deployment, or technical documentation clarity—you can scale your program based on operational data rather than guesswork or creative intuition.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1213,"children":1214},{},[1215],{"type":38,"value":1216},"This infrastructure turns your digital footprint into an automated sales engine. When an AI search engine crawls the web to construct a head-to-head comparison table for a prospective buyer, a systematized site provides unambiguous, verified criteria that force the model to rank your brand as a low-risk option. The competitor relying on creative, un-indexed copywriting is filtered out before a sales call is ever booked, giving your sales pipeline an unfair advantage.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1218,"children":1220},{"id":1219},"shifting-from-babysitting-to-strategic-calibration",[1221],{"type":38,"value":1222},"Shifting from Babysitting to Strategic Calibration",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1224,"children":1225},{},[1226],{"type":38,"value":1227},"Stepping out of the marketing black box doesn't mean giving up visibility into your growth metrics. Real operational control doesn't come from micromanaging tasks or personally reviewing every headline; it comes from having a single, reliable source of truth where progress is obvious, data is unfiltered, and accountability is built in.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1229,"children":1230},{},[1231],{"type":38,"value":1232},"Your job as an executive is to tune the engine, not to crank the gears yourself. Once you have an operating system that runs on its own, your relationship with marketing changes. Weekly status calls full of personal updates give way to focused working sessions aimed at clearing technical roadblocks, improving conversion performance, and removing friction for your execution team.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1234,"children":1235},{},[1236],{"type":38,"value":1237},"That level of clarity also reshapes how you invest in growth. You stop betting on scattered channel experiments and start funding specific data advantages. If your analytics show that buyers are discovering you through technical reviews cited in AI tools, you can allocate budget precisely to strengthening that part of your digital footprint. The guesswork disappears from your spending, and every dollar is tied to a clear, system-driven objective.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1239,"children":1240},{},[1241],{"type":28,"tag":738,"props":1242,"children":1244},{"alt":7,"src":1243},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/88f64901-fbdc-41f1-ae77-6a2cee60417f-mkg-blog-escaping-the-black-box-image-3.png",[],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1246,"children":1248},{"id":1247},"building-the-off-my-plate-reality",[1249],{"type":38,"value":1250},"Building the Off-My-Plate Reality",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1252,"children":1253},{},[1254],{"type":38,"value":1255},"For a growing company, marketing maturity means moving past a reliance on individual heroics or founder oversight. A business that depends on the founder's daily cognitive energy to execute its visibility strategy cannot scale its pipeline, build predictable equity, or achieve true operational freedom.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1257,"children":1258},{},[1259],{"type":38,"value":1260},"Establishing this maturity requires an intentional investment in your company's operational skeleton. It means rejecting vague performance summaries, dismantling uncoordinated team structures, and installing a unified system that operates systematically across every channel, platform, and automated interface.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1262,"children":1263},{},[1264],{"type":38,"value":1265},"We design and implement the technical architecture and operating rhythms that allow business leaders to confidently step away from daily campaign execution. By replacing the black box with radical visibility and a closed-loop sprint cycle, we ensure your growth engine compounds value every single week, building one that automatically captures modern demand.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1267,"children":1268},{},[1269],{"type":38,"value":1270},"Do not let your company's market visibility remain tethered to your personal schedule or individual oversight. Systematize your expertise, build a structured digital footprint, and install an operating system designed for the future of automated discovery.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1272,"children":1273},{"id":963},[1274],{"type":38,"value":969},{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1276,"children":1277},{},[1278],{"type":38,"value":1279},"Many B2B founders find themselves stuck babysitting their marketing because teams are fragmented and reporting is hard to trust. That level of dependency poses a serious risk as the market shifts into the Answer Economy, where more than half of software buyers now rely on AI chat tools rather than traditional search engines to build their vendor shortlists.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1281,"children":1282},{},[1283],{"type":38,"value":1284},"To get out of this bottleneck, you have to move beyond disconnected tactics and adopt a Systematized Growth model built on a disciplined Search Visibility Optimization (SVO) framework. By putting an operating system in place, one that runs on weekly sprints, full task transparency, and machine-readable technical architecture, lean teams can achieve true \"off-my-plate\" execution, capturing AI-driven demand without constant founder involvement.",{"title":7,"searchDepth":676,"depth":676,"links":1286},[1287,1288,1289,1290,1291,1292],{"id":1045,"depth":676,"text":1048},{"id":1104,"depth":676,"text":1107},{"id":1165,"depth":676,"text":1168},{"id":1219,"depth":676,"text":1222},{"id":1247,"depth":676,"text":1250},{"id":963,"depth":676,"text":969},"content:blog:seo:escaping-the-black-box-installing-an-svo-operating-system-that-runs-without-you.md","blog/seo/escaping-the-black-box-installing-an-svo-operating-system-that-runs-without-you.md","blog/seo/escaping-the-black-box-installing-an-svo-operating-system-that-runs-without-you",{"_path":1297,"_dir":689,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":1298,"description":1299,"img":1300,"date":1301,"body":1302,"_type":680,"_id":1651,"_source":682,"_file":1652,"_stem":1653,"_extension":685,"category":689,"minutes":1654},"/blog/seo/the-synthesized-buyer-mastering-the-2026-brand-visibility-audit-for-llms","The Synthesized Buyer - Mastering the 2026 Brand Visibility Audit for LLMs","If you aren’t in the training data, you aren’t on the shortlist. Here is how to master Brand Visibility Optimization (BVO) for the AI-driven buyer.","https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/73b38499-1c0a-46c3-aaaf-a824ff083005-mkg-blog-the-synthesized-buyer-hero-image.webp","2026-05-06T15:28:34.835Z",{"type":25,"children":1303,"toc":1641},[1304,1309,1333,1338,1343,1353,1358,1363,1368,1373,1378,1384,1396,1408,1413,1423,1428,1433,1467,1472,1478,1490,1495,1500,1510,1515,1520,1553,1558,1564,1569,1574,1579,1585,1590,1608,1613,1617],{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1305,"children":1306},{},[1307],{"type":38,"value":1308},"The B2B buying journey isn’t happening on search results pages anymore. For a long time, marketing success basically meant winning on Google: rank in the top organic spots, pick the right keywords, watch the clicks, and call more traffic “more authority.” But in 2026, something else is quietly running the show in procurement: large language models (LLMs).",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1310,"children":1311},{},[1312,1314,1324,1326,1331],{"type":38,"value":1313},"This isn’t a distant trend; it is the current reality of B2B procurement. New research from",{"type":28,"tag":713,"props":1315,"children":1317},{"href":715,"rel":1316},[717],[1318,1320],{"type":38,"value":1319},"  ",{"type":28,"tag":722,"props":1321,"children":1322},{},[1323],{"type":38,"value":726},{"type":38,"value":1325}," shows that ",{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1327,"children":1328},{},[1329],{"type":38,"value":1330},"51% of B2B software buyers",{"type":38,"value":1332}," now begin their research in an AI chatbot rather than a traditional search engine. These buyers aren’t paging through search results. They are using single prompts to ask AI tools to compare enterprise platforms based on specific needs. In that moment, the AI synthesizes an answer from the data it has already processed, effectively \"one-shotting\" the shortlist before a vendor is ever contacted. ",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1334,"children":1335},{},[1336],{"type":38,"value":1337},"If your brand isn’t in that data, if you’re missing from high-authority industry conversations, technical communities, or archives of executive thought leadership, you’re effectively shut out of that synthesis. Buyers don’t see you, long before they even think about visiting your website. That means we need to rethink what brand authority actually looks like and how we measure it.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1339,"children":1340},{},[1341],{"type":38,"value":1342},"To stay in the game, traditional SEO alone isn’t enough. You need to focus on Brand Visibility Optimization (BVO). BVO isn’t about gaming an algorithm; it’s about becoming a stable, trustworthy source of information that automated systems consistently recognize and surface. In practice, that means ensuring your brand appears in the internet’s most trusted and widely referenced data sources.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1344,"children":1346},{"id":1345},"the-transition-of-the-procurement-funnel",[1347,1351],{"type":28,"tag":738,"props":1348,"children":1350},{"alt":7,"src":1349},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/accd88f6-f3c6-4b91-bb0e-bb9642914996-mkg-blog-the-synthesized-buyer-image-1.png",[],{"type":38,"value":1352},"The Transition of the Procurement Funnel",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1354,"children":1355},{},[1356],{"type":38,"value":1357},"For years, traditional marketing treated visibility like a straight line: push out enough content and ads, and sooner or later, buyers would notice you. But that’s not how people actually buy today.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1359,"children":1360},{},[1361],{"type":38,"value":1362},"Modern buyers lean on what’s often called \"dark social\"—recommendations, peer reviews, and technical back-and-forth that live in private Slack channels, Discord servers, group DMs, and niche community forums. None of this shows up in your typical analytics, but it heavily shapes who makes the shortlist.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1364,"children":1365},{},[1366],{"type":38,"value":1367},"AI models are being trained on this messy, decentralized ecosystem. When they generate a recommendation, they’re effectively scanning for patterns: where is there consensus, and which brands keep getting mentioned in these communities?",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1369,"children":1370},{},[1371],{"type":38,"value":1372},"That creates a real risk for lean B2B teams: cranking out large volumes of generic content that adds nothing new. If what you publish reads like a generic brochure, the model will treat it as background noise rather than a signal.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1374,"children":1375},{},[1376],{"type":38,"value":1377},"To be surfaced and cited by an AI, your brand needs to contribute something specific and useful—unique, field-tested insight that helps the model justify its answer. In other words, you have to publish the kind of information the model relies on to feel confident that it’s right.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1379,"children":1381},{"id":1380},"establishing-the-pattern-the-consistency-cadence",[1382],{"type":38,"value":1383},"Establishing the Pattern: The Consistency Cadence",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1385,"children":1386},{},[1387,1389,1394],{"type":38,"value":1388},"At the core of Brand Visibility Optimization is the concept of ",{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1390,"children":1391},{},[1392],{"type":38,"value":1393},"Consistency",{"type":38,"value":1395},". This is the factor that separates a single campaign from a reliable growth system. For a model to recognize your brand as an authority, it needs to see a persistent, high-quality pattern of information over time.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1397,"children":1398},{},[1399,1401,1406],{"type":38,"value":1400},"Executive thought leadership is a critical technical asset in this process. Models prioritize data linked to verifiable experts and recurring themes. When your leadership team maintains a consistent cadence and regularly contributes technical insights to industry forums and reputable publications, you establish your brand as a primary source in the ",{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1402,"children":1403},{},[1404],{"type":38,"value":1405},"LLM Training Data for Brands",{"type":38,"value":1407},".",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1409,"children":1410},{},[1411],{"type":38,"value":1412},"A short-term approach does not work here. You cannot establish authority in a training set with a single project. You must show up regularly and deliver a steady stream of professional insights. This approach ensures that when models are updated, your brand is a core component of the system's understanding of your category.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1414,"children":1416},{"id":1415},"the-brand-visibility-audit-where-do-you-exist",[1417,1421],{"type":28,"tag":738,"props":1418,"children":1420},{"alt":7,"src":1419},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/9639ded1-86f0-4500-bb1a-c2ad511e205b-mkg-blog-the-synthesized-buyer-image-2.png",[],{"type":38,"value":1422},"The Brand Visibility Audit: Where Do You Exist?",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1424,"children":1425},{},[1426],{"type":38,"value":1427},"Mastering BVO begins with a technical audit of your brand's digital footprint. You must ask: if an automated agent were vetting this company, what evidence would it find?",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1429,"children":1430},{},[1431],{"type":38,"value":1432},"The audit should focus on three primary areas:",{"type":28,"tag":1434,"props":1435,"children":1436},"ol",{},[1437,1447,1457],{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1438,"children":1439},{},[1440,1445],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1441,"children":1442},{},[1443],{"type":38,"value":1444},"Community Mentions:",{"type":38,"value":1446}," AI models place a heavy weight on community-driven platforms like Reddit and technical forums. Are practitioners discussing your product or solving problems using your documentation? Without community discussion, the model is unlikely to recommend you.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1448,"children":1449},{},[1450,1455],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1451,"children":1452},{},[1453],{"type":38,"value":1454},"Expert Proximity:",{"type":38,"value":1456}," Is your brand associated with recognized experts in your field? When your team is cited in third-party research or technical interviews, it creates a link that models use to determine authority.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1458,"children":1459},{},[1460,1465],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1461,"children":1462},{},[1463],{"type":38,"value":1464},"Technical Transparency:",{"type":38,"value":1466}," Models require structured, accurate data. If your technical specifications, API documentation, and pricing structures are inconsistent or difficult to access, the system cannot build an accurate profile of your business.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1468,"children":1469},{},[1470],{"type":38,"value":1471},"Many brands are currently failing this audit because they are invisible in the places where information is synthesized. To fix this, stop treating social media as just a distribution channel and start treating it as a space to establish your brand’s technical authority.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1473,"children":1475},{"id":1474},"navigating-dark-social-attribution",[1476],{"type":38,"value":1477},"Navigating Dark Social Attribution",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1479,"children":1480},{},[1481,1483,1488],{"type":38,"value":1482},"A significant challenge of the BVO era is that the most valuable interactions are difficult to track. ",{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1484,"children":1485},{},[1486],{"type":38,"value":1487},"Dark Social Attribution",{"type":38,"value":1489}," is often invisible to those who rely only on dashboards. A lead might appear as a direct search, but the reality is that the buyer spent months seeing your name in private communities and reading summaries of your executive's insights.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1491,"children":1492},{},[1493],{"type":38,"value":1494},"Because you cannot track every touchpoint, you must optimize the environment where the buyer spends time. This means providing human, relatable, and technical content that people want to share in private channels.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1496,"children":1497},{},[1498],{"type":38,"value":1499},"When your content is shared in a private group, it eventually reaches the public web through summaries and community archives. This is the long-term goal of BVO. You are establishing authority in private spaces that eventually informs the data models used in public searches.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1501,"children":1503},{"id":1502},"systematizing-authority-moving-from-reactive-to-rhythmic",[1504,1508],{"type":28,"tag":738,"props":1505,"children":1507},{"alt":7,"src":1506},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/fdbe942b-e9d7-4a74-8829-9e9587fdd7b6-mkg-blog-the-synthesized-buyer-image-3.png",[],{"type":38,"value":1509},"Systematizing Authority: Moving from Reactive to Rhythmic",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1511,"children":1512},{},[1513],{"type":38,"value":1514},"The transition to a BVO-focused strategy requires moving from reactive marketing to a systematic operation. A \"launch and leave\" mentality is no longer effective. You need a system that ensures your brand's data is constantly updated and reinforced.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1516,"children":1517},{},[1518],{"type":38,"value":1519},"This involves:",{"type":28,"tag":791,"props":1521,"children":1522},{},[1523,1533,1543],{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1524,"children":1525},{},[1526,1531],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1527,"children":1528},{},[1529],{"type":38,"value":1530},"Executive Cadence:",{"type":38,"value":1532}," A strict schedule for your leadership team to contribute to external platforms.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1534,"children":1535},{},[1536,1541],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1537,"children":1538},{},[1539],{"type":38,"value":1540},"Structured Knowledge:",{"type":38,"value":1542}," A website that acts as a hub of structured data that is easy for agents to crawl and understand.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1544,"children":1545},{},[1546,1551],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1547,"children":1548},{},[1549],{"type":38,"value":1550},"Community Engagement:",{"type":38,"value":1552}," Participating in the spaces where your buyers live and providing value without expecting an immediate click.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1554,"children":1555},{},[1556],{"type":38,"value":1557},"When these elements are connected, marketing moves from disconnected tactics to a reliable system. You stop spending budget on ads that are ignored and start building brand authority that models are required to cite.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1559,"children":1561},{"id":1560},"the-future-of-b2b-visibility",[1562],{"type":38,"value":1563},"The Future of B2B Visibility",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1565,"children":1566},{},[1567],{"type":38,"value":1568},"The rise of the modern buyer is not a threat to brands that prioritize accuracy and consistency. It is a threat to brands that rely on generic, high-volume content. If your content sounds like a brochure, the AI will summarize the basic points and move on. But if your content contains specific tactics and operational honesty, you add value that the system recognizes.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1570,"children":1571},{},[1572],{"type":38,"value":1573},"We show personality through accuracy and tone, not through forced branding. In the world of generative search, being clear and authoritative is what gets your brand cited. It is about being professional and direct.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1575,"children":1576},{},[1577],{"type":38,"value":1578},"Recalibrating for 2026 is about returning to the fundamentals of building a brand that matters to both people and the systems they use. It is about moving away from short-term shortcuts and focusing on lasting authority.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1580,"children":1582},{"id":1581},"final-thoughts-the-path-to-synthesis",[1583],{"type":38,"value":1584},"Final Thoughts: The Path to Synthesis",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1586,"children":1587},{},[1588],{"type":38,"value":1589},"The B2B measurement gap is widening, and the ways we prove marketing value are changing. However, the goal remains the same: to be the most trusted and visible option for the buyer.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1591,"children":1592},{},[1593,1595,1600,1602,1606],{"type":38,"value":1594},"In 2026, that buyer is assisted by an LLM. By mastering ",{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1596,"children":1597},{},[1598],{"type":38,"value":1599},"Brand Visibility Optimization",{"type":38,"value":1601},", addressing the ",{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1603,"children":1604},{},[1605],{"type":38,"value":1487},{"type":38,"value":1607}," gap, and maintaining a consistent output of expertise, you ensure that your brand is recognized.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1609,"children":1610},{},[1611],{"type":38,"value":1612},"Do not be the brand that is missing from the synthesis. Build the authority that makes your presence clear. The success of your growth depends on this systematic approach.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1614,"children":1615},{"id":963},[1616],{"type":38,"value":969},{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1618,"children":1619},{},[1620,1622,1627,1629,1633,1635,1639],{"type":38,"value":1621},"The 2026 B2B buyer journey has changed: 35% use AI tools for vendor selection. To remain visible, brands must adopt ",{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1623,"children":1624},{},[1625],{"type":38,"value":1626},"Brand Visibility Optimization (BVO)",{"type":38,"value":1628}," to ensure they are present in ",{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1630,"children":1631},{},[1632],{"type":38,"value":1405},{"type":38,"value":1634},". Success requires navigating ",{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1636,"children":1637},{},[1638],{"type":38,"value":1487},{"type":38,"value":1640},", the private channels where peer consensus is formed. By implementing a consistent cadence for executive thought leadership and treating the digital footprint as a data pattern for AI recognition, B2B teams can overcome inefficiencies and build authority in an AI-driven marketplace.",{"title":7,"searchDepth":676,"depth":676,"links":1642},[1643,1644,1645,1646,1647,1648,1649,1650],{"id":1345,"depth":676,"text":1352},{"id":1380,"depth":676,"text":1383},{"id":1415,"depth":676,"text":1422},{"id":1474,"depth":676,"text":1477},{"id":1502,"depth":676,"text":1509},{"id":1560,"depth":676,"text":1563},{"id":1581,"depth":676,"text":1584},{"id":963,"depth":676,"text":969},"content:blog:seo:the-synthesized-buyer-mastering-the-2026-brand-visibility-audit-for-llms.md","blog/seo/the-synthesized-buyer-mastering-the-2026-brand-visibility-audit-for-llms.md","blog/seo/the-synthesized-buyer-mastering-the-2026-brand-visibility-audit-for-llms",7,{"_path":1656,"_dir":689,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":1657,"description":1658,"_schema":1659,"authors":1660,"date":1661,"img":1662,"imgAlt":1663,"body":1664,"_type":680,"_id":2078,"_source":682,"_file":2079,"_stem":2080,"_extension":685,"category":689,"minutes":2081},"/blog/seo/monthly-search-industry-report-april-2026","Monthly Search Industry Report - April 2026","Stay updated with the April 2026 search landscape: core update impacts, back button crackdown, task-driven search, and the rise of agent-powered visibility.","default",[],"2026-05-05T16:25:00Z","/images/blog/mkg-blog-search-industry-overview-april.webp","Monthly Search Industry Report",{"type":25,"children":1665,"toc":2071},[1666,1675,1718,1727,1732,1816,1825,1830,1896,1905,1915,1928,1937,1971,1980,1990,1999,2004,2009,2042,2050,2068],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1667,"children":1669},{"id":1668},"executive-summary-the-tldr",[1670],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1671,"children":1672},{},[1673],{"type":38,"value":1674},"Executive Summary (The TL;DR)",{"type":28,"tag":791,"props":1676,"children":1677},{},[1678,1688,1698,1708],{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1679,"children":1680},{},[1681,1686],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1682,"children":1683},{},[1684],{"type":38,"value":1685},"March Core Update Completion:",{"type":38,"value":1687}," The major ranking update that began in March finished on April 8. It shifted traffic toward specialist sites and away from general content aggregators.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1689,"children":1690},{},[1691,1696],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1692,"children":1693},{},[1694],{"type":38,"value":1695},"The \"Back Button\" Ban:",{"type":38,"value":1697}," Google officially labeled \"back button hijacking\" as spam. Sites that trap users by blocking their ability to return to search results will face penalties starting June 15.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1699,"children":1700},{},[1701,1706],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1702,"children":1703},{},[1704],{"type":38,"value":1705},"Search as a \"Task Engine\":",{"type":38,"value":1707}," Google is adding agentic features, like AI that can call stores to check inventory or build travel itineraries, shifting the focus from clicks to completed actions.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1709,"children":1710},{},[1711,1716],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1712,"children":1713},{},[1714],{"type":38,"value":1715},"GPT-5.5 Launch:",{"type":38,"value":1717}," OpenAI released its most capable agentic model yet, designed to perform multi-step work independently, further changing how users find professional information.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1719,"children":1721},{"id":1720},"algorithm-technical-seo-updates",[1722],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1723,"children":1724},{},[1725],{"type":38,"value":1726},"Algorithm & Technical SEO Updates",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1728,"children":1729},{},[1730],{"type":38,"value":1731},"The focus this month shifted from ranking keywords to punishing deceptive user experiences and rewarding technical efficiency.",{"type":28,"tag":791,"props":1733,"children":1734},{},[1735,1754,1776,1797],{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1736,"children":1737},{},[1738,1743,1745,1752],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1739,"children":1740},{},[1741],{"type":38,"value":1742},"March Core Update Wraps:",{"type":38,"value":1744}," Google confirmed the March 2026 Core Update ended on April 8. Analysis from ",{"type":28,"tag":713,"props":1746,"children":1749},{"href":1747,"rel":1748},"https://searchengineland.com/march-2026-google-core-update-what-changed-474397",[717],[1750],{"type":38,"value":1751},"Search Engine Land",{"type":38,"value":1753}," indicates that niche, authoritative brands saw the most growth, while broad comparison sites lost ground.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1755,"children":1756},{},[1757,1762,1764,1774],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1758,"children":1759},{},[1760],{"type":38,"value":1761},"Back Button Hijacking Policy:",{"type":38,"value":1763}," On April 13, Google introduced a ",{"type":28,"tag":713,"props":1765,"children":1768},{"href":1766,"rel":1767},"https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2026/04/back-button-hijacking?authuser=2",[717],[1769],{"type":28,"tag":722,"props":1770,"children":1771},{},[1772],{"type":38,"value":1773},"new spam policy",{"type":38,"value":1775}," targeting sites that interfere with browser navigation. If your site uses scripts to trap users or redirect them when they try to leave, you face automated demotions.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1777,"children":1778},{},[1779,1784,1785,1795],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1780,"children":1781},{},[1782],{"type":38,"value":1783},"The 2MB Fetch Limit:",{"type":38,"value":720},{"type":28,"tag":713,"props":1786,"children":1789},{"href":1787,"rel":1788},"https://www.searchenginejournal.com/technical-seo-audit-new-layer/571583/",[717],[1790],{"type":28,"tag":722,"props":1791,"children":1792},{},[1793],{"type":38,"value":1794},"Search Engine Journal",{"type":38,"value":1796}," highlighted a critical technical threshold: Googlebot generally stops reading a page after the first 2MB. For tech companies with heavy code or long documentation, this makes code efficiency a direct ranking factor.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1798,"children":1799},{},[1800,1805,1807,1814],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1801,"children":1802},{},[1803],{"type":38,"value":1804},"\"Read More\" Optimization:",{"type":38,"value":1806}," There’s now ",{"type":28,"tag":713,"props":1808,"children":1811},{"href":1809,"rel":1810},"https://searchengineland.com/google-adds-read-more-links-best-practices-474807",[717],[1812],{"type":38,"value":1813},"new guidance",{"type":38,"value":1815}," for content hidden behind \"Read More\" buttons. Google now recommends keeping key information visible on page load to ensure it is indexed for AI answers.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1817,"children":1819},{"id":1818},"the-geoaeo-frontier",[1820],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1821,"children":1822},{},[1823],{"type":38,"value":1824},"The GEO/AEO Frontier",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1826,"children":1827},{},[1828],{"type":38,"value":1829},"Search Visibility Optimization (SVO) is moving into the \"Agentic Era,\" where AI doesn't just find information, it performs tasks.",{"type":28,"tag":791,"props":1831,"children":1832},{},[1833,1855,1877],{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1834,"children":1835},{},[1836,1841,1843,1853],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1837,"children":1838},{},[1839],{"type":38,"value":1840},"Google's \"Task Assistant\":",{"type":38,"value":1842}," Google launched new features that allow ",{"type":28,"tag":713,"props":1844,"children":1847},{"href":1845,"rel":1846},"https://www.lumar.io/blog/industry-news/seo-ai-search-industry-news-april-2026/",[717],[1848],{"type":28,"tag":722,"props":1849,"children":1850},{},[1851],{"type":38,"value":1852},"AI to call stores",{"type":38,"value":1854}," to check product availability and manage complex travel bookings directly in the SERP. This prioritizes structured data (Schema) over traditional blog content.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1856,"children":1857},{},[1858,1863,1865,1875],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1859,"children":1860},{},[1861],{"type":38,"value":1862},"GPT-5.5 Agentic Workflows:",{"type":38,"value":1864}," Released on April 23, ",{"type":28,"tag":713,"props":1866,"children":1869},{"href":1867,"rel":1868},"https://www.artificialintelligence-news.com/news/gpt-5-5-is-openais-most-capable-agentic-ai-model-yet-at-twice-the-api-price/",[717],[1870],{"type":28,"tag":722,"props":1871,"children":1872},{},[1873],{"type":38,"value":1874},"GPT-5.5",{"type":38,"value":1876}," is built to handle real work, such as planning and tool coordination. This model is more likely to cite sources that provide clear, executable data rather than long-form prose.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1878,"children":1879},{},[1880,1885,1887,1894],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1881,"children":1882},{},[1883],{"type":38,"value":1884},"Chrome's AI Mode Integration:",{"type":38,"value":1886}," Google is rolling out an ",{"type":28,"tag":713,"props":1888,"children":1891},{"href":1889,"rel":1890},"https://www.seroundtable.com/google-tests-enter-ai-mode-button-37145.html",[717],[1892],{"type":38,"value":1893},"\"Enter AI Mode\"",{"type":38,"value":1895}," button in the Chrome address bar. This allows the browser to answer questions by reading the user's open tabs, making on-page context more valuable than ever for brand visibility.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1897,"children":1899},{"id":1898},"strategic-implications-for-leaders",[1900],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1901,"children":1902},{},[1903],{"type":38,"value":1904},"Strategic Implications for Leaders",{"type":28,"tag":1906,"props":1907,"children":1909},"h4",{"id":1908},"what-to-ignore",[1910],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1911,"children":1912},{},[1913],{"type":38,"value":1914},"What to ignore:",{"type":28,"tag":791,"props":1916,"children":1917},{},[1918],{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1919,"children":1920},{},[1921,1926],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1922,"children":1923},{},[1924],{"type":38,"value":1925},"Vanity Link Building:",{"type":38,"value":1927}," With Google's new focus on \"Experience\" and \"Task Completion,\" old-school guest posting for links is yielding diminishing returns. Focus on being the answer-first resource, ** ** the domain AI chooses to complete a user's task.",{"type":28,"tag":1906,"props":1929,"children":1931},{"id":1930},"where-to-pivot",[1932],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1933,"children":1934},{},[1935],{"type":38,"value":1936},"Where to pivot:",{"type":28,"tag":791,"props":1938,"children":1939},{},[1940,1961],{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1941,"children":1942},{},[1943,1948,1950,1959],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1944,"children":1945},{},[1946],{"type":38,"value":1947},"Audit for \"History Hijacking\":",{"type":38,"value":1949}," Ensure your marketing or ad scripts aren't accidentally violating the new ",{"type":28,"tag":713,"props":1951,"children":1953},{"href":1766,"rel":1952},[717],[1954],{"type":28,"tag":722,"props":1955,"children":1956},{},[1957],{"type":38,"value":1958},"Back Button policy",{"type":38,"value":1960},". Even vignette ads can sometimes trigger these penalties.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":1962,"children":1963},{},[1964,1969],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1965,"children":1966},{},[1967],{"type":38,"value":1968},"Structure for Agents:",{"type":38,"value":1970}," To be hired by a Google or OpenAI agent, your business data (pricing, features, availability) must be in a machine-readable format, such as JSON-LD. If an agent can’t \"read\" your inventory, it will recommend a competitor with better-structured data.",{"type":28,"tag":1906,"props":1972,"children":1974},{"id":1973},"looking-ahead",[1975],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1976,"children":1977},{},[1978],{"type":38,"value":1979},"Looking Ahead:",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":1981,"children":1982},{},[1983,1988],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1984,"children":1985},{},[1986],{"type":38,"value":1987},"The \"Side-Panel\" Habit:",{"type":38,"value":1989}," Watch how Google's new side-by-side view in Chrome changes click behavior. Users are now staying on your site while chatting with an AI on the side. In May, we expect to see \"Time on Page\" metrics rise, but \"Internal Clicks\" fall as the AI does the navigating for them.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1991,"children":1993},{"id":1992},"call-to-action-optimize-for-the-future",[1994],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":1995,"children":1996},{},[1997],{"type":38,"value":1998},"Call to Action: Optimize for the Future",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2000,"children":2001},{},[2002],{"type":38,"value":2003},"The April updates signal a shift from a \"web of pages\" to a \"web of actions.\" For B2B and SaaS leaders, being found is no longer enough; your site must be optimized to help AI agents complete their work.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2005,"children":2006},{},[2007],{"type":38,"value":2008},"MKG helps VC-backed companies dominate this new landscape via:",{"type":28,"tag":791,"props":2010,"children":2011},{},[2012,2022,2032],{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":2013,"children":2014},{},[2015,2020],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":2016,"children":2017},{},[2018],{"type":38,"value":2019},"GEO/AEO Gap Analysis:",{"type":38,"value":2021}," Identifying where AI agents are failing to \"see\" your core product data.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":2023,"children":2024},{},[2025,2030],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":2026,"children":2027},{},[2028],{"type":38,"value":2029},"SVO Focus:",{"type":38,"value":2031}," Incorporating all areas of search into one, holistic and coherent strategy.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":2033,"children":2034},{},[2035,2040],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":2036,"children":2037},{},[2038],{"type":38,"value":2039},"Full-Funnel Attribution:",{"type":38,"value":2041}," Measuring how AI Mode interactions contribute to your bottom line, even without a traditional click.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2043,"children":2044},{},[2045],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":2046,"children":2047},{},[2048],{"type":38,"value":2049},"Don't get trapped by the old playbook.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2051,"children":2052},{},[2053,2066],{"type":28,"tag":713,"props":2054,"children":2057},{"href":2055,"rel":2056},"https://mkgmarketinginc.com/book-a-call/",[717],[2058],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":2059,"children":2060},{},[2061],{"type":28,"tag":722,"props":2062,"children":2063},{},[2064],{"type":38,"value":2065},"Book a Discovery Call",{"type":38,"value":2067}," to secure your visibility in the agentic search era.",{"type":28,"tag":669,"props":2069,"children":2070},{},[],{"title":7,"searchDepth":676,"depth":676,"links":2072},[2073,2074,2075,2076,2077],{"id":1668,"depth":676,"text":1674},{"id":1720,"depth":676,"text":1726},{"id":1818,"depth":676,"text":1824},{"id":1898,"depth":676,"text":1904},{"id":1992,"depth":676,"text":1998},"content:blog:seo:monthly-search-industry-report-april-2026.md","blog/seo/monthly-search-industry-report-april-2026.md","blog/seo/monthly-search-industry-report-april-2026",4,{"_path":2083,"_dir":689,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":2084,"description":2085,"img":2086,"date":2087,"imgAlt":2088,"_schema":1659,"authors":2089,"body":2090,"_type":680,"_id":2422,"_source":682,"_file":2423,"_stem":2424,"_extension":685,"category":689,"minutes":987},"/blog/seo/agentic-procurement-is-your-website-machine-readable-or-just-human-centric","Agentic Procurement - Is Your Website Machine-Readable or Just Human-Centric?","Procurement is moving to AI agents. If your site isn't optimized for agent readiness, you are invisible to the new buyer.","/images/blog/mkg-blog-agentic-procurement-hero-image.webp","2026-04-29T17:59:00Z","Agentic Procurement",[],{"type":25,"children":2091,"toc":2412},[2092,2097,2102,2107,2112,2119,2128,2133,2138,2143,2148,2157,2162,2167,2172,2177,2184,2193,2198,2203,2208,2241,2246,2251,2260,2265,2270,2303,2308,2315,2324,2329,2334,2339,2344,2353,2358,2363,2368,2373,2382,2387,2392,2397,2404,2409],{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2093,"children":2094},{},[2095],{"type":38,"value":2096},"B2B procurement is undergoing a fundamental restructuring. For the past twenty years, the B2B buying process has been defined by human-to-human interaction. Marketing teams built websites to persuade, inform, and nurture human prospects. Companies focused on mobile design, conversion paths, and lead forms.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2098,"children":2099},{},[2100],{"type":38,"value":2101},"That era of human-centric commerce is ending. By 2026, a massive portion of B2B spend will be mediated by AI agents. This is a shift in the fundamental infrastructure of the global economy.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2103,"children":2104},{},[2105],{"type":38,"value":2106},"In this environment, a website is no longer just a digital brochure for a human audience. It is a data source for an automated vetting process. When an AI agent is tasked with finding a vendor that meets specific security, price, and capability criteria, it does not analyze copy in a traditional sense. It does not assess branding or testimonials. It evaluates the site as machine-readable data. If a digital presence cannot be parsed, validated, and structured by an agent, the company does not exist in the procurement funnel.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2108,"children":2109},{},[2110],{"type":38,"value":2111},"This transition is the emergence of Agent Readiness Optimization (ARO). The winners in 2026 are the companies that stop treating their websites as destinations for humans and start treating them as dynamic, structured knowledge bases that AI agents can use to provide direct answers and make procurement decisions.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2113,"children":2114},{},[2115],{"type":28,"tag":738,"props":2116,"children":2118},{"alt":7,"src":2117},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/f48096ed-38dd-417b-a905-819c2602bc6e-mkg-blog-agentic-procurement-image-1.jpg",[],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":2120,"children":2122},{"id":2121},"the-reality-of-agentic-procurement",[2123],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":2124,"children":2125},{},[2126],{"type":38,"value":2127},"The Reality of Agentic Procurement",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2129,"children":2130},{},[2131],{"type":38,"value":2132},"Agentic procurement is the process of delegating the vendor selection and vetting phase to an AI agent. Instead of a procurement manager spending weeks issuing requests for proposals and scanning websites, they provide an AI agent with a set of constraints and objectives. The agent scans the web, analyzes the technical capabilities of potential vendors, assesses compliance, compares pricing, and shortlists candidates.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2134,"children":2135},{},[2136],{"type":38,"value":2137},"This process is objective and data-driven. It removes the friction of subjective marketing claims and replaces them with an audit of the technical layer of a web presence. When an AI agent visits a site, it looks for specific, unambiguous data points to synthesize an answer. It needs to know API capabilities, pricing, uptime guarantees, and security certifications.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2139,"children":2140},{},[2141],{"type":38,"value":2142},"If this information is trapped inside an image file, buried in a document, or obscured by marketing copy designed for humans, the agent ignores it. It does not include instructions for inferring meaning from general articles. It needs structured, machine-readable data to provide a direct answer.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2144,"children":2145},{},[2146],{"type":38,"value":2147},"Many B2B companies have a disconnect. They have invested in high-end design, video, and storytelling. While these elements have value for human stakeholders, they are often invisible or confusing to an AI agent. The technical architecture of most corporate websites is designed for visual display, not for programmatic extraction. To succeed in the era of AI-mediated spend, companies must implement a strategy that prioritizes machine-readability.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":2149,"children":2151},{"id":2150},"moving-beyond-seo-to-agent-readiness-optimization-aro",[2152],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":2153,"children":2154},{},[2155],{"type":38,"value":2156},"Moving Beyond SEO to Agent Readiness Optimization (ARO)",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2158,"children":2159},{},[2160],{"type":38,"value":2161},"For years, SEO was the primary discipline for increasing visibility. Teams focused on keywords, search intent, and ranking in search results. Agent Readiness Optimization (ARO) is a different discipline. ARO is not about ranking for a search term; it is about providing the definitive, structured data that an AI agent requires to vet a vendor and provide a direct answer.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2163,"children":2164},{},[2165],{"type":38,"value":2166},"ARO requires a shift in how digital assets are structured. It requires implementing a technical semantic layer. A semantic layer acts as a translator between raw data and the AI agents that need to consume it. It ensures that when an agent asks, \"What are the core technical capabilities of this platform?\", it receives a direct, unambiguous answer, not a marketing description.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2168,"children":2169},{},[2170],{"type":38,"value":2171},"This involves several components. First, it requires using standardized schemas, such as Schema.org, to define the entities on a page. By marking up content, a company tells the AI exactly what each piece of information represents. Second, it requires that data be accessible and consistent across the entire web presence.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2173,"children":2174},{},[2175],{"type":38,"value":2176},"When a company treats its website as a knowledge graph, it maps the relationships between products, technical specifications, and organizational data. It creates a clear, interconnected structure that an AI agent can navigate to build its response. It moves from unstructured content to structured knowledge. This allows an AI agent to build a profile of a company without needing human intervention.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2178,"children":2179},{},[2180],{"type":28,"tag":738,"props":2181,"children":2183},{"alt":7,"src":2182},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/d42946f6-7f69-4eed-853f-c8f845347ce1-mkg-blog-agentic-procurement-image-2.png",[],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":2185,"children":2187},{"id":2186},"the-systematic-approach-treating-your-site-as-a-knowledge-graph",[2188],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":2189,"children":2190},{},[2191],{"type":38,"value":2192},"The Systematic Approach: Treating Your Site as a Knowledge Graph",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2194,"children":2195},{},[2196],{"type":38,"value":2197},"The approach to this challenge is to move beyond the page-by-page content strategy and view the website as a comprehensive data system. It is necessary to focus on integrating services and technical architecture to create a resilient knowledge graph.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2199,"children":2200},{},[2201],{"type":38,"value":2202},"Superficial fixes are not effective. Instead, a technical audit of a site’s ability to communicate with AI agents is required. A company must analyze its ability to output structured data and ensure that technical documentation, pricing structures, and capability matrices are fully indexable.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2204,"children":2205},{},[2206],{"type":38,"value":2207},"This involves specific operational steps:",{"type":28,"tag":791,"props":2209,"children":2210},{},[2211,2221,2231],{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":2212,"children":2213},{},[2214,2219],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":2215,"children":2216},{},[2217],{"type":38,"value":2218},"Intent-Based Categorization:",{"type":38,"value":2220}," Structure your content based on how an agent classifies information, rather than how a human visitor navigates a menu.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":2222,"children":2223},{},[2224,2229],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":2225,"children":2226},{},[2227],{"type":38,"value":2228},"Data Prominence:",{"type":38,"value":2230}," Surface your most critical technical and commercial specifications within your structured data to ensure they are instantly discoverable during an automated audit.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":2232,"children":2233},{},[2234,2239],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":2235,"children":2236},{},[2237],{"type":38,"value":2238},"Machine-Ready Compliance:",{"type":38,"value":2240}," Format your compliance documentation—including security protocols, certifications, and uptime logs—for machine-learning ingestion, so automated systems can verify your credentials without human intervention.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2242,"children":2243},{},[2244],{"type":38,"value":2245},"This approach requires collaboration between your technical and marketing teams. The marketing team provides the strategic narrative, while the technical team ensures it is translated into a language agents understand. By combining these perspectives, a brand ensures its authority is reflected in its machine-readable data.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2247,"children":2248},{},[2249],{"type":38,"value":2250},"When a company treats its site as a knowledge graph, it prepares the business for the future. It moves from a model in which it hopes marketing materials influence the buyer to one in which it actively supplies the data the agent uses to confirm fitness as a vendor.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":2252,"children":2254},{"id":2253},"why-machine-readable-content-wins",[2255],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":2256,"children":2257},{},[2258],{"type":38,"value":2259},"Why Machine-Readable Content Wins",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2261,"children":2262},{},[2263],{"type":38,"value":2264},"The primary advantage of having a machine-readable website is the velocity of the procurement process. An AI agent is not slowed by human schedules or traditional sales bottlenecks. When a site provides the answers a company needs immediately, that site becomes the direct, verifiable option.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2266,"children":2267},{},[2268],{"type":38,"value":2269},"Key advantages of machine-readability include:",{"type":28,"tag":791,"props":2271,"children":2272},{},[2273,2283,2293],{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":2274,"children":2275},{},[2276,2281],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":2277,"children":2278},{},[2279],{"type":38,"value":2280},"Always-On Availability:",{"type":38,"value":2282}," Unlike human sales teams, AI agents operate 24/7. Your site is being vetted for procurement regardless of time zone or office hours.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":2284,"children":2285},{},[2286,2291],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":2287,"children":2288},{},[2289],{"type":38,"value":2290},"Removal of Friction:",{"type":38,"value":2292}," AI agents do not wait for sales representatives to respond to emails or demo requests. They require immediate, self-service access to technical data to complete their vetting process.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":2294,"children":2295},{},[2296,2301],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":2297,"children":2298},{},[2299],{"type":38,"value":2300},"Instant Verification:",{"type":38,"value":2302}," By surfacing specs, security protocols, and pricing in a machine-readable format, you allow an agent to confirm requirements in seconds, positioning your company as the most efficient and low-risk choice.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2304,"children":2305},{},[2306],{"type":38,"value":2307},"Contrast this with a competitor whose site is visually polished but lacks the technical structure required for indexing. That competitor is filtered out by the agent before a human ever sees their brand. This is an automated process of elimination. A company may not even know it was considered for a procurement mandate, nor why it was passed over.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2309,"children":2310},{},[2311],{"type":28,"tag":738,"props":2312,"children":2314},{"alt":7,"src":2313},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/4840c7d2-ba0e-4ce6-a9f7-3eb021a8fb44-mkg-blog-agentic-procurement-image-3.jpg",[],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":2316,"children":2318},{"id":2317},"the-competitive-advantage-of-structured-data",[2319],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":2320,"children":2321},{},[2322],{"type":38,"value":2323},"The Competitive Advantage of Structured Data",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2325,"children":2326},{},[2327],{"type":38,"value":2328},"The transition to ARO is a competitive advantage. Companies that understand how to present data in a structured, semantic format will have an advantage in the automated B2B marketplace.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2330,"children":2331},{},[2332],{"type":38,"value":2333},"Consider the difference in how two companies present service levels. One company uses an infographic with text that an agent cannot parse. The agent cannot process the information, which creates a high level of risk. The company is filtered out. The second company uses a structured data table that clearly maps service levels to technical specifications, accompanied by schema markup that validates those claims. The agent ingests this data instantly, verifies it against the procurement requirements, and flags the company as a candidate with high confidence.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2335,"children":2336},{},[2337],{"type":38,"value":2338},"This second company wins because it made the task easier for the agent. It demonstrated operational maturity. In the era of AI-mediated spend, technical documentation is sales collateral. API references are landing pages. Compliance data is the brand story.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2340,"children":2341},{},[2342],{"type":38,"value":2343},"Organizations must build this infrastructure. They must move from a focus on brochures to a data-driven model. A website should act as a sales engineer, providing the data agents need to select a company as their preferred partner.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":2345,"children":2347},{"id":2346},"recalibrating-your-digital-strategy",[2348],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":2349,"children":2350},{},[2351],{"type":38,"value":2352},"Recalibrating Your Digital Strategy",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2354,"children":2355},{},[2356],{"type":38,"value":2357},"If a digital strategy is currently too human-centric, now is the time to recalibrate. This is not about sacrificing brand voice or the experience provided to human visitors. It is about adding a layer of technical rigor that makes the site work for both the human buyer and the procurement agent.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2359,"children":2360},{},[2361],{"type":38,"value":2362},"A structured approach to ARO involves a technical audit of the existing infrastructure. Companies must analyze where data is hidden, where structures are brittle, and where opportunities are lost because information is not parsable. They then implement a structured data strategy that enables knowledge to flow into the systems that drive the majority of B2B procurement decisions.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2364,"children":2365},{},[2366],{"type":38,"value":2367},"This is not a project that can be delegated to a generic agency. It requires a combination of technical capability, strategic oversight, and an understanding of how AI models consume information. It requires the discipline to treat information as a system.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2369,"children":2370},{},[2371],{"type":38,"value":2372},"By controlling the technical semantic layer, a company controls its future in the B2B market. It ensures it is not left behind as spend shifts to vendors who have built the infrastructure to support AI-driven answers.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":2374,"children":2376},{"id":2375},"final-thoughts-the-new-era-of-visibility",[2377],{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":2378,"children":2379},{},[2380],{"type":38,"value":2381},"Final Thoughts: The New Era of Visibility",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2383,"children":2384},{},[2385],{"type":38,"value":2386},"The transition to AI-mediated procurement is a significant shift in the business environment. It requires a change in mindset—from how to persuade the buyer, to how to provide the data the agent needs to select a vendor.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2388,"children":2389},{},[2390],{"type":38,"value":2391},"We specialize in the intersection of services and technical architecture. We help clients navigate this shift by building websites that are robust, structured, and intelligent. We provide the technical backbone that allows a business to thrive in a world of automated decision-making.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":2393,"children":2394},{},[2395],{"type":38,"value":2396},"Do not let a brand fall into the gap between traditional marketing and AI-driven procurement. Organize expertise, structure data, and build a digital presence that's future-ready. The era of the agent is here. 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This is a Korean mixed martial art which includes karate, kung fu, and Taekwondo. 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Everyone at MKG has been so in tune with his values and his personality, and they've made his time at MKG easily the best experience of his career.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":3415,"children":3416},{},[3417],{"type":38,"value":3418},"Fun Facts:",{"type":28,"tag":791,"props":3420,"children":3421},{},[3422,3427,3432],{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":3423,"children":3424},{},[3425],{"type":38,"value":3426},"I love to travel with my wife. We've been to many incredible places over the years, and are always on the lookout for our next destination.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":3428,"children":3429},{},[3430],{"type":38,"value":3431},"I was a college rower in my younger days. 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She started her career in Center City, Philadelphia working for several law firms.  After she was married and had her first son, she left the bustling city to work closer to home at an international publishing company.  In 1994, Kathy and her husband Bill moved with their two sons to Charlotte, North Carolina.  They eventually completed their family with two more boys born in Charlotte.\n",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":3462,"children":3463},{},[3464],{"type":38,"value":3465},"In 2000 they relocated to Chester County, a suburb of Philadelphia. After a hiatus and four sons, Kathy returned to work in Chester County. This time, she gave retail a whirl so that she could be home when her school age boys were home. She quickly found out Ann Taylor was employing one of their best customers. Kathy then spent the following 10+ years in the Non-Profit arena where she did whatever needed to be done to further the mission. No job was too big, small, or unimportant to tackle.",{"type":28,"tag":3467,"props":3468,"children":3469},"blockquote",{},[3470],{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":3471,"children":3472},{},[3473],{"type":38,"value":3474},"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.\nMother Teresa",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":3476,"children":3477},{},[3478],{"type":38,"value":3479},"By February 2020, Kathy was eager to build something for herself and her family. She set off on a new adventure of starting her own business when she was connected with Kerry, Mike, and MKG. Having commuted and worked outside of the home for 10+ years, she was ready to work from home and have a better life balance. She followed the rainbow and found MKG in her pot of gold. MKG is like no other firm or organization for which Kathy has worked. Their standard of people first is evident in every team member, every decision, every meeting, every interaction. 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Check out our ",{"type":28,"tag":713,"props":3545,"children":3547},{"href":3546},"/about/jobs/",[3548],{"type":38,"value":3549},"Jobs page",{"type":38,"value":3551}," and see if we have a position right for you!",{"type":28,"tag":3212,"props":3553,"children":3554},{"id":3214},[3555],{"type":38,"value":3217},{"type":28,"tag":791,"props":3557,"children":3558},{},[3559],{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":3560,"children":3561},{},[3562],{"type":38,"value":3563},"Kerry now lives in Guernsey — a tiny nook in the world between England and France. Come visit for a spot of tea any time!",{"title":7,"searchDepth":676,"depth":676,"links":3565},[3566],{"id":3214,"depth":3185,"text":3217},"content:team:kerry-guard.md","team/kerry-guard.md","team/kerry-guard",{"_path":3571,"_dir":3174,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":3572,"description":3573,"name":3572,"ref":3574,"jobTitle":3575,"team":3247,"images":3576,"linkedIn":3578,"sequence":3579,"body":3580,"_type":680,"_id":3631,"_source":682,"_file":3632,"_stem":3633,"_extension":685,"category":3174,"minutes":676},"/team/leigh-snyder","Leigh Snyder","Meet Leigh Snyder, one of MKG Marketing’s amazing digital advertising experts, bringing 15 plus years of experience to the team","leigh-snyder","Digital Advertising Expert",{"landscape":3577},"leigh-snyder.webp","leighasnyder",50,{"type":25,"children":3581,"toc":3628},[3582,3588,3593,3598,3603,3608,3613,3618,3623],{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":3583,"children":3585},{"className":3584},[3192],[3586],{"type":38,"value":3587},"\nLeigh has over 15 years of experience of managing Paid Search campaigns. She started her career at Solid Cactus, a full service eCommerce agency in Wilkes Barre Pennsylvania. Having no experience in Paid Search, she learned as she went, starting out in the earlier days of Google Adwords, when Adwords Editor wasn't even being used yet.\n",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":3589,"children":3590},{},[3591],{"type":38,"value":3592},"Leigh loves to create accounts and watch them grow, even more she loves to take a poorly performing account and turn it around. Watching the KPIs increase from changes she has made or new ideas she implements, keeps her career exciting.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":3594,"children":3595},{},[3596],{"type":38,"value":3597},"Managing a wide variety of accounts that include local car dealerships, worldwide clothing stores, online supplement shops to plastic surgeons and much much more, Leigh brings a vast knowledge of creative ways in managing accounts.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":3599,"children":3600},{},[3601],{"type":38,"value":3602},"While working the majority of her career in local offices, the options for expanding her career were becoming less and less. She decided to apply for a remote job (before it was the norm) and was able to get experience that wasn't as prevalent in the smaller area in which she resides.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":3604,"children":3605},{},[3606],{"type":38,"value":3607},"After working from home for the past 6 years the opportunities kept coming and when MKG reached out to her, she knew that there was something special about them and decided to take the leap. The people first environment is not just talked about here, but it is practiced everyday. MKG Marketing is unlike anywhere she has ever worked.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":3609,"children":3610},{},[3611],{"type":38,"value":3612},"Outside of work, Leigh enjoys spending time with her husband Dustin, their blended family (Emma, Casey, Jake & Brayden) and their dog Millie.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":3614,"children":3615},{},[3616],{"type":38,"value":3617},"The kitchen is where you will always find her, she loves to cook and bake all things Gluten Free and no one ever knows. When they are not at a swim meet or a baseball game they love swimming in their pool, long walks on the local trails, renovating their house and binging shows.",{"type":28,"tag":3212,"props":3619,"children":3620},{"id":3214},[3621],{"type":38,"value":3622},"Fun Facts",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":3624,"children":3625},{},[3626],{"type":38,"value":3627},"Although it was just was a short time, at age 19 Leigh drove cross country from a small town in PA and moved to Hollywood Hills, CA. Her view from her kitchen window was the Hollywood sign. Not a bad first apartment.",{"title":7,"searchDepth":676,"depth":676,"links":3629},[3630],{"id":3214,"depth":3185,"text":3622},"content:team:leigh-snyder.md","team/leigh-snyder.md","team/leigh-snyder",{"_path":3635,"_dir":3636,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":3637,"description":3638,"name":3637,"imageDescription":3639,"ref":3640,"jobTitle":3641,"images":3642,"linkedIn":3640,"quote":3644,"quoteCite":3637,"sequence":1654,"body":3645,"_type":680,"_id":3719,"_source":682,"_file":3720,"_stem":3721,"_extension":685,"category":3636,"minutes":3316},"/team/marketing-leadership/celeste-jacroux","marketing-leadership","Celeste Jacroux","Meet Celeste Jacroux, a strategic GTM partner to MKG and Founder of Sweel Marketing Advisors. 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As the Founder of ",{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":3654,"children":3655},{},[3656],{"type":38,"value":3657},"Swell Marketing Advisors",{"type":38,"value":3659}," and a strategic partner to MKG, she brings deep expertise in aligning product, sales, and marketing into a cohesive GTM strategy.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":3661,"children":3662},{},[3663],{"type":38,"value":3664},"Celeste understands that for founders, the hardest phase is often bridging the gap between a great product and the market that needs it. She specializes in clarifying positioning, defining ideal customer profiles (ICPs), and building the strategic roadmap that turns vision into traction.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":3666,"children":3667},{},[3668,3670,3675],{"type":38,"value":3669},"At MKG, Celeste steps in as a Marketing Leader for our ",{"type":28,"tag":34,"props":3671,"children":3672},{},[3673],{"type":38,"value":3674},"Marketing Leadership + Activation",{"type":38,"value":3676}," clients. 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She works directly with founders to build scalable marketing engines while hosting the podcast, Back on T-R-A-C-K.","Fractional Marketing Leaders",{"landscape":3514},5,{"type":25,"children":3729,"toc":3803},[3730,3736,3776,3787,3792,3796],{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":3731,"children":3733},{"className":3732},[3192],[3734],{"type":38,"value":3735},"\nKerry Guard (she/her) is the strategist founders call when they are tired of guessing. As the CEO of MKG Marketing, she doesn’t just run the agency; she steps into the trenches with clients as a Fractional Marketing Leader. She specializes in helping founders navigate the \"Growth Valley\"—building the systems, strategy, and teams required to scale from traction to expansion.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":3737,"children":3738},{},[3739,3741,3746,3748,3753,3755,3760,3762,3767,3769,3774],{"type":38,"value":3740},"Her recent work focuses on bringing enterprise-level rigor to growing businesses. 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As a mom of twins, she built MKG on a \"People First\" methodology—championing policies like 20 vacation days and zero after-hours emails—because she knows that rested, respected experts drive the best ROI.",{"type":28,"tag":3212,"props":3793,"children":3794},{"id":3214},[3795],{"type":38,"value":3217},{"type":28,"tag":791,"props":3797,"children":3798},{},[3799],{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":3800,"children":3801},{},[3802],{"type":38,"value":3563},{"title":7,"searchDepth":676,"depth":676,"links":3804},[3805],{"id":3214,"depth":3185,"text":3217},"content:team:marketing-leadership:kerry-guard.md","team/marketing-leadership/kerry-guard.md","team/marketing-leadership/kerry-guard",{"_path":3810,"_dir":3636,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":3811,"description":3812,"name":3813,"imageDescription":3814,"ref":3815,"jobTitle":3816,"images":3817,"linkedIn":3815,"quote":3819,"quoteCite":3813,"sequence":3820,"body":3821,"_type":680,"_id":3904,"_source":682,"_file":3905,"_stem":3906,"_extension":685,"category":3636,"minutes":3316},"/team/marketing-leadership/laura-mcaliley","Laura Mcaliley","Meet Laura McAliley, a strategic partner to MKG and Founder of Pebble Marketing. 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He currently drives the big picture vision for the agency and supports biz dev and sales efforts.","mike-krass","Mike Krass, MKG Marketing’s Owner/Visionary, standing in front of St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter of New Orleans | MKG Marketing","Owner/Visionary",{"landscape":3915},"mike-krass.webp","mikekrass","Focus on the road, not the wall.","Alvin Alexander",10,{"type":25,"children":3921,"toc":3961},[3922,3928,3933,3938],{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":3923,"children":3925},{"className":3924},[3192],[3926],{"type":38,"value":3927},"A proud Washington State University alum — Go Cougs! — who grew up on the west coast of the United States, Mike has lived on three continents during his lifetime.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":3929,"children":3930},{},[3931],{"type":38,"value":3932},"Over the past decade Mike has led MKG Marketing in becoming a 7-figure business, joined the global Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) as a member as well as holds a seat on their Board of Directors and mentored other business owners through organizations like Idea Village, EO and General Assembly.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":3934,"children":3935},{},[3936],{"type":38,"value":3937},"When he’s not at work, Mike enjoys:",{"type":28,"tag":791,"props":3939,"children":3940},{},[3941,3946,3951,3956],{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":3942,"children":3943},{},[3944],{"type":38,"value":3945},"Riding his beach cruiser bike in the park.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":3947,"children":3948},{},[3949],{"type":38,"value":3950},"Reading business and spy novels (often at the same time — ask him how many half finished books he’s currently reading on his Kindle!)",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":3952,"children":3953},{},[3954],{"type":38,"value":3955},"Traveling the world.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":3957,"children":3958},{},[3959],{"type":38,"value":3960},"Flying N5478N — his trusty 1981 Cessna 182.",{"title":7,"searchDepth":676,"depth":676,"links":3962},[],"content:team:mike-krass.md","team/mike-krass.md","team/mike-krass",{"_path":3967,"_dir":3174,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":3968,"description":3969,"ref":3970,"name":3968,"team":3971,"quote":3972,"images":3973,"twitter":3975,"isLeader":3183,"jobTitle":3976,"linkedIn":3970,"sequence":2081,"quoteCite":3977,"body":3978,"_type":680,"_id":4008,"_source":682,"_file":4009,"_stem":4010,"_extension":685,"category":3174,"minutes":676},"/team/nathan-stenberg","Nathan Stenberg","Meet Nathan Stenberg, one of MKG Marketing’s Digital Marketing Strategist, with an extensive background in digital marketing from front-end development to omni-channel strategy. 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She finally got the opportunity to pursue it when she moved to the United States and joined MKG as an apprentice, embarking on her digital marketing journey.​",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":4087,"children":4088},{},[4089],{"type":38,"value":4090},"Why I Joined MKG Marketing:\nI joined MKG Marketing because of its people-first culture, transparency, and commitment to growth. It’s a place where I can learn, contribute, and work with a team that genuinely cares.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":4092,"children":4093},{},[4094],{"type":38,"value":4095},"Fun Facts About Me:",{"type":28,"tag":791,"props":4097,"children":4098},{},[4099,4104,4109,4114],{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":4100,"children":4101},{},[4102],{"type":38,"value":4103},"I love to read detective, thriller, and mystery books and watch shows in the same genre.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":4105,"children":4106},{},[4107],{"type":38,"value":4108},"I’m a mom to twin girls—they are my world! Watching them grow, learn, and explore life brings me joy.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":4110,"children":4111},{},[4112],{"type":38,"value":4113},"I love cooking for my family. It started with my husband, who’s a foodie, and now we cook together for our daughters.",{"type":28,"tag":795,"props":4115,"children":4116},{},[4117],{"type":38,"value":4118},"Our family also enjoys playing video games—it’s our way to unwind and have fun together.",{"title":7,"searchDepth":676,"depth":676,"links":4120},[],"content:team:prachi-sarin.md","team/prachi-sarin.md","team/prachi-sarin",{"_path":4125,"_dir":3174,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":4126,"description":4127,"ref":4128,"name":4126,"team":3179,"quote":4129,"images":4130,"isLeader":3183,"jobTitle":4132,"linkedIn":4133,"sequence":676,"quoteCite":4134,"body":4135,"_type":680,"_id":4155,"_source":682,"_file":4156,"_stem":4157,"_extension":685,"category":3174,"minutes":3316},"/team/sam-ellsworth","Sam Ellsworth","Meet Sam Ellsworth, one of MKG Marketing’s amazing Account Directors, who brings over 15 years experience managing marketing campaign development. ","sam-ellsworth","Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.",{"landscape":4131},"sam-ellsworth.webp","Director, Client Services","samantha-ellsworth-40875866","Dr. Seuss",{"type":25,"children":4136,"toc":4153},[4137,4143,4148],{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":4138,"children":4140},{"className":4139},[3192],[4141],{"type":38,"value":4142},"Sam has over 15 years of experience managing the development of marketing campaigns for national and global brands. She started her career in San Francisco, working in account management at ad agencies, where she managed a range of successful marketing campaigns from Super Bowl TV spots and fully-integrated product launches to social media campaigns and events.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":4144,"children":4145},{},[4146],{"type":38,"value":4147},"After 12 years in San Francisco, Sam and her husband decided it was time to leave the big city and find a slower pace of life, settling down outside of Burlington, Vermont. Sam spent her first couple years in Vermont working remotely for a San Francisco agency and then as the Marketing Director at a local craft brewery before joining the MKG team. She was drawn to MKG due to our people first value and the opportunity to get to focus on a few specific, results driven marketing tactics.",{"type":28,"tag":41,"props":4149,"children":4150},{},[4151],{"type":38,"value":4152},"Outside of work, Sam spends her time with her husband, 4-year-old daughter and chocolate lab exploring Vermont and all it has to offer — from hiking, skiing and enjoying all the local food to growing their backyard garden and working on a never-ending list of house renovations.",{"title":7,"searchDepth":676,"depth":676,"links":4154},[],"content:team:sam-ellsworth.md","team/sam-ellsworth.md","team/sam-ellsworth",1780079071589]