[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":3941},["ShallowReactive",2],{"podcast-marketing-leaders-motion-storytelling-and-the-art-of-making-complex-ideas-make-sense-with-aaron-smilie":3,"header-articles":471,"updatesSection-all":2209,"updatesSection-all-team":2955},{"_path":4,"_dir":5,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":8,"description":9,"_schema":10,"authors":11,"series":13,"date":14,"seotitle":8,"iframe":15,"audio":16,"episode":19,"guest":20,"guesturl":21,"guestimg":22,"guestabout":23,"minutes":24,"body":25,"_type":465,"_id":466,"_source":467,"_file":468,"_stem":469,"_extension":470,"category":5},"/podcasts/marketing-leaders/motion-storytelling-and-the-art-of-making-complex-ideas-make-sense-with-aaron-smilie","marketing-leaders",false,"","Motion, Storytelling, and the Art of Making Complex Ideas Make Sense with Aaron Smilie","Aaron Smilie talks about what it takes to turn complex, technical ideas into compelling visual stories. From motion graphics and data storytelling to startup budgets and creative simplification, Aaron shares how brands can communicate clearly without losing depth.","default",[12],"Kerry Guard","Back on T-R-A-C-K","2026-03-19T00:00:00Z","https://share.transistor.fm/e/8e156d85",{"url":17,"length":18},"https://share.transistor.fm/s/8e156d85",64871103,213,"Aaron Smillie","https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronsmillie/","/images/podcast/Aaron Smillie.webp","Aaron Smilie is a creative strategist and motion expert who helps brands simplify complex ideas into clear, compelling visual stories that connect and convert.",54,{"type":26,"children":27,"toc":460},"root",[28,41,47,56,61,66,71,76,81,86,91,96,101,106,111,116,121,126,131,136,141,146,151,156,161,166,171,176,181,186,191,196,201,206,211,216,221,226,231,236,241,246,251,256,261,266,271,276,281,286,291,296,301,306,311,316,321,326,331,336,341,346,351,356,361,366,371,376,381,386,391,396,401,406,411,416,421,426,431,436,441,446,451,456],{"type":29,"tag":30,"props":31,"children":33},"element","h2",{"id":32},"overview",[34],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":36,"children":37},"strong",{},[38],{"type":39,"value":40},"text","Overview:",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":43,"children":44},"p",{},[45],{"type":39,"value":46},"Aaron Smilie joins the show to unpack how great creative work starts long before anything gets designed. They cover the importance of deeply understanding the subject matter, why simplification is harder than it looks, and how to balance visual storytelling with strategic clarity. Aaron also shares lessons from news graphics, social media, startup work, and healthcare marketing — including why not every creative asset needs paid promotion, how communities form around the right topics, and why understanding the audience is the key to making anything resonate. If you’re trying to explain something complex in a way people actually understand, this episode is full of smart, practical insight.",{"type":29,"tag":30,"props":48,"children":50},{"id":49},"transcript",[51],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":52,"children":53},{},[54],{"type":39,"value":55},"Transcript:",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":57,"children":58},{},[59],{"type":39,"value":60},"Aaron Smilie 0:00",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":62,"children":63},{},[64],{"type":39,"value":65},"You put it all in a pot, and then you start cutting away. You cut away until all your all you're left with is the is the most beautiful, simplest version of what that thing is. And then you make that.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":67,"children":68},{},[69],{"type":39,"value":70},"Kerry Guard 0:16",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":72,"children":73},{},[74],{"type":39,"value":75},"Hello, I'm Kerry Guard. Welcome to Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders. Welcome back to the show today with me. I've Erin Smiley. I think, Aaron, your last name is so appropriate because you have this beautiful smile that I just love.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":77,"children":78},{},[79],{"type":39,"value":80},"Aaron Smilie 0:33",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":82,"children":83},{},[84],{"type":39,"value":85},"No one takes someone with the name Smiley seriously when they're sad; they just find it fun.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":87,"children":88},{},[89],{"type":39,"value":90},"Kerry Guard 0:41",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":92,"children":93},{},[94],{"type":39,"value":95},"So, plus to get a curse. Plus, they get a curse.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":97,"children":98},{},[99],{"type":39,"value":100},"Aaron Smilie 0:45",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":102,"children":103},{},[104],{"type":39,"value":105},"But you get a lot of old ladies at supermarkets telling you how nice your name is.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":107,"children":108},{},[109],{"type":39,"value":110},"Kerry Guard 0:52",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":112,"children":113},{},[114],{"type":39,"value":115},"Well, it is quite the conversation starter, clearly. I mean, and the people in Guernsey, in particular, like especially in the supermarkets, are just so lovely, like when they would call me, when I would love as I'd be leaving, and always wish me a happy day and say cheers, I'm like, where am I? What's happening?",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":117,"children":118},{},[119],{"type":39,"value":120},"Aaron Smilie 1:17",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":122,"children":123},{},[124],{"type":39,"value":125},"It's a wonderful island.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":127,"children":128},{},[129],{"type":39,"value":130},"Kerry Guard 1:19",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":132,"children":133},{},[134],{"type":39,"value":135},"Did you grew up here?",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":137,"children":138},{},[139],{"type":39,"value":140},"Aaron Smilie 1:21",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":142,"children":143},{},[144],{"type":39,"value":145},"Yeah, I did. Yeah, I did. I grew up here until I was 18. And if you're an 18-year-old here, all you really want to do is want to escape. But then I had kids, it's what Guernsey people normally do. Then they have kids, and they go, what's a better place they grow up than a five-mile-by-nine-mile island in the middle of the channel?",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":147,"children":148},{},[149],{"type":39,"value":150},"Kerry Guard 1:44",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":152,"children":153},{},[154],{"type":39,"value":155},"I mean, it's why we're here. My husband did the same thing. 19, pieced out, went to Jersey, then he went to the US for our stint, where he met me, had some kids, and then we were like, Hmm, kids are. Do you know what?",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":157,"children":158},{},[159],{"type":39,"value":160},"Aaron Smilie 1:57",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":162,"children":163},{},[164],{"type":39,"value":165},"It's interesting. It's interesting because we both, we both do a lot of remote work, and actually, coming to Guernsey, when I came, it was this thing where you were leaving the world and going to live on this small island, and you were constrained. Oh, my God. What's that going to be like? But that, that constraint has now been completely evaporated, and everybody lives wherever they want, really, I think.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":167,"children":168},{},[169],{"type":39,"value":170},"Kerry Guard 2:23",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":172,"children":173},{},[174],{"type":39,"value":175},"Yeah, COVID has really opened up the opportunity to do that, I think, in tech and the tech as well. I mean, we're on a five-mile island, like you mentioned, in the middle of the channel between England and France. There's a bunch of us in terms of the Channel Islands in Guernsey, Ballywick, but we have fiber. I don't know if every house has fiber, but like the island, it's fired up with fiber. It's pretty. Yeah, we've got great fiber, remarkable just because, yeah, there's red works everywhere. Don't try to get anywhere in a hurry. Yes, it's so true. Aaron, what's your story in terms of your career? So you left Guernsey, and you went to the UK, and what happened from there?",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":177,"children":178},{},[179],{"type":39,"value":180},"Aaron Smilie 3:12",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":182,"children":183},{},[184],{"type":39,"value":185},"Sure, so I left Guernsey. And when Guernsey people tend to want to leave, but then they leave to England and go to the closest place possible, which is Portsmouth. So you leave, you don't leave too far, just accessible to Southampton airport. You get back, you know, within two hours. So I went to uni there and did documentary making in my first degree, and then I did a master's in design for digital media. After that, I ended up those amalgamating those two things, working for one of the one of the main broadcasters in the UK, which is ITV, and working in regional news. Now, each region of the UK has a separate news channel for local news. Guernsey has Channel News down south of England. It has a meridian, and it separated into its different regions. And I ended up working across all those regions for live television for a couple of years, which was what was called Old, now it was, it was when analog was going to digital. And there was this thing, this new thing called technical operator, a tech op, which meant that you basically vision mixed live news bulletins, and you did sound, and you did the cameras, and you did it all. And I did that for a couple of years. And then this, this kind of department which I've never really heard of before, which was motion graphics, kind of presented itself. I thought this was amazing. You get to sit down all day, which, which I love sitting which, because I'm extremely lazy and do graphics, which was, which was awesome. So I ended up going for this traineeship, for ITV, this kind of posh traineeship, and ended up getting a spot. And then. It ended up traveling around the regions, which led me to, after I left ITV, I went to, basically, you kind of you go from regional news and then you go to national news. Usually, that's the way journalists do it, and that's a lot of the way production teams do it as well. And I ended up going to Sky News for the first stint at Sky, which was for five years, and basically, if you saw between a certain time, if you saw an over-the-top, ridiculous graphic on Sky News, it was probably done by one or two other guys or me. We did all the real-time, rendered 3d systems. And I was kind of, well, I still am a geek, but I was kind of obsessed with elections, not the election coverage, the election night, the presentation, the idea of data, the kind of theatrics of it. So I kind of ended up specializing in elections and kind of big data. Yeah, it was, it was fun. And then I'll try made as short as possible. But then I think all Twitter came out. I thought, That's cool, you know, now, now sky isn't the first for breaking news, Twitter is so I gave them a call via LinkedIn, I think, and there was no job, but they asked to see me, which was nice, and then went there and made a bunch of stuff for them, and they gave me a job there, which was great. So I was in the brand strategy team, and I went from doing news graphics to working with brands like Visa and Adidas on leveraging the Twitter platform, as it was. And then I went back to Sky, another stint at Sky News, but then when became the ridiculously titled creative controller of entertainment marketing in Sky, which essentially which was essentially doing all the creative for their TV shows. So what I mean is TV shows on social that are so Game of Thrones is coming out, and you need a bunch of tweets that go with Game of Thrones. You also need an event going on at London Waterloo. I ran the teams that did all that stuff. And that was cool. That was cool. It was it was a fun, a fun gig. And then it kind of, I was such a sales, such a geek in my spare time, I used to work at New Scientist magazine. So, making the infographics and stuff, they paid. They paid really badly, but it wasn't something that I could do full-time. And I, you know, I had days off in the week, so I love doing that. I would have done that for free. And then during that, we had children, which led me to Guernsey, back to Guernsey, and we quit our jobs. My wife and I, two sons, went to Guernsey, two kinds of big companies over here. One is Spec Savers, which is their headquarters over in Guernsey, and the other is Healthspan. And I went to work in Healthspan, and I took all my skills, my social media skills that I learned from working on big TV shows, and I applied them to vitamin supplements, and they didn't work at all.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":187,"children":188},{},[189],{"type":39,"value":190},"Kerry Guard 8:09",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":192,"children":193},{},[194],{"type":39,"value":195},"It's a different market. It is a totally different I actually think the best advertising that works in currency is car wrappers. I mean, how often do you drive down the road and go, oh, I need a gardener. And then you take a picture of the van and the number.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":197,"children":198},{},[199],{"type":39,"value":200},"Aaron Smilie 8:27",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":202,"children":203},{},[204],{"type":39,"value":205},"Really bugs me that they don't, I mean, this is the Guernsey thing, but they don't like to make it big on the back, there's always this tiny thing you're looking at. Healthspan ended up being like the leading online supplier of vitamins in the UK, and it was a fun gig, but from a social mix, I was their social media director and their brand creator director. And talking and connecting with people about stuff that people are interested in is actually really easy. Driving conversation about stuff that people are already talking about is very straightforward, talking about stuff that people aren't, or having to find an avenue to connect with people, was was really interesting thing to do. And then at the end of that, so I worked there three years, and then I started, I managed some of the relationships with with agencies in London, and I would kind of see how the agencies worked. And I felt like I was sitting there signing off budgets or signing off content calendars, and I would think, do you know what I want to get back to, actually making stuff and working with people? And it was really interesting. It was kind of this, let's see. Let's start the DMw digital motion workshop, and let's see if I can do this. If I could take all the things that I've done, I could take, you know, the social stuff, the creative stuff, the 3d stuff, put them together, and the journalistic stuff, put it all together, and help businesses. And I've been paying the mortgage now for four and a half years doing that. To be, yeah, it's fun. It's been fun. So there are ups and downs, you know, you start, you start just before COVID, and that was interesting. But you know, you go through those ups and downs. And I think actually what you learn when anyone does a startup, or when anyone, I work with a lot of startups, is that it's never as bad as you think, and it's never as good as you think. And if you can stay kind of emotionally, emotional intelligence, the wrong word. But yeah, I think so. I think so, you know, centered through that whole thing, and not panic or not get overly excited, then you can kind of, you know, last, and that's how we started working together.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":207,"children":208},{},[209],{"type":39,"value":210},"Kerry Guard 10:43",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":212,"children":213},{},[214],{"type":39,"value":215},"It is, it is how we thought you were in my back garden, and I was looking everywhere else for an animator. And then my husband was like, Oh, I know someone. And not only did he know somebody, but he knew someone who worked for big brands like sky and Twitter, and did you know, branding for, like, Marvel and Adidas, so, you know, like, not just, I think that's what's so miraculous about Guernsey, too, is I, you know, in there's so many ways that this tiny island punches up, yeah, in terms of its arts, especially, I mean, the music scene here is ridiculous. They have a full-blown symphony. They have an arts performance every summer where they all the street performers come out and perform, and it's incredibly well organized and really well done, and the bands are awesome. And then the, like I said, the design work here for branding is like, so clever and fun and great, like, technically sound. And so while I was surprised, I was also like, not surprised. I was like, Duh, like, of course there would be this genius sitting here in my back garden who could do this worked brilliantly for me, and it was, yeah, so we did this really fun project together. But what I really loved about you, working with you, Aaron, is more about the in-between spaces. So Aaron and I, like, once a month would go grab coffee in this little coffee shop called the Terrace. And it's cool because it's like, a it's like, upstairs, you got to sort of walk. And it's got this beautiful outdoor sitting area that we sit through in during the summer, where we met, and then an inside cafe, and hours go play a quick look up. We're like, oh yeah. Probably like, need to go home and start working now, because we'll just sit there over a cup of coffee for three hours. But I've learned so much from you in those chats around, I mean, I've been doing art and design for, you know, for my career as well. I went to school for photography. I studied the technical side. I was I was dragged out of the dark room. I was unlike you. I did not want to be sitting in front of a computer editing photos. I wanted exactly the opposite for as long as humanly possible. And my professors were like, sorry, you really need to, like, catch up here. And I absolutely loved photography, and then I took some design courses. But when I got into marketing, what I loved about it was I could, like, bring these two very technical and artistic things together. I can tell stories with data and build these presentations and tell a story in a way that didn't require me finding models and lighting equipment and really expensive cameras, and so gave me this beautiful outlet, but I'm self-taught to a degree, right? Like I've sort of, I don't want to say I've plateaued, I don't want to say I've topped out, but I've definitely plateaued. And then I met you, and it was just gave me so many ideas that were just like, uh, leveled me up in a way that made me take what I already know how to do. So I went to school, like I said, I went to school photography, and in my thesis, my professor actually sat me down, like maybe two or three months before the show, and he was like, I get it. Congratulations. You know how to take a photograph. Does technically sound, but it's missing, like it's missing something. It's missing. He didn't say soul, but I feel like that's what he was getting at. Like it's missing that story, it's missing that thing. You need to let go, like it's okay. You could take a photograph. Congratulations. And I did, and I got experimental, and I these are all these are actually from that, where I took books and just destroyed, destroyed them in trying to tell the story of what the words were saying by messing up the pages. So I put one book in a freezer. After I wet it, I tied up another book, I shot another one through water. So, like, I put a glass of water, and then I put lighting in it all with a four by five camera, and I let go, and I feel like, like, these sessions with you, I feel like that's what you're sort of like, helping me get to of, like, you know how to use the tools now you generally know how to do layout. Like, let's talk about the point of view. Let's talk about the soul of what it is you're trying to accomplish. So what is it for you? Aaron, like, when you think about when you sit down to create anything, right, whether it's very technical piece, like something for a medical company, where you take literally something out of thin air and do all your medical you know, there's no pictures of this thing, and you have to create what it would essentially be to something very simple, like a beautiful PowerPoint presentation and a branding element. Like, how do you get started in really understanding the point of view you want to bring to the table in that chair?",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":217,"children":218},{},[219],{"type":39,"value":220},"Aaron Smilie 15:59",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":222,"children":223},{},[224],{"type":39,"value":225},"It's a great question, and I think it's different in every case, but it starts, it always starts with understanding essentially what you're trying to communicate. And that's actually harder than it sounds, because, say, you're doing a medical proposition, or a science proposition, or even a SAS business proposition, where someone's trying to communicate value through a selection of automated systems that's in a piece of software that's fairly abstract, or if you're trying to describe a financial piece of software that's talking about actuals versus projected costs. Or, you know, if you're talking about DNA and how a cell goes into a or a motor protein kind of moves another bit of DNA around. Or, you know, they all, they all start with having to deeply understand the subject, then simplifying it down to its core elements. Because, first of all, you know, what's the what's the graphic trying to accomplish? What's the narrative, the beginning, middle, and end of that, of that graphic, you know, what's the call to action at the end? Who's the target audience? So the graphic that I would make for a generalist graphic for a science, one, for example, is going to communicate efficacy. It's going to communicate here's here's a problem, here's something that's coming in that's new, which is a solution. There's a reaction somewhere, and there's an output. And actually, most things actually follow a similar, a similar set of, set of narratives. You know, there's there's there's, there's always a problem, there's always a solution, there's always a thing going on, and then there's always an outcome. And if you have that kind of core premise in your head, you're thinking, and it might not be the same for everyone, but it's like so, then how do you, how do you take the core elements of what they're trying to communicate and then distill it down to a story? So I end up doing, I end up putting a huge amount of work in before I've got a lot of gigs, actually, because what it does do is it tests you to the client. So if I do an enormous storyboard, or I even put together some animations, and then I'm trying to describe to them what they've communicated to me. And then they come back, and they say, it's, it's 90% there, but you didn't get this thing right. This thing is super important. We need to focus on this thing. Then you can go, \"brilliant, I get it.\" Now you've exposed what you didn't know right at the beginning. You can focus on, like, I work, I work, kind of, principally designers and creatives in animation tend to sit in two camps, really. They sit in a kind of flat After Effects world, or they sit in a kind of 3d world. And there's normally, normally, one tends to enjoy one or the other, and I kind of have always sat in the 3d world. I like 3d intricate stuff, and I like a camera zooming around it, those over-the-top sky graphics, which I used to do all the time. I feel comfortable in that space. So when it's a case of doing a cell, well, actually, I did. I did a guardian course. Once I was sent on a guardian course by Sky, and it was they got this kind of information graphic bit, and they were famous for doing infographics. And they said, they said, if we can't think of anything to do, we'll just put the numbers in circles, and then it'll look amazing. And then you, I looked at the I looked at the I looked at the paper, and saw, yeah, there's just a bunch of numbers in a bunch of circles. And it does look wicked. And you think, and so if you're doing this, if you're doing a cell, it's effectively this kind of, like weird, organic blob that's moving around, and then it's got a load of other blobs in it. And then you're kind of, your brain goes, Oh, yeah, that's definitely a cell. Cell. When you actually look at a cell and you look at how they connect, it's a very different thing, and it's your It's same as same as logo design. Away. You take the ideas, you take the ideas, and you take what you're trying to communicate, you put it all in a pot, and then you start cutting away. You cut away until all your all you're left with is the is the most beautiful, simplest version of what that thing is. And then you make that, does that make sense?",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":227,"children":228},{},[229],{"type":39,"value":230},"Kerry Guard 20:32",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":232,"children":233},{},[234],{"type":39,"value":235},"Yes, I think that's so helpful, because we tend to oversaturate or overcomplicate. One of the things that you said, though, that you said, though, that I think is really important, that we don't always do because we are taught, especially in the in the industries that I work with, it's so hard to find the space, to do the due diligence, to really know the subject, and it's tricky too, because you're when you join a New Company, specifically talking about like my my marketing managers and directors and VPs, like when they join a new company, there's so much they have to do. They have to not only learn the product, but they have to learn their team, their vendors, and the audience, and then they have to somehow figure out how to put all these things together. But if you don't do the due diligence of really understanding the thing, yeah, and the audience in which you're trying to sell the thing, too. Oh my gosh, right, like, the, what are we all doing here, and we don't give enough time to it, to your point, like, wow, you do all that work without even getting paid.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":237,"children":238},{},[239],{"type":39,"value":240},"Aaron Smilie 21:42",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":242,"children":243},{},[244],{"type":39,"value":245},"But some of my best work never, has never seen the light of day. It will never see the light day. And that's okay. That is completely okay because, because the process was a thing, and the process, you know, you're building on layers of knowledge, and layer and it does pay off in the end. But the people that, the people that you're talking to as a brand, as a brand proposition, you know, startups need to know who their audience is, and it's not everyone. And you know, your heart sinks, doesn't? I'm sure, when you speak to a new client, and you ask them who their audience is, who's their customer, and they say, everyone. I said, Well, it's not, it's not babies, is it? So we can take babies off. It's not, it's not people, it's not 99-year-olds who are just about, you know, so we can, we can start to shrink that down without sounding like I just did.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":247,"children":248},{},[249],{"type":39,"value":250},"Kerry Guard 22:34",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":252,"children":253},{},[254],{"type":39,"value":255},"But even like CEOs, okay, well, what kind of site uses a pretty expensive ticket item, so we're probably not talking to small businesses. Yeah, right. Okay, well, we can chip away the small businesses and put them to the side, right? So I love what you're saying. Of like, start high level, but then, like, really start to hone in on who actually does buy this thing already? But then what makes sense? What's logical",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":257,"children":258},{},[259],{"type":39,"value":260},"Aaron Smilie 23:05",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":262,"children":263},{},[264],{"type":39,"value":265},"for me, if they invest the money in creating animations, I need that to be I need that to work for them. I need that to be an effective piece of content for them. Because if they're a startup, you know, startups have a vision. They have an amazing group of people driving that. I love working with startups, but they're effectively bleeding to death. Most startups are bleeding like, and so a lot of the time, I'll start with, \" Do you know your audience? Okay, we need to do some work in that space first to kind of really hone down how we create this thing. But also, do you have any media spend for this like, you know, this all a brand is, is a a a from a creative perspective, or from a content perspective, is a tool to get you to the next stage of your business, that might be investment, that might be customers, that might be, you know, then whatever it is, it's a tool to get you there. And so, because sometimes there's a kind of, was that film with Kevin Costner, The Field of Dreams, if you, if you create it, they'll come, and it's just they will not come, no. And it was, it was really interesting. I learned that a long time, when I went back to sky, I was given this task. They used to make these amazing infographics. They were like mobile-first infographics that explain loads of stuff, and they sat on the on the app, the Sky app, so you'd have 3 million people would see the headlines, the top three stories, and then about 250,000 people would click onto the story and read it. When it got to the third click on the Sky News app, it was like six or seven people. It was like, no, no one clicked on these, no one, and it just opened up. It was, yeah, it was crazy. Because people, that's not the that's not how the consumers used it. They looked at the headline. If they read the stories and they navigated to the next one, we understood the audience. So we stopped those, and we took that resource and moved it to some other creative, so I'm always really cognizant of a startup's best use of their funds. So I turned down. I turn like so, you know, if you've got a media spend, you know, your media spend should be 80%, take 20% that's your creative, then constrain yourself within the context of that and say, Well, what can what is it that I'm creating? But a lot of the time, I go to startups and they've got it flipped the other way around. They want to spend 80% on the creative, and they want to spend 20% on on, on get so it's a fascinating journey. Do you have that same experience?",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":267,"children":268},{},[269],{"type":39,"value":270},"Kerry Guard 25:49",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":272,"children":273},{},[274],{"type":39,"value":275},"I don't control the budgets on the client side, so it's hard to know exactly how their budgets are broken down. So that's really fascinating for me to know that that's generally how it goes. And it's helpful from a perspective of, like, Okay, what? What to ask that question to understand, because a lot of the times, they'll say, oh, no, we don't have creative, right? Which is text ads, right? You're just doing paid search. It's like, Well, to start, but then you're going to need retargeting, and you're gonna need some banner ads for that, and then you're gonna need, you're gonna need to branch out and do more like search is only to get you so far, you got to start building the brand and the identity and getting that awareness out there. So you're gonna need creative. So let's take 10 20% of your budget and carve that out, kind of put a little savings, and let's get you some creative going. I think it's something to start considering, and how we approach that.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":277,"children":278},{},[279],{"type":39,"value":280},"Aaron Smilie 26:45",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":282,"children":283},{},[284],{"type":39,"value":285},"It's interesting. Because of cybersecurity, I've got a cybersecurity client, and it was, I was amazed. I love going into these businesses and kind of getting a sense of what they do. And I was when I, when I went into meet the guys, they're incredible guys. They're doing really well. And to kind of like, pitch them a bunch of ideas, and they kind of said to me, yeah, but we don't want to be too visible, because, you know, we're a cyber security agency, and that's not something within the context of a cyber security brand. I was like, oh, yeah, of course, because you don't want to start singing to everybody because you make yourself a target, or you make yourself too much than you're supposed to, and it was the first time I'd worked in that space. And that's really interesting how sometimes, like for example, I'll make I'll make explainer graphics for science, explainer graphics for SAS. Businesses that don't need budget. They exist, maybe in the user journey of the homepage. So they exist as part of the of the explaining the proposition when the budget's been spent on getting people to that page, and that's great. It's just, it's just, when I get to making kind of promotional animations that are kind of, they think that organic is going to be the thing that that is going to kind of, and also people, people always overestimate how interested people are going to be. And it's very difficult to say, it's very difficult to be able to say, you know, that it was the same with vitamins and supplements. We had loads of different vitamins and supplements, and no one was interested in some of them, and some people, some of them, you know, like, there isn't really anything to talk about. Vitamin D, you know, it's the sunshine, you know. Like, it's all been said but, but CBD was this new thing, and I created this Facebook group. It certainly had like, an 80% organic engagement rate, of like, it was 1000s of people just talking about how they were using CBD, because there's a thing called claims within vitamins and supplements. It meant that you can't talk about efficacy without it being tested properly. So you can't talk about what it actually does, but people within the community that are purchasing that product can. So we built this Facebook, yeah, so they can talk about it. And if we build a kind of safe space where they can talk about it, they did, oh my god, they talked about it all the time, it's brilliant.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":287,"children":288},{},[289],{"type":39,"value":290},"Kerry Guard 29:21",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":292,"children":293},{},[294],{"type":39,"value":295},"First-party data right there. I'm not that you could use it like, but it could, but the validation of it, right to say, like, this is what's happening. Then to invite people, then to be able to come be part of that community is coming. I don't know when you did that Facebook group, but community is definitely like hot button to press right now, and I think people are trying to figure out how to do it and do it well, and that's a wonderful example of like, bringing folks together who are really passionate about a thing and giving them space to be able to talk about it when they normally can't.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":297,"children":298},{},[299],{"type":39,"value":300},"Aaron Smilie 29:55",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":302,"children":303},{},[304],{"type":39,"value":305},"So I did a ton of Facebook groups to varying success. Some of them. And so driving engagement on Facebook groups is almost impossible. You can't build the engagement if, the if, if, if people want to engage in that space, they'll find you. And, you know, you can kind of give them a signpost and say, \" Hey, here we're talking about it, and they'll come. And that's what we did. It's because I set up a menopause group as well. I mean, I wasn't visible in the group because it was a safe space for women, and it was a safe space to communicate the journey of menopause. And so one of my team was the ones that looked after it, and I thought it was going to do the same as the CBD. But actually, there are some amazing groups for menopause. Mine, wasn't it?",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":307,"children":308},{},[309],{"type":39,"value":310},"Kerry Guard 30:48",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":312,"children":313},{},[314],{"type":39,"value":315},"Yeah, the competition piece is hard.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":317,"children":318},{},[319],{"type":39,"value":320},"Aaron Smilie 30:51",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":322,"children":323},{},[324],{"type":39,"value":325},"Well, it's not even it was kind of like, it was kind of like people were actively what at the time, people are more open about menopause now, but at the time, it felt like it was a struggle to get people to communicate and to be there, whether it's you know, people have done it way better than I did, but the CBD one worked because everyone felt like what we should do in regard to groups Is facilitate a space where everyone feels safe to communicate, I suppose, authentically about the thing they want to communicate without fear of reprisal or ridicule. And I spent an enormous amount of time just getting rid of people. You know, they'd have to sign, I'd have they'd have to be allowed in the group, and if they kind of broke the rules, like they were just gone. Yeah, because the minute you the minute that trust within a group is broken, like it's, it's, it's game over, really.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":327,"children":328},{},[329],{"type":39,"value":330},"Kerry Guard 31:49",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":332,"children":333},{},[334],{"type":39,"value":335},"I remember this actually happened. I was part of a mom's group many years ago, before COVID. Oh no, it was during. COVID is when the Black Lives Matter. An event happened with George Floyd, and all the women broke out wanting to talk about it, and the woman who ran the group shut it down. She's like, \" We will not be talking about that here. And I was like, you have just alienated, like, I don't know what her drop off was, but I was certainly one of them. And I was like, You did not listen to what people were saying. It was very much, \" What do we do about this? And how do we help each other? What needs to happen here, and how do we fix this? It wasn't like a barrage of negativity. It was very much like coming from a place of wanting to do something about it, and she just, like, didn't know what to do with it and shut it down. I was like, sorry. Like, it's cool.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":337,"children":338},{},[339],{"type":39,"value":340},"Aaron Smilie 32:44",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":342,"children":343},{},[344],{"type":39,"value":345},"Gotta listen. Listening, like that, is a tough thing because, yeah, you can, you can misinterpret the context of a conversation. You can, you know, and, I mean, I remember, I looked, I had the team healthspan, had a team and Gosport that answered the social media posts, they were amazing, and we would get a mixture, and I'm sure they still do a mixture of people, both with queries in regard to their orders, but also conversations about efficacy and conversation. You know, there's a nuance to conversations, and you don't necessarily understand the biases and the premises of which people are coming to at these groups. So, yeah, I haven't done, I mean, I'm off Facebook. Now I have left Facebook, and I shut it down. I have LinkedIn, and all the rest of my personal accounts have gone. So I went from, like, working at Twitter, working heavily in social, to, you know, just kind of shutting it all down.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":347,"children":348},{},[349],{"type":39,"value":350},"Kerry Guard 33:47",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":352,"children":353},{},[354],{"type":39,"value":355},"Yeah, yeah. I quit Facebook. I'm still on Instagram, because I just love the picture, like I just it as a photographer in me. And LinkedIn, I don't go near x with a 10-foot pole, if I can help it, I just, it's just so negative and condescending and hurtful that I'm just like, nope, so I don't need to be there. But I, I think this all comes back to the point where all we've been we've been making through this whole show naturally, which is wonderful. I love it when it happens. Thank you for doing my job. For me, it's around point of view, right? Like we're talking about the elements of having a point of view, from really understanding the topic deeply. I actually work with a client right now who's actually my coach, so I'm writing. I'm helping him cultivate his newsletters and his social media, and I can write from a place of a first draft, because then he goes back over it to get into his voice, but like I can write from a place of understanding, because I'm living it. I'm living the experience of him being my coach. And so it's so. Easy for me to talk about the power of it and its coaching techniques, because I literally went through it. And so it's hard when you're not a cybersecurity practitioner, then going into the marketing world, like those things do not compute, right? So then, trying to market something that's hard to understand deeply when you're not given the space to understand it deeply, I think there's an opportunity for us to do better, and give our marketers a chance to really sit with the knowing.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":357,"children":358},{},[359],{"type":39,"value":360},"Aaron Smilie 35:37",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":362,"children":363},{},[364],{"type":39,"value":365},"Cyber security was a funny one when I when I worked with us, you know, and I still work with them. I thought of cyber security as the thing that you have on your computer, which is an anti-virus thing. And then I learned, you know, and that is actually a narrative which kind of sits at this kind of base level of people's kind of thoughts on it. And actually, a lot of how many CEOs see it, they see it as an IT problem. They see it as a thing that happens in an update. Whereas when I started working with the guys, it was like, you know, understanding deeply that it's this human thing. And actually, a lot of cybersecurity breaches happen between humans. They happen through just leaving stuff out. They happen with a phone call. They happen in these kinds of moments. And it was one thing I love about working with the kind of startups I'm in. I kind of tried to simplify my proposition down kind of halfway through, because I was trying to do it all, and I simplified it down to working with smart people on cool things. And that was it. If it was smart people and it was cool things, I'd want to be part of it, and that's worked really well, because the clients I have, the clients I work with, all have something to say. And, you know, social media, social media, forgive me, cyber security guys, you know, watching them grow, watching that business grow. And for your for your team, you know, having to do all the having to do all the content and all the all the strategy and all the marketing that they do, as well as understand deeply the expertise of those people, is actually a lot to ask for, isn't it? But, but if you can get kind of halfway there, if you can communicate it from, almost from a journalistic perspective. So you understand the periphery, you know, that's kind of, if you can understand, if you can understand the hooks, the ability to kind of navigate, to gain the interest, and then those people going into the deeper knowledge who want to, if you can get them in, that's how much they need to know. I think.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":367,"children":368},{},[369],{"type":39,"value":370},"Kerry Guard 37:45",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":372,"children":373},{},[374],{"type":39,"value":375},"Well, I think for my team, the beauty of being, and I love what it's similar for you, too, right? So your focus, while it's working with very cool people who have something to say, you've also become sort of an expert in sort of the medical area, right? Like you've niche down even further to say, I want to truly understand these, some of these medical things, and to become somewhat of an expert in that is really powerful, because it's, it's an easy yes, when you show up to the front door of a healthcare company to say, I want to bring what you do to life, and here's my expertise in it, and here's my experience in it, and I can speak to it The way that you speak to it, because I understand it deeply. And so for us, we've done something similar, where it's like if we are going into the cybersecurity space, we cannot do it willy-nilly. We have to truly understand what all of these acronyms are, what they do, what they mean, and the audiences that they contribute to, and so we haven't cracked the code on all of them, because we haven't had a chance to work across all of them. There's a lot now, and there's more coming. As you know, new industries pop up, new categories pop up. But even just doing, you know, sitting in some of those very specific acronyms to really understand the, you know, endpoint security, or XDR, or, you know, name it. And then the that, not just the VP or the CISO, that's going to sign off on it, but the practitioner. And most importantly, what their day-to-day is, it's going back to what you said earlier. Their day-to-day problems are right? We don't need to necessarily understand how all the products work in the nitty-gritty, but what is in their way that's making their jobs harder than they need to be, and how can we unblock them, right? Like that, at the end of the day, is where, like, the rubber meets the road for my team and the power of what I think it's so true. You're right. There's a lot to unpack in trying to understand any industry, but if you can really narrow down to knowing roughly what the product solves, the audience that it's for, and the problems in their way, like, yeah, that's a point of view, right there. So, where do you take that? How do you then take? This concept of, like, understanding those three things and then making a visual out of it that's compelling, but not over-simplified and also not too complex. You do, I don't know how you do it, honestly.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":377,"children":378},{},[379],{"type":39,"value":380},"Aaron Smilie 40:16",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":382,"children":383},{},[384],{"type":39,"value":385},"Yeah, it's funny, isn't it? I think so. What I mean, I said it before. What's strange about the very small is it's very similar to the very big. So, you know, when you go very large, the galaxies, it's all a bunch of circles and a bunch of things moving around. And then when you go very small, it's all kind of the same. And those two things are cool because I'm a big sci-fi geek, so I kind of love those spaces. But it's, it's so how do you get into that space without being patronizing? Because what you want to do is you want, like, it's like those, you know, in movies where everybody goes, Yeah, I knew that was going to happen. Well, yeah, the film meant for you to know. It gave you a series of things to and made you feel smart, and you feel great, and I think in regard to graphics, you want the person who's watched it to feel smart at the end. You don't want them to feel patronized. You don't want them to feel like they've been shown this kind of, this, this graphic they might have been shown when they were five, that kind of goes through a series of steps. You want them to feel like they've been sucked into to a small world, and they've been, they've been taken on this journey, and they're like, I totally get that, and it's, and I always kind of think if I get it, and sometimes I don't. I mean a couple of times where I've, I've listened to because scientists, part of my job is to distill down a very, very smart person's knowledge into something that I can understand, and if I can't, and if you fake it, and people do if you fake it, if you're having a conversation with a very smart person, a scientist, a medical researcher, and they're explaining to you what this thing is. And if you sit there and you go, yep, yep, okay, yeah, and then you go off and you've, you've, you've not, you know, through awkwardness, or through, through a feeling that you just want to, kind of like, nod and say, you know, you don't want to feel bad, yeah, so, but, but then it's about building a script so that the visuals can be dynamic, but also simply, you can create simplicity and complexity. So imagine a cell, but there's this beautiful refraction. In regard to the photography we're talking about, it's backlit beautifully. It's sitting within a space that feels real, and the text itself is giving you something more complex. So, the balance of the text, you're trying to understand the text, but the visuals are quite simple. It's very sometimes, sometimes that relation, if you're showing too much in the visuals and the text is too complicated as well. You'll lose, lose, you lose people. And it's the same way, if it's too simple. And I think, I think it's a balance. I think it's a real balance. And what's interesting is how much people, when they see images, how much they believe them. And so working on elections was an interesting one, which was, I used to do this talk about infographics and elections and how reality can be warped based on the way you construct a narrative visually. And one of those things with the election coming up. One of those things was first past the post. You know, you'll see an election going on. You'll have two numbers going up, and there'll be a line, and whoever crosses that number, Whoever crosses that line wins. Well, what's happened there is that the journalist, the newsroom, has created a fictitious narrative. They've contradicted a conceit, which is that there is a race going on based on input data, but that race is only exists because elections are being called at different places, and that race would have looked completely different if those people had got their data in at different times. So it's a fiction that the race that you're seeing is a construct of how the data comes into the building, not the reality of the situation. And what's interesting about that is that's what happened in their last Donald Trump election, that they were doing this race, but the votes were late in an area. So he contested it. And the reason I talk about this is that when you build narratives, when you build visual narratives, you've got to be kind of super clear that you're not telling a story that doesn't exist. And that's the kind of simple this. That's the simplicity. Does that make sense?",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":387,"children":388},{},[389],{"type":39,"value":390},"Kerry Guard 44:56",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":392,"children":393},{},[394],{"type":39,"value":395},"Yes, no, I, and that's the problem with data, right? Right? Is that because there's so much of it, you can really construct whatever story you want based off of what you're seeing versus what's actually happening. I love going down the rabbit hole, right, and never taking data at face value and continuing to ask, why, but why? Why is this happening, and why is being caused, and what's doing this and why? Because I want to get to the true understanding of what's happening and and being able to tell a true story, not just a well, the data's this actually just happened with with one of our team, with our team, when you look at the top line data of for SEO, of rankings, and you just looked at the whole the whole list and rankings, they didn't really move, they actually and they even kind of went down a little bit. But actually, what happened was we honed in by product, on specific keywords that we needed to move to get more volume within those products. And we had massive wins, but it was buried in the top line, right? If you just take that top line, then it looks like, yeah, nothing happened. It's like, right? But actually, if you look at that top line, then you dig into where we where the wins happen, and then you go even further down the funnel, and look at sessions and engagement, those went up, so rankings came down, but there was momentum on the back half, which is what you want. So, yeah, yeah, I really, really do need to dig in and not take data at face value and be able to tell that story in the way, exactly what we're talking about, I think, is so powerful. We don't do it enough because we feel like we have to pack slides so heavily, right? So it's like, how can you start high-level, right? Show the slide with the rankings that has everything showing that nothing actually happened. And then we're going to bring you in, and we're going to show you, okay, here were the wins that we wanted, and here's what we got, and thanks to that, here's how we're seeing it net out over here, and here's how we're going to continue to capitalize on that. And that's the outcome, right? So bring them on this journey deeper through that lens. And it's those windows that you're so great at making that how that to your point, like you want to take somebody and bring them in and show them the messy middle and then pop them out the other side of like, it's all good, and we're okay. And if we're not okay, here's what we're going to do about not being okay.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":397,"children":398},{},[399],{"type":39,"value":400},"Aaron Smilie 47:30",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":402,"children":403},{},[404],{"type":39,"value":405},"And we said there's really interesting, because it's just kind of, it's kind of like, dawned on me that when we're talking about funnel, and you're talking about what phase someone's in within, that is so important as well. You know, if it's an awareness piece, and you're just trying to get people to understand what what it is, then it's a broad brushstroke, isn't it? And then, you know, when you when you're diving down, you know, you end up in these kind of quite dry, analytical places that only that 1% that 2% really are interested in. And that can be something which is, which is the scientist has created. It's the slides that they've created. We've got them there. Yeah, we found those people. Yeah, it's really interesting. I mean, I loved, I love data and creating, you know, distilling it down to a narrative. But usually it's like, it's, it's three points of data, it's this, plus this doesn't just equal this, because there's some other, you know, it's all contextual. And that was the thing with elections, why I love them so much? Because you could, you could build out narratives. And it was a, it was a clean set of data. I didn't like data from social where they, you know, it was the poor, it was the poor man's money. You know, we would go around in the room on the business I worked at, and you'd have, like, direct email getting all the love. And you would have, you know, you would go through all the different bits, and then socially, it would be like, brand sentiment, I'd had this amount of, and it was just, you know, I'd be going through my, my my numbers. And it was, yeah, because, because, I think, in a marketing team, which I do, I did love working marketing teams, and I love the kind of energies, the energy that exists at both creative teams and marketing. But, you know, everyone's talking about attribution. And, you know, if it's last click or if it's kind of, you know, are you part of that? Yeah, and social was never, was never there. And, I mean, I remember doing, I remember doing there was, there was a phase. I don't know, I haven't done social now for a while, but it was a big influence of phase. And then there was a massive, yeah, I mean, there was a massive backlash. Wasn't there about, like, influences on Instagram, and you know, how much of their, how much of their engagement was real? But I remember doing a few influencer campaigns right at the beginning, and they were just so off the mark. We get, you know, that the age. GC, do we work with got us these, these groups of people, and we were trying to sell, like, chocolate bars, and it was just ridiculous, yeah, how these people, you know, that they got us authentic?",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":407,"children":408},{},[409],{"type":39,"value":410},"Kerry Guard 50:14",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":412,"children":413},{},[414],{"type":39,"value":415},"Yeah, I think it's shifting now where, yeah, I think it's shifting now where, when we're talking about influencers as people who are actually living and breathing the thing, and it's in a more authentic space. So influencer and community is definitely coming back in an interesting sort of learned from our past sort of way, which is helpful. Gosh, Aaron, I could talk to you, you know this, I could talk to you all day, but this conversation, I think, in terms of and all the little roads we went down is so powerful in terms of reminding us of having that clear point of view, understanding our audience, understanding their pain, and then being able to tell that story and in the data in in the contextual way that brings them from that high level down into you know what The thing is, and out the out the end that that makes them feel like, okay, I get it, and you're solving my problem, and I'm here for it. Let's go right, like, it's hard to do. It's hard to do well, but when you can do the upfront work of really sitting with those things, you can get there, and it's pretty that you're such a testament to the magic that comes out the other end. If you, Aaron, where can people see your work? We've talked so much about it. I'm sure they're on the edge of their seats, being like, I want to see what he does.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":417,"children":418},{},[419],{"type":39,"value":420},"Aaron Smilie 51:29",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":422,"children":423},{},[424],{"type":39,"value":425},"Head over to I've made it short. The Digital Motion workshop was a terrible name because it's very long, and I wish I called it something shorter, so I abbreviated it to DMw. So So dmw.gg GG, is Guernsey's, I mean, as well. It's used around the world, isn't it, for good games. It's for gamers and stuff, but, but yes, DM dmw.gg that's, that's way shorter than, than, than my ridiculously long title.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":427,"children":428},{},[429],{"type":39,"value":430},"Kerry Guard 52:04",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":432,"children":433},{},[434],{"type":39,"value":435},"Yeah. Head on over there. Check it out. We love to hear your feedback in the comments on what you thought. And if you have any questions for Aaron or want to know more about 3d animation and storytelling, definitely hit him up. Link. LinkedIn, Aaron, or on your website. What's best?",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":437,"children":438},{},[439],{"type":39,"value":440},"Aaron Smilie 52:21",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":442,"children":443},{},[444],{"type":39,"value":445},"Yeah, yeah, LinkedIn, LinkedIn, message. Messaging on LinkedIn is great. I still use LinkedIn. It's, it's, it's good. It's still a good place. This Island's great. It's great to get off it as well. I think, yeah, the winter here, you don't know whether until you've lived on an island. I think Is that safe to say?",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":447,"children":448},{},[449],{"type":39,"value":450},"Kerry Guard 52:45",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":452,"children":453},{},[454],{"type":39,"value":455},"Yeah, no, this is this. Especially the last few years have been particularly, yeah, interesting. We had windstorms up to recently at 80 miles an hour. Windstorms are wild. It's wild, but yeah, I'm looking forward to the sunshine for sure. Awesome. Well, thank you, Aaron, and thank you to those who hung out with us and listened and joined in our journey. We appreciate you. If you like this episode, please like subscribe and share this episode was brought to you by mkg marketing, the digital marketing agency that helps complex brands like cybersecurity and data management platforms and all those brands that have something hard to say to a hard audience, like the CISOs developers and even ourselves, marketers are the toughest audience to market to let me tell you, we are here to support you with SEO, digital ads and analytics. This episode was hosted by me. Kerry Guard, CEO of MKG Marketing, and if you want to be a guest, hang out with me. DM me.",{"type":29,"tag":457,"props":458,"children":459},"br",{},[],{"title":7,"searchDepth":461,"depth":461,"links":462},2,[463,464],{"id":32,"depth":461,"text":40},{"id":49,"depth":461,"text":55},"markdown","content:podcasts:marketing-leaders:motion-storytelling-and-the-art-of-making-complex-ideas-make-sense-with-aaron-smilie.md","content","podcasts/marketing-leaders/motion-storytelling-and-the-art-of-making-complex-ideas-make-sense-with-aaron-smilie.md","podcasts/marketing-leaders/motion-storytelling-and-the-art-of-making-complex-ideas-make-sense-with-aaron-smilie","md",[472,773,1081,1440,1866],{"_path":473,"_dir":474,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":475,"description":476,"date":477,"img":478,"imgAlt":479,"body":480,"_type":465,"_id":769,"_source":467,"_file":770,"_stem":771,"_extension":470,"category":474,"minutes":772},"/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":26,"children":481,"toc":760},[482,487,492,514,519,527,536,541,546,551,556,565,570,575,595,600,607,616,621,626,631,636,645,650,655,668,673,680,689,694,699,717,722,731,736,741,746,755],{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":483,"children":484},{},[485],{"type":39,"value":486},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":488,"children":489},{},[490],{"type":39,"value":491},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":493,"children":494},{},[495,497,512],{"type":39,"value":496},"This behavior is a structural reality. Data from",{"type":29,"tag":498,"props":499,"children":503},"a",{"href":500,"rel":501},"https://company.g2.com/news/g2-research-the-answer-economy",[502],"nofollow",[504,506],{"type":39,"value":505}," ",{"type":29,"tag":507,"props":508,"children":509},"u",{},[510],{"type":39,"value":511},"G2’s 2026 Answer Economy Report",{"type":39,"value":513}," 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":29,"tag":42,"props":515,"children":516},{},[517],{"type":39,"value":518},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":520,"children":521},{},[522],{"type":29,"tag":523,"props":524,"children":526},"img",{"alt":7,"src":525},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/15431b64-54bd-447a-b57e-c64f2f7b9398-mkg-blog-the-2026-brand-visibility-audit-image-1.png",[],{"type":29,"tag":30,"props":528,"children":530},{"id":529},"the-reality-of-llm-synthetic-vetting",[531],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":532,"children":533},{},[534],{"type":39,"value":535},"The Reality of LLM Synthetic Vetting",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":537,"children":538},{},[539],{"type":39,"value":540},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":542,"children":543},{},[544],{"type":39,"value":545},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":547,"children":548},{},[549],{"type":39,"value":550},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":552,"children":553},{},[554],{"type":39,"value":555},"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":29,"tag":30,"props":557,"children":559},{"id":558},"executing-a-diagnostic-brand-visibility-audit",[560],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":561,"children":562},{},[563],{"type":39,"value":564},"Executing a Diagnostic Brand Visibility Audit",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":566,"children":567},{},[568],{"type":39,"value":569},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":571,"children":572},{},[573],{"type":39,"value":574},"This diagnostic process requires three foundational execution phases:",{"type":29,"tag":576,"props":577,"children":578},"ul",{},[579,585,590],{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":581,"children":582},"li",{},[583],{"type":39,"value":584},"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":29,"tag":580,"props":586,"children":587},{},[588],{"type":39,"value":589},"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":29,"tag":580,"props":591,"children":592},{},[593],{"type":39,"value":594},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":596,"children":597},{},[598],{"type":39,"value":599},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":601,"children":602},{},[603],{"type":29,"tag":523,"props":604,"children":606},{"alt":7,"src":605},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/7ff92deb-11ff-4c70-acaa-433b513eeac0-mkg-blog-the-2026-brand-visibility-audit-image-2.png",[],{"type":29,"tag":30,"props":608,"children":610},{"id":609},"establishing-narrative-control-via-consistency",[611],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":612,"children":613},{},[614],{"type":39,"value":615},"Establishing Narrative Control via Consistency",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":617,"children":618},{},[619],{"type":39,"value":620},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":622,"children":623},{},[624],{"type":39,"value":625},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":627,"children":628},{},[629],{"type":39,"value":630},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":632,"children":633},{},[634],{"type":39,"value":635},"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":29,"tag":30,"props":637,"children":639},{"id":638},"why-structured-data-ingestion-wins-the-funnel",[640],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":641,"children":642},{},[643],{"type":39,"value":644},"Why Structured Data Ingestion Wins the Funnel",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":646,"children":647},{},[648],{"type":39,"value":649},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":651,"children":652},{},[653],{"type":39,"value":654},"Consider the contrasting outcomes between two distinct structural approaches:",{"type":29,"tag":576,"props":656,"children":657},{},[658,663],{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":659,"children":660},{},[661],{"type":39,"value":662},"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":29,"tag":580,"props":664,"children":665},{},[666],{"type":39,"value":667},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":669,"children":670},{},[671],{"type":39,"value":672},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":674,"children":675},{},[676],{"type":29,"tag":523,"props":677,"children":679},{"alt":7,"src":678},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/80069c1b-7cc2-44cd-abe9-bc52ca56473f-mkg-blog-the-2026-brand-visibility-audit-image-3.png",[],{"type":29,"tag":30,"props":681,"children":683},{"id":682},"systematized-brand-visibility-optimization",[684],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":685,"children":686},{},[687],{"type":39,"value":688},"Systematized Brand Visibility Optimization",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":690,"children":691},{},[692],{"type":39,"value":693},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":695,"children":696},{},[697],{"type":39,"value":698},"This requires aligning your cross-functional execution around three operational areas:",{"type":29,"tag":576,"props":700,"children":701},{},[702,707,712],{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":703,"children":704},{},[705],{"type":39,"value":706},"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":29,"tag":580,"props":708,"children":709},{},[710],{"type":39,"value":711},"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":29,"tag":580,"props":713,"children":714},{},[715],{"type":39,"value":716},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":718,"children":719},{},[720],{"type":39,"value":721},"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":29,"tag":30,"props":723,"children":725},{"id":724},"reclaiming-the-initiative-in-the-era-of-inference",[726],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":727,"children":728},{},[729],{"type":39,"value":730},"Reclaiming the Initiative in the Era of Inference",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":732,"children":733},{},[734],{"type":39,"value":735},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":737,"children":738},{},[739],{"type":39,"value":740},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":742,"children":743},{},[744],{"type":39,"value":745},"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":29,"tag":30,"props":747,"children":749},{"id":748},"summary",[750],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":751,"children":752},{},[753],{"type":39,"value":754},"Summary",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":756,"children":757},{},[758],{"type":39,"value":759},"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":461,"depth":461,"links":761},[762,763,764,765,766,767,768],{"id":529,"depth":461,"text":535},{"id":558,"depth":461,"text":564},{"id":609,"depth":461,"text":615},{"id":638,"depth":461,"text":644},{"id":682,"depth":461,"text":688},{"id":724,"depth":461,"text":730},{"id":748,"depth":461,"text":754},"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":774,"_dir":474,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":775,"description":776,"date":777,"img":778,"imgAlt":779,"body":780,"_type":465,"_id":1078,"_source":467,"_file":1079,"_stem":1080,"_extension":470,"category":474,"minutes":772},"/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":26,"children":781,"toc":1070},[782,787,792,797,811,816,821,828,834,839,844,877,882,887,893,898,903,936,941,948,954,959,964,997,1002,1008,1013,1018,1023,1030,1036,1041,1046,1051,1056,1060,1065],{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":783,"children":784},{},[785],{"type":39,"value":786},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":788,"children":789},{},[790],{"type":39,"value":791},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":793,"children":794},{},[795],{"type":39,"value":796},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":798,"children":799},{},[800,802,809],{"type":39,"value":801},"According to",{"type":29,"tag":498,"props":803,"children":806},{"href":804,"rel":805},"https://learn.g2.com/g2-2026-ai-search-insight-report",[502],[807],{"type":39,"value":808}," G2's 2026 Answer Economy Insight Report",{"type":39,"value":810},", 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":29,"tag":42,"props":812,"children":813},{},[814],{"type":39,"value":815},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":817,"children":818},{},[819],{"type":39,"value":820},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":822,"children":823},{},[824],{"type":29,"tag":523,"props":825,"children":827},{"alt":7,"src":826},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/01d3c7af-7410-4a50-8d1c-d1ed6728438d-mkg-blog-escaping-the-black-box-image-1.png",[],{"type":29,"tag":30,"props":829,"children":831},{"id":830},"the-operational-breakdown-of-gated-marketing",[832],{"type":39,"value":833},"The Operational Breakdown of Gated Marketing",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":835,"children":836},{},[837],{"type":39,"value":838},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":840,"children":841},{},[842],{"type":39,"value":843},"This manual oversight introduces severe structural vulnerabilities across the organization:",{"type":29,"tag":576,"props":845,"children":846},{},[847,857,867],{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":848,"children":849},{},[850,855],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":851,"children":852},{},[853],{"type":39,"value":854},"Fragmented Data Layers:",{"type":39,"value":856}," 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":29,"tag":580,"props":858,"children":859},{},[860,865],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":861,"children":862},{},[863],{"type":39,"value":864},"Wasted Executive Energy:",{"type":39,"value":866}," 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":29,"tag":580,"props":868,"children":869},{},[870,875],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":871,"children":872},{},[873],{"type":39,"value":874},"Invisible Funnel Leaks:",{"type":39,"value":876}," 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":29,"tag":42,"props":878,"children":879},{},[880],{"type":39,"value":881},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":883,"children":884},{},[885],{"type":39,"value":886},"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":29,"tag":30,"props":888,"children":890},{"id":889},"structuring-the-svo-operating-system",[891],{"type":39,"value":892},"Structuring the SVO Operating System",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":894,"children":895},{},[896],{"type":39,"value":897},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":899,"children":900},{},[901],{"type":39,"value":902},"This structural shift requires executing three distinct operational deployment steps:",{"type":29,"tag":576,"props":904,"children":905},{},[906,916,926],{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":907,"children":908},{},[909,914],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":910,"children":911},{},[912],{"type":39,"value":913},"Funnel Bottleneck Diagnosis:",{"type":39,"value":915}," 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":29,"tag":580,"props":917,"children":918},{},[919,924],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":920,"children":921},{},[922],{"type":39,"value":923},"Weekly Sprint Cadence:",{"type":39,"value":925}," 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":29,"tag":580,"props":927,"children":928},{},[929,934],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":930,"children":931},{},[932],{"type":39,"value":933},"Semantic Layer Integration:",{"type":39,"value":935}," 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":29,"tag":42,"props":937,"children":938},{},[939],{"type":39,"value":940},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":942,"children":943},{},[944],{"type":29,"tag":523,"props":945,"children":947},{"alt":7,"src":946},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/0d285696-fa87-49eb-8fb7-497be4070be7-mkg-blog-escaping-the-black-box-image-2.png",[],{"type":29,"tag":30,"props":949,"children":951},{"id":950},"why-a-systematized-infrastructure-always-wins",[952],{"type":39,"value":953},"Why a Systematized Infrastructure Always Wins",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":955,"children":956},{},[957],{"type":39,"value":958},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":960,"children":961},{},[962],{"type":39,"value":963},"Consider the operational differences between an ad-hoc marketing structure and a systematized environment:",{"type":29,"tag":576,"props":965,"children":966},{},[967,977,987],{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":968,"children":969},{},[970,975],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":971,"children":972},{},[973],{"type":39,"value":974},"Continuous Market Alignment:",{"type":39,"value":976}," 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":29,"tag":580,"props":978,"children":979},{},[980,985],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":981,"children":982},{},[983],{"type":39,"value":984},"Automated Authority Building:",{"type":39,"value":986}," 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":29,"tag":580,"props":988,"children":989},{},[990,995],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":991,"children":992},{},[993],{"type":39,"value":994},"Predictable Scaling:",{"type":39,"value":996}," 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":29,"tag":42,"props":998,"children":999},{},[1000],{"type":39,"value":1001},"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":29,"tag":30,"props":1003,"children":1005},{"id":1004},"shifting-from-babysitting-to-strategic-calibration",[1006],{"type":39,"value":1007},"Shifting from Babysitting to Strategic Calibration",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1009,"children":1010},{},[1011],{"type":39,"value":1012},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1014,"children":1015},{},[1016],{"type":39,"value":1017},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1019,"children":1020},{},[1021],{"type":39,"value":1022},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1024,"children":1025},{},[1026],{"type":29,"tag":523,"props":1027,"children":1029},{"alt":7,"src":1028},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/88f64901-fbdc-41f1-ae77-6a2cee60417f-mkg-blog-escaping-the-black-box-image-3.png",[],{"type":29,"tag":30,"props":1031,"children":1033},{"id":1032},"building-the-off-my-plate-reality",[1034],{"type":39,"value":1035},"Building the Off-My-Plate Reality",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1037,"children":1038},{},[1039],{"type":39,"value":1040},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1042,"children":1043},{},[1044],{"type":39,"value":1045},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1047,"children":1048},{},[1049],{"type":39,"value":1050},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1052,"children":1053},{},[1054],{"type":39,"value":1055},"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":29,"tag":30,"props":1057,"children":1058},{"id":748},[1059],{"type":39,"value":754},{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1061,"children":1062},{},[1063],{"type":39,"value":1064},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1066,"children":1067},{},[1068],{"type":39,"value":1069},"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":461,"depth":461,"links":1071},[1072,1073,1074,1075,1076,1077],{"id":830,"depth":461,"text":833},{"id":889,"depth":461,"text":892},{"id":950,"depth":461,"text":953},{"id":1004,"depth":461,"text":1007},{"id":1032,"depth":461,"text":1035},{"id":748,"depth":461,"text":754},"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":1082,"_dir":474,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":1083,"description":1084,"img":1085,"date":1086,"body":1087,"_type":465,"_id":1436,"_source":467,"_file":1437,"_stem":1438,"_extension":470,"category":474,"minutes":1439},"/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":26,"children":1088,"toc":1426},[1089,1094,1118,1123,1128,1138,1143,1148,1153,1158,1163,1169,1181,1193,1198,1208,1213,1218,1252,1257,1263,1275,1280,1285,1295,1300,1305,1338,1343,1349,1354,1359,1364,1370,1375,1393,1398,1402],{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1090,"children":1091},{},[1092],{"type":39,"value":1093},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1095,"children":1096},{},[1097,1099,1109,1111,1116],{"type":39,"value":1098},"This isn’t a distant trend; it is the current reality of B2B procurement. New research from",{"type":29,"tag":498,"props":1100,"children":1102},{"href":500,"rel":1101},[502],[1103,1105],{"type":39,"value":1104},"  ",{"type":29,"tag":507,"props":1106,"children":1107},{},[1108],{"type":39,"value":511},{"type":39,"value":1110}," shows that ",{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1112,"children":1113},{},[1114],{"type":39,"value":1115},"51% of B2B software buyers",{"type":39,"value":1117}," 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":29,"tag":42,"props":1119,"children":1120},{},[1121],{"type":39,"value":1122},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1124,"children":1125},{},[1126],{"type":39,"value":1127},"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":29,"tag":30,"props":1129,"children":1131},{"id":1130},"the-transition-of-the-procurement-funnel",[1132,1136],{"type":29,"tag":523,"props":1133,"children":1135},{"alt":7,"src":1134},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/accd88f6-f3c6-4b91-bb0e-bb9642914996-mkg-blog-the-synthesized-buyer-image-1.png",[],{"type":39,"value":1137},"The Transition of the Procurement Funnel",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1139,"children":1140},{},[1141],{"type":39,"value":1142},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1144,"children":1145},{},[1146],{"type":39,"value":1147},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1149,"children":1150},{},[1151],{"type":39,"value":1152},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1154,"children":1155},{},[1156],{"type":39,"value":1157},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1159,"children":1160},{},[1161],{"type":39,"value":1162},"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":29,"tag":30,"props":1164,"children":1166},{"id":1165},"establishing-the-pattern-the-consistency-cadence",[1167],{"type":39,"value":1168},"Establishing the Pattern: The Consistency Cadence",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1170,"children":1171},{},[1172,1174,1179],{"type":39,"value":1173},"At the core of Brand Visibility Optimization is the concept of ",{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1175,"children":1176},{},[1177],{"type":39,"value":1178},"Consistency",{"type":39,"value":1180},". 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":29,"tag":42,"props":1182,"children":1183},{},[1184,1186,1191],{"type":39,"value":1185},"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":29,"tag":35,"props":1187,"children":1188},{},[1189],{"type":39,"value":1190},"LLM Training Data for Brands",{"type":39,"value":1192},".",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1194,"children":1195},{},[1196],{"type":39,"value":1197},"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":29,"tag":30,"props":1199,"children":1201},{"id":1200},"the-brand-visibility-audit-where-do-you-exist",[1202,1206],{"type":29,"tag":523,"props":1203,"children":1205},{"alt":7,"src":1204},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/9639ded1-86f0-4500-bb1a-c2ad511e205b-mkg-blog-the-synthesized-buyer-image-2.png",[],{"type":39,"value":1207},"The Brand Visibility Audit: Where Do You Exist?",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1209,"children":1210},{},[1211],{"type":39,"value":1212},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1214,"children":1215},{},[1216],{"type":39,"value":1217},"The audit should focus on three primary areas:",{"type":29,"tag":1219,"props":1220,"children":1221},"ol",{},[1222,1232,1242],{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":1223,"children":1224},{},[1225,1230],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1226,"children":1227},{},[1228],{"type":39,"value":1229},"Community Mentions:",{"type":39,"value":1231}," 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":29,"tag":580,"props":1233,"children":1234},{},[1235,1240],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1236,"children":1237},{},[1238],{"type":39,"value":1239},"Expert Proximity:",{"type":39,"value":1241}," 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":29,"tag":580,"props":1243,"children":1244},{},[1245,1250],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1246,"children":1247},{},[1248],{"type":39,"value":1249},"Technical Transparency:",{"type":39,"value":1251}," 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":29,"tag":42,"props":1253,"children":1254},{},[1255],{"type":39,"value":1256},"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":29,"tag":30,"props":1258,"children":1260},{"id":1259},"navigating-dark-social-attribution",[1261],{"type":39,"value":1262},"Navigating Dark Social Attribution",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1264,"children":1265},{},[1266,1268,1273],{"type":39,"value":1267},"A significant challenge of the BVO era is that the most valuable interactions are difficult to track. ",{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1269,"children":1270},{},[1271],{"type":39,"value":1272},"Dark Social Attribution",{"type":39,"value":1274}," 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":29,"tag":42,"props":1276,"children":1277},{},[1278],{"type":39,"value":1279},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1281,"children":1282},{},[1283],{"type":39,"value":1284},"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":29,"tag":30,"props":1286,"children":1288},{"id":1287},"systematizing-authority-moving-from-reactive-to-rhythmic",[1289,1293],{"type":29,"tag":523,"props":1290,"children":1292},{"alt":7,"src":1291},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/fdbe942b-e9d7-4a74-8829-9e9587fdd7b6-mkg-blog-the-synthesized-buyer-image-3.png",[],{"type":39,"value":1294},"Systematizing Authority: Moving from Reactive to Rhythmic",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1296,"children":1297},{},[1298],{"type":39,"value":1299},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1301,"children":1302},{},[1303],{"type":39,"value":1304},"This involves:",{"type":29,"tag":576,"props":1306,"children":1307},{},[1308,1318,1328],{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":1309,"children":1310},{},[1311,1316],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1312,"children":1313},{},[1314],{"type":39,"value":1315},"Executive Cadence:",{"type":39,"value":1317}," A strict schedule for your leadership team to contribute to external platforms.",{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":1319,"children":1320},{},[1321,1326],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1322,"children":1323},{},[1324],{"type":39,"value":1325},"Structured Knowledge:",{"type":39,"value":1327}," A website that acts as a hub of structured data that is easy for agents to crawl and understand.",{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":1329,"children":1330},{},[1331,1336],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1332,"children":1333},{},[1334],{"type":39,"value":1335},"Community Engagement:",{"type":39,"value":1337}," Participating in the spaces where your buyers live and providing value without expecting an immediate click.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1339,"children":1340},{},[1341],{"type":39,"value":1342},"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":29,"tag":30,"props":1344,"children":1346},{"id":1345},"the-future-of-b2b-visibility",[1347],{"type":39,"value":1348},"The Future of B2B Visibility",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1350,"children":1351},{},[1352],{"type":39,"value":1353},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1355,"children":1356},{},[1357],{"type":39,"value":1358},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1360,"children":1361},{},[1362],{"type":39,"value":1363},"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":29,"tag":30,"props":1365,"children":1367},{"id":1366},"final-thoughts-the-path-to-synthesis",[1368],{"type":39,"value":1369},"Final Thoughts: The Path to Synthesis",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1371,"children":1372},{},[1373],{"type":39,"value":1374},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1376,"children":1377},{},[1378,1380,1385,1387,1391],{"type":39,"value":1379},"In 2026, that buyer is assisted by an LLM. By mastering ",{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1381,"children":1382},{},[1383],{"type":39,"value":1384},"Brand Visibility Optimization",{"type":39,"value":1386},", addressing the ",{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1388,"children":1389},{},[1390],{"type":39,"value":1272},{"type":39,"value":1392}," gap, and maintaining a consistent output of expertise, you ensure that your brand is recognized.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1394,"children":1395},{},[1396],{"type":39,"value":1397},"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":29,"tag":30,"props":1399,"children":1400},{"id":748},[1401],{"type":39,"value":754},{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1403,"children":1404},{},[1405,1407,1412,1414,1418,1420,1424],{"type":39,"value":1406},"The 2026 B2B buyer journey has changed: 35% use AI tools for vendor selection. To remain visible, brands must adopt ",{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1408,"children":1409},{},[1410],{"type":39,"value":1411},"Brand Visibility Optimization (BVO)",{"type":39,"value":1413}," to ensure they are present in ",{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1415,"children":1416},{},[1417],{"type":39,"value":1190},{"type":39,"value":1419},". Success requires navigating ",{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1421,"children":1422},{},[1423],{"type":39,"value":1272},{"type":39,"value":1425},", 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":461,"depth":461,"links":1427},[1428,1429,1430,1431,1432,1433,1434,1435],{"id":1130,"depth":461,"text":1137},{"id":1165,"depth":461,"text":1168},{"id":1200,"depth":461,"text":1207},{"id":1259,"depth":461,"text":1262},{"id":1287,"depth":461,"text":1294},{"id":1345,"depth":461,"text":1348},{"id":1366,"depth":461,"text":1369},{"id":748,"depth":461,"text":754},"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":1441,"_dir":474,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":1442,"description":1443,"_schema":10,"authors":1444,"date":1445,"img":1446,"imgAlt":1447,"body":1448,"_type":465,"_id":1862,"_source":467,"_file":1863,"_stem":1864,"_extension":470,"category":474,"minutes":1865},"/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.",[],"2026-05-05T16:25:00Z","/images/blog/mkg-blog-search-industry-overview-april.webp","Monthly Search Industry Report",{"type":26,"children":1449,"toc":1855},[1450,1459,1502,1511,1516,1600,1609,1614,1680,1689,1699,1712,1721,1755,1764,1774,1783,1788,1793,1826,1834,1852],{"type":29,"tag":30,"props":1451,"children":1453},{"id":1452},"executive-summary-the-tldr",[1454],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1455,"children":1456},{},[1457],{"type":39,"value":1458},"Executive Summary (The TL;DR)",{"type":29,"tag":576,"props":1460,"children":1461},{},[1462,1472,1482,1492],{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":1463,"children":1464},{},[1465,1470],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1466,"children":1467},{},[1468],{"type":39,"value":1469},"March Core Update Completion:",{"type":39,"value":1471}," 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":29,"tag":580,"props":1473,"children":1474},{},[1475,1480],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1476,"children":1477},{},[1478],{"type":39,"value":1479},"The \"Back Button\" Ban:",{"type":39,"value":1481}," 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":29,"tag":580,"props":1483,"children":1484},{},[1485,1490],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1486,"children":1487},{},[1488],{"type":39,"value":1489},"Search as a \"Task Engine\":",{"type":39,"value":1491}," 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":29,"tag":580,"props":1493,"children":1494},{},[1495,1500],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1496,"children":1497},{},[1498],{"type":39,"value":1499},"GPT-5.5 Launch:",{"type":39,"value":1501}," OpenAI released its most capable agentic model yet, designed to perform multi-step work independently, further changing how users find professional information.",{"type":29,"tag":30,"props":1503,"children":1505},{"id":1504},"algorithm-technical-seo-updates",[1506],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1507,"children":1508},{},[1509],{"type":39,"value":1510},"Algorithm & Technical SEO Updates",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1512,"children":1513},{},[1514],{"type":39,"value":1515},"The focus this month shifted from ranking keywords to punishing deceptive user experiences and rewarding technical efficiency.",{"type":29,"tag":576,"props":1517,"children":1518},{},[1519,1538,1560,1581],{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":1520,"children":1521},{},[1522,1527,1529,1536],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1523,"children":1524},{},[1525],{"type":39,"value":1526},"March Core Update Wraps:",{"type":39,"value":1528}," Google confirmed the March 2026 Core Update ended on April 8. Analysis from ",{"type":29,"tag":498,"props":1530,"children":1533},{"href":1531,"rel":1532},"https://searchengineland.com/march-2026-google-core-update-what-changed-474397",[502],[1534],{"type":39,"value":1535},"Search Engine Land",{"type":39,"value":1537}," indicates that niche, authoritative brands saw the most growth, while broad comparison sites lost ground.",{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":1539,"children":1540},{},[1541,1546,1548,1558],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1542,"children":1543},{},[1544],{"type":39,"value":1545},"Back Button Hijacking Policy:",{"type":39,"value":1547}," On April 13, Google introduced a ",{"type":29,"tag":498,"props":1549,"children":1552},{"href":1550,"rel":1551},"https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2026/04/back-button-hijacking?authuser=2",[502],[1553],{"type":29,"tag":507,"props":1554,"children":1555},{},[1556],{"type":39,"value":1557},"new spam policy",{"type":39,"value":1559}," 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":29,"tag":580,"props":1561,"children":1562},{},[1563,1568,1569,1579],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1564,"children":1565},{},[1566],{"type":39,"value":1567},"The 2MB Fetch Limit:",{"type":39,"value":505},{"type":29,"tag":498,"props":1570,"children":1573},{"href":1571,"rel":1572},"https://www.searchenginejournal.com/technical-seo-audit-new-layer/571583/",[502],[1574],{"type":29,"tag":507,"props":1575,"children":1576},{},[1577],{"type":39,"value":1578},"Search Engine Journal",{"type":39,"value":1580}," 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":29,"tag":580,"props":1582,"children":1583},{},[1584,1589,1591,1598],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1585,"children":1586},{},[1587],{"type":39,"value":1588},"\"Read More\" Optimization:",{"type":39,"value":1590}," There’s now ",{"type":29,"tag":498,"props":1592,"children":1595},{"href":1593,"rel":1594},"https://searchengineland.com/google-adds-read-more-links-best-practices-474807",[502],[1596],{"type":39,"value":1597},"new guidance",{"type":39,"value":1599}," 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":29,"tag":30,"props":1601,"children":1603},{"id":1602},"the-geoaeo-frontier",[1604],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1605,"children":1606},{},[1607],{"type":39,"value":1608},"The GEO/AEO Frontier",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1610,"children":1611},{},[1612],{"type":39,"value":1613},"Search Visibility Optimization (SVO) is moving into the \"Agentic Era,\" where AI doesn't just find information, it performs tasks.",{"type":29,"tag":576,"props":1615,"children":1616},{},[1617,1639,1661],{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":1618,"children":1619},{},[1620,1625,1627,1637],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1621,"children":1622},{},[1623],{"type":39,"value":1624},"Google's \"Task Assistant\":",{"type":39,"value":1626}," Google launched new features that allow ",{"type":29,"tag":498,"props":1628,"children":1631},{"href":1629,"rel":1630},"https://www.lumar.io/blog/industry-news/seo-ai-search-industry-news-april-2026/",[502],[1632],{"type":29,"tag":507,"props":1633,"children":1634},{},[1635],{"type":39,"value":1636},"AI to call stores",{"type":39,"value":1638}," to check product availability and manage complex travel bookings directly in the SERP. This prioritizes structured data (Schema) over traditional blog content.",{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":1640,"children":1641},{},[1642,1647,1649,1659],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1643,"children":1644},{},[1645],{"type":39,"value":1646},"GPT-5.5 Agentic Workflows:",{"type":39,"value":1648}," Released on April 23, ",{"type":29,"tag":498,"props":1650,"children":1653},{"href":1651,"rel":1652},"https://www.artificialintelligence-news.com/news/gpt-5-5-is-openais-most-capable-agentic-ai-model-yet-at-twice-the-api-price/",[502],[1654],{"type":29,"tag":507,"props":1655,"children":1656},{},[1657],{"type":39,"value":1658},"GPT-5.5",{"type":39,"value":1660}," 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":29,"tag":580,"props":1662,"children":1663},{},[1664,1669,1671,1678],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1665,"children":1666},{},[1667],{"type":39,"value":1668},"Chrome's AI Mode Integration:",{"type":39,"value":1670}," Google is rolling out an ",{"type":29,"tag":498,"props":1672,"children":1675},{"href":1673,"rel":1674},"https://www.seroundtable.com/google-tests-enter-ai-mode-button-37145.html",[502],[1676],{"type":39,"value":1677},"\"Enter AI Mode\"",{"type":39,"value":1679}," 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":29,"tag":30,"props":1681,"children":1683},{"id":1682},"strategic-implications-for-leaders",[1684],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1685,"children":1686},{},[1687],{"type":39,"value":1688},"Strategic Implications for Leaders",{"type":29,"tag":1690,"props":1691,"children":1693},"h4",{"id":1692},"what-to-ignore",[1694],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1695,"children":1696},{},[1697],{"type":39,"value":1698},"What to ignore:",{"type":29,"tag":576,"props":1700,"children":1701},{},[1702],{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":1703,"children":1704},{},[1705,1710],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1706,"children":1707},{},[1708],{"type":39,"value":1709},"Vanity Link Building:",{"type":39,"value":1711}," 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":29,"tag":1690,"props":1713,"children":1715},{"id":1714},"where-to-pivot",[1716],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1717,"children":1718},{},[1719],{"type":39,"value":1720},"Where to pivot:",{"type":29,"tag":576,"props":1722,"children":1723},{},[1724,1745],{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":1725,"children":1726},{},[1727,1732,1734,1743],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1728,"children":1729},{},[1730],{"type":39,"value":1731},"Audit for \"History Hijacking\":",{"type":39,"value":1733}," Ensure your marketing or ad scripts aren't accidentally violating the new ",{"type":29,"tag":498,"props":1735,"children":1737},{"href":1550,"rel":1736},[502],[1738],{"type":29,"tag":507,"props":1739,"children":1740},{},[1741],{"type":39,"value":1742},"Back Button policy",{"type":39,"value":1744},". Even vignette ads can sometimes trigger these penalties.",{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":1746,"children":1747},{},[1748,1753],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1749,"children":1750},{},[1751],{"type":39,"value":1752},"Structure for Agents:",{"type":39,"value":1754}," 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":29,"tag":1690,"props":1756,"children":1758},{"id":1757},"looking-ahead",[1759],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1760,"children":1761},{},[1762],{"type":39,"value":1763},"Looking Ahead:",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1765,"children":1766},{},[1767,1772],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1768,"children":1769},{},[1770],{"type":39,"value":1771},"The \"Side-Panel\" Habit:",{"type":39,"value":1773}," 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":29,"tag":30,"props":1775,"children":1777},{"id":1776},"call-to-action-optimize-for-the-future",[1778],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1779,"children":1780},{},[1781],{"type":39,"value":1782},"Call to Action: Optimize for the Future",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1784,"children":1785},{},[1786],{"type":39,"value":1787},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1789,"children":1790},{},[1791],{"type":39,"value":1792},"MKG helps VC-backed companies dominate this new landscape via:",{"type":29,"tag":576,"props":1794,"children":1795},{},[1796,1806,1816],{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":1797,"children":1798},{},[1799,1804],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1800,"children":1801},{},[1802],{"type":39,"value":1803},"GEO/AEO Gap Analysis:",{"type":39,"value":1805}," Identifying where AI agents are failing to \"see\" your core product data.",{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":1807,"children":1808},{},[1809,1814],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1810,"children":1811},{},[1812],{"type":39,"value":1813},"SVO Focus:",{"type":39,"value":1815}," Incorporating all areas of search into one, holistic and coherent strategy.",{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":1817,"children":1818},{},[1819,1824],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1820,"children":1821},{},[1822],{"type":39,"value":1823},"Full-Funnel Attribution:",{"type":39,"value":1825}," Measuring how AI Mode interactions contribute to your bottom line, even without a traditional click.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1827,"children":1828},{},[1829],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1830,"children":1831},{},[1832],{"type":39,"value":1833},"Don't get trapped by the old playbook.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1835,"children":1836},{},[1837,1850],{"type":29,"tag":498,"props":1838,"children":1841},{"href":1839,"rel":1840},"https://mkgmarketinginc.com/book-a-call/",[502],[1842],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1843,"children":1844},{},[1845],{"type":29,"tag":507,"props":1846,"children":1847},{},[1848],{"type":39,"value":1849},"Book a Discovery Call",{"type":39,"value":1851}," to secure your visibility in the agentic search era.",{"type":29,"tag":457,"props":1853,"children":1854},{},[],{"title":7,"searchDepth":461,"depth":461,"links":1856},[1857,1858,1859,1860,1861],{"id":1452,"depth":461,"text":1458},{"id":1504,"depth":461,"text":1510},{"id":1602,"depth":461,"text":1608},{"id":1682,"depth":461,"text":1688},{"id":1776,"depth":461,"text":1782},"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":1867,"_dir":474,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":1868,"description":1869,"img":1870,"date":1871,"imgAlt":1872,"_schema":10,"authors":1873,"body":1874,"_type":465,"_id":2206,"_source":467,"_file":2207,"_stem":2208,"_extension":470,"category":474,"minutes":772},"/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":26,"children":1875,"toc":2196},[1876,1881,1886,1891,1896,1903,1912,1917,1922,1927,1932,1941,1946,1951,1956,1961,1968,1977,1982,1987,1992,2025,2030,2035,2044,2049,2054,2087,2092,2099,2108,2113,2118,2123,2128,2137,2142,2147,2152,2157,2166,2171,2176,2181,2188,2193],{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1877,"children":1878},{},[1879],{"type":39,"value":1880},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1882,"children":1883},{},[1884],{"type":39,"value":1885},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1887,"children":1888},{},[1889],{"type":39,"value":1890},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1892,"children":1893},{},[1894],{"type":39,"value":1895},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1897,"children":1898},{},[1899],{"type":29,"tag":523,"props":1900,"children":1902},{"alt":7,"src":1901},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/f48096ed-38dd-417b-a905-819c2602bc6e-mkg-blog-agentic-procurement-image-1.jpg",[],{"type":29,"tag":30,"props":1904,"children":1906},{"id":1905},"the-reality-of-agentic-procurement",[1907],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1908,"children":1909},{},[1910],{"type":39,"value":1911},"The Reality of Agentic Procurement",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1913,"children":1914},{},[1915],{"type":39,"value":1916},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1918,"children":1919},{},[1920],{"type":39,"value":1921},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1923,"children":1924},{},[1925],{"type":39,"value":1926},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1928,"children":1929},{},[1930],{"type":39,"value":1931},"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":29,"tag":30,"props":1933,"children":1935},{"id":1934},"moving-beyond-seo-to-agent-readiness-optimization-aro",[1936],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":1937,"children":1938},{},[1939],{"type":39,"value":1940},"Moving Beyond SEO to Agent Readiness Optimization (ARO)",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":1942,"children":1943},{},[1944],{"type":39,"value":1945},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1947,"children":1948},{},[1949],{"type":39,"value":1950},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1952,"children":1953},{},[1954],{"type":39,"value":1955},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":1957,"children":1958},{},[1959],{"type":39,"value":1960},"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. 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In 2015, she left the agency world with a desire to gain more digital advertising experience, which led to her running a one-person digital department for a regional credit union.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":2981,"children":2982},{},[2983],{"type":39,"value":2984},"Account Direction has always been a natural fit for Alanna because she enjoys managing projects, big picture strategy, and building relationships. She chose to come back to the agency world when she learned about MKG and our People First values.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":2986,"children":2987},{},[2988],{"type":39,"value":2989},"She is most proud of the impact she had on her previous company by creating a positive and supportive environment for those she managed. ",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":2991,"children":2992},{},[2993],{"type":39,"value":2994},"Alanna enjoys spending time with her husband and two teenage daughters, has a very eclectic taste in music, and is an obsessive Hamilfan.",{"type":29,"tag":2996,"props":2997,"children":2999},"h3",{"id":2998},"fun-facts",[3000],{"type":39,"value":3001},"Fun facts",{"type":29,"tag":576,"props":3003,"children":3004},{},[3005,3010,3015],{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":3006,"children":3007},{},[3008],{"type":39,"value":3009},"In college, she won a radio contest for her youngest brother to have dinner with Nickelback. The band spent the entire evening trying to convince her, then 15-year-old, brother to drop out of school.",{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":3011,"children":3012},{},[3013],{"type":39,"value":3014},"She once spent 3 hours convincing a famous country singer to get off his tour bus to shoot a commercial that her client had contracted him to be in.",{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":3016,"children":3017},{},[3018],{"type":39,"value":3019},"Her family is a big fan of True Crime, and they binge Crime Junkie on every road trip.",{"title":7,"searchDepth":461,"depth":461,"links":3021},[3022],{"id":2998,"depth":2969,"text":3001},"content:team:alanna-moman-rawden.md","team/alanna-moman-rawden.md","team/alanna-moman-rawden",{"_path":3027,"_dir":2958,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":3028,"description":3029,"name":3028,"ref":3030,"jobTitle":3031,"team":3031,"images":3032,"linkedIn":3034,"quoteCite":2970,"sequence":24,"body":3035,"_type":465,"_id":3096,"_source":467,"_file":3097,"_stem":3098,"_extension":470,"category":2958,"minutes":3099},"/team/alicia-antonow","Alicia Antonow","Meet Alicia Antonow, one of MKG Marketing’s saavy digital ads experts, bringing 15+ years of hands on execution and strategy to the table.","alicia-antonow","Digital Advertising Experts",{"landscape":3033},"alicia-antonow.webp","alicia-a-36459bb5",{"type":26,"children":3036,"toc":3094},[3037,3045,3050,3058,3063,3071,3076,3084,3089],{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3038,"children":3039},{},[3040],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":3041,"children":3042},{},[3043],{"type":39,"value":3044},"How I Got Into Digital Advertising",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3046,"children":3047},{},[3048],{"type":39,"value":3049},"With a background as a nurse, my journey into digital advertising began unexpectedly when I back to Ann Arbor, Michigan. A Google Partner approached me to assist with healthcare content and ads. I quickly discovered a passion for the field, and with Google Ads sales training followed by SEM training, I was hooked.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3051,"children":3052},{},[3053],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":3054,"children":3055},{},[3056],{"type":39,"value":3057},"What I Love About Paid Search",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3059,"children":3060},{},[3061],{"type":39,"value":3062},"Every campaign is like a unique puzzle, even within the same industry. Variations in geography, audiences, and keywords make each project different. I enjoy leveraging the full suite of Google products—Search, Display, Demand Gen, and YouTube—because they work best when integrated. The ever-evolving nature of the work keeps me inspired and challenged.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3064,"children":3065},{},[3066],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":3067,"children":3068},{},[3069],{"type":39,"value":3070},"Why I Chose MKG Marketing",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3072,"children":3073},{},[3074],{"type":39,"value":3075},"I was drawn to MKG Marketing for its people-first culture. The company recognizes that we are all human, with lives outside of work, and fosters a supportive environment that values balance and well-being.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3077,"children":3078},{},[3079],{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":3080,"children":3081},{},[3082],{"type":39,"value":3083},"Fun Facts About Me",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3085,"children":3086},{},[3087],{"type":39,"value":3088},"I’m an avid traveler and love immersing myself in different cultures. Before having kids, my husband and I spent at least three months each year exploring the world.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3090,"children":3091},{},[3092],{"type":39,"value":3093},"I take cooking classes with locals wherever I go and love scuba diving whenever there’s water nearby.\nMy kids are my world—seeing their faces light up when experiencing something new brings me the greatest joy.",{"title":7,"searchDepth":461,"depth":461,"links":3095},[],"content:team:alicia-antonow.md","team/alicia-antonow.md","team/alicia-antonow",1,{"_path":3101,"_dir":2958,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":3102,"description":3103,"name":3102,"jobTitle":3104,"team":3105,"images":3106,"ref":3108,"linkedIn":3109,"sequence":3110,"body":3111,"_type":465,"_id":3159,"_source":467,"_file":3160,"_stem":3161,"_extension":470,"category":2958,"minutes":461},"/team/avery-davis","Avery Davis","Avery Davis is an Account Superivor here at MKG Marketing.","Account Supervisor","Account Services",{"landscape":3107},"avery-davis.webp","avery-davis","avery-davis-114055191",59,{"type":26,"children":3112,"toc":3156},[3113,3119,3124,3129,3134,3138],{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3114,"children":3116},{"className":3115},[2976],[3117],{"type":39,"value":3118},"\nAvery began his digital marketing career at a tech startup focused on ID scanning and facial recognition software. In addition to gaining a deep understanding of paid media and analytics, this peaked his interest in cybersecurity and tech in general. He then transitioned to agency life where he specialized in SaaS marketing.\n",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3120,"children":3121},{},[3122],{"type":39,"value":3123},"Over the years, Avery has touched a variety of verticals including health and beauty, eCommerce, medical/pharma, education, and more. He is drawn to agency life because of the variety of clients he is able to work with and, in turn, learn from.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3125,"children":3126},{},[3127],{"type":39,"value":3128},"Although he’s touched several areas of digital marketing, Avery feels most at home when doing Account/ Project Management as well as Copywriting.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3130,"children":3131},{},[3132],{"type":39,"value":3133},"As is the theme with many of our staff, Avery was drawn to MKG because of our culture. In Avery’s words “MKG shares the same values as I do in both my professional and my personal life. When I saw that we meshed so well, this was an opportunity I couldn’t refuse!”",{"type":29,"tag":2996,"props":3135,"children":3136},{"id":2998},[3137],{"type":39,"value":3001},{"type":29,"tag":576,"props":3139,"children":3140},{},[3141,3146,3151],{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":3142,"children":3143},{},[3144],{"type":39,"value":3145},"Avery is an avid racquetball player. Having first gotten into the sport in college, he’s had lots of fun playing over the years. He tries to get to the court at least once a week.",{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":3147,"children":3148},{},[3149],{"type":39,"value":3150},"Avery is a hobby bartender and enjoys making, tasting, and learning about different drinks. He’s mainly a Kentucky bourbon guy but also loves Japanese whisky!",{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":3152,"children":3153},{},[3154],{"type":39,"value":3155},"Avery is a black belt in Pasaryu. This is a Korean mixed martial art which includes karate, kung fu, and Taekwondo. He has also trained and competed with weapons: nunchucks and samurai sword just to name a couple!",{"title":7,"searchDepth":461,"depth":461,"links":3157},[3158],{"id":2998,"depth":2969,"text":3001},"content:team:avery-davis.md","team/avery-davis.md","team/avery-davis",{"_path":3163,"_dir":2958,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":3164,"description":3165,"name":3164,"ref":3166,"jobTitle":3167,"team":3168,"images":3169,"linkedIn":3171,"quote":3172,"quoteCite":3173,"sequence":3174,"body":3175,"_type":465,"_id":3222,"_source":467,"_file":3223,"_stem":3224,"_extension":470,"category":2958,"minutes":461},"/team/jared-gerling","Jared Gerling","Meet Jared Gerling, one of MKG Marketing’s thoughtful SEO Experts, bringing 10+ years of experience, intentionality, and creativity to the team.","jared-gerling","SEO Expert","SEO Experts",{"landscape":3170},"jared-gerling.webp","jaredgerling","The truth is, most of us discover where we are heading when we arrive.","Calvin (Calvin and Hobbes)",55,{"type":26,"children":3176,"toc":3220},[3177,3182,3187,3192,3197,3202],{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3178,"children":3179},{},[3180],{"type":39,"value":3181},"Jared's journey into digital marketing started with answering a classified ad for a company looking for people with writing backgrounds for a position in SEO. As a graduate of Michigan State University with a degree in Creative Writing, this sounded like the perfect opportunity.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3183,"children":3184},{},[3185],{"type":39,"value":3186},"This small agency taught him SEO from the ground up, and, after taking a break from digital marketing to receive his MA from DePaul University, Jared jumped back into the field at a medium-sized agency out of Chicago as an SEO analyst.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3188,"children":3189},{},[3190],{"type":39,"value":3191},"Since then, Jared has worked for large and small marketing agencies for over a decade, providing expert SEO services in almost every industry that has a website on the internet. And with his background in writing, Jared feels most at home in the content and customer facing side of SEO and digital marketing.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3193,"children":3194},{},[3195],{"type":39,"value":3196},"It was first and foremost the people that drew Jared to MKG. 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":29,"tag":42,"props":3198,"children":3199},{},[3200],{"type":39,"value":3201},"Fun Facts:",{"type":29,"tag":576,"props":3203,"children":3204},{},[3205,3210,3215],{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":3206,"children":3207},{},[3208],{"type":39,"value":3209},"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":29,"tag":580,"props":3211,"children":3212},{},[3213],{"type":39,"value":3214},"I was a college rower in my younger days. I rowed mostly eights as a port, and competed against some of the best schools in the nation...and lost to most of them.",{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":3216,"children":3217},{},[3218],{"type":39,"value":3219},"I love a really good French Martini.",{"title":7,"searchDepth":461,"depth":461,"links":3221},[],"content:team:jared-gerling.md","team/jared-gerling.md","team/jared-gerling",{"_path":3226,"_dir":2958,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":3227,"description":3228,"name":3229,"jobTitle":3230,"images":3231,"ref":3233,"sequence":3234,"imageDescription":3235,"body":3236,"_type":465,"_id":3288,"_source":467,"_file":3289,"_stem":3290,"_extension":470,"category":2958,"minutes":461},"/team/kathy-obrien","Kathy Obrien","Meet Kathy O’Brien, MKG Marketing’s amazing executive assistant who consistently supports all of MKG across the many needs of the company.","Kathy O'Brien","Executive Assistant",{"landscape":3232},"kathy-obrien.webp","kathy-obrien",80,"Kathy O’Brien, MKG Marketing’s Executive Assistant, in front of a gray background | MKG Marketing",{"type":26,"children":3237,"toc":3285},[3238,3244,3249,3258,3263,3267],{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3239,"children":3241},{"className":3240},[2976],[3242],{"type":39,"value":3243},"\nKathy loves details and has managed the finer details of business her entire career.  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":29,"tag":42,"props":3245,"children":3246},{},[3247],{"type":39,"value":3248},"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":29,"tag":3250,"props":3251,"children":3252},"blockquote",{},[3253],{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3254,"children":3255},{},[3256],{"type":39,"value":3257},"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.\nMother Teresa",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3259,"children":3260},{},[3261],{"type":39,"value":3262},"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. They live their standard.",{"type":29,"tag":2996,"props":3264,"children":3265},{"id":2998},[3266],{"type":39,"value":3001},{"type":29,"tag":576,"props":3268,"children":3269},{},[3270,3275,3280],{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":3271,"children":3272},{},[3273],{"type":39,"value":3274},"Kathy’s dislikes: fruit & chocolate together and Tuesday.",{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":3276,"children":3277},{},[3278],{"type":39,"value":3279},"Family: Kathy met her husband Bill in Wildwood, New Jersey after their high school graduations during “Senior Week”. They have 4 sons and 2 grandsons. There hasn’t been a girl born in the O’Brien family in 32 years! You will often hear Kathy saying her boys are the best 4 gifts she’s ever been given.",{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":3281,"children":3282},{},[3283],{"type":39,"value":3284},"Special talent: Baking. Her boys’ (Bill included) favorites are Spritz Cookies and Chocolate Chip Cookies. There is a running family debate as to whether Ricotta Cookies are cookies or biscuits. At Christmas time, Kathy has been known to hide cookies to save some for guests.",{"title":7,"searchDepth":461,"depth":461,"links":3286},[3287],{"id":2998,"depth":2969,"text":3001},"content:team:kathy-obrien.md","team/kathy-obrien.md","team/kathy-obrien",{"_path":3292,"_dir":2958,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":12,"description":3293,"ref":3294,"name":12,"team":2963,"quote":3295,"images":3296,"twitter":3298,"isLeader":2967,"jobTitle":3299,"linkedIn":3298,"sequence":3099,"quoteCite":3300,"imageDescription":3301,"body":3302,"_type":465,"_id":3350,"_source":467,"_file":3351,"_stem":3352,"_extension":470,"category":2958,"minutes":3099},"/team/kerry-guard","Meet Kerry Guard, one of MKG Marketing’s founders. She currently fills the role of CEO of MKG as well as hosting the podcast, Back on T-R-A-C-K.","kerry-guard","I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness — it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.",{"landscape":3297},"kerry-guard.webp","kerryguard","Founder & CEO","Brené Brown","Kerry Guard, MKG Marketing’s Owner/CEO, stands on a street in Guernsey with the Town Church behind her | MKG Marketing",{"type":26,"children":3303,"toc":3347},[3304,3310,3322,3335,3339],{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3305,"children":3307},{"className":3306},[2976],[3308],{"type":39,"value":3309},"Kerry Guard (she/her) is a mom of twins - boy and a girl. She understands what work life balance really looks like and is on a mission to build a company that honors parents having a career and a life. She’s out to prove you really can have both with policies like ensuring 20 days of vacation each year, no client emails after 6PM or weekends, unlimited sick days, and everyday flexibility.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3311,"children":3312},{},[3313,3315,3320],{"type":39,"value":3314},"She also hosts our podcast, ",{"type":29,"tag":498,"props":3316,"children":3318},{"href":3317},"/podcasts/marketing-leaders/",[3319],{"type":39,"value":13},{"type":39,"value":3321},", which brings eight digital marketing experts to your ears every quarter.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3323,"children":3324},{},[3325,3327,3333],{"type":39,"value":3326},"Kerry is responsible for HR. If you’d like to join MKG where people are first and your expertise matter, Kerry will be with you through the entire interview process ensuring each candidate meets the necessary requirements and gets a fair shot. Want to join MKG and Kerry’s mission of bringing People First to as many people as possible? Check out our ",{"type":29,"tag":498,"props":3328,"children":3330},{"href":3329},"/about/jobs/",[3331],{"type":39,"value":3332},"Jobs page",{"type":39,"value":3334}," and see if we have a position right for you!",{"type":29,"tag":2996,"props":3336,"children":3337},{"id":2998},[3338],{"type":39,"value":3001},{"type":29,"tag":576,"props":3340,"children":3341},{},[3342],{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":3343,"children":3344},{},[3345],{"type":39,"value":3346},"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":461,"depth":461,"links":3348},[3349],{"id":2998,"depth":2969,"text":3001},"content:team:kerry-guard.md","team/kerry-guard.md","team/kerry-guard",{"_path":3354,"_dir":2958,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":3355,"description":3356,"name":3355,"ref":3357,"jobTitle":3358,"team":3031,"images":3359,"linkedIn":3361,"sequence":3362,"body":3363,"_type":465,"_id":3414,"_source":467,"_file":3415,"_stem":3416,"_extension":470,"category":2958,"minutes":461},"/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":3360},"leigh-snyder.webp","leighasnyder",50,{"type":26,"children":3364,"toc":3411},[3365,3371,3376,3381,3386,3391,3396,3401,3406],{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3366,"children":3368},{"className":3367},[2976],[3369],{"type":39,"value":3370},"\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":29,"tag":42,"props":3372,"children":3373},{},[3374],{"type":39,"value":3375},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":3377,"children":3378},{},[3379],{"type":39,"value":3380},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":3382,"children":3383},{},[3384],{"type":39,"value":3385},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":3387,"children":3388},{},[3389],{"type":39,"value":3390},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":3392,"children":3393},{},[3394],{"type":39,"value":3395},"Outside of work, Leigh enjoys spending time with her husband Dustin, their blended family (Emma, Casey, Jake & Brayden) and their dog Millie.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3397,"children":3398},{},[3399],{"type":39,"value":3400},"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":29,"tag":2996,"props":3402,"children":3403},{"id":2998},[3404],{"type":39,"value":3405},"Fun Facts",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3407,"children":3408},{},[3409],{"type":39,"value":3410},"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":461,"depth":461,"links":3412},[3413],{"id":2998,"depth":2969,"text":3405},"content:team:leigh-snyder.md","team/leigh-snyder.md","team/leigh-snyder",{"_path":3418,"_dir":3419,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":3420,"description":3421,"name":3420,"imageDescription":3422,"ref":3423,"jobTitle":3424,"images":3425,"linkedIn":3423,"quote":3427,"quoteCite":3420,"sequence":1439,"body":3428,"_type":465,"_id":3502,"_source":467,"_file":3503,"_stem":3504,"_extension":470,"category":3419,"minutes":3099},"/team/marketing-leadership/celeste-jacroux","marketing-leadership","Celeste Jacroux","Meet Celeste Jacroux, a strategic GTM partner to MKG and Founder of Sweel Marketing Advisors. She leads Go-to-Market strategy for high-growth companies.","Celeste Jacroux, Founder of Swell Marketing Advisors and MKG Partner","celeste-jacroux","Fractional GTM Leader | Founder, Swell Marketing Advisors",{"landscape":3426},"celeste-jacroux.webp","A great product doesn't win on its own. It wins when the story, the strategy, and the sales motion all pull in the exact same direction.",{"type":26,"children":3429,"toc":3499},[3430,3443,3448,3460,3466],{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3431,"children":3433},{"className":3432},[2976],[3434,3436,3441],{"type":39,"value":3435},"\nCeleste Jacroux is a Go-to-Market architect for companies ready to graduate from \"random acts of marketing\" to a predictable revenue engine. As the Founder of ",{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":3437,"children":3438},{},[3439],{"type":39,"value":3440},"Swell Marketing Advisors",{"type":39,"value":3442}," and a strategic partner to MKG, she brings deep expertise in aligning product, sales, and marketing into a cohesive GTM strategy.",{"type":29,"tag":42,"props":3444,"children":3445},{},[3446],{"type":39,"value":3447},"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":29,"tag":42,"props":3449,"children":3450},{},[3451,3453,3458],{"type":39,"value":3452},"At MKG, Celeste steps in as a Marketing Leader for our ",{"type":29,"tag":35,"props":3454,"children":3455},{},[3456],{"type":39,"value":3457},"Marketing Leadership + Activation",{"type":39,"value":3459}," clients. 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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":29,"tag":2996,"props":3576,"children":3577},{"id":2998},[3578],{"type":39,"value":3001},{"type":29,"tag":576,"props":3580,"children":3581},{},[3582],{"type":29,"tag":580,"props":3583,"children":3584},{},[3585],{"type":39,"value":3346},{"title":7,"searchDepth":461,"depth":461,"links":3587},[3588],{"id":2998,"depth":2969,"text":3001},"content:team:marketing-leadership:kerry-guard.md","team/marketing-leadership/kerry-guard.md","team/marketing-leadership/kerry-guard",{"_path":3593,"_dir":3419,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":3594,"description":3595,"name":3596,"imageDescription":3597,"ref":3598,"jobTitle":3599,"images":3600,"linkedIn":3598,"quote":3602,"quoteCite":3596,"sequence":3603,"body":3604,"_type":465,"_id":3687,"_source":467,"_file":3688,"_stem":3689,"_extension":470,"category":3419,"minutes":3099},"/team/marketing-leadership/laura-mcaliley","Laura Mcaliley","Meet Laura McAliley, a strategic partner to MKG and Founder of Pebble Marketing. 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