[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":4561},["ShallowReactive",2],{"podcast-marketing-leaders-marketing-fundamentals-first-why-most-growth-problems-start-earlier-than-you-think":3,"header-articles":919,"updatesSection-all":2800,"updatesSection-all-team":3575},{"_path":4,"_dir":5,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":8,"description":9,"date":10,"audio":11,"episode":14,"minutes":15,"series":16,"guest":17,"guestimg":18,"authors":19,"guesturl":21,"seotitle":8,"iframe":22,"guestabout":23,"body":24,"_type":913,"_id":914,"_source":915,"_file":916,"_stem":917,"_extension":918,"category":5},"/podcasts/marketing-leaders/marketing-fundamentals-first-why-most-growth-problems-start-earlier-than-you-think","marketing-leaders",false,"","Marketing Fundamentals First - Why Most Growth Problems Start Earlier Than You Think","In this episode, Moni Oloyede discusses why so many businesses struggle with marketing despite investing heavily in campaigns, content, and lead generation. She breaks down the foundational work most companies skip—understanding their audience, refining their messaging, and building a brand people actually remember—and explains why sustainable growth starts long before the first marketing tactic is launched.","2026-06-17T18:15:10.287Z",{"url":12,"length":13},"https://share.transistor.fm/s/285bda95","57058359","221","45","Back on T-R-A-C-K","Moni Oloyede","https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/ff32456f-dfe7-4ee0-ab8d-1b54b4a54c77-moni-oloyede.webp",[20],"Kerry Guard","https://www.linkedin.com/in/moni-oloyede/","https://share.transistor.fm/e/285bda95","Moni Oloyede helps businesses build trust-driven marketing systems that turn genuine customer understanding into sustainable word-of-mouth growth.",{"type":25,"children":26,"toc":908},"root",[27,36,42,48,53,58,63,68,73,78,83,88,93,98,103,108,113,118,123,128,133,138,143,148,153,158,163,168,173,178,183,188,193,198,203,208,213,218,223,228,233,238,243,248,253,258,263,268,273,278,283,288,293,298,303,308,313,318,323,328,333,338,343,348,353,358,363,368,373,378,383,388,393,398,403,408,413,418,423,428,433,438,443,448,453,458,463,468,473,478,483,488,493,498,503,508,513,518,523,528,533,538,543,548,553,558,563,568,573,578,583,588,593,598,603,608,613,618,623,628,633,638,643,648,653,658,663,668,673,678,683,688,693,698,703,708,713,718,723,728,733,738,743,748,753,758,763,768,773,778,783,788,793,798,803,808,813,818,823,828,833,838,843,848,853,858,863,868,873,878,883,888,893,898,903],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":30,"children":32},"element","h2",{"id":31},"overview",[33],{"type":34,"value":35},"text","Overview",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":38,"children":39},"p",{},[40],{"type":34,"value":41},"Moni explains why businesses often jump straight into websites, content, and lead generation before doing the deeper work of understanding their audience, market, and messaging. She shares how strong marketing is built on consumer psychology, emotional outcomes, and genuine customer understanding—not just tactics and funnels. The conversation also explores word-of-mouth marketing, the power of market research, and why founders who slow down to build the right foundation ultimately create more sustainable growth.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":43,"children":45},{"id":44},"transcript",[46],{"type":34,"value":47},"Transcript:",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":49,"children":50},{},[51],{"type":34,"value":52},"Moni Oloyede  0:00  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":54,"children":55},{},[56],{"type":34,"value":57},"When people are having struggles with marketing, what I realize is that they're missing fundamentals. They really don't understand their audience, they really don't understand their market, they really don't have a good message, and they think they do, but they really don't. They haven't done that sort of deep-level layer work to really make those things work for them. So now I'll focus on helping small businesses in those areas, so they can start building the right foundation and grow and scale their marketing without having to stress and get off the hamster wheel chasing these.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":59,"children":60},{},[61],{"type":34,"value":62},"Kerry Guard  0:37  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":64,"children":65},{},[66],{"type":34,"value":67},"And we're live. Welcome back to the show. This is Back on Track. I'm Kerry Guard, your host and CEO of MKG Marketing, the digital marketing agency that helps B2B tech and cybersecurity teams turn visibility into pipeline. We're here to get you back to the beginning and in the right order. Back on track, that's what the show is called. And today, my guest knows the messy middle of getting back on track. She's going to walk us through it. I'm so happy to introduce Mani Oloidy, founder of Mo Martech and former director of marketing infrastructure. Mani left the corporate machine because she didn't love how it treats marketing, that dollar in, dollar 20 out mentality, and she now helps small businesses build marketing from the ground up, the fundamentals first, the hard work first, and her not-so-secret weapon is the oldest, most durable channel there is, word of mouth. Monty, welcome to the show. So good to have you.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":69,"children":70},{},[71],{"type":34,"value":72},"Moni Oloyede  1:32  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":74,"children":75},{},[76],{"type":34,"value":77},"Hey Kerry, thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":79,"children":80},{},[81],{"type":34,"value":82},"Kerry Guard  1:36  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":84,"children":85},{},[86],{"type":34,"value":87},"So excited for the show. I was priming a little early because I was like, for my own sanity, I need to figure this out. I was just telling Monty that, you know, for MKG marketing, we've been around for over 15 years, and in the beginning it was very much about networking, and it was wow, wow, west of whatever we sold in, we figured out, and now that we really know what we're doing, getting back to figuring out that network effect is real, and so I am personally very excited for the show.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":89,"children":90},{},[91],{"type":34,"value":92},"Kerry Guard  2:04  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":94,"children":95},{},[96],{"type":34,"value":97},"Why don't you tell folks, before we get into it a bit, a little bit about Mo Martech and the two lanes you work in, and, you know, what got you here?",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":99,"children":100},{},[101],{"type":34,"value":102},"Moni Oloyede  2:12  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":104,"children":105},{},[106],{"type":34,"value":107},"Yeah, sure, thanks for asking. So next year, 2027, will be 20 years in marketing. It's the only profession, professional profession I've ever had, right, historical McDonald's, but that's not a good nor there. But I spent the first half of my career in operations and on the tech side, and really focused in on digital marketing processes and lead funnels and all that sorts of things, and I got let go from my corporate job in 2023, and I decided to focus on what I call marketing fundamentals. When people are having struggles with marketing, what I realize is that they're missing fundamentals. They really don't understand their audience, they really don't understand their market, they really don't have a good message, and they think they do, but they really don't. They haven't done that sort of deep-level layer work to really make those things work for them, so now I'll focus on helping small businesses in those areas, so they can start building the right foundation and grow and scale their marketing without having to stress and get off the hamster wheel. Chasing these.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":109,"children":110},{},[111],{"type":34,"value":112},"Kerry Guard  3:13  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":114,"children":115},{},[116],{"type":34,"value":117},"We all went off that hamster wheel. This is so key. I've been beating this drum for a while now, because, especially with the way search has changed and how customers are searching, having your positioning and messaging dialed in, so that it's consistent, not just on your website, but everywhere, and also aligned to how your customers are talking about you, is no longer optional. So, thank you for getting out there and helping founders do this work early, really is humanly possible. When do you normally start with founders? You said you start with them early. Is that like, you know, when's that sort of rubber meets the road moment where they're like, I need help, and they call you?",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":119,"children":120},{},[121],{"type":34,"value":122},"Moni Oloyede  3:56  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":124,"children":125},{},[126],{"type":34,"value":127},"My sweet spot is like, I call it zero to three years, so even when you're like thinking about it, and the ideation stage, you have a lot of business owners who are switching from their corporate business or their government job and trying to move into maybe doing their own thing. I'll help you there, and what I get you to is what I call pre-seed. So, if you're looking for investment or funding or money in any sort of way, you're looking for angel investing, you're looking for grants, you're looking for loans, any type of funding for your business before you get there, that's sort of the sweet spot in which I work with, because if anyone's going to give you money, they want to understand how they're going to get that money back, and solid as your market and market understanding can be is the better position for you to be able to get that sort of money.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":129,"children":130},{},[131],{"type":34,"value":132},"Kerry Guard  4:36  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":134,"children":135},{},[136],{"type":34,"value":137},"As a truly unique skill, I'm not going to lie, I worked with a startup who had already gotten their first round of funding, but they needed to go look for more, and it was definitely a muscle where I was like, I might be in over my head for this, because it's, it's not, it's about, I always say this to my, to my 10 year old daughter, you know, read the room like who you're talking to, and so it is the. That right, with you're not talking to the end user who's going to buy your product, you are talking to investors, and that's a very different, very different audience in terms of how you sell in that messaging. So, yes, to having an expert help you do that. You've said corporate marketing is too transactional, that dollar in, dollar 20 out mentality, what does that get wrong, and what does it cost a business in the long run?",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":139,"children":140},{},[141],{"type":34,"value":142},"Moni Oloyede  5:26  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":144,"children":145},{},[146],{"type":34,"value":147},"You know, there are kind of two phases. This is their marketing point of view, and then there is the executive point of view on that. You have to understand both in order to sort of tackle this correctly. The marketing, what happens from a marketing point of view when you have $1 in, dollar 20 out mentality is that you become very myopic, right? Anything that leads to revenue is good, so you just throw stuff at a wall. All you do is get leads, and then they're going to magically fall down this funnel and raise their hand, and then end up being a pipeline revenue, and that never really works. You never do the fundamentals that we talk about, like, let's home this message. What are they really asking for here? The problem is really what is coming out as X, but underneath it, there's some sort of emotional, you know, corporate, you know, structural issue that they're really kind of dealing with here. You never get to those sorts of things because you're just doing campaigns and trying to get leads and trying to qualify them and turn them in kills, or however that turns out for your business, right? The executive, or the leadership version of that, is what the reason why they're focusing on dollar in, dollar 20 out, is they need to justify the spend, right? That's all they're trying to do. If I give you money, what am I getting out of it? We fall into the trap of the only way I can do that is to tie this to revenue. That's the trap. It's like they're really just trying to tie this to business outcomes, and what is that that's going to be different for every business, right? It could be more subscriptions, it could be penetrating this market, it could be this percentage of growth. Right, how is the campaign, the webinar, the thing tying to the business outcome? That's the question that they're trying to answer. We fall into this funnel trap every single time. We can't get out of it.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":149,"children":150},{},[151],{"type":34,"value":152},"Kerry Guard  7:12  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":154,"children":155},{},[156],{"type":34,"value":157},"Every time. I just had a client ask me, what would happen if I doubled our ad budget, and I said nothing good.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":159,"children":160},{},[161],{"type":34,"value":162},"Moni Oloyede  7:18  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":164,"children":165},{},[166],{"type":34,"value":167},"Yeah, you spend more money, that's about that.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":169,"children":170},{},[171],{"type":34,"value":172},"Kerry Guard  7:24  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":174,"children":175},{},[176],{"type":34,"value":177},"The more money you spend, the more your CAC will go through the roof, and we will have nothing to show for it. So I highly do not recommend it. What talk to me about why this is important to you? And then he ended the conversation there. I wonder why?",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":179,"children":180},{},[181],{"type":34,"value":182},"Moni Oloyede  7:37  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":184,"children":185},{},[186],{"type":34,"value":187},"That's legit. I asked the same thing, I have, I cannot tell you how many business owners that say, you know, my goal is to have, you know, 10,000 followers on YouTube, or like, you know, x amount of followers or x amount of likes on whatever social media platform. I'm like, why, what does that mean, right? And that's the, that's, that's the marketing we actually have to do. That's a good marketer. Like, what are you really trying to get to here? What does that mean to you? I had a conversation with a physical therapist recently, trying to help her with her marketing, and she was doing consultative work for a soccer team, but not really getting the result, not really getting clients out of it, right? She was like, \" It's a waste of time. We went through it, and all she really wanted was not to feel like she was being used, right? Well, it's then like, well, then let's think about, can you get testimonials from them? Can you get social media content from them? Can you get some sort of, you know, like reviews from them? Like, how do you make this valuable for you? That's the conversation. So, instead of trying to chase down ways so she can get paid when these people don't have money, we just found out ways to make it valuable for her. That's a different approach.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":189,"children":190},{},[191],{"type":34,"value":192},"Kerry Guard  8:45  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":194,"children":195},{},[196],{"type":34,"value":197},"Totally different. Sometimes getting to the... we're almost therapists a little bit for our founders as we get to some root issues here. So, I, I, I love that it was an emotional root issue for her, of like wanting to feel not like just a cog in whatever wheel she was in, but to actually.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":199,"children":200},{},[201],{"type":34,"value":202},"Moni Oloyede  9:04  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":204,"children":205},{},[206],{"type":34,"value":207},"Exactly!",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":209,"children":210},{},[211],{"type":34,"value":212},"Kerry Guard  9:05  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":214,"children":215},{},[216],{"type":34,"value":217},"Be valued, so important.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":219,"children":220},{},[221],{"type":34,"value":222},"Moni Oloyede  9:09  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":224,"children":225},{},[226],{"type":34,"value":227},"Just not someone feels taken advantage of, right? Am I being just used here? Okay.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":229,"children":230},{},[231],{"type":34,"value":232},"Kerry Guard  9:14  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":234,"children":235},{},[236],{"type":34,"value":237},"I love that. Speaking of emotion, you sort of mentioned this when you were talking earlier about emotion and messaging, I just saw a post on LinkedIn, actually was today or yesterday, about how you know, as B2B marketers, we need to be, you know, sort of looking over at B2C and what they've been doing in terms of their messaging and making it a more emotional, because we are emotional buyers at the end of the day. Do you agree with this? Do you think there's a happy medium? What is your take on emotion in B messaging?",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":239,"children":240},{},[241],{"type":34,"value":242},"Moni Oloyede  9:46  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":244,"children":245},{},[246],{"type":34,"value":247},"I agree with it 100%. It's just gonna look different, but the sentiment is absolutely true. We buy based on emotion justified with logic; that's a fact. These are emotional plays, right, and the. But the emotional in B to B isn't reactionary like it is in B to C, that's the difference, right? It's much more of internal politics and not wanting to look bad and wanting to protect your territory, and those sorts of emotional pulls, but yeah, the emotion is 1,000%. I wish B-to-B would focus more on that. I've been trying, Kerry, so hard, and you're dealing with multiple people, that's also the case, right? You're maybe dealing with someone who is the influencer or the practitioner, or the, and then you, the, you know, head of the department, and actually the C-level, whoever. So, right, there are different emotions there and different things that stay there for sure, so it's a little bit more complex, but again, the emotions are the same when you boil them down.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":249,"children":250},{},[251],{"type":34,"value":252},"Kerry Guard  10:50  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":254,"children":255},{},[256],{"type":34,"value":257},"Is it in terms of like I think the post was talking more about stop talking about features, yes, and so it's more about are the outcomes? Is it like you saw it looks different in B to C, see it like it, buy it right. You're right, it's more complicated in B2B. So, when you, when, how do you, how do we show up emotionally in that way?",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":259,"children":260},{},[261],{"type":34,"value":262},"Moni Oloyede  11:14  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":264,"children":265},{},[266],{"type":34,"value":267},"Yes, 1,000% Yes, I, that's a phenomenal question, and it is outcomes, but it's the emotional outcome. So, if they reach the attainable goal, right, if they use your solution and can solve the problem, what does that mean for them in their role? What does that mean for them emotionally? What does that mean for what they can become, do accomplish, right? What is the outcome from the individual's level, and it has to do a lot around in a bb conception about perception, right? There's a lot of in bb, it's we are, it's very risk-averse, right? I'm trying to protect territory, I'm trying not to lose my job, I'm not trying to get yelled at. I don't want to be the spotlight on me. You're trying to protect something in some way, so exactly. So, if you can do that, what does that look like? If I had your solution, that's what you need to focus on from a B2B perspective. I totally agree. Stop focusing on features and functionality; no one cares, and everyone's doing something similar at a base level anyway. ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":269,"children":270},{},[271],{"type":34,"value":272},"Kerry Guard  12:25  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":274,"children":275},{},[276],{"type":34,"value":277},"So, well, that was going to be my next question. Actually, how do you not sound like everybody else? Because even if you're talking about the outcomes, all of our customers, you know, if we're in marketing and marketing to marketers, which is probably one of the hardest jobs on the face of the planet, because we all know the ins and outs, right? We're all looking for similar things in terms of those outcomes. I just need the pipeline to happen. I need to not babysit you. I need, I need these things to get off my plate, right? So, everybody's sort of saying those things.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":279,"children":280},{},[281],{"type":34,"value":282},"Moni Oloyede  12:55  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":284,"children":285},{},[286],{"type":34,"value":287},"exactly right. So, like, what's my.. The exercise that I take my clients through is what does that look like, so you'll hear a lot about, like, productivity, or you know, success. What does that look like? If you say productivity, you mean what? Great, because that's going to look different for the role, per organization. It's very similar to the exercise I went through with the physical therapist, right? It's coming out like this, but what you really want is to be valued, so even like you're, if you're marketing to marketers and you're marketing an attribution platform, yes, you want to be able to tie things to revenue and be able to show your worth and your value to the organization, but underneath of that is a feeling of I'm doing a lot of things and they keep asking me, what is happening. I need to be able to show them what's going on underneath that is a frustration of I'm doing things, and no one's seeing me, I'm not being seen, which means I'm not being valued. I want to be valued. Same, it's the same conversation. Right, here's how you then become valued and be seen as a rock star in your marketing organization, what? How much more powerful a message would that be, other than, hey, you can tie your webinar campaign attribution, and here's the funnel, little, here's what it looks like. ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":289,"children":290},{},[291],{"type":34,"value":292},"Kerry Guard  14:12  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":294,"children":295},{},[296],{"type":34,"value":297},"That's what a pipeline is. Pipeline is table stakes; we all have to deliver. Yeah. Oh my gosh, I love that so much. I think being valued, I think, is in your job, is definitely, I don't say half the battle is probably like the whole thing wanting to be, as my coach calls it, seen, heard, known, and accepted, that's all we want as humans. It's not too much to ask for.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":299,"children":300},{},[301],{"type":34,"value":302},"Moni Oloyede  14:35  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":304,"children":305},{},[306],{"type":34,"value":307},"Exactly. And that's across all the B roles, right? That's what I mean, the emotion is the same, you think your CEO doesn't want to be valued, seen, and accepted. He's got a board and a private equity firm breathing down his neck all the time. Same thing, we're all trying to do the same thing.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":309,"children":310},{},[311],{"type":34,"value":312},"Kerry Guard  14:51  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":314,"children":315},{},[316],{"type":34,"value":317},"Absolutely, and founders, especially, have you know leaders in general at the top are definitely on the struggle bus in terms of feeling like they have to. Carry the load alone.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":319,"children":320},{},[321],{"type":34,"value":322},"Moni Oloyede  15:01  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":324,"children":325},{},[326],{"type":34,"value":327},"so",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":329,"children":330},{},[331],{"type":34,"value":332},"Kerry Guard  15:02  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":334,"children":335},{},[336],{"type":34,"value":337},"Yeah, no, totally. You have this phrase, I love businesses jump into the middle, they put content out, they figure it out, they build it, people will come, if you build it, they will come. What does starting at the beginning actually look like? I mean, I think we've talked a little bit about this, but really lay it out there for us, like, where, where do you start?",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":339,"children":340},{},[341],{"type":34,"value":342},"Moni Oloyede  15:22  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":344,"children":345},{},[346],{"type":34,"value":347},"So, a lot of what I call fundamentals, and those are three areas, so it's brand, audience, and messaging. Businesses will do surface work there, check boxes, and then jump straight to building websites and creating content, and trying to get leads. You see, they have it. Yeah, you haven't done the work, especially when I'm talking to, like, startup businesses. Like, listen, AI is cute, but that's not supposed to be your logo, for real. That's supposed to be like a prototype, and you take it to a professional, like, do you stop doing this? But the work hasn't been done, so, like, on a on a brand level, as I said, they'll go have AI create a logo and maybe brand guidelines if I'm really lucky, and they'll check a box and think, yeah, I've done my branding. When really branding is the communication of your business without words, so if you aren't saying anything, does somebody understand, recognize, associate your brand with whatever you want to have come across. Is that happening a lot of times? It's not. You're not consistent. You have, you don't understand the relationship you want to have with your audience. How do you want them to perceive you? You haven't thought about that. You have not done the work around actually conveying what your brand wants to be without words, like the golden arches have a meaning behind them without the words to them, right? The Coca-Cola calligraphy has a meaning behind it. It's very purposeful, what they're trying to convey. You haven't thought about those things, so therefore when someone looks at your brand, they don't associate it with anything, they don't know what they don't know what it is, right? You haven't done that work from an audience standpoint, similar very thing, you've created, you've identified the demographics, but you don't understand the psychology. To our earlier point, what do they really value? What are the emotional pulls there? Right, that work hasn't been done, cultural aspects, there are all types of like deep psychology, consumer psychology work that just doesn't get done right. It's like, oh, I'm going after Fortune 5000 financial companies. Okay, okay, that doesn't really mean anything, gets you nowhere. And then on the messaging side, right, when those two things aren't done. Very verbose language, I call it verbose. It's like, what do these words mean? What are you saying to me? If, like, if we.. if you just give me these, I call them McKinsey words. It's like McKinsey and BGC and Deloitte, and all these Gartners, all these. What does like customer journey orchestration? What does that mean? What are you saying to me? We haven't done that work to break those words out, like very similar again. Another thing that B to C does very well, plain language, right? I'm loving it, you know. Just do it, you have to be super, just don't be complicated. It's very simple to work. So, yeah, they haven't done that deep level of work, they've done the surface level, they check boxes, and then they jump and go try to get leads, quote air quotes, and then wonder why they struggle.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":349,"children":350},{},[351],{"type":34,"value":352},"Kerry Guard  18:30  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":354,"children":355},{},[356],{"type":34,"value":357},"Yes, I think I know I said it earlier on, but in case people are just joining us now, I'm going to triple down on it. This work has got to be where everybody starts, even if you join an organization for the first time, and it's enterprise. I just talked, I just talked to my team about this, where we're working with a with a few scale ups and bigger enterprise companies who are now going back to basics of like trying to redefine what their product does and who it truly helps, because in the lead generation of it all, of chasing those leads, we've all lost sight of it, and so now with the rubber meeting the road with how customers are searching using LLMs, what how LLMs work is they look at your website, but then they go and validate that across your digital footprint, right, and if you're not saying something drastically different than everybody else, they're just going to roll you up into a mumbo jumbo of what the general consensus is saying.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":359,"children":360},{},[361],{"type":34,"value":362},"Moni Oloyede  19:30  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":364,"children":365},{},[366],{"type":34,"value":367},"correct? ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":369,"children":370},{},[371],{"type":34,"value":372},"Kerry Guard  19:32  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":374,"children":375},{},[376],{"type":34,"value":377},"You're not being mentioned, so you have to say something different and meaningful for a problem you solve in a way that nobody else does.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":379,"children":380},{},[381],{"type":34,"value":382},"Moni Oloyede  19:40  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":384,"children":385},{},[386],{"type":34,"value":387},"That's correct. That's all. Then that's always been a fundamental principle of marketing, right? Like one of the, you know, main principles, like be first to market, which means you have to be different in a different category, in a different, you know, space than what somebody else is doing, or you're never going to win. You're just going to be chasing the leaders. Good luck with that.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":389,"children":390},{},[391],{"type":34,"value":392},"Kerry Guard  19:59  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":394,"children":395},{},[396],{"type":34,"value":397},"Yeah. That's a whole different",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":399,"children":400},{},[401],{"type":34,"value":402},"Moni Oloyede  20:01  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":404,"children":405},{},[406],{"type":34,"value":407},"Holy, that could",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":409,"children":410},{},[411],{"type":34,"value":412},"Kerry Guard  20:01  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":414,"children":415},{},[416],{"type":34,"value":417},"Be a whole other show.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":419,"children":420},{},[421],{"type":34,"value":422},"Moni Oloyede  20:02  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":424,"children":425},{},[426],{"type":34,"value":427},"Another rabbit hole.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":429,"children":430},{},[431],{"type":34,"value":432},"Kerry Guard  20:06  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":434,"children":435},{},[436],{"type":34,"value":437},"So many teams say the same thing. I'm doing a lot, but I don't know what I'm.. What's working. Why do you think that's so universal? And what's the first thing you have them stop doing?",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":439,"children":440},{},[441],{"type":34,"value":442},"Moni Oloyede  20:17  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":444,"children":445},{},[446],{"type":34,"value":447},"For sure, it is universal. I hear it all the time, and it's universal because there's a lack of understanding. You're nobody's frustrated when they know, so, like, for example, you're in traffic, right, and you're stopped at traffic, you're pissed off because you're not going anywhere, but you realize when you get up to the front, oh, there was a two car accident, and you know, there's an ambulance, like people are hurt. You instantly calm down once you know what's going on, right? If you knew two miles back that there was this big old thing going on, this massive accident, his ambulance, you're not as pissed off, right? Everything comes around to just a level of understanding. You're frustrated because you don't know what is working, you don't know, so that's another reason why I focus on fundamentals, is to answer that question. It's like, if you understood this, if you had a base understanding of consumer psychology and human behavior and communication, you would not be so frustrated. You would know now. All you have to do now that you know is practice and implement. That's a different thing; that's more patience and consistency, and not a lack of understanding, and just doing a bunch of stuff because you see somebody else doing it. So it is very, very true. And that's the crux of my work, to get people to understand this is how this works. This is why it's not working. People aren't responding to you because you're seen as a risk; they don't know your risks are a no-go if you don't know a company, and that's the first time you ever see them, they could be selling you the sun, the moon, and the stars. You're going to say no because you don't know them. I always tell businesses, if somebody's walking down the street and giving away free donuts, are you going to take it? They say no every time. It's like, no, I don't know you. Who are you? What is this? What are you doing right now? You start to question everything perfectly. The donut, nothing wrong with it. You're going to say no. Same thing, you're thinking of all of the risk. You, that's just basic human psychology. If you know that now, you can, you know, try to approach that in a different way. Now I'm going to try to minimize all of the risk. Go find a partner who's not as risky, who people already trust, right? You just need to know, so that's the answer. The question you don't understand, that's why you're frustrated.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":449,"children":450},{},[451],{"type":34,"value":452},"Kerry Guard  22:25  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":454,"children":455},{},[456],{"type":34,"value":457},"It's so true, it's just so true. The minute you have an understanding, it's like when you're my husband, and I talk about this all the time, in terms of our fight, like when we have spats or arguments, it comes back from basically just not understanding one another, but when we like ask those deeper questions, we get to the root issue, and we have an understanding. It's like this huge relief of, like, ah, we were saying the same thing just from different places.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":459,"children":460},{},[461],{"type":34,"value":462},"Moni Oloyede  22:51  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":464,"children":465},{},[466],{"type":34,"value":467},"1,000,000% ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":469,"children":470},{},[471],{"type":34,"value":472},"Kerry Guard  22:53  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":474,"children":475},{},[476],{"type":34,"value":477},"We're actually on the same page.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":479,"children":480},{},[481],{"type":34,"value":482},"Moni Oloyede  22:54  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":484,"children":485},{},[486],{"type":34,"value":487},"Exactly. We're saying the same thing, my fiance and I. It's like we're saying the same thing.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":489,"children":490},{},[491],{"type":34,"value":492},"Kerry Guard  23:01  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":494,"children":495},{},[496],{"type":34,"value":497},"We're still yelling at each other. ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":499,"children":500},{},[501],{"type":34,"value":502},"Moni Oloyede  23:03  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":504,"children":505},{},[506],{"type":34,"value":507},"Why are we arguing?",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":509,"children":510},{},[511],{"type":34,"value":512},"Kerry Guard  23:06  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":514,"children":515},{},[516],{"type":34,"value":517},"So good? Let's get into it. In terms of word of mouth, and actually putting, you know, helping the rubber meet the road. Here we have you: we go through the fundamentals and understand our audience. Now we've got to get that messaging out there. Word of mouth is your timeless channel. Break down the anatomy for us. What actually makes a brand walkable? How do you engineer something people want to share?",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":519,"children":520},{},[521],{"type":34,"value":522},"Moni Oloyede  23:30  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":524,"children":525},{},[526],{"type":34,"value":527},"That is a phenomenal question, and the answer is going to be so simple. Yeah, it's one of the hardest things for people to do, which is you have to understand what people want, and we don't do that work that much anymore. This is another reason why that dollar in dollar 20 out mentality is kind of harmful, because it's based on a lot of assumptions, it's not based on actually understanding your audience. We don't do the work I'm seeing; we, as marketers, don't really do the work of, like, market research anymore from a consumer standpoint. What I mean is, we talk to our customers, but they have already bought from us. That's kind of a skewed perspective. We don't talk to the people who are in our target audience who have not bought from us before. What's the real pain point? How do they translate that pain point? How do they talk about it? Because the way that I talk about it, and the way you talk about it, could be totally different, right? Like, what's the emotion under that? What's driving that? What's the real goal? What do you want to do if you could do this? What does that mean? Right, it's the jobs to be done theory, right? It's not really about the drill, it's about the quarter-inch hole. Right, what is that? What are you really trying to accomplish here? And that, if you had that information, I.. It's so that I can work with that; that's powerful. I'm not guessing, I know now. I just need to find the correct phrasing, the correct vehicle, and the correct channels to then deliver that particular vehicle mechanism through. But what I'm saying is, like, it, it could be the product, it could. Be the product plus the service, it could be the service, and then the product on the back end, like that's a packaging issue. We still have to work through those sorts of those sorts of things, but like at least I now know what it is that you truly desire, the emotion driving that desire, and the ultimate outcome that you're looking for. You're looking to be, you could be looking to be seen in a certain light, you want to be a lot of services businesses, right? You're selling a vision that I use, like, give me Tony Robbins, right? Tony Robbins is packaging his book and his plans through actually a vision of who you want to become, like he's actually, that's what he's selling, he knows that, because he talks to his audience a lot. So, if you're selling a service, you're normally selling like an outcome of something, right? If you're selling something practical, that's the quarter-inch hole, right? It's like you're selling an iPhone, or you're selling a tool, or whatever, but you're really selling the ability to do xyz, you're trying to accomplish something, right? You need to, those are the levels that you need to sort of understand and go through, right? If you understood, here are the four drivers of consumer behavior, and here are the four outcomes that they're normally looking for. All right, once I understand what they really want, I'm just matching those things, and then developing my marketing materials, and identifying the channel to then deliver that to them, so it is complicated because you need to understand a lot of things, but it's actually simple. Go ask people what they want and give it to them. It's really the simple thing to do.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":529,"children":530},{},[531],{"type":34,"value":532},"Kerry Guard  26:34  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":534,"children":535},{},[536],{"type":34,"value":537},"I find the hardest part is just getting people to even talk to you.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":539,"children":540},{},[541],{"type":34,"value":542},"Moni Oloyede  26:37  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":544,"children":545},{},[546],{"type":34,"value":547},"Sure, yeah, because the reason why is that we don't want to be sold to.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":549,"children":550},{},[551],{"type":34,"value":552},"Kerry Guard  26:44  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":554,"children":555},{},[556],{"type":34,"value":557},"I know, right?",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":559,"children":560},{},[561],{"type":34,"value":562},"Moni Oloyede  26:45  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":564,"children":565},{},[566],{"type":34,"value":567},"So, like, then don't sell to them, be genuinely curious and ask questions. People want to talk, they want to share their ideas all day long, they're happy to do that, but they don't want to sit in a pitch call, that's the thing. So, just reframe the conversation, right? It's not a pitch call. You're not going to sell them anything. You're just gonna be gathering information. You're gonna ask them questions. You want to do an interview, you want to do a questionnaire. You just want to pick their brain about something. You want to get their expertise on something. I'm open to having those conversations. I don't want to sit in a pitch call now.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":569,"children":570},{},[571],{"type":34,"value":572},"Kerry Guard  27:14  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":574,"children":575},{},[576],{"type":34,"value":577},"Sorry, podcasting is great.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":579,"children":580},{},[581],{"type":34,"value":582},"Moni Oloyede  27:16  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":584,"children":585},{},[586],{"type":34,"value":587},"It's fantastic.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":589,"children":590},{},[591],{"type":34,"value":592},"Kerry Guard  27:19  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":594,"children":595},{},[596],{"type":34,"value":597},"You said the best way to get your foot in the door, as you're talking right now, is to just have conversations and ask people instead of relying on your own expertise. How do you coach a founder to slow down and actually do that? As founders, we love to talk about ourselves. Now you're telling us not to,",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":599,"children":600},{},[601],{"type":34,"value":602},"Moni Oloyede  27:34  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":604,"children":605},{},[606],{"type":34,"value":607},"Right? So, for a founder, a lot of founders, the goal is what we call traction. So, this traction is an investment term of like show me that you are actually either on your way to getting customers or you have some plan to routinely get customers. They're looking for traction. The way that you get traction is to understand what your audience really wants, so it's really a here's how you get to the goal, not quickly, but as efficiently as possible. I tell them, and some of them want to, hey, you can go do 20 LinkedIn DMs a day and go put them in your funnel and send them emails and try to get them to have a phone call with you. You can do that and have a 1% to 5% effectiveness rate. Sure, or you can do this longer tail work, which is gather information about them, do some sort of market research process, have these interviews, turn that interview kind of content into an actual marketing message that's effective. That's going to take probably six to eight months to ramp up, and then you'll have a pipeline that you can then set and structure around. If here's where I'm going to go meet them, here's the entry offer, here's the nurture process, and here's the close-of-business process that's going to take you maybe a year to 18 months. It is, but it's going to be way more scalable. You're going to be way more confident in it, and eventually you won't have to chase, or you can do the LinkedIn thing. Good luck, those are your options.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":609,"children":610},{},[611],{"type":34,"value":612},"Kerry Guard  29:10  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":614,"children":615},{},[616],{"type":34,"value":617},"Oh man, some of the LinkedIn messages flying around right now that people are like using Claude to automate so much, and it's just so they think they're being, they think they're being so clever like that. We don't know, it's so painful, and poor founders are seeing this, and they're looking for that quick win, and so they're falling into this trap. Please do not fall into this trap of what Claude can automate for you in terms of that human connection. It cannot, cannot facilitate human connection; only you can do that, so spend the time creating that connection, because that is going to be what helps you build a business in the long run.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":619,"children":620},{},[621],{"type":34,"value":622},"Moni Oloyede  29:47  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":624,"children":625},{},[626],{"type":34,"value":627},"1,000% yeah. And it's the biggest thing that I tell businesses is this is a hamster wheel you cannot get off of. You may have a couple of percent success, or you may get one meter. In a week or whatever it is, and think if it's your winning as soon as you stop, it's over, versus if you do the word of mouth long tail way, that engine is going to run on its own eventually, right? You eventually do all this exactly.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":629,"children":630},{},[631],{"type":34,"value":632},"Kerry Guard  30:12  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":634,"children":635},{},[636],{"type":34,"value":637},"I do a couple of things because SEO is so big right now, and everybody's trying to figure out why their traffic's gone off a cliff, but answer engines are showing up and gobbling all up, all of our traffic. I'm now pulling, I'm doing two things. If this is interesting to anybody, in terms of giving some ideas, I'm using a tool for our industry called Semrush, where I'm pulling down reports around my ideal customers, and I'm doing a really big deep dive on trying to understand how these brands are getting cited or mentioned. I'm really interested more in the mentions than the citations, because we can get you cited all day. It's the mentions that's really hard to figure out, and so then I'm understanding actually who's struggling in the industry, and who could I actually reach out to and understand what's going on, and what they're doing, and where they're on the struggle bus, and see if I can support them. So that's sort of how I'm thinking about this long tail outreach. It's definitely not easy. It's still not, even though I have tools and I have data, and I have all these things, it's still.. it's.. it.. I can maybe get out like three messages a day if I'm",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":639,"children":640},{},[641],{"type":34,"value":642},"Moni Oloyede  31:23  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":644,"children":645},{},[646],{"type":34,"value":647},"lucky. Yeah, yeah, it's work. I don't... that's just the internet era. The last 20 years make us feel like anything marketing-related should be a quick turnaround, like you should be going viral, you should be in tons of engagement. You should.. That's still a very rare feat, right? It's not... that's not the norm, and I tell people all the time, it's like, be careful using social media as your gauge, because people will see you, they just won't respond. Is that a bad thing? I don't think so. It's like, it's good, they see you, right? How many people have come up to you, like, \" Oh, Kerry, I loved your podcast, and you got like three likes on you, like, but when could you, like, hit the like button? It's like, it happens all the time. People see you, they see you. It's okay, relax, calm down, just be consistent, right? Work on holding that message, build that structure. You can build a pipeline and make, and just understand the mechanisms and the levers, and make it work for you. It can work. You just, people don't have patience anymore. It's like the organic thing, I'm like, how many businesses I've talked to be like, I have a blog, or I have a newsletter, I have this thing, and like, no one responds, and no one does this, no one does that, and I'd be like, How long has it been? They're like three months, and I'm like, that's no time, that's a zero time, that's a no time frame, like a lot of people who have been successful, been doing this for years with an S on it, three years, four years, five years, like you're looking, you're looking at them, they're in state, not their beginning, not their alpha state. Like, stop comparing yourself to people who've been doing this for like 10 years, 15 years, it's not the same.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":649,"children":650},{},[651],{"type":34,"value":652},"Kerry Guard  32:50  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":654,"children":655},{},[656],{"type":34,"value":657},"Yeah, you're at the start, they're their way down the road. And I, one of the things you're sort of alluding to, but I sort of want to like tie a bow off with, is that it's a system.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":659,"children":660},{},[661],{"type":34,"value":662},"Moni Oloyede  32:59  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":664,"children":665},{},[666],{"type":34,"value":667},"Yes.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":669,"children":670},{},[671],{"type":34,"value":672},"Kerry Guard  33:00  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":674,"children":675},{},[676],{"type":34,"value":677},"So the consistency happens when you build a system where you take your messaging pillars of what you understand be the pain of your customer and how you solve it, and you build that into daily, well, I've - we've been, we've been testing with my LinkedIn, we're finding about posting about three times a week is sort of the sweet spot, and it's about, and because my message is really consistent, I don't want to say boring, but it's not like I'm not really saying I'm saying the same thing from a lot of different angles. Yes, yes, so I can't say it every day, right? So three seems to be the sweet spot, and so showing up every, you know, the three times a week on LinkedIn, doing that, I'm then sending out three messages a day. I did my deep research, I tried to understand where the brand is in relation to LLMs, and then I sent out a message, and I said, \"Hey, I saw this in a report, just thought you'd find this interesting. I do 16 to 15 to 30 net new connections a day, like this is a system that you build and then it compounds, right? So I do 15 to 30 connections a day. I see who's net new, I look at it, then build the report, and then I send out the report, and then I'm messaging on LinkedIn, and so that sort of starts to sort of surround that audience, and in that they're probably not going to like the post, but they're probably seeing it, because yes, the messaging is connecting.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":679,"children":680},{},[681],{"type":34,"value":682},"Moni Oloyede  34:23  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":684,"children":685},{},[686],{"type":34,"value":687},"Exactly, and that's also how you stop feeling like you're doing a ton of stuff and just not getting anywhere. The system is there for a reason; let it work for you, right? Like, stop, like, oh, I gotta, not, I gotta be on TikTok now, because this is the thing, and I need to be on Snapchat, and I need to be over here, and I need to be over there, and, like, you don't, you do not make sense. I think it's important to find the right channels.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":689,"children":690},{},[691],{"type":34,"value":692},"Kerry Guard  34:50  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":694,"children":695},{},[696],{"type":34,"value":697},"Let's talk about that for a second. Yes, in because you know, for me, I know that LinkedIn is right, it's where all of us marketers hang out day in and day out. True, but obviously, if you're not until you work with a ton of different types of clients, how do you help them understand where their customers are and where it makes sense for them to be from a word-of-mouth standpoint?",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":699,"children":700},{},[701],{"type":34,"value":702},"Moni Oloyede  35:11  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":704,"children":705},{},[706],{"type":34,"value":707},"It depends on what you're selling and the type of content that you like to create. One of the things that I run into in business all the time is that like they find social media hard because they don't like doing it. I don't like talking about myself. I hate being on camera. I hate doing this. I hate doing that. That's gonna eventually come across in your content, and you're not going to be consistent because you don't - you're not going to be consistent doing something you don't like to do. So it's one, what are you selling, but also like, what do you like to do, like, if you like to, I have, I have a couple clients who just like, like, long form, they like to write, they like to write long form content, get yourself a stuff sack, lead, have your LinkedIn lead to the sub stack, that's fine, right, like some people love doing video, they love it. Okay, then you can do like Instagram, and then have that lead to your YouTube, you know? Like, you can again, it's systems, you can connect these things together and make them work for you. It's just, what do you enjoy doing? And I think the other thing is just understanding that they have to understand the audience, too. There is a huge piece of that, as far as how the audience consumes information, that long-form content can work. It's just you have to find the right channel, the right medium to make that work for you. Where is an audience that likes to sit and read long-form content? It's not going to be on TikTok, pumpkin, those things don't work go together, right? So it's that kind of thing, too, as well. Like, where is the audience that likes to consume the kind of content that you like to create?",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":709,"children":710},{},[711],{"type":34,"value":712},"Kerry Guard  36:49  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":714,"children":715},{},[716],{"type":34,"value":717},"In this report that I'm pulling together, across, I'm looking mostly at cybersecurity companies right now, and one of the categories, AppSec, is really geared towards developers, and one of the things that popped in my research, which was really interesting, is that for developers, GitHub was like one of the top five resources that were being cited, right? So it also connects to the LLMs that way, so if you're in a place where your audience is consuming this information and you're creating conversation around topics in terms of the problems you solve, and you're building that community that's going to then feed that LLM information as well, so it all ties together, and it's one big customer journey. I like to talk about it in terms of Ticket to Ride. I don't know if you're a board gamer, Ani.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":719,"children":720},{},[721],{"type":34,"value":722},"Speaker 1  37:40  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":724,"children":725},{},[726],{"type":34,"value":727},"I'm not sorry.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":729,"children":730},{},[731],{"type":34,"value":732},"Kerry Guard  37:42  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":734,"children":735},{},[736],{"type":34,"value":737},"That's okay. That's okay. It's like a train system, or even a subway system, where each destination is part of the customer journey, and then you're building the train tracks and the systems that connect those journeys, so that the customer can decide where they get on and where they get off, and it's their journey to ride, and we're, we're helping, but we have to create the connected systems between those customer journeys to bring them along where they are, so.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":739,"children":740},{},[741],{"type":34,"value":742},"Moni Oloyede  38:07  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":744,"children":745},{},[746],{"type":34,"value":747},"Absolutely, absolutely, and you see this too, feeds 1,000% and you'll see this with a big creator will have a big following on one platform and not on another, you see it all the time, it's like they're big on YouTube, but they're not, doesn't have a massive following on instagram, or they're big on LinkedIn, but they don't have a massive following on this other thing, and that's okay, that is all right, right, like find your what I call like your stake in the ground, exactly, just find that place, and then build around that, that's fine.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":749,"children":750},{},[751],{"type":34,"value":752},"Kerry Guard  38:36  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":754,"children":755},{},[756],{"type":34,"value":757},"That's absolutely fine, and you can, again, be where your customers are. Another really great channel for citations is YouTube, so if you do like creating videos, and that's something you love to do, being on YouTube and creating an audience there is actually low-hanging fruit. If you, if it's something you can consistently do on a regular basis, because you can build up an audience, you can build up connections, you there's conversation that's happening, and then again that feeds the LLMs, which is what we all need to be on a mission to do right now.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":759,"children":760},{},[761],{"type":34,"value":762},"Moni Oloyede  39:06  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":764,"children":765},{},[766],{"type":34,"value":767},"Exactly.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":769,"children":770},{},[771],{"type":34,"value":772},"Kerry Guard  39:07  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":774,"children":775},{},[776],{"type":34,"value":777},"Oh my gosh, we answered so many of these questions naturally. So fun for the marketing leaders listening to those who think they've got messaging and positioning locked. What's your gut check? How do they know it still fits the market today, and not the market from 10 years ago? ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":779,"children":780},{},[781],{"type":34,"value":782},"Moni Oloyede  39:24  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":784,"children":785},{},[786],{"type":34,"value":787},"Oh, as simple as a litmus test, if you are talking to people who don't, are not in your market category, or don't know what you do, and they're confused by how you talk about your business, your messaging isn't locked. Period. Um, that, that's my litmus test, always. You know, I've always been in companies, I've worked in cyber, SAS, and tech, and stuff like that, and like trying to explain to my family what my company did, painful, the messaging wasn't good, right? Can it be translated into layman's terms? ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":789,"children":790},{},[791],{"type":34,"value":792},"Kerry Guard  39:58  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":794,"children":795},{},[796],{"type":34,"value":797},"I always take lessons from my husband when he sits at the. Table and talks to our 10 year old about the databases he works on, and as he simplifies it, and simplifies it, and simplifies it, because he just sees the blank stare on their faces, like, okay, let me simplify it again, let me simplify it again, and then they have that aha moment of, oh, I see how that connects, so yeah.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":799,"children":800},{},[801],{"type":34,"value":802},"Moni Oloyede  40:17  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":804,"children":805},{},[806],{"type":34,"value":807},"Yeah, a lot of comfort.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":809,"children":810},{},[811],{"type":34,"value":812},"Kerry Guard  40:19  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":814,"children":815},{},[816],{"type":34,"value":817},"A 10 - year old.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":819,"children":820},{},[821],{"type":34,"value":822},"Moni Oloyede  40:20  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":824,"children":825},{},[826],{"type":34,"value":827},"That's come on, that's the oh man, I wish I could do a focus group with 10-year-olds and do a messaging exercise, my dream.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":829,"children":830},{},[831],{"type":34,"value":832},"Kerry Guard  40:29  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":834,"children":835},{},[836],{"type":34,"value":837},"Make amazing videos.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":839,"children":840},{},[841],{"type":34,"value":842},"Moni Oloyede  40:30  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":844,"children":845},{},[846],{"type":34,"value":847},"Oh, so good, but a lot of businesses, especially in b, they chase the industry, right, they chase the gardener or the forester or whoever is the kind of leading industry voice in their market to be the indicator of what the audience really wants, and it's really not. They understand from a corporate standpoint, right, but that's not from a messaging standpoint. Please stop chasing them. The people are, these companies are afraid to be simple, and that's the best route for you. I always say, like, the way that the easiest way to be different is to put some slang, some colloquialisms, some cultural references into your marketing. I guarantee you, it's going to get attention, and it's the easiest way to simplify, because it's something that some people, but people will know. So, if you want to live dangerously, do that. But again, a lot of companies are scaredy cats; they don't want to stand out.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":849,"children":850},{},[851],{"type":34,"value":852},"Kerry Guard  41:19  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":854,"children":855},{},[856],{"type":34,"value":857},"I love throwing in a good 90s reference, my go-to. Not everyone listening is the boss.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":859,"children":860},{},[861],{"type":34,"value":862},"Kerry Guard  41:29  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":864,"children":865},{},[866],{"type":34,"value":867},"How do you influence strategy and lead from behind when you don't have the final call?",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":869,"children":870},{},[871],{"type":34,"value":872},"Moni Oloyede  41:35  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":874,"children":875},{},[876],{"type":34,"value":877},"Yeah, it's a good one. I'm going to tell you up front, it's, it's hard, but the, again, the answer is simple, yet it's difficult to do for a lot of people, and you have to understand the business. I cannot tell you how many kinds of marketers I speak to when I really kind of get in there, they don't really understand the business, they have a surface-level understanding what their business does, and they know they need to attach what they do to revenue, but beyond that, they don't really understand. So, I would - my first advice to them is to always go ask a C-level leader how your company makes money, because I guarantee you, they're not going to say, \"Oh, we just sell blah blah blah. Right, there are other models, mechanisms at play of how this business makes money that is tied to the structure of that business, or, aka, the business model. So, SAS is just one, but there are different types of SAS structures. There is a channel; there are wholesome distributors; there are a bunch of ways businesses are structured that help them make money, and you need to understand that. And then, if you understand that, then you will understand the business outcomes, or the ones that are important to your executive leadership and your board, and then you can start having conversations tying what it is you do to marketing to that, because that's ultimately what they're looking for. So, long answer, short is under, you gotta understand your business better.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":879,"children":880},{},[881],{"type":34,"value":882},"Kerry Guard  42:55  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":884,"children":885},{},[886],{"type":34,"value":887},"I love that. How do you go? Ask your C-suite, \" How do we make money? Because there are so many different ways, so many different ways. Absolutely. Oh my gosh, money. I could talk to you all day. I am so grateful for this conversation. People want to know more, especially around trying to figure out their own positioning and messaging and the fundamentals. Where can they find you?",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":889,"children":890},{},[891],{"type":34,"value":892},"Moni Oloyede  43:16  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":894,"children":895},{},[896],{"type":34,"value":897},"So it's my name on all channels. Thank God, my name is unique enough where it's never taken. So, LinkedIn is my kind of primary house. It's where I kind of post the most business stuff, but I'm growing my Instagram too as well. My business Instagram is M O underscore M A R T E C H Mo Martech. Follow me there. I'm doing more of a sort of practical advice. Here's exactly how to do this sort of stuff over there. So, LinkedIn and Instagram are two channels you can follow me on.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":899,"children":900},{},[901],{"type":34,"value":902},"Kerry Guard  43:46  ",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":904,"children":905},{},[906],{"type":34,"value":907},"Do it, go follow her right now. Her content is amazing. That's how I found her, and that's how I was like, \"Hey, over here. So, definitely go check it out. Mai, this was every bit as good as I knew it would be. Thank you for coming and sharing it so generously. As she mentioned, where you can find her, please go connect with her and bring her into your world. If you're in those early days, building from the ground up, if there's one thing to take with you, you're not going to escape the work. Small businesses are usually doing plenty of it. It's just the wrong work or the right work too fast. So slow down, do the fundamentals first. Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. This episode was brought to you by MKG Marketing, the digital marketing agency that helps B2B tech and cybersecurity companies build the foundation first. So visibility compounds into trust and trust into pipeline. If you're tired of shouting into the void, that's the work we do. Thanks for being here. We'll catch you next Thursday as you work.",{"title":7,"searchDepth":909,"depth":909,"links":910},2,[911,912],{"id":31,"depth":909,"text":35},{"id":44,"depth":909,"text":47},"markdown","content:podcasts:marketing-leaders:marketing-fundamentals-first-why-most-growth-problems-start-earlier-than-you-think.md","content","podcasts/marketing-leaders/marketing-fundamentals-first-why-most-growth-problems-start-earlier-than-you-think.md","podcasts/marketing-leaders/marketing-fundamentals-first-why-most-growth-problems-start-earlier-than-you-think","md",[920,1277,1603,1923,2512],{"_path":921,"_dir":922,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":923,"description":924,"date":925,"imgAlt":926,"img":927,"body":928,"_type":913,"_id":1273,"_source":915,"_file":1274,"_stem":1275,"_extension":918,"category":922,"minutes":1276},"/blog/seo/the-board-ready-svo-dashboard-how-to-report-pipeline-when-traffic-disappears","seo","The Board-Ready SVO Dashboard - How to Report Pipeline When Traffic Disappears","When top-of-funnel web traffic drops, legacy marketing reports make you look like you are failing. Here is how to present high-converting SVO pipeline data that wins over the board.","2026-06-17T17:31:07.350Z","SVO","https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/18b8f0c2-c43f-4536-a5c7-ac65d154018a-mkg-blog-the-board-ready-svo-dashboard-hero-image.webp",{"type":25,"children":929,"toc":1264},[930,935,940,945,950,959,965,970,975,980,985,991,996,1009,1044,1049,1057,1063,1068,1088,1093,1098,1104,1109,1126,1131,1154,1159,1167,1173,1178,1183,1216,1221,1227,1232,1237,1253,1259],{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":931,"children":932},{},[933],{"type":34,"value":934},"As the lone marketing leader in a growing organization, preparing monthly updates for executive leadership can quickly start to feel like a defensive drill. You open your standard analytics dashboard to build the performance report, and the headline charts look alarming. Total organic website sessions have declined sharply over the past two quarters. Click-through rates on your core keyword targets have stalled. To a CEO or board that’s used to gauging marketing health by steadily rising traffic graphs, this data signals an unmistakable operational breakdown. The immediate assumption is that your acquisition engine is stalling and your marketing budget is being squandered.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":936,"children":937},{},[938],{"type":34,"value":939},"But when you move beyond surface-level web traffic and examine the actual sales pipeline in your CRM, a very different picture emerges. Sales-qualified opportunities are stable. The total value of your active pipeline is increasing, and customer acquisition timelines are actually accelerating. The core problem isn’t diminishing market demand or poor execution from your team. The real constraint is that your existing reporting models are completely blind to where high-intent pipeline is being created before prospects ever land on your website.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":941,"children":942},{},[943],{"type":34,"value":944},"Traditional marketing dashboards are built on a simple, linear multi-channel attribution story: a prospect clicks an organic listing, browses your blog, and submits a form. Today, that critical mid-funnel research phase has shifted almost entirely into conversational search environments.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":946,"children":947},{},[948],{"type":34,"value":949},"High-value enterprise buyers are now getting direct vendor comparisons, validating integration requirements, and checking compliance criteria long before they visit a URL or show up in your SEO tools. If you continue trying to justify marketing’s impact with legacy traffic volume, session length, and top-of-funnel MQL counts, you will keep appearing to lose momentum, even as your true revenue influence grows. To withstand serious boardroom scrutiny, you must let go of vanity traffic metrics and adopt an executive reporting framework built squarely around SVO ROI.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":951,"children":952},{},[953],{"type":28,"tag":954,"props":955,"children":958},"img",{"alt":956,"src":957},"Pipeline report","https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/b0f0d46f-904b-4a50-8853-f82738aeda04-mkg-blog-the-board-ready-svo-dashboard-image-1.png",[],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":960,"children":962},{"id":961},"the-blind-spots-of-legacy-attribution",[963],{"type":34,"value":964},"The Blind Spots of Legacy Attribution",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":966,"children":967},{},[968],{"type":34,"value":969},"To defend your marketing budget and protect your strategy from premature executive meddling, you first need to understand why legacy tracking tools fail to reflect the real high-value buyer journey. Traditional multi-channel attribution models are built on the idea that your corporate website is the primary hub for education and intent capture. As software purchasing moves away from simple click-through behavior, this assumption creates enormous data blind spots.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":971,"children":972},{},[973],{"type":34,"value":974},"This measurement failure is at the heart of the Attribution 3.0 crisis. When an enterprise procurement leader turns to a conversational engine to compare your product’s deployment speed and API integrations with a competitor, the system pulls from thousands of distributed data sources to produce a single, authoritative recommendation. The buyer reads the synthesized insight, concludes that your brand is the best fit, and then goes straight to your site to book a demo.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":976,"children":977},{},[978],{"type":34,"value":979},"By the time that lead appears in your CRM, legacy analytics tools label it as a direct visit or branded search. The pivotal mid-funnel research stage, the moment your technical optimization actually won the buyer’s attention, is completely invisible in your standard reporting.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":981,"children":982},{},[983],{"type":34,"value":984},"If your executive updates continue to lean on top-of-funnel click volume, you are effectively punishing your marketing strategy for generating efficient, zero-click conversions. To reset this story in the boardroom, you must move beyond counting casual web sessions and start measuring Referential Authority. You need to demonstrate to leadership that marketing’s true value lies not in attracting passive visitors but in embedding your platform within the precise data ecosystems where buying decisions are made.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":986,"children":988},{"id":987},"building-the-board-ready-svo-metric-suite",[989],{"type":34,"value":990},"Building the Board-Ready SVO Metric Suite",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":992,"children":993},{},[994],{"type":34,"value":995},"Replacing defensive, traffic-focused explanations with an objective growth framework requires a complete re-engineering of your executive dashboard. A board of directors does not care about individual keyword movements, impressions, or fluctuating organic search charts. They require clear, financial-grade evidence showing that your digital distribution strategy is systematically capturing market share and feeding the revenue engine.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":997,"children":998},{},[999,1001,1007],{"type":34,"value":1000},"As explicitly illustrated in your active pipeline analytics, looking at revenue value relative to acquisition cost completely re-frames the value of your marketing channels. A sophisticated, ",{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1003,"children":1004},"strong",{},[1005],{"type":34,"value":1006},"Board-Ready Metrics",{"type":34,"value":1008}," suite shifts the focus from traffic volumes to actual funnel efficiency by isolating three primary pillars:",{"type":28,"tag":1010,"props":1011,"children":1012},"ul",{},[1013,1024,1034],{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1015,"children":1016},"li",{},[1017,1022],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1018,"children":1019},{},[1020],{"type":34,"value":1021},"AI Share of Voice:",{"type":34,"value":1023}," This metric tracks your brand's presence across specific procurement prompts relative to your primary competitors. By systematically auditing target commercial queries across major language models, you calculate the exact percentage of time your platform is recommended as a preferred solution.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1025,"children":1026},{},[1027,1032],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1028,"children":1029},{},[1030],{"type":34,"value":1031},"Verified Citation Frequencies:",{"type":34,"value":1033}," Instead of tracking superficial impressions, you document the exact number of times a conversational interface explicitly links to your domain or your authoritative third-party profiles to validate its recommendation. This provides absolute proof that your content infrastructure is acting as a trusted source of truth.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1035,"children":1036},{},[1037,1042],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1038,"children":1039},{},[1040],{"type":34,"value":1041},"MQL to SQL Conversion Velocity:",{"type":34,"value":1043}," Rather than celebrating a high volume of cheap, top-of-funnel clicks, this metric shows that your conversational optimization is driving pre-educated buyers who convert at a significantly higher rate through the sales pipeline.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1045,"children":1046},{},[1047],{"type":34,"value":1048},"By centering your dashboard on these pillars, you completely change the dynamic of your executive conversations. You stop talking about the web traffic you lost and start showing the high-value pipeline share you actively control.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1050,"children":1051},{},[1052],{"type":28,"tag":954,"props":1053,"children":1056},{"alt":1054,"src":1055},"reports","https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/96600b7e-0c88-4723-84a4-6302d54d9c81-mkg-blog-the-board-ready-svo-dashboard-image-2.png",[],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1058,"children":1060},{"id":1059},"analyzing-the-high-yield-channel-mix",[1061],{"type":34,"value":1062},"Analyzing the High-Yield Channel Mix",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1064,"children":1065},{},[1066],{"type":34,"value":1067},"A close examination of your performance data makes one thing unmistakably clear: the real business value lies elsewhere than traditional metrics suggest. Organic search may still deliver impressive traffic volume, but once you map each channel against pipeline value and cost per sales-qualified lead (SQL), the underlying structure comes into focus.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1069,"children":1070},{},[1071,1073,1086],{"type":34,"value":1072},"Conventional ",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":1075,"children":1079},"a",{"href":1076,"rel":1077},"https://mkgmarketinginc.com/expert-digital-marketing-services/search-engine-optimization/",[1078],"nofollow",[1080],{"type":28,"tag":1081,"props":1082,"children":1083},"u",{},[1084],{"type":34,"value":1085},"organic SEO",{"type":34,"value":1087}," often appears efficient on a cost-per-lead basis, yet it typically produces an oversized pool of low-intent visitors that converts poorly into a true pipeline. In contrast, optimization designed for modern conversational interfaces generates a smaller, highly concentrated stream of pre-qualified buyer intent. Prospects arriving through these paths have already completed their comparison research before they ever encounter your forms.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1089,"children":1090},{},[1091],{"type":34,"value":1092},"This behavioral shift is visible in your performance models. A traditional search visitor typically requires extensive nurturing through long, resource-intensive content sequences, whereas an SVO-driven lead advances from MQL to confirmed SQL at a significantly higher rate. In many enterprise environments, this conversion velocity surpasses traditional organic search by double-digit margins.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1094,"children":1095},{},[1096],{"type":34,"value":1097},"When you share these metrics with the board, you can show that declining raw web traffic is actually a sign of optimization. You are intentionally filtering out low-value, non-converting visitors while increasing your share of high-intent, high-value buyers. This reframes a traffic drop from an apparent marketing failure into a deliberate, highly efficient pipeline strategy.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1099,"children":1101},{"id":1100},"aligning-the-funnel-for-maximum-capital-efficiency",[1102],{"type":34,"value":1103},"Aligning the Funnel for Maximum Capital Efficiency",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1105,"children":1106},{},[1107],{"type":34,"value":1108},"The ultimate business validation of a fully optimized reporting architecture is a dramatic increase in mid-funnel conversion velocity and overall capital efficiency. When your digital footprint is designed specifically to feed modern answer engines, you eliminate a massive amount of friction from the standard buyer journey.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1110,"children":1111},{},[1112,1114,1124],{"type":34,"value":1113},"As clearly demonstrated in recent performance datasets, including ",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":1115,"children":1118},{"href":1116,"rel":1117},"https://company.g2.com/news/g2-research-the-answer-economy",[1078],[1119],{"type":28,"tag":1081,"props":1120,"children":1121},{},[1122],{"type":34,"value":1123},"G2’s 2026 Answer Economy Report",{"type":34,"value":1125},", 51% of B2B software buyers now actively bypass traditional search engine queries in favor of direct, conversational interfaces when evaluating options.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1127,"children":1128},{},[1129],{"type":34,"value":1130},"Consider the operational divergence between two distinct corporate marketing frameworks:",{"type":28,"tag":1010,"props":1132,"children":1133},{},[1134,1144],{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1135,"children":1136},{},[1137,1142],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1138,"children":1139},{},[1140],{"type":34,"value":1141},"The Traffic-Dependent Funnel:",{"type":34,"value":1143}," An organization spends heavily to maintain high-volume web traffic, driving users to gated content hubs and complex multi-page blogs. As user behavior shifts toward conversational search, click volume plummets, stalling lead metrics and forcing the marketing team to continually request more ad budget to sustain the pipeline.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1145,"children":1146},{},[1147,1152],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1148,"children":1149},{},[1150],{"type":34,"value":1151},"The Citation-Optimized Funnel:",{"type":34,"value":1153}," An organization focuses entirely on structuring its data for machine ingestion, deploying clean schema layers, ungated technical specifications, and consistent feature registries across the web. The brand is systematically surfaced at the top of every conversational procurement summary, routing highly educated, pre-validated buyers directly into the sales cycle.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1155,"children":1156},{},[1157],{"type":34,"value":1158},"This clear operational contrast explains why modern marketing maturity is no longer defined by how many visitors you drive to your website. It is defined by how effectively you position your company's core insights for synthesis by the platforms where your buyers already spend their time.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1160,"children":1161},{},[1162],{"type":28,"tag":954,"props":1163,"children":1166},{"alt":1164,"src":1165},"funnel","https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/a1923ed9-0c7c-4ff8-ac6e-03616b440fcd-mkg-blog-the-board-ready-svo-dashboard-image-3.png",[],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1168,"children":1170},{"id":1169},"operationalizing-the-boardroom-presentation",[1171],{"type":34,"value":1172},"Operationalizing the Boardroom Presentation",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1174,"children":1175},{},[1176],{"type":34,"value":1177},"Transitioning to a highly structured pipeline framework requires a permanent shift in how your daily marketing operations are structured, tracked, and defended. As a solo marketing leader, you can no longer operate as a creative services hub; you must run your department like a data-driven financial operations center.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1179,"children":1180},{},[1181],{"type":34,"value":1182},"Defending your marketing strategy to the board requires anchoring your weekly execution around three concrete operational cadences:",{"type":28,"tag":1010,"props":1184,"children":1185},{},[1186,1196,1206],{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1187,"children":1188},{},[1189,1194],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1190,"children":1191},{},[1192],{"type":34,"value":1193},"SVO ROI Alignment:",{"type":34,"value":1195}," Update your revenue dashboards to chart pipeline value directly against cost per SQL across all channels, ensuring high-yield conversational paths are clearly highlighted ahead of legacy traffic channels.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1197,"children":1198},{},[1199,1204],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1200,"children":1201},{},[1202],{"type":34,"value":1203},"Data Layer Governance:",{"type":34,"value":1205}," Implement strict internal protocols to ensure that all public listings of your technical features, security standards, and integration protocols match perfectly across your website, product registries, and press releases.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1207,"children":1208},{},[1209,1214],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1210,"children":1211},{},[1212],{"type":34,"value":1213},"Citation Node Auditing:",{"type":34,"value":1215}," Monitor how frequently major conversational platforms cite your domain or your independent user review profiles relative to your primary competitors in response to category-focused research prompts.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1217,"children":1218},{},[1219],{"type":34,"value":1220},"When these tracking metrics run on a fixed, uninterrupted schedule, your organization builds a permanent competitive advantage. You stop chasing unpredictable web traffic algorithms and start managing the foundational data infrastructure that governs modern business decisions.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1222,"children":1224},{"id":1223},"proving-marketing-value-in-the-new-boardroom-reality",[1225],{"type":34,"value":1226},"Proving Marketing Value in the New Boardroom Reality",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1228,"children":1229},{},[1230],{"type":34,"value":1231},"A sudden drop in website sessions is only a true crisis for marketers who depend on vanity metrics, inflated content volume, and outdated multi-channel tracking models. For leaders who prioritize technical accuracy, operational rigor, and precise pipeline attribution, this shift in analytics is a powerful competitive advantage. It removes the edge from rivals who chase shallow web clicks and instead rewards organizations focused on delivering deep, verifiable revenue impact.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1233,"children":1234},{},[1235],{"type":34,"value":1236},"We design and build the advanced data layers and go-to-market reporting systems that shield growth-focused organizations from tracking blind spots and traffic volatility. By replacing fragmented, traffic-obsessed reports with a unified, boardroom-ready pipeline framework, we make your real marketing impact unmistakable, authoritative, and impossible for leadership to ignore.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1238,"children":1239},{},[1240,1242,1251],{"type":34,"value":1241},"Don’t let your organization’s true pipeline value be buried by an obsolete web analytics model. Examine your digital footprint, rebuild your executive dashboards, and implement an ",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":1243,"children":1246},{"href":1244,"rel":1245},"https://mkgmarketinginc.com/expert-digital-marketing-services/search-visibility-optimization/",[1078],[1247],{"type":28,"tag":1081,"props":1248,"children":1249},{},[1250],{"type":34,"value":926},{"type":34,"value":1252}," reporting engine that wins the argument in every single boardroom presentation.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1254,"children":1256},{"id":1255},"summary",[1257],{"type":34,"value":1258},"Summary",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1260,"children":1261},{},[1262],{"type":34,"value":1263},"As traditional web tracking fails to reflect decentralized buyer research, solo marketing leaders are confronting a misleading reporting crisis: website sessions are declining, yet underlying sales pipeline performance remains strong. This disconnect exists because legacy attribution models cannot capture the critical middle-funnel validation that now occurs in modern conversational search environments. To preserve executive trust and safeguard growth budgets, organizations need a dashboard purpose-built for Attribution 3.0. By moving beyond raw traffic counts and focusing on financial-grade indicators such as AI Share of Voice, Verified Citation Frequency, and MQL-to-SQL Conversion Velocity, marketing leaders can definitively demonstrate SVO ROI and make a compelling case for clear market leadership.",{"title":7,"searchDepth":909,"depth":909,"links":1265},[1266,1267,1268,1269,1270,1271,1272],{"id":961,"depth":909,"text":964},{"id":987,"depth":909,"text":990},{"id":1059,"depth":909,"text":1062},{"id":1100,"depth":909,"text":1103},{"id":1169,"depth":909,"text":1172},{"id":1223,"depth":909,"text":1226},{"id":1255,"depth":909,"text":1258},"content:blog:seo:the-board-ready-svo-dashboard-how-to-report-pipeline-when-traffic-disappears.md","blog/seo/the-board-ready-svo-dashboard-how-to-report-pipeline-when-traffic-disappears.md","blog/seo/the-board-ready-svo-dashboard-how-to-report-pipeline-when-traffic-disappears",8,{"_path":1278,"_dir":922,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":1279,"description":1280,"date":1281,"img":1282,"imgAlt":1283,"body":1284,"_type":913,"_id":1600,"_source":915,"_file":1601,"_stem":1602,"_extension":918,"category":922,"minutes":1276},"/blog/seo/the-death-of-the-ten-blue-links-why-svo-is-the-only-survival-strategy-for-2026","The Death of the Ten Blue Links - Why SVO is the Only Survival Strategy for 2026","B2B search is shifting fast. Strong visibility now means showing up across Google, AI answers, and the discovery paths buyers actually use.","2026-06-10T16:08:09.873Z","https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/fc323672-061d-46ab-9bd0-60927e7379e5-mkg-blog-the-death-of-the-ten-blue-links-hero-image.webp","performance review sheet",{"type":25,"children":1285,"toc":1591},[1286,1291,1296,1308,1313,1320,1326,1331,1360,1365,1370,1376,1381,1386,1419,1424,1430,1436,1441,1446,1451,1456,1462,1467,1472,1495,1500,1507,1513,1518,1523,1556,1561,1567,1572,1577,1582,1586],{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1287,"children":1288},{},[1289],{"type":34,"value":1290},"You executed the playbook exactly as prescribed. You audited technical site infrastructure, identified high-intent target keywords, built comprehensive topic clusters, and maintained a consistent content production cadence. By conventional organic search indicators, your performance should be exemplary. Yet when you review your year-over-year traffic, unique visitors are down 40 percent. Your high-volume keywords still rank at the top of legacy search engines, but the actual pipeline has evaporated. To leadership, it appears to be a sudden breakdown in marketing execution—an internal failure where your strategies have simply stopped working.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1292,"children":1293},{},[1294],{"type":34,"value":1295},"The reality is far more structural and long-lasting. This is not a breakdown of tactics; it is the wholesale collapse of traditional search behavior. The era of the “ten blue links” has ended. For nearly thirty years, digital discovery was built on a straightforward exchange: a user entered a query, a search engine returned a list of destination websites, and the user clicked through to find answers. That journey has now been fully disrupted by conversational interfaces, multimodal engines, and automated answer summaries.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1297,"children":1298},{},[1299,1301,1306],{"type":34,"value":1300},"This shift is fundamentally altering the business-to-business procurement landscape. According to data from ",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":1302,"children":1304},{"href":1116,"rel":1303},[1078],[1305],{"type":34,"value":1123},{"type":34,"value":1307},", 51% of B2B software buyers now begin their vendor research inside an AI chatbot rather than a traditional search engine. Buyers are completely bypassing the click-and-browse stage of research. Instead of scanning individual vendor blogs to compare capabilities, they issue a single prompt to a large language model (LLM) requesting a definitive recommendation based on explicit parameters such as compliance, integrations, and user sentiment.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1309,"children":1310},{},[1311],{"type":34,"value":1312},"When your ideal customer profile (ICP) conducts this kind of research, traditional organic rankings become less relevant. If your brand is not explicitly mentioned in the synthesized response, your company is effectively removed from the evaluation process. To navigate this shift, organizations must move beyond keyword search volume and adopt a deliberate Search Visibility Optimization (BVO / SVO) framework. Survival in 2026 depends on evolving from conventional keyword tracking to actively managing your full brand presence across the entire conversational web.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1314,"children":1315},{},[1316],{"type":28,"tag":954,"props":1317,"children":1319},{"alt":7,"src":1318},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/90ef92e5-5d1d-4993-bf61-4daac6415448-mkg-blog-the-death-of-the-ten-blue-links-image-1.png",[],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1321,"children":1323},{"id":1322},"the-structural-reality-of-the-answer-economy",[1324],{"type":34,"value":1325},"The Structural Reality of the Answer Economy",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1327,"children":1328},{},[1329],{"type":34,"value":1330},"To build a marketing engine that actually performs in this environment, you must understand how modern discovery systems process information. Legacy search engines optimized for page authority, using backlinks and click signals to decide which URL to surface next. Modern conversational engines function as inference systems. They do not rank pages; they synthesize information from thousands of public and private sources to produce a single, comprehensive response.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1332,"children":1333},{},[1334,1336,1346,1348,1358],{"type":34,"value":1335},"This evolution forms the core of ",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":1337,"children":1340},{"href":1338,"rel":1339},"https://mkgmarketinginc.com/expert-digital-marketing-services/answer-engine-optimization/",[1078],[1341],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1342,"children":1343},{},[1344],{"type":34,"value":1345},"Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)",{"type":34,"value":1347}," and ",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":1349,"children":1352},{"href":1350,"rel":1351},"https://mkgmarketinginc.com/expert-digital-marketing-services/generative-engine-optimization/",[1078],[1353],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1354,"children":1355},{},[1356],{"type":34,"value":1357},"Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)",{"type":34,"value":1359},". These frameworks recognize that language models act as automated research assistants for B2B buyers. When an enterprise software buyer asks an engine to find a platform that complies with specific financial regulations and integrates seamlessly with their current software suite, the model scans its training data and real-time web crawlers to construct a customized comparison matrix.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1361,"children":1362},{},[1363],{"type":34,"value":1364},"If your corporate content exists only in unstructured formats, sits behind aggressive lead-generation gates, or is buried in vague, fluff-heavy marketing copy, conversational engines cannot reliably interpret your product features. Because these models are designed to minimize the risk of hallucinating information, they will skip over any brand whose product data is unclear, unverified, or internally inconsistent. Instead, they will fulfill the user’s request with competitors whose digital ecosystems are structured, transparent, and corroborated across independent platforms.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1366,"children":1367},{},[1368],{"type":34,"value":1369},"This creates a hidden crisis of competitive displacement. You can maintain perfect rankings on legacy search result pages, but if your brand is missing from the conversational shortlists where buyers actually make their decisions, your organic inbound pipeline will continue to erode. Visibility is no longer a traffic acquisition problem; it is a data-structuring and entity-indexing requirement.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1371,"children":1373},{"id":1372},"measuring-the-true-llm-footprint",[1374],{"type":34,"value":1375},"Measuring the True LLM Footprint",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1377,"children":1378},{},[1379],{"type":34,"value":1380},"Shifting your marketing organization away from legacy keyword volume demands a systematic, diagnostic approach to measurement. Continuing to evaluate visibility through search impressions or raw website clicks is an operational dead end. Instead, you need to audit your precise LLM Footprint to determine how conversational systems are interpreting and recommending your company.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1382,"children":1383},{},[1384],{"type":34,"value":1385},"A comprehensive brand footprint diagnostic focuses on three explicit phases:",{"type":28,"tag":1010,"props":1387,"children":1388},{},[1389,1399,1409],{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1390,"children":1391},{},[1392,1397],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1393,"children":1394},{},[1395],{"type":34,"value":1396},"Procurement Prompt Baselining:",{"type":34,"value":1398}," Develop a highly standardized matrix of commercial intent prompts that match your ICP’s exact purchasing criteria. Run these prompts across every major model—including Gemini, ChatGPT, and Perplexity—to document your brand's natural inclusion rate, tracking how often your company is named as a preferred solution compared to your direct competitors.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1400,"children":1401},{},[1402,1407],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1403,"children":1404},{},[1405],{"type":34,"value":1406},"Citation Node Mapping:",{"type":34,"value":1408}," Analyze the specific external links, user review directories, and independent community spaces that conversational engines reference to validate their claims. Mapping these nodes reveals exactly where the models pull their authority data, allowing you to prioritize your brand distribution efforts.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1410,"children":1411},{},[1412,1417],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1413,"children":1414},{},[1415],{"type":34,"value":1416},"Semantic Consensus Auditing:",{"type":34,"value":1418}," Inspect how cleanly and uniformly your core product capabilities, pricing architectures, and compliance certifications are stated across the web. Inconsistent naming conventions or outdated documentation undermine the model’s confidence, leading to your brand being omitted from synthesized comparison tables due to data uncertainty.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1420,"children":1421},{},[1422],{"type":34,"value":1423},"By executing this technical audit, you replace defensive marketing explanations with an objective, data-driven roadmap. You reveal the exact structural gaps that keep your brand hidden from automated evaluation systems, allowing you to build an intentional plan for reclamation.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1425,"children":1426},{},[1427],{"type":28,"tag":954,"props":1428,"children":1429},{"alt":7,"src":1318},[],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1431,"children":1433},{"id":1432},"securing-dominance-via-citational-authority",[1434],{"type":34,"value":1435},"Securing Dominance via Citational Authority",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1437,"children":1438},{},[1439],{"type":34,"value":1440},"The most effective remedy for a deficit in conversational visibility is the deliberate, aggressive cultivation of Citational Authority. For a language model to confidently present your brand as a trusted option, it must detect a clear, consistent pattern of authoritative validation across multiple independent sources. The model does not rely on what you claim about yourself on your homepage; it relies on the broader consensus of the public web.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1442,"children":1443},{},[1444],{"type":34,"value":1445},"Building this authority demands unwavering commitment to a consistent content rhythm. This is not about churning out large volumes of generic, AI-generated blog posts to chase superficial keywords. It is about maintaining a highly disciplined, regular cadence of deep technical insights, validated customer case studies, and original subject matter expertise. Your executive and technical leaders must reliably contribute substantive, non-commoditized insights to reputable developer repositories, trusted industry publications, and independent community forums.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1447,"children":1448},{},[1449],{"type":34,"value":1450},"When your brand maintains an uninterrupted cadence of high-value, expert data across the web, you continuously feed the exact informational nodes that language models crawl and index. This pattern of cross-platform validation tells the model that your company is an immutable category leader.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1452,"children":1453},{},[1454],{"type":34,"value":1455},"A short-term, campaign-driven approach fails completely under this new paradigm. You cannot buy your way into an LLM's next training or inference cycle with a temporary advertising blitz. The models are built to recognize long-term consensus and verified expertise. Maintaining a structured, disciplined distribution rhythm ensures your technical capabilities are permanently embedded in the underlying datasets used to generate vendor shortlists.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1457,"children":1459},{"id":1458},"transitioning-to-a-structured-knowledge-system",[1460],{"type":34,"value":1461},"Transitioning to a Structured Knowledge System",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1463,"children":1464},{},[1465],{"type":34,"value":1466},"The core advantage of an optimized brand presence is the velocity at which you can capture modern enterprise intent. When a buyer forces an engine to evaluate the marketplace, the system naturally routes toward the path of least risk and highest data integrity.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1468,"children":1469},{},[1470],{"type":34,"value":1471},"Consider the contrasting outcomes between two distinct operational approaches:",{"type":28,"tag":1010,"props":1473,"children":1474},{},[1475,1485],{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1476,"children":1477},{},[1478,1483],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1479,"children":1480},{},[1481],{"type":34,"value":1482},"The Creative Brochure Site:",{"type":34,"value":1484}," A company relies on highly stylized, abstract copywriting hidden inside interactive web elements or gated PDF forms. The conversational engine cannot confidently extract technical metrics, deployment speeds, or API compliance standards. Fearing an inaccurate response, the engine excludes the brand from the user's answer.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1486,"children":1487},{},[1488,1493],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1489,"children":1490},{},[1491],{"type":34,"value":1492},"The Machine-Readable Knowledge Base:",{"type":34,"value":1494}," A company deploys advanced semantic layers, using clean schema markup, clear product tables, and consistent platform definitions across all channels. The engine instantly extracts, validates, and incorporates the brand's exact specifications, placing them at the top of the recommended shortlist with explicit trust citations.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1496,"children":1497},{},[1498],{"type":34,"value":1499},"This comparison illustrates why deep technical documentation has become a critical driver of middle-funnel conversion. API tables, integration matrices, and security registries are no longer merely passive references for post-sale support; they now serve as high-value entry points for automated vendor discovery. By presenting this information in a clear, structured way to machine web agents, you remove the friction that prevents your brand from being surfaced by automated evaluation systems.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1501,"children":1502},{},[1503],{"type":28,"tag":954,"props":1504,"children":1506},{"alt":7,"src":1505},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/23bac03b-041d-4119-842a-86228876c352-mkg-blog-the-death-of-the-ten-blue-links-image-3.png",[],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1508,"children":1510},{"id":1509},"operationalizing-your-response-presence",[1511],{"type":34,"value":1512},"Operationalizing Your Response Presence",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1514,"children":1515},{},[1516],{"type":34,"value":1517},"Succeeding in this decentralized landscape requires moving past traditional organic search tactics and installing a repeatable, unified operational system. Marketing departments must stop operating as creative project centers and begin running like data-driven technical operations.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1519,"children":1520},{},[1521],{"type":34,"value":1522},"This requires aligning your weekly execution around three concrete operational areas:",{"type":28,"tag":1010,"props":1524,"children":1525},{},[1526,1536,1546],{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1527,"children":1528},{},[1529,1534],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1530,"children":1531},{},[1532],{"type":34,"value":1533},"Citation Frequency Tracking:",{"type":34,"value":1535}," Monitor how frequently major conversational engines cite your domain or your trusted independent profiles relative to your primary competitors during category-focused research prompts.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1537,"children":1538},{},[1539,1544],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1540,"children":1541},{},[1542],{"type":34,"value":1543},"Data Schema Governance:",{"type":34,"value":1545}," Implement strict internal compliance to ensure that every public listing of your features, security standards, and integration protocols matches perfectly across your website, product registries, and press releases.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1547,"children":1548},{},[1549,1554],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1550,"children":1551},{},[1552],{"type":34,"value":1553},"Review Stream Automation:",{"type":34,"value":1555}," Build a continuous customer feedback mechanism that feeds recent, highly detailed textual review data into third-party evaluation directories, keeping the engines supplied with fresh trust signals.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1557,"children":1558},{},[1559],{"type":34,"value":1560},"When these operations run on a fixed, uninterrupted schedule, your organization builds a permanent competitive advantage. You stop chasing unpredictable search engine algorithm updates and start managing the foundational data infrastructure that governs all automated business decisions.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1562,"children":1564},{"id":1563},"reclaiming-the-funnel-in-the-era-of-inference",[1565],{"type":34,"value":1566},"Reclaiming the Funnel in the Era of Inference",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1568,"children":1569},{},[1570],{"type":34,"value":1571},"The rise of conversational discovery is not an existential threat to marketing leaders who operate with deep expertise, operational rigor, and strong engineering discipline. It is a threat to organizations that depend on high-volume, generic content and unverified marketing assertions. If your digital presence resembles an unindexed corporate brochure, automated models will quietly exclude you from consideration.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1573,"children":1574},{},[1575],{"type":34,"value":1576},"We specialize in designing and engineering the modern technical architectures and go-to-market operational systems that keep organizations visible across the entire modern discovery landscape. By combining technical semantic layer engineering with disciplined execution rhythms, we ensure your brand authority is clear, verifiable, and undeniable to both human buyers and machine-learning algorithms.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1578,"children":1579},{},[1580],{"type":34,"value":1581},"Do not allow your organization to be quietly displaced from your ideal market segments by an information structure failure. Audit your digital footprint, structure your institutional knowledge, and implement a brand-visibility operating model built to dominate the modern synthesis.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1583,"children":1584},{"id":1255},[1585],{"type":34,"value":1258},{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1587,"children":1588},{},[1589],{"type":34,"value":1590},"The B2B buying journey has undergone a fundamental structural shift, with 51% of software buyers now beginning vendor research inside AI chatbots rather than on traditional search engines. This behavioral change creates a significant risk of competitive displacement for brands that do not appear in model outputs or are omitted from automatically generated shortlists. To safeguard your pipeline, enterprises must implement a rigorous Brand Visibility Optimization (BVO) strategy. By conducting systematic prompt diagnostics to assess Search Sentiment, maintaining a consistent cadence of expert content publication, and ensuring all product capabilities are clearly represented in LLM Training Data, organizations can secure automated market discovery and regain narrative control across every AI search interface.",{"title":7,"searchDepth":909,"depth":909,"links":1592},[1593,1594,1595,1596,1597,1598,1599],{"id":1322,"depth":909,"text":1325},{"id":1372,"depth":909,"text":1375},{"id":1432,"depth":909,"text":1435},{"id":1458,"depth":909,"text":1461},{"id":1509,"depth":909,"text":1512},{"id":1563,"depth":909,"text":1566},{"id":1255,"depth":909,"text":1258},"content:blog:seo:the-death-of-the-ten-blue-links-why-svo-is-the-only-survival-strategy-for-2026.md","blog/seo/the-death-of-the-ten-blue-links-why-svo-is-the-only-survival-strategy-for-2026.md","blog/seo/the-death-of-the-ten-blue-links-why-svo-is-the-only-survival-strategy-for-2026",{"_path":1604,"_dir":922,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":1605,"description":1606,"date":1607,"img":1608,"imgAlt":1609,"body":1610,"_type":913,"_id":1920,"_source":915,"_file":1921,"_stem":1922,"_extension":918,"category":922,"minutes":1276},"/blog/seo/invisible-by-default-why-your-growth-plateau-is-actually-an-ai-visibility-debt","Invisible by Default - Why Your Growth Plateau is Actually an AI Visibility Debt","Explore why strong B2B content may still go unseen in AI search, and how to improve discoverability across answer engines and buyer journeys.","2026-06-02T15:24:04.123Z","https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/e9858bf4-e35a-4936-afec-f847048cb846-mkg-blog-invisible-by-default-hero-image.webp","Invisible by Default ",{"type":25,"children":1611,"toc":1912},[1612,1617,1622,1627,1639,1651,1658,1664,1669,1674,1679,1684,1690,1695,1700,1733,1738,1745,1751,1766,1771,1804,1809,1816,1822,1827,1832,1865,1870,1876,1881,1886,1891,1895,1900],{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1613,"children":1614},{},[1615],{"type":34,"value":1616},"Scaling an enterprise to $5 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) reflects strong product–market fit, founder resilience, and effective early execution. By this point, your go-to-market motion often feels solidified: you’ve invested heavily in traditional acquisition funnels, built out a sales team, and watched organic search impressions grow. Yet many executive teams encounter an invisible ceiling at exactly this stage. Historical pipeline engines start to lose efficiency, customer acquisition costs rise, and legacy growth strategies begin to stall.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1618,"children":1619},{},[1620],{"type":34,"value":1621},"When you turn to your usual marketing dashboards to diagnose the slowdown, the numbers obscure the real structural issue. Website traffic appears steady, ad click-through rates look serviceable, and SEO tools report healthy organic rankings. But the breakdown isn’t occurring on your website or in the channels you’re measuring. The real risk sits where your modern buyers are actually making their decisions.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1623,"children":1624},{},[1625],{"type":34,"value":1626},"A major behavioral shift has fundamentally reshaped the B2B buying cycle. Enterprise procurement teams and decision-makers are no longer paging through traditional search results, hopping between blogs, or downloading gated whitepapers to assemble their initial vendor lists. Instead, they’re feeding complex procurement criteria directly into large language models and conversational search tools—and using the synthesized outputs to create their shortlists.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1628,"children":1629},{},[1630,1632,1637],{"type":34,"value":1631},"This behavior is a structural reality. Data from ",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":1633,"children":1635},{"href":1116,"rel":1634},[1078],[1636],{"type":34,"value":1123},{"type":34,"value":1638}," reveals that 51% of B2B software buyers now prioritize starting their vendor research inside an AI chatbot rather than a traditional search engine. When a decision-maker commands an engine to compare mid-market enterprise platforms based on specific compliance standards, deployment speeds, and past user sentiment, the platform delivers a synthesized, definitive response.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1640,"children":1641},{},[1642,1644,1649],{"type":34,"value":1643},"If your brand is entirely absent from that generated output—if the engine cites three of your primary competitors as the market standards while your company is completely omitted—you are invisible by default. 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Success in that model is measured by traffic generation. Conversational search engines, by contrast, act as inference engines, synthesizing massive data repositories to deliver a complete, self-contained answer—without ever sending the user elsewhere.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1670,"children":1671},{},[1672],{"type":34,"value":1673},"When a model receives a prompt from a prospective buyer, it looks for verified consensus, clear entities, and authoritative proof points across its training data and live web indexes. It effectively acts as an automated procurement officer, evaluating which solutions pose the lowest operational risk based on the buyer’s stated criteria.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1675,"children":1676},{},[1677],{"type":34,"value":1678},"Many high-growth companies carry significant visibility debt because their digital footprint was created for human readers, not for machine consumption. They’ve invested in creative copy, design-heavy landing pages, and disconnected campaigns. While these assets may impress a human visitor, the underlying data layers are often unstructured, poorly indexed, or entirely absent from the authoritative repositories that language models rely on to validate brand claims.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1680,"children":1681},{},[1682],{"type":34,"value":1683},"This operational gap leads directly to competitive displacement. Your product may be technically superior, your customer success scores may be higher, and your pricing may be more attractive than the alternatives surfaced by the model. But the engine cannot parse or verify that superiority if your institutional knowledge is locked inside a black box of unstructured formats. If the machine cannot confidently confirm your capabilities, it will exclude you from the narrative to avoid hallucinating your value.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1685,"children":1687},{"id":1686},"calculating-the-brand-to-bot-gap",[1688],{"type":34,"value":1689},"Calculating the Brand-to-Bot Gap",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1691,"children":1692},{},[1693],{"type":34,"value":1694},"Clearing your visibility debt begins with a structured, technical investigation into how conversational engines perceive your organization. You must audit the digital gap between what your company actually does and what the models say you do. This requires a rigorous diagnostic protocol that treats brand presence as a data-engineering problem rather than a creative messaging exercise.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1696,"children":1697},{},[1698],{"type":34,"value":1699},"This diagnostic protocol focuses on three critical assessment areas:",{"type":28,"tag":1010,"props":1701,"children":1702},{},[1703,1713,1723],{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1704,"children":1705},{},[1706,1711],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1707,"children":1708},{},[1709],{"type":34,"value":1710},"Inference Share-of-Voice:",{"type":34,"value":1712}," Evaluate a comprehensive matrix of intent-based procurement prompts across all primary conversational models. Document exactly how often your brand is included in generated shortlists, which competitors dominate the recommendations, and what specific attributes the models use to justify their selections.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1714,"children":1715},{},[1716,1721],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1717,"children":1718},{},[1719],{"type":34,"value":1720},"Source Citation Mapping:",{"type":34,"value":1722}," Analyze the underlying domains, review networks, and community spaces that the engines cite when generating responses for your category. Identifying these source nodes reveals exactly where the models pull their authority data, showing you where your digital footprint is lacking.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1724,"children":1725},{},[1726,1731],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1727,"children":1728},{},[1729],{"type":34,"value":1730},"Semantic Entity Integrity:",{"type":34,"value":1732}," Audit how consistently your primary features, target verticals, and compliance standards are stated across the web. Disconnected information, shifting nomenclature, and outdated product registries confuse the pattern-matching algorithms of language models, leading to a complete omission of your brand due to data uncertainty.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1734,"children":1735},{},[1736],{"type":34,"value":1737},"Transitioning to this diagnostic approach changes how you evaluate your competitive standing. You stop guessing why your sales pipeline is stalling and begin identifying the explicit technical and data-structure deficiencies that prevent your brand from being recognized as a market leader.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1739,"children":1740},{},[1741],{"type":28,"tag":954,"props":1742,"children":1744},{"alt":7,"src":1743},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/0e789da1-7a18-466c-a46a-76c14cdbfb85-mkg-blog-invisible-by-default-image-2.png",[],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1746,"children":1748},{"id":1747},"implementing-generative-engine-optimization",[1749],{"type":34,"value":1750},"Implementing Generative Engine Optimization",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1752,"children":1753},{},[1754,1756,1764],{"type":34,"value":1755},"Resolving an AI visibility deficit requires an intentional transition to ",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":1757,"children":1759},{"href":1350,"rel":1758},[1078],[1760],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1761,"children":1762},{},[1763],{"type":34,"value":1357},{"type":34,"value":1765},". This framework is not about manipulating an algorithm or inflating surface-level metrics; it is about structuring your company’s real-world expertise, product specifications, and customer validation into machine-readable data layers that engines can easily ingest and trust.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1767,"children":1768},{},[1769],{"type":34,"value":1770},"This structural optimization requires executing three precise operational phases:",{"type":28,"tag":1010,"props":1772,"children":1773},{},[1774,1784,1794],{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1775,"children":1776},{},[1777,1782],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1778,"children":1779},{},[1780],{"type":34,"value":1781},"Technical Semantic Architecture:",{"type":34,"value":1783}," Deploy comprehensive schema markups across your entire digital footprint. Ensure your product capabilities, pricing architectures, geographic availability, and security standards are explicitly coded, transforming your corporate website into a clear, structured knowledge graph for web crawlers.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1785,"children":1786},{},[1787,1792],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1788,"children":1789},{},[1790],{"type":34,"value":1791},"Un-gating Institutional Knowledge:",{"type":34,"value":1793}," Redesign your content distribution strategy to prioritize data accessibility. Move critical technical specifications, API documentation, and detailed deployment case studies out of hidden, gated PDF downloads and place them directly onto clean, indexable pages that conversational web agents can completely crawl and process.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1795,"children":1796},{},[1797,1802],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1798,"children":1799},{},[1800],{"type":34,"value":1801},"Decentralized Trust Syndication:",{"type":34,"value":1803}," Build a structured operational cadence to feed independent, authoritative third-party data sources. Language models heavily weight community discussions, technical forums, and third-party review platforms to validate corporate claims. Ensuring your brand has a steady stream of user validation on these independent nodes builds the cross-reference patterns that engines require to verify your authority.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1805,"children":1806},{},[1807],{"type":34,"value":1808},"When these three phases are executed systematically, your digital presence shifts from a collection of creative marketing materials to an authoritative node in the web's knowledge graph. You give conversational engines the exact, high-integrity data points they need to confidently feature your platform on every enterprise shortlist.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1810,"children":1811},{},[1812],{"type":28,"tag":954,"props":1813,"children":1815},{"alt":7,"src":1814},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/14fbaccb-7940-4e86-9deb-c443cc852444-mkg-blog-invisible-by-default-image-3.png",[],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1817,"children":1819},{"id":1818},"de-risking-your-long-term-growth-narrative",[1820],{"type":34,"value":1821},"De-risking Your Long-Term Growth Narrative",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1823,"children":1824},{},[1825],{"type":34,"value":1826},"The primary benefit of clearing your visibility debt is the creation of a predictable, self-sustaining pipeline engine that scales entirely independent of rising advertising costs. When your brand is systematically hardcoded into the training data and inference models of your industry, your company becomes an un-bypassable option whenever a buyer initiates a research prompt.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1828,"children":1829},{},[1830],{"type":34,"value":1831},"Consider the operational differences between an enterprise burdened by visibility debt and one optimized for generative discovery:",{"type":28,"tag":1010,"props":1833,"children":1834},{},[1835,1845,1855],{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1836,"children":1837},{},[1838,1843],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1839,"children":1840},{},[1841],{"type":34,"value":1842},"Capital Allocation Efficiency:",{"type":34,"value":1844}," While a burdened organization must continually increase its digital ad spend to maintain pipeline visibility, a GEO-optimized brand naturally captures a steady stream of high-intent buyers through automated shortlists.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1846,"children":1847},{},[1848,1853],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1849,"children":1850},{},[1851],{"type":34,"value":1852},"Accelerated Sales Velocity:",{"type":34,"value":1854}," Prospects who discover your solution through a conversational engine arrive at the sales conversation with a clear, pre-validated understanding of your technical alignment, significantly reducing the overall deal cycle time.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1856,"children":1857},{},[1858,1863],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1859,"children":1860},{},[1861],{"type":34,"value":1862},"Sustainable Market Authority:",{"type":34,"value":1864}," By embedding your subject matter expertise into the foundational datasets that power automated search, you build an enduring competitive moat that cannot be washed away by a competitor's short-term advertising blitz.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1866,"children":1867},{},[1868],{"type":34,"value":1869},"For an organization aiming to scale past the $5M ARR milestone, true operational maturity means ensuring your visibility is insulated against shifts in buyer behavior. It requires building a growth framework in which your institutional value is completely clear to both the human executive who signs the contract and the machine-learning interface they use to discover you.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1871,"children":1873},{"id":1872},"establishing-the-growth-engine-of-the-future",[1874],{"type":34,"value":1875},"Establishing the Growth Engine of the Future",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1877,"children":1878},{},[1879],{"type":34,"value":1880},"The evolution of the B2B buying journey is a powerful opportunity for enterprise leaders who prioritize data integrity, technical transparency, and disciplined execution. It shifts the advantage away from brands that depend on high-volume, shallow content and instead rewards organizations that deliver clear, verifiable, and authoritative information.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1882,"children":1883},{},[1884],{"type":34,"value":1885},"We design, build, and operate the modern data architectures and go-to-market systems that eliminate visibility debt. By replacing scattered, ad hoc marketing efforts with a unified, closed-loop growth engine, we ensure your organization’s real capabilities are visible across the full modern discovery landscape.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1887,"children":1888},{},[1889],{"type":34,"value":1890},"Don’t let your hard-won market authority stay buried inside an unstructured black box. Audit your brand-to-bot gap, optimize your semantic data infrastructure, and build an enterprise growth engine that wins every synthesis.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1892,"children":1893},{"id":1255},[1894],{"type":34,"value":1258},{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1896,"children":1897},{},[1898],{"type":34,"value":1899},"Many high-growth B2B companies that have hit a revenue plateau are actually dealing with an unresolved Visibility Debt driven by major changes in buyer behavior. Today, 51% of software buyers use conversational AI interfaces instead of traditional search engines to create their vendor shortlists. As a result, organizations that still depend on legacy marketing structures are at immediate risk of Competitive Displacement.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":1901,"children":1902},{},[1903,1905,1910],{"type":34,"value":1904},"Breaking through this plateau means moving beyond superficial vanity traffic and implementing a holistic ",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":1906,"children":1908},{"href":1350,"rel":1907},[1078],[1909],{"type":34,"value":1357},{"type":34,"value":1911}," strategy. By running a technical brand-to-bot diagnostic, removing gates around key institutional knowledge, and embedding structured product data into LLM Training Data, enterprise leaders can secure their place in the Zero-Click Reality and build a highly visible, automated growth engine.",{"title":7,"searchDepth":909,"depth":909,"links":1913},[1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919],{"id":1660,"depth":909,"text":1663},{"id":1686,"depth":909,"text":1689},{"id":1747,"depth":909,"text":1750},{"id":1818,"depth":909,"text":1821},{"id":1872,"depth":909,"text":1875},{"id":1255,"depth":909,"text":1258},"content:blog:seo:invisible-by-default-why-your-growth-plateau-is-actually-an-ai-visibility-debt.md","blog/seo/invisible-by-default-why-your-growth-plateau-is-actually-an-ai-visibility-debt.md","blog/seo/invisible-by-default-why-your-growth-plateau-is-actually-an-ai-visibility-debt",{"_path":1924,"_dir":922,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":1925,"description":1926,"date":1927,"img":1928,"imgAlt":1929,"body":1930,"_type":913,"_id":2508,"_source":915,"_file":2509,"_stem":2510,"_extension":918,"category":922,"minutes":2511},"/blog/seo/monthly-search-industry-report-may-2026","Monthly Search Industry Report - May 2026","Stay updated on the May 2026 search landscape: May Core Update waves, Gemini’s new 1-billion-user conversational terminal, inline source citations, and prepping for ChatGPT Search Ads.","2026-06-02T14:26:32.875Z","https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/5da1685a-a7a2-4395-9652-0fff5237fa43-mkg-blog-seo-industry-overview-may-2026.webp","Search Visibility Optimization (SVO) Monthly Overview",{"type":25,"children":1931,"toc":2488},[1932,1941,2013,2022,2032,2053,2074,2082,2130,2139,2148,2169,2189,2198,2203,2254,2263,2283,2292,2301,2324,2333,2381,2390,2409,2418,2423,2428,2437,2470],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":1933,"children":1935},{"id":1934},"executive-summary-the-tldr",[1936],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1937,"children":1938},{},[1939],{"type":34,"value":1940},"Executive Summary (The TL;DR)",{"type":28,"tag":1010,"props":1942,"children":1943},{},[1944,1963,1984,2003],{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1945,"children":1946},{},[1947,1952,1954,1961],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1948,"children":1949},{},[1950],{"type":34,"value":1951},"Search Becomes an AI Assistant:",{"type":34,"value":1953}," At Google I/O 2026, ",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":1955,"children":1958},{"href":1956,"rel":1957},"https://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-pulse-google-launches-core-update-amid-i-o-ai-search-overhaul/575676/",[1078],[1959],{"type":34,"value":1960},"Google officially shifted",{"type":34,"value":1962}," from a traditional link directory to an AI-driven assistant ecosystem. 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This update is hitting sites hard if they rely on quick, superficial tricks to land AI citations.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":1985,"children":1986},{},[1987,1992,1994,2001],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":1988,"children":1989},{},[1990],{"type":34,"value":1991},"Smarter, More Specific AI Citing:",{"type":34,"value":1993}," A mid-May update changed ",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":1995,"children":1998},{"href":1996,"rel":1997},"https://netconnectdigital.com/blog-google-ai-overviews-update-may-2026/",[1078],[1999],{"type":34,"value":2000},"how Google links out to sources in AI Overviews",{"type":34,"value":2002},". Links have moved from a generic stack of buttons at the bottom right into the text itself, meaning success now depends on how well the AI can pull out individual, specific sentences from your pages.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":2004,"children":2005},{},[2006,2011],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2007,"children":2008},{},[2009],{"type":34,"value":2010},"Brand Authority and Real Authors Matter:",{"type":34,"value":2012}," With new hover previews on desktop and Google's AI Mode hitting 1 billion monthly users, having a recognizable brand and verified expert authors is now a requirement to protect your click-through rates.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":2014,"children":2016},{"id":2015},"algorithm-technical-seo-updates",[2017],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2018,"children":2019},{},[2020],{"type":34,"value":2021},"Algorithm & Technical SEO Updates",{"type":28,"tag":2023,"props":2024,"children":2026},"h3",{"id":2025},"the-may-2026-core-update",[2027],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2028,"children":2029},{},[2030],{"type":34,"value":2031},"The May 2026 Core Update",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2033,"children":2034},{},[2035,2037,2043,2045,2051],{"type":34,"value":2036},"On May 21, 2026, Google rolled out its",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":2038,"children":2040},{"href":1956,"rel":2039},[1078],[2041],{"type":34,"value":2042}," ",{"type":34,"value":2044},"May 2026 Core Update, as confirmed on the ",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":2046,"children":2048},{"href":1956,"rel":2047},[1078],[2049],{"type":34,"value":2050},"Google Search Status Dashboard",{"type":34,"value":2052},". 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Growth-stage tech companies with heavy JavaScript or clunky mobile rendering are seeing their visibility drop.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":2131,"children":2133},{"id":2132},"the-geoaeo-frontier",[2134],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2135,"children":2136},{},[2137],{"type":34,"value":2138},"The GEO/AEO Frontier",{"type":28,"tag":2023,"props":2140,"children":2142},{"id":2141},"google-io-2026-the-conversational-search-box",[2143],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2144,"children":2145},{},[2146],{"type":34,"value":2147},"Google I/O 2026: The Conversational Search Box",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2149,"children":2150},{},[2151,2153,2160,2162,2167],{"type":34,"value":2152},"At Google I/O in mid-May, Google introduced what it calls the ",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":2154,"children":2157},{"href":2155,"rel":2156},"https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/search-io-2026/",[1078],[2158],{"type":34,"value":2159},"biggest change to the search box in 25 years",{"type":34,"value":2161},". The standard box is turning into a dynamic terminal powered by ",{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2163,"children":2164},{},[2165],{"type":34,"value":2166},"Gemini 3.5 Flash",{"type":34,"value":2168},". Users can now type in full business briefs, upload files, and hold back-and-forth conversations that remember past questions.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2170,"children":2171},{},[2172,2174,2179,2181,2187],{"type":34,"value":2173},"Google's internal data shows ",{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2175,"children":2176},{},[2177],{"type":34,"value":2178},"AI Mode has passed 1 billion monthly users",{"type":34,"value":2180},". Conversational queries are averaging ",{"type":28,"tag":2182,"props":2183,"children":2184},"em",{},[2185],{"type":34,"value":2186},"three times longer",{"type":34,"value":2188}," than old-school search terms, and planning-related searches are up 80% quarter-over-quarter.",{"type":28,"tag":2023,"props":2190,"children":2192},{"id":2191},"how-ai-overviews-and-links-changed",[2193],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2194,"children":2195},{},[2196],{"type":34,"value":2197},"How AI Overviews and Links Changed",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2199,"children":2200},{},[2201],{"type":34,"value":2202},"A major mid-month update completely changed how Google gives credit to websites in AI answers, shifting how users click:",{"type":28,"tag":2204,"props":2205,"children":2206},"ol",{},[2207,2225,2235],{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":2208,"children":2209},{},[2210,2215,2217,2223],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2211,"children":2212},{},[2213],{"type":34,"value":2214},"Inline Source Links:",{"type":34,"value":2216}," Links have moved from the bottom of the answer and are now ",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":2218,"children":2220},{"href":1996,"rel":2219},[1078],[2221],{"type":34,"value":2222},"placed directly next to the exact sentence or data point",{"type":34,"value":2224}," the AI pulled from your site.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":2226,"children":2227},{},[2228,2233],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2229,"children":2230},{},[2231],{"type":34,"value":2232},"Desktop Hover Previews:",{"type":34,"value":2234}," Hovering over an inline link now opens a preview card showing the site name, logo, and page title. Google added this to make users feel more secure about clicking; as a result, strong brand recognition instantly boosts click rates inside AI answers.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":2236,"children":2237},{},[2238,2243,2245,2252],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2239,"children":2240},{},[2241],{"type":34,"value":2242},"The \"Expert Advice\" Carousel:",{"type":34,"value":2244}," AI Overviews now feature dedicated rows to highlight ",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":2246,"children":2249},{"href":2247,"rel":2248},"https://searchengineland.com/",[1078],[2250],{"type":34,"value":2251},"first-hand experiences, named experts, and community insights",{"type":34,"value":2253}," (from places like LinkedIn, Reddit, or forums), explicitly skipping standard corporate marketing copy.",{"type":28,"tag":2023,"props":2255,"children":2257},{"id":2256},"the-paid-ai-landscape-chatgpt-search-ads",[2258],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2259,"children":2260},{},[2261],{"type":34,"value":2262},"The Paid AI Landscape: ChatGPT Search Ads",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2264,"children":2265},{},[2266,2268,2273,2275,2281],{"type":34,"value":2267},"At the same time, the broader AI search landscape is expanding.",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":2269,"children":2271},{"href":2247,"rel":2270},[1078],[2272],{"type":34,"value":2042},{"type":34,"value":2274},"OpenAI confirmed it will ",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":2276,"children":2278},{"href":2247,"rel":2277},[1078],[2279],{"type":34,"value":2280},"launch ad campaigns inside ChatGPT",{"type":34,"value":2282}," on June 5, 2026. For tech brands, this means you need a two-part plan: optimize organically for AI answers while getting ready for paid AI ad spaces.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":2284,"children":2286},{"id":2285},"strategic-implications-for-leaders",[2287],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2288,"children":2289},{},[2290],{"type":34,"value":2291},"Strategic Implications for Leaders",{"type":28,"tag":2023,"props":2293,"children":2295},{"id":2294},"what-to-ignore",[2296],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2297,"children":2298},{},[2299],{"type":34,"value":2300},"What to Ignore",{"type":28,"tag":1010,"props":2302,"children":2303},{},[2304,2314],{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":2305,"children":2306},{},[2307,2312],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2308,"children":2309},{},[2310],{"type":34,"value":2311},"Daily Ranking Jumps:",{"type":34,"value":2313}," Don't let your marketing team panic or rewrite content while the May Core Update is still rolling out. Early ranking shifts change quickly and don't reflect where your site will actually land.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":2315,"children":2316},{},[2317,2322],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2318,"children":2319},{},[2320],{"type":34,"value":2321},"The \"Block All AI Crawlers\" Trend:",{"type":34,"value":2323}," The debate over using llms.txt to block AI bots isn't practical for B2B or B2C SaaS companies looking to grow. Blocking these bots doesn't protect your brand; it just ensures your product is completely invisible to 1 billion AI Mode users.",{"type":28,"tag":2023,"props":2325,"children":2327},{"id":2326},"where-to-pivot",[2328],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2329,"children":2330},{},[2331],{"type":34,"value":2332},"Where to Pivot",{"type":28,"tag":1010,"props":2334,"children":2335},{},[2336,2346,2371],{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":2337,"children":2338},{},[2339,2344],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2340,"children":2341},{},[2342],{"type":34,"value":2343},"Write Content for Easy AI Extraction:",{"type":34,"value":2345}," Audit your high-intent product and features pages. Make sure your content uses clear, direct definitions, step-by-step guides, and clean data tables. This makes it easy for Gemini and Perplexity to read, digest, and cite your site.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":2347,"children":2348},{},[2349,2354,2356,2361,2363,2369],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2350,"children":2351},{},[2352],{"type":34,"value":2353},"Use Real, Verifiable Authors:",{"type":34,"value":2355}," Get rid of generic \"Marketing Team\" bylines. Google's AI search prefers to pull from",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":2357,"children":2359},{"href":2097,"rel":2358},[1078],[2360],{"type":34,"value":2042},{"type":34,"value":2362},"content tied to ",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":2364,"children":2366},{"href":2097,"rel":2365},[1078],[2367],{"type":34,"value":2368},"real, verifiable people with clear author schema",{"type":34,"value":2370},". Every key piece of content should feature an author bio backed by proper Schema.org code.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":2372,"children":2373},{},[2374,2379],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2375,"children":2376},{},[2377],{"type":34,"value":2378},"Turn Content into Visual and File Formats:",{"type":34,"value":2380}," Because the new search box lets users upload files and images, back up your technical text with clear, branded diagrams, charts, and video clips to capture visual spots in AI results.",{"type":28,"tag":2023,"props":2382,"children":2384},{"id":2383},"looking-ahead-the-june-watch-item",[2385],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2386,"children":2387},{},[2388],{"type":34,"value":2389},"Looking Ahead: The June Watch Item",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2391,"children":2392},{},[2393,2395,2400,2402,2407],{"type":34,"value":2394},"Keep an eye on how your traffic settles after the May Core Update, and track the launch of ChatGPT Ads on June 5. Look at your analytics to separate ",{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2396,"children":2397},{},[2398],{"type":34,"value":2399},"traditional search clicks",{"type":34,"value":2401}," from ",{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2403,"children":2404},{},[2405],{"type":34,"value":2406},"AI referral traffic",{"type":34,"value":2408},". Understanding the gap between these two will help you decide how to split your budget between traditional SEO and AI-focused content in the second half of the year.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":2410,"children":2412},{"id":2411},"call-to-action-optimize-for-the-future",[2413],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2414,"children":2415},{},[2416],{"type":34,"value":2417},"Call to Action: Optimize for the Future",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2419,"children":2420},{},[2421],{"type":34,"value":2422},"The updates from May 2026 make one thing clear: scaling a tech company through search isn't about ranking in a list of ten blue links anymore. It means making sure your brand shows up across traditional search, AI answers, and automated assistants.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2424,"children":2425},{},[2426],{"type":34,"value":2427},"Old SEO playbooks are losing traffic because they don't account for how AI pulls out sentences, verifies authors, or reads complex prompts. To keep your customer acquisition costs (CAC) low and your pipeline predictable, your team needs a modern Search Visibility Optimization (SVO) strategy.",{"type":28,"tag":2023,"props":2429,"children":2431},{"id":2430},"how-mkg-helps-you-win-in-ai-search",[2432],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2433,"children":2434},{},[2435],{"type":34,"value":2436},"How MKG Helps You Win in AI Search:",{"type":28,"tag":1010,"props":2438,"children":2439},{},[2440,2450,2460],{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":2441,"children":2442},{},[2443,2448],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2444,"children":2445},{},[2446],{"type":34,"value":2447},"GEO/AEO Gap Analysis:",{"type":34,"value":2449}," We analyze how your brand stands up in Gemini, Perplexity, and ChatGPT Search to find where competitors are taking your citations—and we fix your content to win them back.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":2451,"children":2452},{},[2453,2458],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2454,"children":2455},{},[2456],{"type":34,"value":2457},"Technical Entity Setup:",{"type":34,"value":2459}," We update your site's backend code with precise Schema.org integrations (for your People, Products, and Organization) so AI assistants can read and trust your data.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":2461,"children":2462},{},[2463,2468],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2464,"children":2465},{},[2466],{"type":34,"value":2467},"Full-Funnel Attribution:",{"type":34,"value":2469}," We separate your classic search clicks from new AI referral traffic, giving your executive team clear, fluff-free ROI numbers.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2471,"children":2472},{},[2473,2478,2479,2486],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2474,"children":2475},{},[2476],{"type":34,"value":2477},"Stop guessing how AI is affecting your pipeline.",{"type":34,"value":2042},{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":2480,"children":2483},{"href":2481,"rel":2482},"https://mkgmarketinginc.com/",[1078],[2484],{"type":34,"value":2485},"Book a Discovery Call",{"type":34,"value":2487}," with the MKG SVO Team today to check your AI search footprint and protect your growth strategy.",{"title":7,"searchDepth":909,"depth":909,"links":2489},[2490,2491,2495,2500,2505],{"id":1934,"depth":909,"text":1940},{"id":2015,"depth":909,"text":2021,"children":2492},[2493],{"id":2025,"depth":2494,"text":2031},3,{"id":2132,"depth":909,"text":2138,"children":2496},[2497,2498,2499],{"id":2141,"depth":2494,"text":2147},{"id":2191,"depth":2494,"text":2197},{"id":2256,"depth":2494,"text":2262},{"id":2285,"depth":909,"text":2291,"children":2501},[2502,2503,2504],{"id":2294,"depth":2494,"text":2300},{"id":2326,"depth":2494,"text":2332},{"id":2383,"depth":2494,"text":2389},{"id":2411,"depth":909,"text":2417,"children":2506},[2507],{"id":2430,"depth":2494,"text":2436},"content:blog:seo:monthly-search-industry-report-may-2026.md","blog/seo/monthly-search-industry-report-may-2026.md","blog/seo/monthly-search-industry-report-may-2026",6,{"_path":2513,"_dir":922,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":2514,"description":2515,"date":2516,"img":2517,"imgAlt":2518,"body":2519,"_type":913,"_id":2797,"_source":915,"_file":2798,"_stem":2799,"_extension":918,"category":922,"minutes":1276},"/blog/seo/the-2026-brand-visibility-audit-is-your-icp-finding-your-competitors-in-the-llm","The 2026 Brand Visibility Audit: Is Your ICP Finding Your Competitors in the LLM?","When your target accounts use AI search to shortlist vendors, do you exist? Here is how to audit your brand presence and reverse competitive displacement.","2026-05-27T14:44:51.901Z","https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/1ebdbd36-b81a-40c3-b8d6-528986294139-mkg-blog-the-2026-brand-visibility-audit-hero-image.webp","Brand Visibility Audit",{"type":25,"children":2520,"toc":2788},[2521,2526,2531,2547,2552,2559,2568,2573,2578,2583,2588,2597,2602,2607,2625,2630,2637,2646,2651,2656,2661,2666,2675,2680,2685,2698,2703,2710,2719,2724,2729,2747,2752,2761,2766,2771,2776,2783],{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2522,"children":2523},{},[2524],{"type":34,"value":2525},"For years, B2B marketing operated on a straightforward logic: win the search engine results page, win the pipeline. Teams engineered content to capture specific keywords, mapped backlinks to boost domain authority, and celebrated when landing pages claimed the top spots on Google. If a prospective customer in your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) looked for a solution, your site appeared.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2527,"children":2528},{},[2529],{"type":34,"value":2530},"That logic no longer holds. A complete decoupling has occurred between traditional website traffic and the actual vendor shortlisting process. B2B buyers are bypassing the endless lists of blue links entirely. Instead of clicking through five different websites to read corporate marketing copy, they are leveraging large language models (LLMs) to perform the heavy lifting of vendor evaluation.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2532,"children":2533},{},[2534,2536,2545],{"type":34,"value":2535},"This behavior is a structural reality. Data from",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":2537,"children":2539},{"href":1116,"rel":2538},[1078],[2540,2541],{"type":34,"value":2042},{"type":28,"tag":1081,"props":2542,"children":2543},{},[2544],{"type":34,"value":1123},{"type":34,"value":2546}," reveals that 51% of B2B software buyers now begin their vendor research inside an AI chatbot rather than a traditional search engine. Buyers are leaning into a centralized discovery model in which they issue a single, structured prompt to an LLM to compare market options. The model synthesizes data from across the web, evaluates capabilities, and surfaces a definitive recommendation.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2548,"children":2549},{},[2550],{"type":34,"value":2551},"The challenge arises when your target accounts run these prompts, and your competitors are consistently cited as the preferred solution while your brand is completely left out of the answer. It is a highly efficient form of Competitive Displacement. If your organization does not appear in the model's synthesized output, you are filtered out before a sales representative is even considered. Reclaiming your place in the funnel requires moving past traditional SEO and mastering Brand Visibility Optimization (BVO).",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2553,"children":2554},{},[2555],{"type":28,"tag":954,"props":2556,"children":2558},{"alt":7,"src":2557},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/15431b64-54bd-447a-b57e-c64f2f7b9398-mkg-blog-the-2026-brand-visibility-audit-image-1.png",[],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":2560,"children":2562},{"id":2561},"the-reality-of-llm-synthetic-vetting",[2563],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2564,"children":2565},{},[2566],{"type":34,"value":2567},"The Reality of LLM Synthetic Vetting",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2569,"children":2570},{},[2571],{"type":34,"value":2572},"When an LLM builds a B2B vendor shortlist, it doesn’t scan the web like a human. It isn’t impressed by a sleek homepage or polished brand copy. Instead, it treats the digital landscape as a single, connected dataset and assesses vendors based on entity clarity, semantic relevance, and pattern recognition.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2574,"children":2575},{},[2576],{"type":34,"value":2577},"If an enterprise software buyer asks an LLM for platforms that meet specific compliance standards, deployment models, and pricing structures, the model goes back to its processed data layers for hard evidence. It searches for alignment across technical documentation, community conversations, and independent sources before producing an answer.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2579,"children":2580},{},[2581],{"type":34,"value":2582},"That creates a serious blind spot for teams still operating on legacy marketing assumptions. You might own the top spot on a traditional search engine for a high-intent keyword, but if the model can’t confidently interpret your product architecture or validate your customer satisfaction, you’ll be excluded from its comparison set. Instead, it will surface competitors whose data is clean, structured, and consistently verified across the web.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2584,"children":2585},{},[2586],{"type":34,"value":2587},"In this new reality, visibility is less about acquisition and more about indexation and structure. To influence how models evaluate your company, you must deliberately manage the information they ingest. Treat the public web as your LLM training data layer—and consider audited, third-party environments as your core competitive arena.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":2589,"children":2591},{"id":2590},"executing-a-diagnostic-brand-visibility-audit",[2592],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2593,"children":2594},{},[2595],{"type":34,"value":2596},"Executing a Diagnostic Brand Visibility Audit",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2598,"children":2599},{},[2600],{"type":34,"value":2601},"To correct a deficit in AI search visibility, an enterprise cannot rely on guesswork. You need a systematic, repeatable diagnostic protocol to discover exactly where the models are pulling their information, why they favor alternative solutions, and how they perceive your overall Search Sentiment.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2603,"children":2604},{},[2605],{"type":34,"value":2606},"This diagnostic process requires three foundational execution phases:",{"type":28,"tag":1010,"props":2608,"children":2609},{},[2610,2615,2620],{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":2611,"children":2612},{},[2613],{"type":34,"value":2614},"Intent-Based Prompt Baselining: Test a standardized matrix of procurement prompts across major models like Gemini, Claude, and ChatGPT. Document the exact terminology used to describe your category, track which competitors populate the shortlists, and analyze the specific source citations generated by the engines to back up their recommendations.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":2616,"children":2617},{},[2618],{"type":34,"value":2619},"Review Ecosystem Quantification: Assess the volume, recency, and detailed text sentiment of your third-party evaluation profiles. Models rely heavily on independent customer validation to verify brand claims; a stagnation in your review pipeline signals a high risk of model omission.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":2621,"children":2622},{},[2623],{"type":34,"value":2624},"Entity Verification and Mapping: Inspect how consistently your core capabilities, naming structures, and integrations are stated across public channels. Inconsistent nomenclature across your website, product registries, and press releases dilutes the LLM's pattern-matching capability, causing it to bypass your brand due to data uncertainty.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2626,"children":2627},{},[2628],{"type":34,"value":2629},"By treating this audit as a precise engineering diagnostic rather than a creative exercise, you reveal the specific technical gaps that are causing your competitive omission. You shift the conversation from a vague discussion about brand awareness to a concrete roadmap for structural data optimization.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2631,"children":2632},{},[2633],{"type":28,"tag":954,"props":2634,"children":2636},{"alt":7,"src":2635},"https://assets.mkgmarketinginc.com/7ff92deb-11ff-4c70-acaa-433b513eeac0-mkg-blog-the-2026-brand-visibility-audit-image-2.png",[],{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":2638,"children":2640},{"id":2639},"establishing-narrative-control-via-consistency",[2641],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2642,"children":2643},{},[2644],{"type":34,"value":2645},"Establishing Narrative Control via Consistency",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2647,"children":2648},{},[2649],{"type":34,"value":2650},"The definitive solution to an AI visibility deficit is a relentless dedication to operational Consistency. In a marketing landscape that changes every quarter, consistency is the operational framework that turns sporadic actions into a predictable, compounding authority engine. For a language model to confidently output your brand name as a trusted option, it must recognize a steady, unfragmented pattern of authoritative data over time.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2652,"children":2653},{},[2654],{"type":34,"value":2655},"This operational rhythm applies directly to how you structure and distribute your subject matter expertise. Language models prioritize information that is backed by verified experts, deep industry use cases, and recurring, high-value concepts. When your technical leaders contribute regular, deep-dive insights to reputable public engineering repositories, trusted community hubs, and authoritative industry spaces, you continuously feed the exact data pools that models crawl.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2657,"children":2658},{},[2659],{"type":34,"value":2660},"A short-term, campaign-driven approach fails completely under this model. You cannot run a one-time push to force your way into an LLM's next update cycle. The models are designed to identify long-term consensus and verified domain expertise.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2662,"children":2663},{},[2664],{"type":34,"value":2665},"Maintaining a disciplined, predictable cadence of technical data output ensures your company is recognized as an immutable category leader. This approach hardcodes your product capabilities into the data layers that models rely on to construct competitive matrix responses, thereby protecting your pipeline from displacement.",{"type":28,"tag":29,"props":2667,"children":2669},{"id":2668},"why-structured-data-ingestion-wins-the-funnel",[2670],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":2671,"children":2672},{},[2673],{"type":34,"value":2674},"Why Structured Data Ingestion Wins the Funnel",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2676,"children":2677},{},[2678],{"type":34,"value":2679},"The primary advantage of a fully optimized brand footprint is the velocity at which you can capture modern buyer intent. When an AI search engine is tasked with compiling an urgent vendor shortlist, it favors the path of least risk and highest data integrity.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":2681,"children":2682},{},[2683],{"type":34,"value":2684},"Consider the contrasting outcomes between two distinct structural approaches:",{"type":28,"tag":1010,"props":2686,"children":2687},{},[2688,2693],{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":2689,"children":2690},{},[2691],{"type":34,"value":2692},"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. 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Before having kids, my husband and I spent at least three months each year exploring the world.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":3709,"children":3710},{},[3711],{"type":34,"value":3712},"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":909,"depth":909,"links":3714},[],"content:team:alicia-antonow.md","team/alicia-antonow.md","team/alicia-antonow",1,{"_path":3720,"_dir":3578,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":3721,"description":3722,"name":3721,"jobTitle":3723,"team":3724,"images":3725,"ref":3727,"linkedIn":3728,"sequence":3729,"body":3730,"_type":913,"_id":3778,"_source":915,"_file":3779,"_stem":3780,"_extension":918,"category":3578,"minutes":909},"/team/avery-davis","Avery Davis","Avery Davis is an Account Superivor here at MKG Marketing.","Account Supervisor","Account Services",{"landscape":3726},"avery-davis.webp","avery-davis","avery-davis-114055191",59,{"type":25,"children":3731,"toc":3775},[3732,3738,3743,3748,3753,3757],{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":3733,"children":3735},{"className":3734},[3595],[3736],{"type":34,"value":3737},"\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":28,"tag":37,"props":3739,"children":3740},{},[3741],{"type":34,"value":3742},"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":28,"tag":37,"props":3744,"children":3745},{},[3746],{"type":34,"value":3747},"Although he’s touched several areas of digital marketing, Avery feels most at home when doing Account/ Project Management as well as Copywriting.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":3749,"children":3750},{},[3751],{"type":34,"value":3752},"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":28,"tag":2023,"props":3754,"children":3755},{"id":3616},[3756],{"type":34,"value":3619},{"type":28,"tag":1010,"props":3758,"children":3759},{},[3760,3765,3770],{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":3761,"children":3762},{},[3763],{"type":34,"value":3764},"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":28,"tag":1014,"props":3766,"children":3767},{},[3768],{"type":34,"value":3769},"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":28,"tag":1014,"props":3771,"children":3772},{},[3773],{"type":34,"value":3774},"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":909,"depth":909,"links":3776},[3777],{"id":3616,"depth":2494,"text":3619},"content:team:avery-davis.md","team/avery-davis.md","team/avery-davis",{"_path":3782,"_dir":3578,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":3783,"description":3784,"name":3783,"ref":3785,"jobTitle":3786,"team":3787,"images":3788,"linkedIn":3790,"quote":3791,"quoteCite":3792,"sequence":3793,"body":3794,"_type":913,"_id":3841,"_source":915,"_file":3842,"_stem":3843,"_extension":918,"category":3578,"minutes":909},"/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":3789},"jared-gerling.webp","jaredgerling","The truth is, most of us discover where we are heading when we arrive.","Calvin (Calvin and Hobbes)",55,{"type":25,"children":3795,"toc":3839},[3796,3801,3806,3811,3816,3821],{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":3797,"children":3798},{},[3799],{"type":34,"value":3800},"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":28,"tag":37,"props":3802,"children":3803},{},[3804],{"type":34,"value":3805},"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":28,"tag":37,"props":3807,"children":3808},{},[3809],{"type":34,"value":3810},"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":28,"tag":37,"props":3812,"children":3813},{},[3814],{"type":34,"value":3815},"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":28,"tag":37,"props":3817,"children":3818},{},[3819],{"type":34,"value":3820},"Fun Facts:",{"type":28,"tag":1010,"props":3822,"children":3823},{},[3824,3829,3834],{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":3825,"children":3826},{},[3827],{"type":34,"value":3828},"I love to travel with my wife. We've been to many incredible places over the years, and are always on the lookout for our next destination.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":3830,"children":3831},{},[3832],{"type":34,"value":3833},"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":28,"tag":1014,"props":3835,"children":3836},{},[3837],{"type":34,"value":3838},"I love a really good French Martini.",{"title":7,"searchDepth":909,"depth":909,"links":3840},[],"content:team:jared-gerling.md","team/jared-gerling.md","team/jared-gerling",{"_path":3845,"_dir":3578,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":3846,"description":3847,"name":3848,"jobTitle":3849,"images":3850,"ref":3852,"sequence":3853,"imageDescription":3854,"body":3855,"_type":913,"_id":3907,"_source":915,"_file":3908,"_stem":3909,"_extension":918,"category":3578,"minutes":909},"/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":3851},"kathy-obrien.webp","kathy-obrien",80,"Kathy O’Brien, MKG Marketing’s Executive Assistant, in front of a gray background | MKG Marketing",{"type":25,"children":3856,"toc":3904},[3857,3863,3868,3877,3882,3886],{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":3858,"children":3860},{"className":3859},[3595],[3861],{"type":34,"value":3862},"\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":28,"tag":37,"props":3864,"children":3865},{},[3866],{"type":34,"value":3867},"In 2000 they relocated to Chester County, a suburb of Philadelphia. After a hiatus and four sons, Kathy returned to work in Chester County. This time, she gave retail a whirl so that she could be home when her school age boys were home. She quickly found out Ann Taylor was employing one of their best customers. Kathy then spent the following 10+ years in the Non-Profit arena where she did whatever needed to be done to further the mission. No job was too big, small, or unimportant to tackle.",{"type":28,"tag":3869,"props":3870,"children":3871},"blockquote",{},[3872],{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":3873,"children":3874},{},[3875],{"type":34,"value":3876},"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.\nMother Teresa",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":3878,"children":3879},{},[3880],{"type":34,"value":3881},"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":28,"tag":2023,"props":3883,"children":3884},{"id":3616},[3885],{"type":34,"value":3619},{"type":28,"tag":1010,"props":3887,"children":3888},{},[3889,3894,3899],{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":3890,"children":3891},{},[3892],{"type":34,"value":3893},"Kathy’s dislikes: fruit & chocolate together and Tuesday.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":3895,"children":3896},{},[3897],{"type":34,"value":3898},"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":28,"tag":1014,"props":3900,"children":3901},{},[3902],{"type":34,"value":3903},"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":909,"depth":909,"links":3905},[3906],{"id":3616,"depth":2494,"text":3619},"content:team:kathy-obrien.md","team/kathy-obrien.md","team/kathy-obrien",{"_path":3911,"_dir":3578,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":20,"description":3912,"ref":3913,"name":20,"team":3583,"quote":3914,"images":3915,"twitter":3917,"isLeader":3587,"jobTitle":3918,"linkedIn":3917,"sequence":3718,"quoteCite":3919,"imageDescription":3920,"body":3921,"_type":913,"_id":3969,"_source":915,"_file":3970,"_stem":3971,"_extension":918,"category":3578,"minutes":3718},"/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":3916},"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":25,"children":3922,"toc":3966},[3923,3929,3941,3954,3958],{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":3924,"children":3926},{"className":3925},[3595],[3927],{"type":34,"value":3928},"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":28,"tag":37,"props":3930,"children":3931},{},[3932,3934,3939],{"type":34,"value":3933},"She also hosts our podcast, ",{"type":28,"tag":1074,"props":3935,"children":3937},{"href":3936},"/podcasts/marketing-leaders/",[3938],{"type":34,"value":16},{"type":34,"value":3940},", which brings eight digital marketing experts to your ears every quarter.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":3942,"children":3943},{},[3944,3946,3952],{"type":34,"value":3945},"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":28,"tag":1074,"props":3947,"children":3949},{"href":3948},"/about/jobs/",[3950],{"type":34,"value":3951},"Jobs page",{"type":34,"value":3953}," and see if we have a position right for you!",{"type":28,"tag":2023,"props":3955,"children":3956},{"id":3616},[3957],{"type":34,"value":3619},{"type":28,"tag":1010,"props":3959,"children":3960},{},[3961],{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":3962,"children":3963},{},[3964],{"type":34,"value":3965},"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":909,"depth":909,"links":3967},[3968],{"id":3616,"depth":2494,"text":3619},"content:team:kerry-guard.md","team/kerry-guard.md","team/kerry-guard",{"_path":3973,"_dir":3578,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":3974,"description":3975,"name":3974,"ref":3976,"jobTitle":3977,"team":3649,"images":3978,"linkedIn":3980,"sequence":3981,"body":3982,"_type":913,"_id":4033,"_source":915,"_file":4034,"_stem":4035,"_extension":918,"category":3578,"minutes":909},"/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":3979},"leigh-snyder.webp","leighasnyder",50,{"type":25,"children":3983,"toc":4030},[3984,3990,3995,4000,4005,4010,4015,4020,4025],{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":3985,"children":3987},{"className":3986},[3595],[3988],{"type":34,"value":3989},"\nLeigh has over 15 years of experience of managing Paid Search campaigns. She started her career at Solid Cactus, a full service eCommerce agency in Wilkes Barre Pennsylvania. Having no experience in Paid Search, she learned as she went, starting out in the earlier days of Google Adwords, when Adwords Editor wasn't even being used yet.\n",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":3991,"children":3992},{},[3993],{"type":34,"value":3994},"Leigh loves to create accounts and watch them grow, even more she loves to take a poorly performing account and turn it around. Watching the KPIs increase from changes she has made or new ideas she implements, keeps her career exciting.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":3996,"children":3997},{},[3998],{"type":34,"value":3999},"Managing a wide variety of accounts that include local car dealerships, worldwide clothing stores, online supplement shops to plastic surgeons and much much more, Leigh brings a vast knowledge of creative ways in managing accounts.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":4001,"children":4002},{},[4003],{"type":34,"value":4004},"While working the majority of her career in local offices, the options for expanding her career were becoming less and less. She decided to apply for a remote job (before it was the norm) and was able to get experience that wasn't as prevalent in the smaller area in which she resides.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":4006,"children":4007},{},[4008],{"type":34,"value":4009},"After working from home for the past 6 years the opportunities kept coming and when MKG reached out to her, she knew that there was something special about them and decided to take the leap. The people first environment is not just talked about here, but it is practiced everyday. MKG Marketing is unlike anywhere she has ever worked.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":4011,"children":4012},{},[4013],{"type":34,"value":4014},"Outside of work, Leigh enjoys spending time with her husband Dustin, their blended family (Emma, Casey, Jake & Brayden) and their dog Millie.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":4016,"children":4017},{},[4018],{"type":34,"value":4019},"The kitchen is where you will always find her, she loves to cook and bake all things Gluten Free and no one ever knows. When they are not at a swim meet or a baseball game they love swimming in their pool, long walks on the local trails, renovating their house and binging shows.",{"type":28,"tag":2023,"props":4021,"children":4022},{"id":3616},[4023],{"type":34,"value":4024},"Fun Facts",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":4026,"children":4027},{},[4028],{"type":34,"value":4029},"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":909,"depth":909,"links":4031},[4032],{"id":3616,"depth":2494,"text":4024},"content:team:leigh-snyder.md","team/leigh-snyder.md","team/leigh-snyder",{"_path":4037,"_dir":4038,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":4039,"description":4040,"name":4039,"imageDescription":4041,"ref":4042,"jobTitle":4043,"images":4044,"linkedIn":4042,"quote":4046,"quoteCite":4039,"sequence":4047,"body":4048,"_type":913,"_id":4122,"_source":915,"_file":4123,"_stem":4124,"_extension":918,"category":4038,"minutes":3718},"/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":4045},"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.",7,{"type":25,"children":4049,"toc":4119},[4050,4063,4068,4080,4086],{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":4051,"children":4053},{"className":4052},[3595],[4054,4056,4061],{"type":34,"value":4055},"\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":28,"tag":1002,"props":4057,"children":4058},{},[4059],{"type":34,"value":4060},"Swell Marketing Advisors",{"type":34,"value":4062}," and a strategic partner to MKG, she brings deep expertise in aligning product, sales, and marketing into a cohesive GTM strategy.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":4064,"children":4065},{},[4066],{"type":34,"value":4067},"Celeste understands that for founders, the hardest phase is often bridging the gap between a great product and the market that needs it. She specializes in clarifying positioning, defining ideal customer profiles (ICPs), and building the strategic roadmap that turns vision into traction.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":4069,"children":4070},{},[4071,4073,4078],{"type":34,"value":4072},"At MKG, Celeste steps in as a Marketing Leader for our ",{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":4074,"children":4075},{},[4076],{"type":34,"value":4077},"Marketing Leadership + Activation",{"type":34,"value":4079}," clients. She provides the senior-level direction and GTM rigor, working hand-in-hand with MKG’s activation teams to ensure that strategy doesn't just sit in a deck—it gets executed, measured, and optimized for growth.",{"type":28,"tag":2023,"props":4081,"children":4083},{"id":4082},"expertise",[4084],{"type":34,"value":4085},"Expertise",{"type":28,"tag":1010,"props":4087,"children":4088},{},[4089,4099,4109],{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":4090,"children":4091},{},[4092,4097],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":4093,"children":4094},{},[4095],{"type":34,"value":4096},"Go-to-Market Strategy:",{"type":34,"value":4098}," Launching new products and entering new markets with precision.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":4100,"children":4101},{},[4102,4107],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":4103,"children":4104},{},[4105],{"type":34,"value":4106},"Positioning & Messaging:",{"type":34,"value":4108}," Translating complex tech into clear customer value.",{"type":28,"tag":1014,"props":4110,"children":4111},{},[4112,4117],{"type":28,"tag":1002,"props":4113,"children":4114},{},[4115],{"type":34,"value":4116},"Sales & Marketing Alignment:",{"type":34,"value":4118}," Ensuring the revenue team is fighting the same battle.",{"title":7,"searchDepth":909,"depth":909,"links":4120},[4121],{"id":4082,"depth":2494,"text":4085},"content:team:marketing-leadership:celeste-jacroux.md","team/marketing-leadership/celeste-jacroux.md","team/marketing-leadership/celeste-jacroux",{"_path":4126,"_dir":4038,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":20,"description":4127,"name":20,"imageDescription":3920,"ref":3913,"jobTitle":4128,"images":4129,"twitter":3917,"linkedIn":3917,"quote":3914,"quoteCite":3919,"sequence":4130,"body":4131,"_type":913,"_id":4209,"_source":915,"_file":4210,"_stem":4211,"_extension":918,"category":4038,"minutes":909},"/team/marketing-leadership/kerry-guard","Meet Kerry Guard, MKG Marketing’s CEO and Principal Strategist. She works directly with founders to build scalable marketing engines while hosting the podcast, Back on T-R-A-C-K.","Fractional Marketing Leaders",{"landscape":3916},5,{"type":25,"children":4132,"toc":4206},[4133,4139,4179,4190,4195,4199],{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":4134,"children":4136},{"className":4135},[3595],[4137],{"type":34,"value":4138},"\nKerry Guard (she/her) is the strategist founders call when they are tired of guessing. As the CEO of MKG Marketing, she doesn’t just run the agency; she steps into the trenches with clients as a Fractional Marketing Leader. She specializes in helping founders navigate the \"Growth Valley\"—building the systems, strategy, and teams required to scale from traction to expansion.",{"type":28,"tag":37,"props":4140,"children":4141},{},[4142,4144,4149,4151,4156,4158,4163,4165,4170,4172,4177],{"type":34,"value":4143},"Her recent work focuses on bringing enterprise-level rigor to growing businesses. 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