Podcasts about Digital marketing

Broad keyword targeting is quietly undermining AI search visibility. Jenna Hannon, founder and CEO of Hatter and former first marketing hire at Uber Eats, has built an AEO agency helping brands get discovered across Google and AI answer engines after advising companies like Multisensor AI, FORM Kitchens, and Kyte as a fractional CMO. She breaks down why keyword specificity now outperforms broad-match traffic grabs, how legacy SEO habits actively hurt AI search performance, and what product marketing rigor brings to building durable AI visibility strategy.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Send us Fan MailArtificial intelligence has transformed the way businesses create content, but has it also made marketing less human?In this episode of Joey Pinz Discipline Conversations, Joey sits down with marketing strategist Jiun Liao, founder of Lobo Media Marketing and host of the Anti-Viral Podcast, to explore why authentic relationships still outperform algorithms, automation, and endless content creation.Jiun shares his philosophy of Human Marketing—the belief that businesses grow through trust, meaningful conversations, and genuine connection rather than manipulation, advertising tricks, or chasing viral moments. From growing up in Ecuador before the internet to building businesses in Canada, he explains why slowing down, telling better stories, and focusing on people creates lasting success.The conversation also explores AI's role in marketing, the surprising lessons learned from publishing a print magazine in 2026, why businesses abandon relationships when they start marketing, and how discipline allows entrepreneurs to stay true to their values in a rapidly changing digital world.

What does it take to market some of the world's most iconic brands?Recorded live during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Jim sits down with Mark Kirkham, Chief Marketing Officer of PepsiCo Beverages U.S., to explore how one of the world's largest marketers continues to reinvent brands like Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Starbucks Ready-to-Drink, Lipton, and poppi in an era defined by AI, changing consumer behavior, and relentless innovation.Mark oversees brand and marketing strategy across PepsiCo's $28 billion U.S. beverage portfolio. During more than 15 years with the company, he's held marketing leadership roles across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America, helping shape global campaigns, expand iconic brands, and lead innovation around the world. Before PepsiCo, he built his foundation in research and analytics at Forrester and Nielsen before moving into brand management at Procter & Gamble.The conversation also becomes a masterclass in leadership. From developing future CMOs to writing a weekly letter to his marketing team, Mark shares why trust, transparency, curiosity, and continuous learning are the foundations of building both great brands and great leaders.—Meet The CMO Podcast On the RoadThe CMO Podcast will be on the road throughout Q4 2026, capturing conversations with the leaders shaping the future of marketing, leadership, and business. If you'll be attending one of these events, we'd love to connect. Let us know!Advertising Week New York | October 5–7BLINK Cincinnati | October 8ANA Masters of Marketing | October 20–22—Interested in partnering with The CMO Podcast?!Looking ahead to the rest of 2026 and into 2027, we're partnering with brands to create executive content platforms that extend far beyond a single event. From pop-up podcast studios and live recordings to executive roundtables, keynote conversations, and bespoke thought leadership programs, we work with partners to build meaningful experiences that connect with senior marketing leaders.Whether you'd like to partner with us at one of the industry's biggest marketing events or create a custom experience designed specifically for your brand, we'd love to explore what's possible. Reach out to learn how we can build something together.Email us at podcasts@vyve.co—Produced by vYveThe CMO Podcast is proudly produced by vYve Production, a full-service production and content studio specializing in podcasts, executive storytelling, branded content, and live experiences. vYve is a community of ambitious leaders dedicated to unlocking what's next in business and in life. Through executive coaching, transformative experiences, strategic content, and communities like The CMO Podcast, vYve helps entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and teams grow their businesses, strengthen their leadership, and build meaningful connections that last.Learn more about vYve and The CMO Podcast community at www.vyve.co.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

AI search visibility now hinges on fundamentals most brands abandoned years ago. Jenna Hannon, founder and CEO of Hatter and former first marketing hire at Uber Eats, built one of the first agencies dedicated to AI search visibility after scaling global growth operations and serving as fractional CMO for companies including Multisensor AI and Kyte. She unpacks why AEO performance is built on foundational SEO discipline rather than a separate playbook, and why treating strategy as an AI-replaceable function misreads what actually drives purchase intent. The conversation centers on using AI to scale execution while keeping human synthesis of customer motivation as the non-negotiable core of the strategy layer.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Are Influencers Dying? Why Brands Are Spending Billions on the New Creator Economy The era of the influencer may be ending—but influence itself is bigger business than ever. Social media has changed dramatically, and the creators who once dominated Instagram, YouTube and TikTok are discovering that simply showing off a fabulous lifestyle isn't enough anymore. So what happened to the traditional influencer—and where did their audiences go? Social media began as a place to share photos, friends and everyday life. Then came influencers: creators who attracted enormous audiences, landed lucrative brand deals and turned online popularity into an industry worth billions. But audiences changed. Today, people increasingly want creators to teach them something, entertain them, offer expertise, build community—or be so compelling that they simply can't look away. At the same time, brands continue pouring billions into creator and influencer marketing. So is the influencer dying—or simply evolving? On today's The Karel Cast, Karel is joined by two guests who understand this transformation from very different perspectives: Andrew Selepak of the University of Florida, an expert on social media, digital culture and communication, joins the conversation to examine how influencer culture has changed and what audiences and advertisers want now. Alison Malone, a former television news journalist, podcaster and influencer, brings the perspective of someone who has worked in both traditional and digital media. Together, they explore the changing creator economy, influencer marketing, social media algorithms, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, brand partnerships and online trends—and why influence reaches far beyond the people who actually follow creators. Influencers can help drive everything from fashion and consumer purchases to major diet and fitness trends such as the explosion of interest in protein and creatine. And through partnerships with major companies, their influence can reach consumers who don't even use social media. The influencer isn't necessarily disappearing. The definition of an influencer is changing. Who wins in this new creator economy? What happens to traditional influencers? What are brands looking for now? And where does social media go next? Let's talk about it. Join the conversation in the comments. LIKE this video, SUBSCRIBE to The Karel Cast and SHARE it with someone who has an opinion. Support independent media and The Karel Cast on Patreon: patreon.com/reallykarel Watch and subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/reallykarel The Karel Cast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Spreaker and other major podcast platforms, and can also be seen on TikTok and Instagram. LIVE Monday–Thursday at 10:00 a.m. Pacific. Karel is a history-making broadcaster, entertainer and commentator based in Las Vegas, joined by his little service dog, Ember. #Influencers, #InfluencerMarketing, #SocialMedia, #CreatorEconomy, #SocialMediaMarketing, #ContentCreators, #InfluencerCulture, #DigitalMarketing, #TikTok, #Instagram, #YouTube, #YouTubeCreators, #SocialMediaTrends, #MarketingTrends, #CreatorMarketing, #BrandMarketing, #BrandDeals, #OnlineCulture, #DigitalCulture, #SocialMediaAlgorithm, #FutureOfSocialMedia, #InternetCulture, #MediaTrends, #Advertising, #ConsumerTrends, #ContentCreation, #Podcast, #TheKarelCast, #KarelCast, #ReallyKarel https://youtube.com/live/xG7qreP7OYU

Most SEOs assume AI visibility requires an omnichannel content spread. Jenna Hannon, founder and CEO of Hatter, scaled Uber Eats as one of its first marketing hires and now runs an AI search agency advising fractional CMO clients including Multisensor AI and FORM Kitchens. She outlines how to run an AI visibility audit to benchmark brand and competitor citations across generative engines, exposing which source types actually drive AI answer inclusion. The discussion reframes AEO as an extension of proven SEO fundamentals rather than a separate, channel-hungry discipline.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A CMO Confidential Interview with Aneesh Dhawan, the Co-Founder and CEO of Knit, an AI Native Research Firm. Aneesh shares toplines from Knit's AI Trust Survey of 150+ enterprise research leaders and details how the biggest fear has morphed from potential job loss to AI outputs without expert, human judgement. Key topics include:- The difference between data, insights and storytelling- Why research utopia may be just around the corner- Tips for vendor selection- The importance of good governance habitsTune in to hear why your research leader will eventually function like a Head Chef. ⏱️ Chapters1:30 - AI in Market Research3:06 - AI Trust Index Findings4:28 - Greatest AI Researcher Fears7:01 - Governance and Human Judgment11:31 - ROI and AI Slop14:14 - The Future of Research16:09 - Choosing AI Research Vendors18:05 - Governance and Best Practices24:26 - Addressing the Trust Gap27:03 - Advice for AI ImplementationSubscribe for weekly episodes featuring world-class marketing leaders, board members, and C-Suite executives.#CMOConfidential, #MarketingLeadership, #BrandStrategy, #CorporateActivism, #MarketingStrategy, #CMO, #AIinMarketing, #ExecutiveLeadership, #BrandReputation, #ConsumerTrust, #DigitalMarketing, #MarketingInsights, #ThoughtLeadership, #BusinessStrategy, #CustomerCentricSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tout le monde voudrait réussir sans jamais se montrer.C'est possible mais deux fois plus difficile.Et ça impose une règle absolue : un concept ultra fort.Dans cet épisode :• Format 1 — L'interview micro-trottoir : scalable, déléguable, vendable• Format 2 — Le vlog voix off : narration + images (IA ou broll)• Format 3 — Le Top View : cuisine, unboxing, drone, perspective démiurgique• Format 4 — Le Point of View : Ray-Ban Meta, GoPro, caméra embarquée+ L'annonce Agence Personnelle ! https://go.carolinemignaux.com/HZfvPNPASSE À L'ACTION◉ Assister à mon live privé pour décrocher des Collaborations : https://www.carolinemignaux.com/communaute◉ Créer ton tunnel de vente personnel : https://go.carolinemignaux.com/personalfunnel◉ Délèguer ta stratégie de contenu en 3H/mois : https://go.carolinemignaux.com/agence◉ Lancer ta marque personnelle (mon système complet) : https://www.carolinemignaux.com/bundleRécap à emporter → https://newsletter.carolinemignaux.com/

This episode of Hustle Inspires Hustle features Alex Quin and Gina Ulmos, media personality, journalist, podcast host, and author of Mis 200 Citas. Gina reflects on her decades-long career across television, Univision, and radio, and how an unexpected career transition gave her the opportunity to reinvent herself as an author. She shares how nearly 200 real dating experiences after a 16-year marriage, combined with lessons from therapists, psychologists, love coaches, and her own interviews, ultimately inspired her book.Alex and Gina dive into modern dating, Bumble, first-date expectations, red flags, personal safety, scams, self-worth, and how social media has changed the way relationships begin. They also discuss Gina's experiences interviewing major figures like Cristiano Ronaldo, how her journalism background helps her read and vet people, and why cultural compatibility and life experience matter in relationships. Ultimately, the conversation goes beyond dating to explore reinvention, embracing uncomfortable change, and why it's never too late to start a new chapter in your career or personal life.Episode Outline:[00:00] Meet Gina Ulmos and the story behind Mis 200 Citas[04:25] Leaving radio and turning life experiences into a book[09:00] 200 dates, Bumble, rejection, and finding love online[13:30] First-date expectations, money, boundaries, and red flags[18:20] Dating safety and protecting yourself when meeting strangers[23:30] How Alex met his wife and Instagram vs. dating apps[28:25] Self-worth, childhood patterns, and choosing better partners[35:05] Interviewing Cristiano Ronaldo and using journalism skills in dating[39:00] Vetting dates, background checks, scams, and trusting your instincts[41:05] Cultural compatibility, travel, relationships, and Mexico[46:05] Career reinvention, losing your safety net, and embracing change[49:00] Why it's never too late to find love[50:52] Closing thoughts and outroWisdom Nuggets:Don't Ignore the Red Flags Because You Like the Person: Attraction can make people justify behavior they would immediately recognize as problematic in someone else. Pay attention to inconsistencies, pressure, dishonesty, and actions that don't match someone's words.Treat Dating Like an Interview: Gina learned from a love coach to think about dating similarly to filling an important position. Would you keep interviewing someone who consistently shows up late, lies, acts inconsistently, or doesn't share your values? Chemistry shouldn't eliminate standards.Self-Worth Changes Who You Choose: The relationships we pursue can reflect how we see ourselves. Understanding childhood experiences, emotional patterns, boundaries, and what you're actually searching for can help prevent repeating the same relationships with different people.Losing Your Safety Net Can Create Your Next Chapter: Leaving a stable media career was uncomfortable for Gina, but it also created the time and urgency that helped her finally write her book. Sometimes the change you didn't ask for becomes the push you needed.You Either Win or You Learn: Not every relationship, career move, or chapter will work out the way you expected. That doesn't automatically make it wasted time. Experiences can become lessons that prepare you to make better decisions moving forward.It's Never Too Late to Find Love: Gina's own family gives her a unique perspective on modern dating across generations. Her mother encouraged her to date, Gina found her favorite person through Bumble, and her daughter also found a relationship through the platform.Power Quotes“You're not gonna land a good job, a good relationship if you don't have self-worth.” - Alex Quin“Changes are good. You either win or you learn.” — Gina UlmosConnect with Gina Ulmos:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ginaulmosLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gina-ulmos-90b18657/Website: https://ginaulmos.com/Connect With the Podcast Host Alex Quin:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexquinTwitter: https://twitter.com/mralexquinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mralexquinWebsite: https://alexquin.comTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mralexquinBooks Mentioned:Mis 200 Citas — Gina Ulmos [https://amzn.to/4hYgaZx]How to Market Your Restaurant Online — Alex Quin [https://amzn.to/4gA6GRU]Digital Marketing Dictionary — Alex Quin [https://amzn.to/46xv7dP]Polo's Day at the Park — Alex Quin [https://amzn.to/46vUpcg]Resources Mentioned:BumbleSpokeoGina Ulmos' La Fórmula Luego de Mis 200 CitasSOS NewsOur CommunityInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/hustleinspireshustleTwitter: https://twitter.com/HustleInspiresLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hustle-inspires-hustleWebsite: https://hustleinspireshustle.comThis page may contain affiliate links or sponsored content. When you click on these links or engage with the sponsored content and make a purchase or take some other action, we may receive a commission or compensation at no additional cost to you. We only promote products or services that we genuinely believe will add value to our readers & listeners.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Only one-third of Google searches now click through to the open web. Jenna Hannon, founder and CEO of Hatter and former product marketing lead at Uber Eats, argues that AEO success depends on marketing fundamentals, not channel-hacking. She and Tyson break down why brand differentiation and positioning outperform multi-channel content sprawl, how AI visibility metrics like citation frequency and sentiment are replacing traditional traffic-based attribution, and why keyword specificity now beats broad-volume targeting in an AI-driven search landscape.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Summary In this episode, Chad Burmeister interviews John Taylor, CEO of Act Three Agency, about the transformative impact of AI on podcasting, customer experience, and marketing. They explore how AI enhances discoverability, personalization, and ethical considerations in the evolving AI landscape. Key topics AI's impact on podcast discoverability and search Generative engine optimization (GEO) and metadata importance Converting niche audiences into customers Maintaining personal touch in AI-driven content Ethical considerations and responsible AI use Chapters 00:00 Introduction to AI in Podcasting 02:55 AI's Impact on Customer Experience 05:33 Challenges Faced by Podcasters 08:16 Conversion and Discoverability in Podcasting 11:09 Misconceptions About AI 13:59 Maintaining the Human Touch in AI 16:46 The Role of Soft Skills in the AI Era 19:28 Ethics and Responsibility in AI 22:23 Future Technologies and AI 25:09 Conclusion and Future Outlook The AI for Sales Podcast is brought to you by BDR.ai, Nooks.ai, and ZoomInfo—the go-to-market intelligence platform that accelerates revenue growth.Skip the forms and website hunting—Chad will connect you directly with the right person at any of these companies.

AI platforms increasingly reward customer-focused product content over technical specifications. Lucas Tieleman, co-founder and CEO of Optiversal and former Chief Product Officer at Bazaarvoice, has helped enterprise retailers convert static product catalogs into machine-readable content that performs across traditional search and AI-driven discovery. The conversation covers why answer engine optimization depends on strong underlying SEO fundamentals, how AI is reshaping the way brands approach search visibility, and why translating product specifications into customer benefits matters more than increasing content volume.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Send us Fan MailWhat if the biggest thing holding your marketing back isn't your ads... but your brand?In this episode of Imperfect Marketing, Kendra Corman sits down with Matt Raminick, founder of Sunnyside, to explore what branding really means and why so many businesses miss the mark by focusing on logos, colors, and visual identity before understanding their customers.Matt shares the four foundational questions every business should answer before investing in marketing, explains why customer research should guide every decision, and discusses how data, curiosity, and real conversations help brands stand out in crowded markets. You'll also hear why AI is a powerful tool for analyzing information, but it can never replace genuine customer insights.Whether you're launching a new business, refreshing your brand, or trying to improve your marketing results, this conversation will help you build a stronger foundation that supports long-term growth.In this episode, you'll discover:✔ Why branding is much more than your logo✔ The four-part framework for building a memorable brand✔ How to identify and understand your ideal customer✔ Why talking to customers is still one of the best marketing strategies✔ How surveys and customer feedback can improve your messaging✔ Why trying to market to everyone usually hurts your business✔ Matt's biggest marketing lesson after more than 20 years in the industryYour brand isn't what you say it is. It's what your customers remember and why they choose to come back.About Matt RaminickMatt Raminick is the founder of Sunnyside, a marketing agency that helps lifestyle brands grow through strategic branding, paid advertising, and customer-focused marketing. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with another business owner or marketer who could benefit from the conversation.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattraminick/Website: sunnysidecalifornia.com Connect with Kendra Corman:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendracorman/#branding #marketingstrategy #smallbusinessmarketing #digitalmarketing #brandstrategy #businessgrowth #entrepreneurship Looking to leverage AI? Want better results? Want to think about what you want to leverage?Check and see how I am using it for FREE on YouTube. From "Holy cow, it can do that?" to "Wait, how does this work again?" – I've got all your AI curiosities covered. It's the perfect after-podcast snack for your tech-hungry brain. Watch here

Album 8 Track 19: How Authentic Positioning Drives Success w/Krista PattersonIn this episode of Brands, Beats & Bytes, hosts Darryl "DC" Cobbin and Larry "LT" Taman welcome positioning expert Krista Patterson, Co-Founder and CEO of Positioning Collective.Drawing from her executive tenure at tech giants like Cisco, ServiceNow, and VMware, Krista reveals why systemic business problems almost always trace back to murky positioning.Krista breaks down the distinction between targeting demographics versus targeting mindset, shares deeply personal stories about overcoming career missteps, and discusses managing high-profile partnerships like F1 McLaren. The conversation tackles modern industry shifts, from why communications leaders must question the ecological footprint of AI infrastructure to how Burger King reclaimed its market share through core positioning. Tune in for a masterclass on brand strategy, authentic leadership, and career growth.Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and share with a fellow Brand Nerd!Instagram | LinkedIn

As people take greater ownership of their health, the role of brands is changing.Recorded live at the Havas Café during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, this conversation explores how marketing can help people live healthier, longer, and more fulfilling lives.Jim is joined by:Yvonne Bryant, Hemoglobinopathies Commercialization Head at Novo Nordisk, whose career has spanned clinical research, drug development, commercialization, and consumer marketing. Today, she leads commercialization efforts for rare blood disorders, helping translate breakthrough scientific innovation into meaningful patient impact.Lauren Gellman, Senior Director and Head of Marketing for Health and Home at Google. Lauren oversees marketing across Google's health ecosystem, including Fitbit, Nest, and Google Health, where she's helping shape the future of AI-powered health experiences and personalized wellness.Samantha Avivi, Global Chief Marketing Officer for Consumer Health at Bayer. A longtime marketing leader whose career includes roles at Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, Walmart, and more, Samantha now leads global marketing and innovation across Bayer's portfolio of trusted consumer health brands.Drawing on Havas' Science of Desire research, the conversation explores how healthcare marketers are building trust in the age of AI, making complex science more accessible, and helping people navigate an increasingly personalized health journey. Ultimately, it arrives at a simple but powerful idea: the future of healthcare marketing isn't simply about helping people live longer. It's about helping people live better.—This week's episode is brought to you by Havas and Infillion.—Meet The CMO Podcast On the RoadThe CMO Podcast will be on the road throughout Q4 2026, capturing conversations with the leaders shaping the future of marketing, leadership, and business. If you'll be attending one of these events, we'd love to connect. Let us know!Advertising Week New York | October 5–7BLINK Cincinnati | October 8ANA Masters of Marketing | October 19–22—Interested in partnering with The CMO Podcast?!Looking ahead to the rest of 2026 and into 2027, we're partnering with brands to create executive content platforms that extend far beyond a single event. From pop-up podcast studios and live recordings to executive roundtables, keynote conversations, and bespoke thought leadership programs, we work with partners to build meaningful experiences that connect with senior marketing leaders.Whether you'd like to partner with us at one of the industry's biggest marketing events or create a custom experience designed specifically for your brand, we'd love to explore what's possible. Reach out to learn how we can build something together.Email us at podcasts@vyve.co—Produced by vYveThe CMO Podcast is proudly produced by vYve Production, a full-service production and content studio specializing in podcasts, executive storytelling, branded content, and live experiences. vYve is a community of ambitious leaders dedicated to unlocking what's next in business and in life. Through executive coaching, transformative experiences, strategic content, and communities like The CMO Podcast, vYve helps entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and teams grow their businesses, strengthen their leadership, and build meaningful connections that last.Learn more about vYve and The CMO Podcast community at www.vyve.co.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Volume-based keyword content is quietly undermining search performance. Lucas Tieleman, CEO and co-founder of Optiversal, has helped major enterprise retailers convert static product catalogs into machine-readable content that performs across both search and AI platforms, building on experience as former Chief Product Officer at Bazaarvoice. The conversation breaks down why "sloptimization"—churning out keyword-driven posts without added value—undermines both rankings and revenue, why answer engine optimization depends on strong underlying SEO fundamentals rather than replacing them, and how transforming product data into structured, machine-readable assets drives visibility across traditional and AI-driven search.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode I'm joined by digital marketing consultant Daniela Furtado, founder of Findable Digital Marketing, to discuss how AEC firms can get discovered online. We cover the shift from traditional SEO to "GEO" (generative engine optimization) for AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude. We also chat about cross-border marketing strategy, budget prioritization, and go off a slight little tangent about MySpace's potential relaunch and whether AEC firms have any place on it. About Daniela Daniela Furtado — Digital marketing consultant, speaker, and writer specializing in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC). Founder of Findable Digital Marketing, based in Toronto, Canada. Publishes a biweekly email newsletter on digital marketing for the AEC industry. Where to Find Daniela: Agency: Findable Digital Marketing (website and social channels) Newsletter: Biweekly, ~300 words, published every other Thursday LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniela-pimentel-furtado/

The Suite Spot attended the 2026 Hotel Data Conference and had the opportunity to interview some of the best and brightest hospitality leaders in the industry to gain their insights and perspectives on prevailing data trends, AI & technology, how to optimize the guest experience and much more.  Be sure to watch the full episode if you missed any of the action from the 2026 Hotel Data Conference.  Special thanks to: Amanda Hite, Jan Freitag, Erica Lipscomb, Max Spangler, & Sam Trotter. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello, everyone. Ryan Embree here at the 2026 Hotel Data Conference here with STR President Amanda Hite. Amanda, great to see you again. Congratulations here. This is our first time at the Hotel Data Conference. Amanda Hite: Oh, wonderful. Thank you. Ryan Embree: Record attendance was just announced. Welcome to The Suite Spot. We’re excited to be here. It was a ton of excitement that we just saw. Tell us a little bit about this event, and we were talking off camera about, do you ever expect it to be what it is right now? Amanda Hite: Yes, we started it 18 years ago with a couple hundred people, maybe. The very first year we’ve always had it in Nashville. This is our home base for the STR part of our business. Most of our employees are here that are in the US. So we started it with a way to connect with customers and more importantly, like, we all have this curiosity about the data. You know, we’re constantly in analyzing, looking at trends in the industry, and we wanted to get people together to hear what are you seeing and let’s talk about it. And that’s really how this started. So it’s, I think it’s for me, my most proud part of this conference is the feeling that everyone has when they come in of being really open and curious and wanting to learn from each other. So you get some really good dynamic conversations happening in the networking breaks and in the hallway. Ryan Embree: Well, it’s such an important time right now too, right? ‘Cause people are already starting, if you can believe it. Well, actually, probably you can look in 2027. Amanda Hite: That’s why we do hotel data conference when we do it. Exactly. It’s budget season. Ryan Embree: Brilliant. Brilliant. Right? And, you know, you just got off stage, like I said. One of the fascinating pieces, like I said, we weren’t here last year, but this is our first time. You said when you first stepped on stage, there were, and you showed some of those original numbers. There was a little bit of a gap in the audience last year. Amanda Hite: Yes. Ryan Embree: But this year, a little bit different story. Amanda Hite: Yes. We had a much better forecast to reveal this year. Last year at this time was when we took the forecast down to reflect what was happening in the industry. And this year, we raised the forecast, not just for the rest of this year, but also for 2027. Ryan Embree: So great to see. And a really cool inflection point, I made a note here, revenue for the first time outpacing expenses, right? What does that mean for hoteliers? Amanda Hite: Yeah. So we finally see the pace of growth on the revenue side outpacing the expense growth. I mean, we’re in a high inflationary environment. Expense growth is something that will continue and hoteliers are having to deal with. But to see that we’re actually going to get some GOP gains, it’s, it’s super helpful. I mean, the point I made this morning though is our margins are not growing. Yeah. So we’ve got some room to grow efficiencies and productivity within the hotels to try to get margins to grow at the same rate of GOP growth. Ryan Embree: Yeah, yeah. It’s challenging right now. And one of the things we’re doing to combat, or CoStar’s doing combat that, bottom line data being added to the product. What’s that mean for the hotel industry? Ryan Embree: Yeah, so within STR Benchmark and the CoStar platform, we introduced at the end of the first quarter our profitability benchmarking. P&L is something that STR has done for 30 years. We did it on an annual basis. And we introduced our monthly benchmarking back in 2020, literally as the world shut down. So maybe not the best timing. But of course, now we’re prepared in an environment like we are today, a very complex operating environment for our hoteliers. It’s, yes, we need to grow revenues, but we must make sure that that is flowing through to the bottom line and that our operators and owners are actually making money. And that’s not been the case in many types of hotels and many markets around the country. So we’re trying to make sure that we bring that visibility of not just the top line growth that we want to see for the industry, but the flow through all the way to the bottom line. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I’d love to see that. And, you know, another thing that we’re gonna hear constantly about at, and at this conference is AI, right? So I guess the overarching question would be more of like, how are you incorporating AI into your products right now? Amanda Hite: This is when I’m so thankful that we are a part of the CoStar Group entity. If you follow our other brands, homes and apartments launched AI in their products earlier this year. So we’re continuing to build off of that. We will have AI search in the CoStar product in the same way that you see in apartments and homes. But for STR benchmarks specifically, what we’re thinking about is making sure that we’re integrating AI into the product, not just sitting on top of the product, but like we interact with the clients all the time on the analysis in the industry. So we want to bring that through AI into the product for our customers to use. So we love when they pick up the phone and call us and wanna talk about data. Right. But we also wanna make it easier for them to surface it within their portfolios in product. And so that’s the path that we’re going down to bring that intelligence in the product and analyzing and spotting the trends, knowing what to look at or sometimes not look at, right? Sometimes it’s a great point. It’s just as important to say like, “Hey, I only have a limited amount of time. Where do I not need to spend time right now?” And that can be tricky, especially when you’re looking at a larger portfolio of trying to discern where, what makes the most sense to drive profitability for my business, for me to spend time on right now. Ryan Embree: 100%. Those complexities and driving efficiency so important right now. And turning those data, that data into actual insights. That what one of the promises of AI. So reason we’re here at the Hotel Data Conference, thank you for taking the time. We’ll, we’ll let you get back. I know you’re hosting almost 900 hoteliers here. So we’ll let, let you get back to Amanda. Thanks for stopping by. Amanda Hite: Thank you, Ryan. Appreciate it. Ryan Embree: Hello, everyone. Ryan Embree here with The Suite Spot live on location Nashville at the 2026 Hotel Data Conference here with Jan Freitag, National Director at CoStar. Jan, thank you so much for taking some time and very busy. You’re hosting almost a thousand hoteliers here. Jan Freitag: Yes, 18th year. Sold out again. So heads up, next year we’ll sell out again. But thanks for being here and sort of taking the pulse on the industry. We appreciate it. Ryan Embree: 100%. Congratulations. Amanda Hite opened us this morning saying last year when she unveiled the forecast, there were audible gaps in the crowd. I feel like behind us, people have been skipping, jumping down, up and down this escalators. Share with us, we got a revised forecast. Jan Freitag: So we’re proposing that RevPar this year is up 4.4%. So that is the second upward revision we had to make, quote unquote. And the data’s just so strong. But then that means that next year, we’re gonna see growth, but it’s much slower global. So next year we’re thinking that RevPargrowth is gonna be like, you know, 2-2.1% or so. So the negative way to say this is, “Oh, our growth rate is cut in half.” The positive way to say this is like, “Oh, we have growth on growth, right? 4% this year, ne – 2% next year.” Ryan Embree: 100%. I mean, a lot of people are going into, you know, we’ve talked to hoteliers here on the Suite Spot, going into their budgets. These are very, very important numbers for them as they go into their budgets because they wanna forecast. When we met last, we were at NYU. There had been zero soccer games played in the US. Now, 104 games later, we got a crown champion. Obviously had a big impact. We’re gonna talk about that in a minute. But that strong performance, one of your big takeaways from this morning was strong performance is gonna equal some tougher comps in 2027, right? Jan Freitag: Yeah, absolutely. So we had arguably easy comps this year, right? The Q2, three, and four RevPAR performance last year was negative. So yeah, we would outperform it this year. That was not a question. But because, RevPAR in the second quarter was up 5.7%, that is a, a very stout result, obviously driven in June, partially by the World Cup remember we’re gonna talk about. You know what that means for next year is, oh wow, we’re not gonna see that performance again. And so my conversation this morning with hoteliers is all about, okay, so how do you massage your owner? How do you have this conversation with your owner, with your team to say, look, there’s still gonna be growth, but we really have to think about this. And I heard this this morning from an asset manager at next year as a year of 10 months and two months, you know? So really take June and July out of your annual number and say, okay, so what’s the growth for that? And then, yeah, June, July is just gonna be tough cost. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Probably something that a lot of markets who hosted Taylor Swift a couple years ago had to deal with. And then maybe what LA’s gonna have to deal with in 2029 after the Olympics in 28. Jan Freitag: Yeah, exactly. So we’re already talking now about the Olympics. We’re gonna talk about, obviously the World Cup in four years over in Europe and what is the performance there. So these sporting events are just the gifts that keep on giving. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Yeah. And, and travelers continue what we heard this morning. Consumers continue to prioritize travel, which is really, really great for obviously our industry. But not without its cautionary tales, you also had a watch your margins kind of take away from that. Maybe expand on that a little bit. Jan Freitag: Yeah. So we’ve had for the last year and for the last couple of years, really this interplay between room rate growth and the rate of inflation being higher than room rate growth. And we’re taking the rate of inflation sort of as a proxy for how much more things are expensive. And the costs for hotels are obviously going up. Higher labor costs, higher insurance costs, higher food costs, higher costs, inner energy, everything. So if your costs are going up in order for your margins to expand, you need to drive room rate or revenue faster than the cost increase. And that just is not happening. So my colleague Isaac Collazo spent 55 slides and an hour explaining how margins are decelerating, unfortunately. Now, the total dollar amount, we’re everything gets more expensive, but it also means we’re having more money available as profit. But the margins are coming down. And that’s really the, maybe to me, the main takeaway from HCC this year for the budget conversation for 2027 is watch your margin. Ryan Embree: Efficiency is always looking for that, especially in these tight margin areas. And then lastly, you know, your whole presentation this morning was themed around the World Cup. And, and I do wanna bring it up because, obviously there was the quote was 104 Super Bowls. Yeah. Right? And you kind of explored that case a little bit. Found out maybe that might not be the case. Jan Freitag: Yeah, exactly. So the FIFA president had said at the time, just to explain to American audiences, “Hey, we have 104 soccer games and they look like 104 Super Bowls.” That is of course not the case. And that was never meant to be the case. Super Bowl is the largest cultural sport event in America. It happens once a year, right? And to sort of translate that was, I thought always a little silly. So it turns out that the 104 Super Bowls did not come to pass, and it was more like 30 Super Bowls, maybe if that. So yeah, it was still a very healthy impact. If you look at the markets that Hosta gave Kansas City, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, very, very strong room rate growth. Interestingly, in some markets, actually, occupancy declines. We saw that specifically in Vancouver, but we saw it in Atlanta, we saw it in Boston. Why is that? Well, because corporate America, meeting travelers, meeting planners said, “You know what? I don’t need to compete with the Tartan Army in Boston for our meeting. You know, let me just stay away. Let me have that meeting in August, or let me move that meeting to Chicago,” for example. Sure. Chicago had a very, very strong June, July meeting calendar. So it’s, um, the, the room rate increase was absolutely expected and is exactly what came to pass. It just wasn’t Autumn for a Super Bowl. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I mean, that just proves we are, uh, a collective of markets. Things are gonna be obviously different in each one. Yeah. Uh, with different factors there. You know, a- and there’s also an interesting stat, fascinating stat, I wanna bring it up, about booking windows, um, that, that you brought up there. Yeah. If you wanna expand on that. Jan Freitag: So I got this totally wrong in the run up to the World Cup because I thought, look, if somebody books that FIFA ticket a year out, and the airplane ticket’s six months out, surely they would book their hotel three months out. Yeah. That did not happen. Right. And so we saw specifically the chart that I had this morning for, uh, arrival dates, June 11, 12, 13, 20 basis points of, uh, 20 points of occupancy was booked after June 8th. Wow. So that’s a booking windows of, like, three or four days. Wow. For an event that you knew what happened, I mean, six years ago. Yeah. You know? And you had a ticket from one year ago. So I just completely though that the, uh, the, the leisure traveler, the, the soccer traveler would also book their room way ahead. That did not come with us. Ryan Embree: Very interesting. I wonder if that’s a macro trend happening right now, those booking windows starting to shorten a little bit. Jan Freitag: Yeah, and maybe that’s a takeaway for our friends, you know, in LA who are hosting the Olympics. Hey, you know, be very mindful how you match that booking window. Ryan Embree: Lessons from history learned there. Yes. Um, final as we wrap up, I always li- like, like to get any, you know, you look at a lot of data. So any interesting, uh, like, data points that really stood out or surprising? Jan Freitag: I mean, the July data came out yesterday and the luxury class RevPar growth was 16%. Ryan Embree: Wow. Jan Freitag: Talk about A, amazing, but B, A, tough comps. Yeah. In July of next year. But it was an amazing, amazing performance. July was very, very strong. Um, and June as well. So we clearly saw, you know, July was helped a little bit by 4th of July, World Cup, uh, 4th of July calendar year, but also the World Cup, obviously the final and the bronze medal games. They all, they all helped. So July was strong, June was strong. So now I think things are getting a little bit more normal – Yeah. Early on end. Ryan Embree: Awesome. Well, we’ll continue to look ahead as you will, but thank you again for taking time out of your busy schedule, Jan. Jan Freitag: Thanks for being here. Thank you. Ryan Embree: Hello everyone, Ryan Embree here with The Suite Spot. We are live on location of the 2026 Hotel Data Conference. I am here with Erica Lipscomb, EVP of Commercial Strategy at PM Hotel Group. Erica, thank you so much for joining me on The Suite Spot. Erica Lipscomb: Well, thank you for having me. Very excited to be here. Ryan Embree: Yeah, first time here on the Suite Spot. Yes. But not your first time here at Hotel Data Conference. Erica Lipscomb: Not my first time at Hotel Data Conference. This is conference number eight. Ryan Embree: Okay. Yes. All right. Hotel data conference. You obviously are no stranger, you’re a pro. What do you call a hotel data conference a success kind of reflecting back? What do you come here to accomplish and to learn? Erica Lipscomb: You know, I, again, this is our start of budget season. Sure. Right? Yeah. So I actually, uh, had dinner with Amanda last night and said, “You do realize what you’ve done here, right? We cannot even start our budget calendars until there’s an HTC.” Yeah. So really what I look forward to is not coming here just to hear that the amazing news of an increase year over year, or that we’re gonna increase in the year for the year. Sure. But what are those things that I can take away that can make it tactical for our teams? Mm-hmm. So learning from industry leaders that are here. We have amazingly smart people that are here at this conference. And we’re really drafting and shaping what the industry will look like. So what are those learnings? And then how do I make sure that we trickle that down within the organization and get them to our teams? Ryan Embree: Which can change so rapidly, right? As we know – Absolutely. It’s gone from, uh, a yearly change to almost, it feels like a weekly, especially with the AI and technology conversation. Yes. You were on a panel last year here at this same conference. I’m curious, what were some of the conversations then versus now? Erica Lipscomb: Yeah. And very different. I think it’s been extreme polar opposites. Okay. I feel like last year, there was a lot of conversation about AI. Mm-hmm. But more on the what is AI. Mm. And how are we gonna use AI? Yep. And it’s already started in conversations this morning. You know, we started networking last night, and most people are now really talking about what is AI doing for us to make sure that we’re efficient, making sure that our teams are effective, um, ensuring there’s profitability back to our owners. So it’s gone from a concept – Yeah. To now actually, how are we utilizing AI to be better in the industry, but keeping the forefront our customers? Ryan Embree: It feels like we’re in the sandbox now, right? And there’s a lot of companies out there trying different things. It’s the exploration process and, you know, maybe some success, but even, uh, lessons in the failure. Uh, I, I’ve been hearing a lot about that as well. So hotel data, obviously data is the name of the game. Yes. Still one of the most important tools I feel like right now on our quest of guest personalization. And so much it can do to kind of like what you said, prepare us for the rest of 2026 and even into 2027. Right. How is PM Hotel Group kind of leveraging data for growth and, uh, experiences? Erica Lipscomb: So actually you started with, with growth and experiences. Yeah. So really starting with growth. Yeah. We really are starting with AI in our business development side of our, our, of our home. Sure. And really how are we looking for the right clients that fit PM? Yeah. How, again, when you look at, uh, BD, it’s a relationship. Mm. So who are those owners? Who are the asset managers? What do their teams look like? Is that a right fit? And how can we help them grow? So that’s really the act – acquisition of the client and the customer. And then when we get to the property level – Right. Then as an enterprise, as a support center, what we’re looking to do is how do we use data, which is the, the heart – Yeah. Of revenue optimization. Sure. How are you using that data to make sure that we’re pulling through every step of the guest journey? So from the time again, acquisition of a customer. Right. So now not an owner, but that actual guest that’s gonna be staying at our properties, what does that customer journey look like? How do we find the right customer? We have a very diversified portfolio – Oh, yeah. For each one of our assets in the portfolio, ensuring that they convert. And then once they’re there in their stay, are we pulling through on all the experiences they expect? Whether it’s an independent hotel and the experiences that come along or for the brands and the brand standards. And then once our guests leave, how do we make sure that we are still speaking to them – uh-huh. And making sure that they return? Ryan Embree: I love how you walk through the entire guest experience. I think sometimes we get caught up just thinking about one or two elements of it. Right. But it really does start. I mean, the hot topic right now is that AI visibility, right? Absolutely. And being bound, uh, because our travelers are changing the way that they’re searching for hotels and doing their research. So, uh, it’s super, super important there. We’re in Nashville, Erica, uh, no stranger for PM Hotel Group. Yes. Uh, you guys just, uh – Very excited. Assumed management, 12 properties. Yes. Uh, what do you lo – like, um, from a Nashville market standpoint? I mean, this has just been such a hot market right now in hospitality. Uh, but also, you know, a big threshold of, uh, exciting 80 plus hotels for PM Hotel Group? Erica Lipscomb: Yes. We’re very excited to have the 12 hotels that, from Pinnacle that joined our portfolio. And that’s really our sweet spot, right? Finding those type of assets that fit our growth in our platform, and that we can make sure that we’re optimizing on their revenue, as well as excellent customer experience and guest operations experience. So what I really like about Nashville, and it’s not a new growth. Right. You know, Nashville never stopped growing, right? Where the, where the rest of the world really has struggled even, you know, six years ago. Through COVID. Nashville didn’t, right? Ryan Embree: It was red hot. Erica Lipscomb: But what most people think about when you hear Nashville, they’re really just thinking it’s an entertainment city. That’s not just all Nashville is. So when we peel it back and take a look at the segmentation and what’s driving Nashville, you do still have that customer that is true corporate business. And you still have conventions and groups. I was just in a group maximization winning group seminar just not too long ago. And in that breakout session, we really talk about group continues to still grow. Oh, yeah. And when you take a look at the first half of this year, that growth is really happening not only just in convention centers, but those hotels that have group meetings. Even when you take a look at those assets, what’s interesting is the growth is not just in the hotel that has most of the group, but if you are affiliated. You’re feeling that demand. Leveraging the demand and continuing to drive occupancy and ADR. Yeah, absolutely. So that’s why we’re still excited about Nashville. It’s one of those markets that continues to do well, not just in entertainment, but on the corporate business transient side, as well as group side. Ryan Embree: It’s a perfect destination. That’s why we got almost a thousand hoteliers here at the hotel data conference. Erica Lipscomb: That’s sold out again this year. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. Well, any. I mean, I can tell just by the conversation we’re having, very passionate about your work. Any projects you’re particularly fired up about right now? Erica Lipscomb: The project I’m probably most interested in is what I was hired for is to really continue to evolve commercial strategy. So commercial strategy is not just looking at every discipline in a silo. They’re all very important to revenue optimization. But how do we now continue to go from just having the commercial conversations, but also leverage the experience in each discipline? So our customers, when they look at our hotels, And they look at that curse customer journey that we just walked through – Right. They’re not looking at sales, revenue, marketing, distribution, operations. They’re looking at their holistic experience. Yeah. And so why not make sure that we internally stop looking at how well each d- division does and, and, and our, each siloed discipline, but let’s look through the lens of a gu – of a customer. Yeah. What’s that experience look like? And then how do we all play a part of it? Yeah. Exactly. So that’s what I’m excited about. And using, continuing to use AI. Yeah. How do we make sure that we’re leveraging commercial? Yeah. And then making sure that our use of AI is making our teams much more efficient – Mm. And effective in h – in how we run our businesses. Ryan Embree: That’s what I was gonna say. It’s, it’s such an inflection point, and I’m sure very exciting for, for your job with the technology in hand. Now you’ve got the power to, uh, break down those silos, right? Absolutely. Create efficiencies there. Yes. Uh, well, as we wrap up, you know, we always. One of the things here that we love to do at the Hotel Data Conference is try to predict the future, right? Forecasting, everybody. It’s a, it’s an impossible job, but we do it every single year. Right. Uh, you know, so from a commercial strategy standpoint, I know you, you, you just mentioned the projects you’re working on, but what’s your vision for PM Hotel Group as we kind of go into the latter part of the 2020s? Erica Lipscomb: So latter part of the 2020s, I think that the company’s vision is to really leverage the portfolio and the diversity of the portfolio. We saw that growth that we had just here in Nashville. I’m sure you saw the news that Reset our first brand to enter Marriott’s or outdoor collection. Yeah. We’ve noticed that when you continue to diversify and not really just say, okay, we are just this type of company, making sure that we’re leveraging the expertise of our team. Mm-hmm. We can be many things – Yeah. To many customers. Yeah. And so lev – continue that leverage, that growth, but we do see that growth continue to be in experiences. Yeah. Right? So every brand is rolling out how they’re working with experiences. But what we do see, that lifestyle, outdoor – Oh, yeah. Experiences. We’ve had our first entree into it, and we’re gonna continue to grow. Ryan Embree: Awesome. We’re excited to watch that growth, and yeah, that experiential travel continues to be something, conversations we’re having here, prioritizing, that’s what the guests are prioritizing travelers are. Congratulations on all this. We continue to watch it with PM Hotel Group. Thanks, Erica. Erica Lipscomb: Thank you. Ryan Embree: Hello, everyone. Ryan Embree here with The Suite Spot. We are live on location at the 2026 Hotel Data Conference. I am here with Max Spangler, VP of Technology at Charlestown Hotel. Max, we know you’re on a panel tomorrow. We’ll talk about that in a second, but thanks for taking the time to join us. Max Spangler: Absolutely. thanks for hosting me, Ryan. Ryan Embree: Yeah, Gotel Data Conference. Name of the game, data. We’re gonna talk about, obviously, your role and, and where data plays into that. But first, you come to a conference like this, what’s the expectation? What do you hope to get out of it? And maybe when you’re a couple weeks down the line, looking back on the conference, that was a success. Max Spangler: Yeah, you know, for me, I spend a lot of time at conferences that are very narrow in scope, right? Sure. Whether it’s high tech or the hospitality show, or even technology conferences that are outside of hospitality. Sure. So coming to HDC is always great. It’s always refreshing. The keynote panel in the beginning always gives me, hopefully, optimism. And this morning, it was very optimistic – Yes. About the way things are going. So I’m thankful for that. But it’s great to hear from commercial peers how they’re using data, how they’re surfacing insights, what tools they’re using, and how they’re turning it actionable. I mean, I think for me, as someone who spends a lot of time staring at screens, developing tools, looking at dashboards, hearing from people that actually depend on this information – Yeah. So crucially is really refreshing. So I get to, like, cut through the noise a little bit and hear what’s working, and hopefully hear what’s not. Ryan Embree: Yeah, and that’s what leads to your panel tomorrow, connecting AI to commercial strategy. Yeah. Uh, maybe give our sweet spot listeners a little bit of sneak peek and maybe your thoughts on the subject. Max Spangler: We’ve got a great panel tomorrow. Super stoked for it. You know, so we, we had a pre-cause you tend to do with those panels. Right. And as a result of that, we decided to zoom out a little bit, which I though was important. So commercial still is the through line, as you would expect at HTC, but given the man – the, the members that are on the panel, we’ve got some people that, you know, are on the, the, the revenue management side. We’ve got some people from HFTP. Um, you’ve got me as an independent operator. It w- we felt, we felt it really important to say, “Let’s, let’s zoom out. Let’s take a pause and, like, let’s look at where the industry is holistically.” Sure. And so the questions are really driving off that. So you’ll find that, um, there’s insights about a year from now, what would we like to be doing differently, right? How are we driving ac- actionable insights? What KPIs are important? What KPIs are important? Yeah. Things like what’s the difference between automation versus th- this new agentic era? Mm. So I think it, um, I’m actually really excited for it. The panel’s great, and I think you’re gonna get some, some really interesting insights from a variety of different opinions. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And what we talked about is so much can change. Yeah. And you could talk about what could happen in a year. I mean, that could be a couple cycles with technology right now. And that’s why I, I was really looking forward this conversation, Max. Yeah. Because, you know, I get industry leaders, sometimes brand leaders, but you’re, you’re in it every single day, right? Yeah. Uh, VP of technology. Yep. Where do you think we are in the AI adoption – Yeah. Uh, uh, cycle? And then maybe zoom in a little bit on Charlestown Hotels. Max Spangler: Yeah. So if we, if we look at sort of where things are globally for the state of AI, I think obviously in the technology space, it’s an existential crisis, right? Right. I mean, I think you see that in, in jobs reports. I think you obviously see it in the way that they’re measuring AI as an accelerant. Yeah. You know, so, uh, friends of mine that work for tech companies, they’re seeing their time to release production code going from five weeks, four weeks down to one week. Wow. It’s easy for them to measure. It’s easy for them to see the outcomes for us. Yeah. I think it, it is ultimately a little bit more difficult. For Charlestown, you know, we think it’s really important to keep hospitality at the center of what we’re doing, right? And so we’re not parading around trying to be an AI company or a SaaS company. We firmly believe people and hospitality at the center of, is gonna be at the center of what we do.m. How do we use AI to power that? Whether it’s through efficiencies, you know, through maybe more sophisticated RMS, through, you know, generative guest insights. How do we make sure that we’re being discovered when people are asking what’s the best hotel in downtown Charleston, South Carolina? Those are really hard questions to answer. No one’s got it figured out. But the conversations that are happening here are super encouraging because I think there is a lot of people admitting that and coming together to try to find, um, the best path forward. Ryan Embree: And you were, this is not your first per – podcast that you’ve been on recently. I saw you, uh, on CoStar News Hotel podcast where you talked about escaping hospitality’s AI hype echo chamber. Yeah, yeah. What’s your thoughts on that? And maybe how do we avoid doing that here in, in spaces like this? Max Spangler: I mean, it’s, if you go on LinkedIn, you can feel like, you know, FOMO is like a- absolutely crushing you, right? Right. Everyone is, like, piloting something new. Right. Everyone is, is advancing seemingly at the speed of light. It’s really important to come to a conference like HTC, uh, to get a real life temperature check with what people are doing and how they’re doing it. There is a tremendous amount of hype. There’s a tremendous amount of potential, but I think for a lot of us, and especially from someone sitting in the seat of an operator, you have to be very disciplined. Yes. You know, you have to have a step-by-step sequence of how you’re actually gonna accomplish this. It’s okay to introduce a little bit of chaos. We’ve done that in the early days. I mean, if you go back, you know, to 2023, 2024, we’re experimenting with all the frontier models. But eventually, we wanted to collapse that into a unified choice, pick one model so that we can move forward and start measuring, you know, are our team members crawling? Who’s walking? Who’s running? How do we devise resources to help kind of get everyone on the same page, march in the same direction, and get better at this? Yeah. And so that, that’s, that’s been our strategy. And fortunately, like, that’s what I’m hearing here at the conference. Ryan Embree: And the motivation for implementing AI can’t come out of fear of we’re not doing enough. Yeah. Or, you know, we’re just, that FOMO feeling that you’re talking about, it has to have, what you said, discipline and direction. Yeah. And Max Spangler: Ryan, like, fear is a huge part. I mean, that’s one of the things that we’re constantly up against. There’s. I, I think the, the negative attitude and apprehension towards AI is only gonna continue to grow over time, right? Just like the excitement over it is gonna continue to grow. Yeah. Same thing’s true for the negative. I mean, you have people that absolutely have their head in the sand, which is okay. Right. Um, for, for certain reasons, you have people that obviously have negative feelings about it because of the socio – uh, economic impact. Sure. Companies potentially might be laying off job just Placement or replacement as a result of LLMs and the technologies that they introduce. There’s the environmental factors. So, like, all those things are absolutely true. We don’t think it’s, as Charlestown, our responsibility to sort of correct that. Right. But we do wanna make sure our associates, team members, and corporate, and corporate leadership team know this isn’t going anywhere. Yeah. It’s fundamental core to the business, and we’re gonna make an investment into our teams to make sure that they’re prepared for this new wave, whatever it looks like. Ryan Embree: It’s exciting times. And it’s okay to experiment fail sometimes, because that, that’ll show you some lessons too. Sure. Max Spangler: Yeah, we. Yeah, we’ve run so many pilots. We’ve had so many things fail. We’ve incinerated millions of tokens and subsequently thousands of dollars as a result of – Yeah. Um, so many pilots, but we’ve learned a lot. Yeah. Uh, and we’re in a much better spot as a result of it. You have to be willing to take risks, especially now. I do believe, like, no one’s gonna be left behind yet, but there is absolutely an advantage to being a first mover. And I think the companies that are at least experimenting and building AI fluency for their teams are gonna be much better, uh, much farther along than everybody else. Ryan Embree: 100%. And, you know, one of those spaces is, is the data, right? That’s, I mean, that’s the name of the game of this conference here. Yeah. How are some ways are you leveraging data to kind of – Yeah. Grow Charlestown hotels or even just create efficiencies? Max Spangler: Yeah. So for us, it, it, it is a challenge to think about the kind of company that we are. We focus mostly on the independent space. Mm-hmm. So we don’t have sort of the technology through line like the brands have where – Sure. You know, they can force a certain PMS, POS, CRS, like, it’s very clean and organized and scalable that way. Yeah. For us, you know, when we come into a new hotel operating environment, in most cases, technology hasn’t been a major form of investment, right? I mean, most people don’t come to Charlestown hotels with a great performing asset. They’re like, “We’re in trouble. We need your help.” Right. So then I come in, you know, from the technology perspective and it’s like, okay, this is difficult. How are we gonna extract information, put it into a centralized place, be able to sort of layer a, a, a, a BI tool or reporting package on top of it to actually surface the insights so these one-off owner operators can get the insights that, like, a company like Charlestown Hotels can deliver at scale with all the independent properties and things we’ve learned across the secondary and tertiary markets that we work in. Max Spangler: So, I mean, to put it simply for us, it is about having, like, a central data repository or warehouse. Sure. I mean, there’s plenty out there. Databricks, Snowflake. We’re a BigQuery customer. We do a lot with Google. Um, but it is, you know, if, if you think about where things are going to bring it back to AI, so much of the conversation surrounds having a good data foundation, because AI is an accelerant. If you have bad data, it’s gonna accelerate you to bad outcomes more quickly. Yeah, that’s a great point. If you have a bad business strategy, it’s gonna optimize for the wrong KPIs. So for us, it is very much about having solid fundamentals. Yeah. That’s not a reason for you to stop, right? It’s just more a reason for you to proceed cautiously. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. And, you know, you do it right. All of a sudden, you get that personalization, which, you know, hospitality’s been really the last decade – Yeah. Has been striving so much for to get that personalization within the guest experience. So as we wrap up, you know, we always like to. I know this is gonna be difficult because, like we said, things change so quickly in the tech space. Yeah. But what’s your vision for Charleston Hotels from a technology perspective? Max Spangler: Yeah, great question. I thought you were gonna ask me a hard one, like, what’s my favorite color? But, uh, no, for, for. Vision for technology, you know, for us, as long as we keep, like, hospitality at the center – Yeah. As our north star, that really does simplify things for us. It is gonna be difficult. There’s, you know, obviously a whole host of different frontier models you have to choose from. Tokenomics is gonna continue to be a big part. People talk about ROI with LLMs, but no one’s really talking about the expense – Yeah. And expenses continue to grow. Great point. Right? So we’re, we’re focused really on, you know, not only the, the ROI from some of the LLM tools, but, but obviously the tremendous cost that’s associated with running them at scale. But as long as we keep people and human beings at the center, reducing mundane work, admin tasks, friction so that our people can spend less time in front of screens and just be more hospitable, I think that really is the vision. Technology’s gonna support that. It’s gonna hopefully be more invisible to the people that come to hospitality. They didn’t come to, like, move information around – Right. Push paper or spend time in front of a computer. They spent it to, like, be empathetic, to be excited – Yeah. To surprise and delight. And so our goal, that’s our north star, and technology’s gonna be there to support it. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I mean, some industries, you’re, you’re right, are gonna be completely flipped upside down – Yeah. With this technology. But hospitality, we have that advantage of being a people first industry, so. Max Spangler: I, I think it’s, like, the, the key differentiator, and it honestly, it’s like, hospitality has an opportunity to have a really strong opinion. As so many industries are completely rolled over by this AI wave – Yeah. Hospitality can actually say, “No, you know what? People are…” And people in hospitality are at the center, and so as there is potentially more AI backlash and people are seeking more authentic experiences – Right. With people and connections – Yeah. I think it’s, it’s gonna be a great benefit to our industry. Max Spangler: Yeah, and we’ve seen from the data, experiences still seem t be – Yeah. I think that’s gonna grow. Yeah. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Agreed. Uh, Max, appreciate the time. Thank you. Uh, we’ll keep an eye on Charleston Hotels and everything you’re doing over there. Great. Congratulations. Max Spangler: Thank you. Ryan Embree: Hello, Everyone. Ryan Embree here with The Suite Spot. We’re live on location at the Hotel Data Conference 2026 here with Sam Trotter, Head of Digital Marketing for Indigo Road Hospitality Group. Sam, thanks for taking some time. Sam Trotter: Thanks for having me here. Yeah. I’m excited to be here at the Hotel Data Conference. Ryan Embree: It’s our first time here, but you said you’re, you’re a pro. You’ve been here for many years. Yeah. What does a successful hotel data conference look like for you and some of the takeaways that you look for? Sam Trotter: I really love having a good sense of what’s gonna happen next year. So you get some really great data here where you actually can take to your business planning sessions and use and say, “Hey, you know, I have this from the data conference, and they’re forecasting this growth in this market.” And you have something tangible. Yeah. So you’re about to head into budget season. Yeah. So having that in hand is really, really nice. Ryan Embree: That’s a big part of it. I mean, budget season, you gotta make those operation efficiency. We talked about the margins, how tight those are right now, especially in hospitality. One of the ways that hospitality’s changing right now is through AI search. You were on a panel here. For those that weren’t able to join us here in Nashville, maybe unpack that topic a little bit, because it’d certainly be top of mind for a lot of hoteliers right now. Sam Trotter: Well, it was really fun. It was a packed house, so a lot of interest in it. There’s a lot to talk about. I think we did a little bit of an intro to the topic, just so that everybody was sort of on the same page. But this is a new thing that we’re all having to adapt to. And we’re gonna have to focus on this. And in the panel, I said, “This feels a lot like 2006 when SEO was becoming a big thing.” And I remember I hired this French couple to do our SEO for this hotel that we were opening. It was like $10,000. In 2006. And it felt kinda like magic. Yeah. You know, like, what are they, what are they actually gonna do, right? And so it’s really tough. Who do you listen to? What actually works? And it was a great panel. And there’s no main takeaway other than we’re doing a lot of AB tests. We’re trying to figure out what works. I’m looking at the dashboards from our different properties. Who’s doing well? Who’s not? Yeah. And trying to pivot. And so we’re at this really interesting phase where it’s not really clear, right? Everybody’s telling us different things. Who do you listen to? So I honestly think it’s really exciting. Ryan Embree: The good news is it’s a challenge that a lot of people are attacking at once, right? And that’s where you’re gonna kind of find maybe lessons learned, even in those failures. So I think it is interesting because ultimately what happened with SEO is, like, there became a little bit of of a game plan that you could attack it with, right? That people are still trying to kind of balance. And then there were switches, right? That’s the other thing, is you could attack it one way and then all of a sudden, next week, algorithms change and it’s back to square one. So it was very, very interesting. But I think it’s events like this and panels that you’re on, Sam, that help kind of. Where everyone’s going through this right now. And to try to get through the weeds on it and try to figure out what is a good course of action here. And it changes so quickly. I think AI gets a spotlight, obviously, for good reason because it’s just this up and coming technology. But digital marketing also feels like it’s fast changing and evolving. And it’s been doing that for the past decade. You think about social media updates and everything like that. Yeah. I guess, how do you view digital marketing right now from a strategic standpoint and, and how hoteliers should be embracing and, you know, maybe investing in It? Sam Trotter: So that was a big question, right? Ryan Embree: Yes, sorry. Sam Trotter: When I have new marketers join, junior marketers, I always tell them there’s really no such thing as an expert anymore. Because it’s gonna change next year. Right? Ryan Embree: Great point. Sam Trotter: There are certain fundamentals that will help you no matter what, from 10 years from now, they’ll always be in play. I think what’s really interesting now with AI is I feel like there’s more emphasis on brand and category ownership. So if the AI is the most educated person in the entire world about hotels in Nashville. I mean, that’s what it is. Sure. It’s the most educated person in Nashville. What do you wanna teach it? And so if you’re teaching it, I have a pool and a fitness center, that doesn’t really help, right? ‘Cause now you’re just the same. And so what category can you own? Can you be the wellness hotel of Nashville? And if you’re the wellness hotel of Nashville, what that looks like is everything we say and we do reflects that. So I have spa packages, we have spa activations, we have a spa month. We have an amazing spa. We have spa content. We have spa creators that come in. And so when you’re doing that, all of a sudden the AI’s like, “Okay, no, this is the spa hotel of Nashville.” Because it’s, there’s evidence. Yeah. Right? And so I think there’s gonna be more emphasis on this category ownership, right? More than ever. And that boils back down to your brand. Ryan Embree: No, I love that. I think that’s a great explanation to someone who might feel overwhelmed in this right now. But those searches also could get very specific, right? I’m looking for a place that’s pet friendly, that is dedicated to wellness, where I’ve got my family coming to. So that’s where it gets a little bit tricky of the categories could turn into subcategories and then very, very niche. But it’s also the beauty of it, I think on the other side, is that your travelers are gonna be able to hopefully find the right hotel for them and what they’re looking for. Sam Trotter: So going back to your question, you asked me about social media. Because things are changing so fast, the, what we don’t really realize, and we don’t talk about, is the number one AI that we talk to is Google’s AI overview. That’s the one that when you have a long search, it defaults to, right? And it is weighing YouTube more than any other social platform – Great point. Because they’re not giving access. Right? So TikTok’s not giving them access. So now all of a sudden, YouTube is like this big player. And so we’ve got 76 locations. How do you scale YouTube? Yeah. And so, you know, we’re trying to figure this out in real time, and it’s a lot. There’s a lot of change happening. Ryan Embree: No, that’s a great point, what you said about Google, because a lot of people might be listening to this being like, “Well, I’m not, I’m not really looking, or I’m not using AI in my everyday life.” Well, Google’s really, you know, that AI overview, you are using, right? And it’s just, it’s gonna become more and more, whether we know it or not, a part of our life, you know? So that’s a different conversation. You know, Sam, Indigo Road Hospitality Group, you just mentioned tons of locations. What are some of the projects you’re most excited about that you’re working on right now? Sam Trotter: So, we have amazing locations, and there’s so many that are really interesting that we have coming up. We’re dabbling in more and more to membership clubs. Which is something that, we have one right now in Bentonville, and then by the end of the year, we’ll have two more. So we’re going from zero to three in a pretty short amount of time. It’ll be like a year and two months, we’ll go from zero to three. So it’s something that has been really fun to learn about, and there’s new platforms to learn about. So that’s really exciting. And then, I’m working on some fun data projects too, fun to me. I’m trying to set us up to have our own loyalty program. And so I’ve got some cool things in the works. So I’m really excited about that because we have a diverse portfolio. We have coffee shops and restaurants and hotels. And venues and how do you get them all to talk? Right? How do we put them all in one place, but have them separate? How can we share notes? How can we improve the guest experience? So there’s a lot of really cool things that are happening now. And one of the benefits of AI is partners are, are improving their platforms faster than ever. Oh, yeah. Which is fun if you have the right partners. And they are doing it. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I mean, and loyalty programs, you also learn more about your guests and hopefully create personalization, which is, you know, a topic that has been in hospitality. But we’re getting closer and closer, I feel like, to what we may have talked about five years ago at a conference like this. Be like, “There might be a time where we could do this, and now with the power of AI, it, it’s possible.” Yeah. Well, as we wrap up, kind of what’s your. I know we just talked about the future, but, and it’s hard to predict, but what would be kind of your vision for the future, in your role at Indigo Hospitality Group? Sam Trotter: I would say that, I guess thinking more optimistically, ultimately, it’s gonna be about the guest experience. It’s gonna be about the surprise and delight. It’s gonna be about having great employees who are happy to be where they’re at and that wanna be there. And the best marketing is a great experience, right? So what’s my role in that? You know, how can I help operations do their thing? And that’s the foundation of everything. At the end of the day, I think that’s it. Ryan Embree: There is a, there is a comfort, Sam, to being in an industry that we knew can only be disrupted so much by AI, but at the end of the day, it is gonna still come down to people serving people and creating those memorable experiences, and hopefully AI gives the opportunity to do. Sam Trotter: I have a anti-trend for you, right? Okay. So we’re here at, at the Grand Hyatt. There’s no kiosks, right? Check in. There’s still front desk people. 10 years ago at the hotel data conference, I think we would’ve though it was all kiosks. So hospitality has reigned supreme, and I think that’s the future. Ryan Embree: Yeah for, they say hospitality is the first ever industry and it’ll be here for a long time. So Sam, we appreciate it. We’re gonna watch you and, and everything you’re doing over there. We appreciate you taking some time with us. Sam Trotter: Thank you you so much. This was a lot of fun. All right. Ryan Embree: To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five-star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with cover art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Every business is now competing for attention and I believe the fastest-growing businesses are learning to think like media companies.In this episode of The $100M Entrepreneur Podcast, I break down how I use content to build attention, trust, authority, and ultimately more customers. I'll show you how podcasts, videos, newsletters, books, and social media can become business assets that keep working long after you create them.I also share how to build a content flywheel, repurpose one idea across multiple platforms, and use AI to make content creation more efficient.Because the goal isn't simply to create more content. It's to build trust, own attention, and turn that attention into business growth.Subscribe for more strategies on scaling your business, building demand, and creating long-term growth.About Brad SugarsInternationally known as one of the most influential entrepreneurs, Brad Sugars is a bestselling author, keynote speaker, and the #1 business coach in the world. Over the course of his 30-year career as an entrepreneur, Brad has become the CEO of 9+ companies and is the owner of the multimillion-dollar franchise ActionCOACH®. As a husband and father of five, Brad is equally as passionate about his family as he is about business. That's why, Brad is a strong advocate for building a business that works without you – so you can spend more time doing what really matters to you. Over the years of starting, scaling and selling many businesses, Brad has earned his fair share of scars. Being an entrepreneur is not an easy road. But if you can learn from those who have gone before you, it becomes a lot easier than going at it alone.Please click here to learn more about Brad Sugars: https://bradsugars.com/Build a Business That Gives You More Time, Money & Life: Get The $100M Playbook: https://go.bradsugars.com/100m-playbook-ebook

Two identical searches now return different results across AI platforms, upending ranking logic.Lucas Tieleman, co-founder and CEO of Optiversal and former Chief Product Officer at Bazaarvoice, helps enterprise retailers convert static product catalogs into machine-readable content optimized for AI-driven discovery. He argues that answer engine optimization depends on strong SEO fundamentals rather than a separate discipline, and that success now hinges on content relevance to individual searchers rather than fixed position rankings. Tieleman outlines how brands can use performance data to validate whether their content actually serves shopper intent, shifting content strategy from volume-based production to measurable relevance.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For a 180-year-old Fortune 100 company, modernization requires more than adopting new technology. New York Life is rethinking how customer insight moves through the organization—and how quickly it turns into action. On the latest episode of The Modern Customer Podcast, Regina Warga, VP of Experience and Digital Marketing at New York Life, explains how her team uses AI to turn customer insights into action without losing the human voice behind the data. She also shares how New York Life cuts through the constant AI noise, balances synthetic and human research, and plans to bring customers, advisors, researchers, and decision-makers together in its new innovation lab, opening this September.

A CMO Confidential Interview with Rishad Tobaccowala, author of "Rethinking Work," formerly the President of Starcom and the Publicis Chief Strategy & Growth Officer. Rishad discusses the rise of "alien intelligence" and why it is unstoppable and ungovernable, how the generational divide is getting worse, and his belief that many marketers have "outsourced marketing." Key topics include:- Why AI is like "hydrochloric acid burning through your org structure"- The rising importance of facts versus storytelling- Why "jobs are a silly phase work is going through"- The reason work should be easier for seasoned employeesTune in to hear a story about Madam Bovary and why you should ask AI to write your obituary. ⏱️ Chapters01:42 - The Five Big Factors in the Marketplace07:01 - Implications for the Marketing Front19:13 - The Path Forward for Leaders26:49 - AI as Hydrochloric Acid31:11 - Closing Advice & Wrap-UpSubscribe for weekly episodes featuring world-class marketing leaders, board members, and C-Suite executives.#CMOConfidential, #MarketingLeadership, #BrandStrategy, #CorporateActivism, #MarketingStrategy, #CMO, #AIinMarketing, #ExecutiveLeadership, #BrandReputation, #ConsumerTrust, #DigitalMarketing, #MarketingInsights, #ThoughtLeadership, #BusinessStrategy, #CustomerCentricSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

La semaine dernière, j'étais en vacances avec mon pote Sacha.Il a une agence basée à Paris, comme moi. Et comme on est tous les deux des no-life, on a passé notre temps à se partager nos chiffres et nos key learnings.J'ai pris une claque.Parce qu'en fait dans ce métier, personne ne donne vraiment ses chiffres.Normal, la peur de se faire copier, accuser ou juger est trop présente (et vraie !). Alors, ceux qui le font… ne donnent que les bons !Du genre, ils font une story - le jour des renouvellements Stripe - et disent : “Regardez, c'est ce que je gagne en une journée !”. Alors que pendant les 15 jours suivants, ils ne vendent rien..Ces petits mensonges créent de gros dégâts.Car tout le monde prend ce coup d'éclat pour argent comptant.Alors, j'ouvre les comptes.Je dévoile la répartition de mes revenus et leur évolution, en 1 an.Parce que ces chiffres prouvent 3 tendances qui vont faire la pluie et le beau temps sur nos ventes en 2026....Mieux vaut s'y préparer !Chapitres : 01:15 — Le retournement, en trois chiffres03:30 — Tendance n°1 : la formation, remise en question...06:00 — Tendance n°2 : les collabs, mais pas au pif08:45 — Tendance n°3 : LinkedIn, dans le mile11:30 — Ce que tu en fais si tu démarres13:00 — La question à te poser ce soirPASSE À L'ACTION◉ Assister à mon live privé pour décrocher des Collaborations : https://www.carolinemignaux.com/communaute◉ Créer ton tunnel de vente personnel : https://go.carolinemignaux.com/personalfunnel◉ Délèguer ta stratégie de contenu en 3H/mois : https://go.carolinemignaux.com/agence◉ Lancer ta marque personnelle (mon système complet) : https://www.carolinemignaux.com/bundleRécap à emporter → https://newsletter.carolinemignaux.com/

AI Overviews now appear in 40% of Google searches, up from 6% in six months. Lucas Tieleman, co-founder of Optiversal, helps enterprise retailers turn static product catalogs into machine-readable content that performs across Google, ChatGPT, and Google Merchant Center. He breaks down why structured data and clean entity relationships matter more now than five years ago, how to optimize product feeds for AI search's "product graph," and why shifting from "test and learn" to "learn and test" prevents scaling content without scaling value.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Send us Fan MailHow do you market your small business in the age of AI without losing the human connection that makes people want to work with you?In this episode of The Good Enough Mompreneur Podcast, Angela sits down with Deanna Dolecki, President of Blue Duck Agency, and Ashley Ruggieri, marketing specialist and co-host of the Ducks Unplugged podcast, for a relatable and practical conversation about what actually works in marketing today.With more than 20 years behind Blue Duck Agency, Deanna and Ashley bring a wealth of marketing experience—but this conversation goes beyond algorithms, social media, and AI.We talk about why authenticity and human connection matter more than ever, why social media shouldn't be your entire marketing strategy, how to identify the marketing channels that make sense for your audience, and why entrepreneurs need to stop chasing every new trend.We also get personal about motherhood and entrepreneurship, including the confidence and resilience we develop as moms, navigating different seasons of motherhood, setting boundaries, making space for ourselves, and embracing the "joy of missing out" (JOMO) instead of constantly trying to do it all.And if being visible on video makes you uncomfortable, you'll want to hear Deanna's candid story about facing one of her biggest fears after launching their podcast—and why she kept showing up anyway.What You'll Learn in This EpisodeWhy authentic marketing matters even more in the age of AIHow to use AI as a business tool without letting it replace your voice and creativityWhy social media is only one piece of a successful marketing strategyHow to choose marketing channels based on your audience, goals, and budgetWhy attracting ideal clients starts with knowing exactly who you're trying to reachHow to use trends without falling into "shiny object syndrome"Why testing, experimenting, and even failing are essential parts of business growthHow to stand out in a crowded marketplace through connection and authenticityWhy short-form video can be a powerful tool for small business ownersHow motherhood builds resilience, leadership, and self-trustThe importance of boundaries, self-care, and JOMO—the joy of missing outHow to move through the fear of being visible onlineConnect with Blue Duck AgencyLearn more about Blue Duck Agency and its marketing services at blueduckagency.com.Listen to Deanna and Ashley on the Ducks Unplugged podcast on your favorite podcast platform or find them on YouTube at @ducksunplugged.Have a question about working with Blue Duck Agency? Ashley invited listeners to reach out at ashley@blueduckagency.com.Connect with AngelaWant more support building a business that works with your life and season of motherhood?Visit mombusinesscoach.com to learn more about Angela's coaching, podcast, and resources for mom entrepreneurs.Follow Angela on social media: @mombusinesscoachIf you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to The Good Enough Mompreneur Podcast, share it with another mom entrepreneur, and leave a review. Your support helps more women discover conversations like this one.Reflection QuestionWhere are you putting pressure on yourself to do more in your business when what you really need might be to do what matters more intentionally?You don't have to be everywhere or get everything right the first time. Keep showing up, keep experimenting, and keep trusting what you're learning about yourself along the way.You are already more capable than you give yourself credit for. 

Today, I'm delighted to connect with Sara Hirsh Bordo, an autoimmune-diagnosed, 15-times award-winning documentary filmmaker, the founder and CEO of Women Rising, and the author of Autoimmunity and the Good Girls. I loved Sara's book, and I love her work! I believe her message will resonate deeply with listeners with concurrent autoimmune conditions, and those who have grown up as people pleasers or have subjugated themselves over the course of their lives. Autoimmune conditions often tend to flare or first present during major hormonal transitions like postpartum, perimenopause, or menopause. So it's important to understand the influence of chronic stress and how it intersects with our immune system function. In our conversation, Sara and I discuss how self-silencing makes us sick, and overgiving keeps us that way. We explore the influence of family and culture on our health and longevity, the effects of autoimmunity, people pleasing, good-girl conditioning, and authenticity versus dissociation. We also discuss Gabor Maté's book, The Myth of Normal, liberation, the fear of disappointment, Sara's research, her concept of the license to be sovereign, the act of receiving, the role of epigenetics and birth order, and Sara's framework of coherence, authenticity, epigenetics, and permission. Stay tuned for a wonderful conversation about autoimmunity, people-pleasing, authenticity, and permitting ourselves to be sovereign. Sarah's book, Autoimmunity and the Good Girls, will likely resonate deeply with many of you. IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN: How self-silencing, self-neglect, and self-betrayal can impact a woman's health The connection between chronic stress, suppressed feelings, good girl conditioning, and autoimmunity What it feels like to reclaim your authenticity and be more aligned with yourself How the fear of disappointing others can make it difficult for some women to claim their power What Sara discovered about adverse girlhood experiences, birth order, and the caretaker role when compiling the research for her book How becoming more sovereign can help women advocate for their own needs Why receiving can be difficult for women who are accustomed to giving How stillness and silence helped Sara identify her needs and wants How girlhood experiences, self-silencing, and self-compromise can become epigenetic inputs, and what women can do to create more supportive environments Why permission is a key part of Sara's framework for reclaiming authenticity Bio: Sara Hirsh Bordo Sara Hirsh Bordo (pronounced Bordeaux) is a 15-time award-winning filmmaker and Founder/CEO of Women Rising®, named "One of the Most Innovative, Interesting, and Purpose-Driven Women-Led Startups to Watch” by Inc. Magazine. Sara is currently directing short documentary films for Toyota and ESPN Women, and most recently, the executive producer of ConnectHer International Film Festival, consulting director for the Gates Foundation PitchFest Program, and the author and researcher behind the first proprietary quantitative survey at the intersection of female empowerment and health, Autoimmunity and the Good GirlsTM. Sara previously held positions in media and entertainment, including Executive Director of Interactive Marketing at Paramount Pictures, VP of Digital Marketing at MGM Studios, and CEO and Co-Founder of NowLive. Autoimmunity and the Good Girls is her first book. Connect with Cynthia Thurlow   Follow on X, Instagram & LinkedIn Check out Cynthia's website. Submit your questions to support@cynthiathurlow.com  Join other like-minded women in a supportive, nurturing community: The Midlife Pause/Cynthia Thurlow.  Purchase Cynthia's book, The Menopause Gut. Cynthia's Intermittent Fasting Transformation Book The Midlife Pause Supplement Line Connect with Sara Hirsh Bordo  Website  Instagram Autoimmunity & The Good Girls Book

Join the Growth Letter for weekly strategic perspectives on sustainable business growth - https://www.darrellevans.net/subscribeIn over 600 digital marketing audits, we consistently find that there are 5 gaps when marketing isn't working for a company, no matter the industry or revenue size. Revenue growth doesn't mean your digital marketing works. It might mean you've survived despite these gaps. I'll show you why deeply experienced experts still look invisible online, why 95-97% of your leads are quietly being left on the table, and the mystery shop result that exposed exactly where a client's sales process was bleeding money. If your marketing budget keeps growing but the results won't cooperate, this is exactly why.SUBSCRIBE & REVIEWIf you loved this episode, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts! Your support helps us reach more entrepreneurs who need these insights.

What happens when gold, AI and startups collide? Today on The Indian Startup Show, I'm joined by Devansh Alijar for a wide-ranging conversation about AI, investing and building modern businesses. Devansh has helped transform a traditional family jewellery business, and we talk about how he's using AI to make the business more efficient — from operations and hiring to training and decision-making. We also explore how he thinks about investing in startups, gold, and other assets, including what he looks for in founders and the red flags that can quickly put him off an investment. We discuss why founders should be genuine users of their own products, why distribution matters so much, and how building trust can become one of a company's biggest advantages. And, away from business, Devansh shares the story of his incredible 4,000-kilometre cycling journey across India during covid and banana chips startup, which led to being featured on Shark Tank India. We talk about: We talk about: How to modernise a traditional family business Building a digital brand without relying on paid advertising Why founder visibility can create extraordinary customer trust Gold, silver and the way Devansh thinks about investing How to spot promising early-stage founders Why pedigree and name-dropping can be major red flags Using AI for recruitment, HR and employee training How AI can analyse operational and financial data Using AI to improve sales teams and compliance The importance of giving AI the right context Why distribution may matter more than the product Building an audience before launching His plans to turn that journey into a book Why Nepal belongs on every trekker's list and much more  Links https://www.linkedin.com/in/devanshalijar/   Hosted And Produced by Neil Patel https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/neilpatel2 Enjoyed this episode? Don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review! Share this episode with your friends. Listen and Subscribe to More Episodeshttps://www.indianstartupshow.com/ Music by Punch Deck.https://open.spotify.com/artist/7kdduxAVaFnbHJyNxl7FWV

How can businesses use SEO to get found online, attract customers and build sustainable growth? In this episode of Everything Is Personal, Len May sits down with Stewart Vickers, also known as SEO Jesus, to explore SEO strategy, Google search, AI, content marketing, business growth and building a successful digital agency. Stuart shares lessons from his journey from early online projects to building a multi-seven-figure SEO business. He explains why many websites struggle to rank, how businesses can identify the right search terms, why focused website content matters, how backlinks and authority influence search visibility, and how AI is changing the way businesses approach SEO. EndoDNA: Where Genetic Science Meets Actionable Patient Care EndoDNA bridges the gap between complex genomics and patient wellness. Our patented DNA analysis platforms and AI technology provide genetic insights that support and enhance your clinical expertise. Click here to check out to take control over your Personal Health & Wellness Connect with EndoDNA on SOCIAL: IG | X | YOUTUBE | FB Connect with host, Len May, on IG Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Paid advertising can be one of the best growth investments in a cash-based physical therapy practice, but only if you understand the numbers behind it. In this episode, Doc Danny explains how to evaluate Meta and Google ads, why cost per lead can be misleading, and how lifetime value changes the way clinic owners should think about marketing spend. In This Episode, You'll Learn Why digital advertising should be viewed as an investment instead of a cost The difference between awareness ads and direct-response campaigns Why the halo effect makes some successful ads difficult to track Why cost per lead is less important than cost per evaluation How lifetime value helps determine whether a campaign is actually profitable Why clinic owners often shut off good campaigns too early How show rates, conversions, and follow-up affect advertising ROI Why small ad budgets can produce misleading results How stronger retention and continuity can make paid marketing more effective Key Takeaway Digital marketing works best when you understand the full economics of your clinic. Know your cost per evaluation, lifetime value, conversion rates, and patient retention before deciding whether an ad campaign is actually working. Technology Spotlight Reduce documentation time with Claire AI, an AI scribe trained specifically for physical therapists. Try it free for 7 days. Free Resource Ready to build your own cash practice? Join the free PT Biz Part-Time to Full-Time 5-Day Challenge. PT Biz Training YouTube Watch more business training for cash-based physical therapists on the PT Biz Training YouTube Channel. Connect Physical Therapy Biz PT Entrepreneur Podcast

AI agents still can't replicate implicit, high-frequency human communication around company strategy. Thenuka Karunaratne, founder of sunbeam, the autonomous SEO agent, and daydream, the AI-native SEO agency that identifies search patterns and creates content at scale, breaks down where automation hits its limits. He details how teams can feed agents with call recordings, CRM data, and help desk interactions to approximate customer empathy and product context, while explaining why macro strategy formation still depends on unstructured, high-touch conversations between humans. The discussion frames a practical boundary for enterprise teams building autonomous SEO workflows: where to automate content production and optimization, and where strategic judgment must stay human-led.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Send us Fan MailHave you ever wondered why some businesses seem to scale effortlessly while others hit a wall, even after investing more money into marketing?In this episode of Imperfect Marketing, Kendra Corman welcomes growth strategist Kathie Feng to discuss one of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make: trying to scale before they've truly validated their product, audience, and pricing.Kathie shares her Winning Triangle framework, a simple but powerful way to evaluate whether your business is actually ready for growth. Drawing from her experience implementing Fortune 500 growth strategies for small and medium-sized businesses, she explains why product-market fit is only one piece of the puzzle and how pricing and customer feedback often determine whether a business thrives or stalls.The conversation also dives into the realities of paid advertising. If you've ever felt frustrated after spending money on Meta ads that didn't produce results, you'll appreciate Kathie's practical approach to diagnosing what's really happening inside your marketing funnel. From creative strategy and audience targeting to A/B testing and conversion optimization, she shares actionable insights that help business owners make smarter marketing decisions based on data instead of assumptions.In this episode, you'll learn:✔️ Why businesses plateau even after increasing their marketing budget✔️ The three elements of the Winning Triangle and why they matter✔️ How to tell whether your product, audience, or pricing is holding your business back✔️ Common mistakes entrepreneurs make with Meta advertising✔️ How A/B testing helps improve marketing performance✔️ Why customer feedback should guide your marketing strategy✔️ The balance between creativity and data in successful marketingAbout Kathie FengKathie Feng is the Founder and Growth Architect of Signal Growth, where she helps entrepreneurs and small to mid-sized businesses build scalable growth using AI-powered systems and proven Fortune 500 frameworks. Connect with Kathie:Website: https://signalgrowth.webflow.io/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathiefeng/If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with another entrepreneur who is ready to grow their business with greater confidence and clarity.Connect with Kendra Corman for more practical marketing strategies and conversations with industry experts who believe progress beats perfection every time. Looking to leverage AI? Want better results? Want to think about what you want to leverage?Check and see how I am using it for FREE on YouTube. From "Holy cow, it can do that?" to "Wait, how does this work again?" – I've got all your AI curiosities covered. It's the perfect after-podcast snack for your tech-hungry brain. Watch here

Summer Remix: Album 8 Track 12: Win the Room - Accelerate Your Career w/Bernard BellHow do you go from "Step Zero" to a Senior VP role at a major cable network? Bernard Bell, known as "The Confidence Professor," joins the podcast to explain why Executive Presence is the ultimate career accelerator.In this candid conversation, Bernard breaks down the difference between networking and "engaging," the importance of leading like a "shepherd who smells like his sheep," and why culture will always trump strategy. He also shares the high-stakes story of a $55 million programming misstep and the valuable lesson in humility and due diligence it taught him. Tune in to learn how to curate your personal brand and win the room before you ever open your mouth.In this episode, you'll learn:The F.O.R.M. Framework: A tactical guide to engaging anyone, anywhere.The 8-Slice Pizza of Success: Why your degree is only one slice of your professional value.Ego Management: Why Bernard keeps his ego in his back pocket to lead effectively.The $55 Million Mistake: A vulnerable look at what happens when instinct replaces market research.Whether you're a junior marketer looking for your first break or a Director aiming for the CMO chair, this episode is your blueprint for career acceleration.Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and share with a fellow Brand Nerd!Instagram | LinkedIn

What makes someone fall in love with a brand?Recorded during the Cannes Lions Festival, Jim brings together three leaders who are redefining what it means to build brands people genuinely want to be part of.Joining the conversation are…Kelly Mahoney, Chief Marketing Officer of Ulta BeautyMitchell Halliday, founder of Made by Mitchell;Durana Elmi, Founder, Chief Creative Officer, and Chief Experiential Officer of Cymbiotika.Together, they explore how purpose creates loyalty, why community is every brand's greatest asset, and what it takes to scale without losing your identity. Mitchell reflects on building a brand that's "made for everyone," Durana shares why she believes "true luxury is your health," and Kelly explains how Ulta has become a trusted home for founder-led brands and the communities behind them.Whether you're building a global retailer or launching your first company, this conversation is packed with lessons on authenticity, partnership, leadership, and creating brands that people don't just buy, but proudly choose to belong to.—This week's episode is brought to you by Infillion.—Meet The CMO Podcast On the RoadThe CMO Podcast will be on the road throughout Q4 2026, capturing conversations with the leaders shaping the future of marketing, leadership, and business. If you'll be attending one of these events, we'd love to connect. Let us know!Advertising Week New York | October 5–7BLINK Cincinnati | October 8-9ANA Masters of Marketing | October 19–22—Interested in partnering with The CMO Podcast?!Looking ahead to the rest of 2026 and into 2027, we're partnering with brands to create executive content platforms that extend far beyond a single event. From pop-up podcast studios and live recordings to executive roundtables, keynote conversations, and bespoke thought leadership programs, we work with partners to build meaningful experiences that connect with senior marketing leaders.Whether you'd like to partner with us at one of the industry's biggest marketing events or create a custom experience designed specifically for your brand, we'd love to explore what's possible. Reach out to learn how we can build something together.Email us at podcasts@vyve.co—Produced by vYveThe CMO Podcast is proudly produced by vYve Production, a full-service production and content studio specializing in podcasts, executive storytelling, branded content, and live experiences. vYve is a community of ambitious leaders dedicated to unlocking what's next in business and in life. Through executive coaching, transformative experiences, strategic content, and communities like The CMO Podcast, vYve helps entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and teams grow their businesses, strengthen their leadership, and build meaningful connections that last.Learn more about vYve and The CMO Podcast community at www.vyve.co.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode of Hustle Inspires Hustle features Alex Quin and Richard Wang, the 25-year-old entrepreneur behind Northern Dumpling Kitchen, as they unpack what it really means to step into a family business, carry forward your parents' legacy, and build something bigger than yourself.Richard grew up in the restaurant industry after his parents immigrated to Canada and spent decades working their way up from difficult beginnings. Although Richard studied finance, his long-term plan was always to return to the family business. Today, he's helping operate the restaurant while working toward one of his biggest goals: helping his father work less and eventually retire.The conversation dives into Richard's decision to document the journey publicly, including the renovations, cooking, long hours, language barriers, frustrations, and behind-the-scenes realities of running a restaurant. After roughly 200 days of consistent posting, his content began reaching audiences far outside his local community, with his Instagram following jumping from around 8,000 to 50,000 in approximately two weeks.Alex breaks down why Richard's content works so well and how founder-led storytelling can create an emotional connection that traditional advertising often struggles to replicate. They also get tactical about restaurant growth, discussing OpenTable, Google Business, Toast, email and SMS marketing, customer retention, experiences, and the systems restaurants can use to generate more revenue without massive advertising budgets.Beyond marketing, Alex and Richard discuss money, mentorship, real estate, investing, learning from older entrepreneurs, documenting family recipes, improving communication across generations, and staying grounded while building a business. Ultimately, the episode is about family, entrepreneurship, and what happens when a new generation decides not only to preserve what their parents built, but to take it further.Episode Outline:[00:00] Intro and how Alex discovered Richard's story[03:00] Growing up in the restaurant industry and choosing the family business[06:30] Taking over responsibilities, leadership, and language barriers[10:30] Why Richard's vulnerable storytelling connected with people[14:00] His parents' immigrant story and building a life in Canada[17:30] Family legacy, helping his dad retire, and financial goals[21:00] Money, investing, mentorship, and lessons for young entrepreneurs[23:30] Restaurant growth strategies: OpenTable and Experiences[27:00] Google Business, Toast, email, SMS, and customer retention[30:00] Cooking, communication, and improving his Mandarin[32:00] Going from 8K to 50K followers and founder-led content[34:15] Preserving family recipes and building for the next generation[35:30] Richard's message to immigrants and young entrepreneurs[37:05] Closing thoughts and outroWisdom Nuggets:Your Story Can Be More Powerful Than Your Product: Richard's audience didn't grow because he pretended the restaurant was perfect. People became invested because they watched him struggle, learn, improve, and fight to build something meaningful for his family.Consistency Doesn't Always Pay Off Immediately: Richard spent roughly 200 days building his audience before experiencing a major breakout. His growth from around 8,000 to 50,000 followers happened rapidly, but it was built on months of consistent work.Founder-Led Content Creates Emotional Investment: When customers understand who is behind a business and why they're building it, the relationship becomes deeper than a transaction. People begin rooting for the person as much as the company.Small Systems Can Create Big Revenue: Restaurants don't always need massive advertising budgets. Reservation platforms, Google Business, customer data, email, SMS, and better retention systems can create meaningful incremental revenue.Learn the Business From the Inside Out: Richard isn't only trying to market the restaurant. He's learning to cook, communicate with staff, improve operations, understand the finances, and master the details that make the business work.Protect the Knowledge Your Family Built: Recipes, techniques, processes, and lessons that exist only inside someone's head can disappear. Documenting them turns years of experience into something the next generation can preserve and improve.Diversification Creates Stability: Business, real estate, and stocks can perform differently at different times. Building across multiple areas can create more stability than relying entirely on one source of income.Legacy Is Bigger Than Money: Helping your parents doesn't necessarily mean forcing them to stop working. It's about building a situation where they work because they want to, not because they have to.Power Quotes“Founder-led content drives people, and it plugs at the heartstrings.”— Alex Quin“I'm doing some big things right now, but this is really only the beginning.”— Richard WangConnect with Richard Wang:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/northern_dumplingkitchenTikTok: https://www.instagram.com/@thedumplingprinceConnect With the Podcast Host Alex Quin:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexquinTwitter: https://twitter.com/mralexquinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mralexquinWebsite: https://alexquin.comTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mralexquinBooks Mentioned:How to Market Your Restaurant Online — Alex QuinProfit First — Mike MichalowiczOur CommunityInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/hustleinspireshustleTwitter: https://twitter.com/HustleInspiresLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hustle-inspires-hustleWebsite: https://hustleinspireshustle.comThis page may contain affiliate links or sponsored content. When you click on these links or engage with the sponsored content and make a purchase or take some other action, we may receive a commission or compensation at no additional cost to you. We only promote products or services that we genuinely believe will add value to our readers & listeners.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

AI can't fully replace product intuition in SEO. Thenuka Karunaratne, founder of sunbeam and daydream, built an autonomous SEO agent and an AI-native agency to scale content without losing that intuition. He argues product sense is the top skill for modern SEOs: understanding what a product does at a deep level, how customers experience it, and where they struggle. That product-level insight, not just technical execution, is what determines what to communicate to search audiences in an AI-driven landscape.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

After nearly 30 years in education, Rachel Kugler made a leap most people at her stage of life are told not to make: she walked away from teaching, enrolled in ODEO Academy, and rebuilt a career in digital marketing and copywriting from the ground up.This conversation covers what pushed her out of the classroom, shares the internship-to-hire story behind her current role, and shares what she now tells other women in their 40s and 50s who ask her "now what?"Episode Highlights: Rachel shares why a 30-year teaching career transfers more directly into marketing than it might seem, from explaining complex ideas simply to holding a deadline no matter what else is happening.She gives the honest reality of a post-certification job search, and what got Rachel through it without a personal network to fall back on.Rachel details how a single internship platform placement turned into a full-time role in four weeks, and what her boss says actually made the difference.Her direct message to women in their 40s and 50s wondering if it's too late: it isn't, and life experience is a real advantage, not a liability.Why "ODEO is the beginning, not the end" shows up throughout her story, from a self-initiated AI webinar pitch to rewriting her own earlier work once she knew better.Episode Links:ODEO AcademySend us Fan MailFollow The Digital Marketing Mentor:Website and Blog: thedmmentor.comInstagram: @thedmmentorLinkedin: @thedmmentorYouTube: @thedmmentorInterested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family:Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations.ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business's digital marketing strategy.

Build a ChatGPT Micro-SaaS That Owns One Zip Code (Hyperlocal AI Business Blueprint) Most AI entrepreneurs chase millions. We chase one zip code. In this episode, discover how hyper-local micro-SaaS turns digital products for beginners into profitable niche monopolies—with lower competition, faster cashflow, and the margins small-town businesses are desperate to pay for. Learn the exact AI entrepreneur framework parents use to dominate their neighborhood, not the internet. https://DarkHorseEntrepreneur.com Tracy argues beginners can make real money by building tiny ChatGPT-powered micro-SaaS apps that solve one painful problem for one zip code, rather than chasing global scale. It shares examples: a 28-year-old in Portland built a Twilio + OpenAI rescheduling voice agent for 16 nearby dental offices, charging $800/month and reaching $12,800 MRR with zero marketing, and an Austin founder who built a roofing bid tool that cut quoting to 90 seconds and sold it locally for $1,200/month to 18 contractors. It explains why hyperlocal focus yields high conversion and pricing power, warns about customer concentration and trust (one bad update can collapse a whole territory), and recommends treating this as a 12–24 month play: reach 15–25 customers, then get acquired or expand vertically to adjacent professions while staying local. The episode ends with an action plan to map nearby businesses, identify repetitive “pain knobs,” and build a targeted solution, plus a newsletter plug. 00:00 Zip Code SaaS Pitch 01:15 Portland Dentist Case Study 02:58 Why Hyperlocal Converts 04:09 Austin Roofing Bid Bot 05:17 Bottoms Up Wedge 06:04 Scaling Without Losing Edge 07:33 Indispensability Economics 08:04 Hyperlocal Risk Trap 09:43 12 to 24 Month Exit Plan 10:41 Zoom In Framework 12:33 Whisker Wisdom Takeaway 12:49 Your Action Steps - Whiskered Wisdom 13:53 Recap digital products for beginners, ai entrepreneur, make money online, ai side gig, microSaaS, Micro SaaS, Hyperlocal, AI, No-code, AI tools, OpenAI, API, Local business, automation, Monthly recurring revenue, MRR, Vertical SaaS, ai content creation, ai automation business, online side hustles, word from home, make money from home, ai side hustle, business mindset, business tips, ai automation agency, side hustle ideas, entrepreneur mindset, business motivation, entrepreneur motivation, how to make money online, entrepreneurship, digital courses, digital entrepreneur, digital marketing, digital product ideas, digital products, entrepreneur, entrepreneur podcast, entrepreneur tips, entrepreneurship, entreprenuer, online business, tips for entrepreneurs,  https://DarkHorseEntrepreneur.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

73% of organic click-through rate now goes to zero-click AI results. Thenuka Karunaratne, founder of sunbeam (autonomous SEO agent) and daydream (AI-native SEO agency), built systems that identify search patterns and scale content production automatically. He debunks LLMs.txt as a ranking signal, backed by Google's confirmation and cross-organization testing showing no measurable impact on visibility or discoverability. The conversation separates legitimate agentic browsing use cases from unproven geo tactics, offering a framework for evaluating which AI SEO investments actually move search performance.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A CMO Confidential Interview with Kristin Wozniak, Chief Growth Officer and Data Officer at Cosmo5, formerly SVP Analytics and Strategy at Cossette Media. Kristin discusses why she believes many leaders have developed an unhealthy obsession with data, how "the need for certainty" stifles innovation, and Goodhart's law, which states "when a measure becomes a target, it's no longer a good measure." Key topics include:- The risk of constantly wanting more data and dashboards- The need for "buddy metrics"- Why you should link KPI's, compensation, and business results- The concepts of "AI Brain Fry" and "Hiding Behind the Data"Chapters

Votre prochain client ne sera peut-être plus un humain.Ce sera un agent IA qui compare, décide et achète à la place de votre prospect.Dans cet épisode de Marketing Square, je reçois Karen Jouve, CEO de Doors3, experte IA, Web3 et réalités immersives pour décrypter le Business to Agent (B2A), le nouveau paradigme commercial qui vient après le B2B et le B2C.Le récap complet est dans ma newsletter Bankable! : https://newsletter.carolinemignaux.com/Au programme :• Le B2A : qu'est-ce que le Business to Agent ?• GEO vs SEO : les tags data pour être visible des agents IA• Comment se préparer concrètement (3 profils d'entrepreneurs)• Le command center : automatiser son organisation avec l'IA• Stablecoin : la monnaie des agents IA (Visa y travaille)• L'employé augmenté : passeport digital, blockchain et IA• Risques : injections de prompt, cybersécurité, flou juridique• Revenu universel, futur du travail et changement de modèlePOUR ALLER PLUS LOIN☑ Audit de votre compte par Agence Personnelle : https://carolinemignaux.com/agence☑ Créer votre marque personnelle (le bundle) : https://carolinemignaux.com/bundle☑ Rejoindre la communauté The Square : https://www.carolinemignaux.com/communaute☑ Le récap de l'épisode dans ma newsletter Bankable! : https://newsletter.carolinemignaux.com/

AI agents now autonomously execute full SEO workflows, not just tasks. Thenuka Karunaratne, CEO and co-founder of Sunbeam and Daydream, raised $20M+ building an AI-native SEO agency serving Notion, Replit, and Clay before launching Sunbeam, an autonomous SEO agent that has moved beyond workflow automation. Karunaratne breaks down why proactive "teammate" agents outperform reactive workflow-based tools, how leading indicators shift from indexation to ranking velocity to conversion as agent-driven programs mature, and why domain authority remains resistant to automation while on-site technical and content execution increasingly isn't. The conversation maps how SEO practitioners must shift from tactical execution toward product-fluent strategic oversight as autonomous agents absorb research, technical fixes, and content production at scale.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How do you fix messy messaging so you can speak just a few sentences and have the full attention of your leads? In this episode, listen in on a live coaching call where we'll untangle a vague, fluffy pitch into clear, specific messaging.I'm joined by a Magic Marketing Machine student, Human Design Facilitator & Life Coach, Kat (AKA @unfoldyourdesign). Get Kat's free human design chart: https://unfoldyourdesign.com/free-human-design-chart/Every service-based business owner will see themselves in Kat's struggle. She'd invested in program after program, was told to post 30 reels a week, and still couldn't explain her offer in a sentence. Sound familiar?You are probably closer to clear messaging than you think. The words are already there — in the conversations you're already having with your best-fit clients. You just need a process to pull them out.If your messaging has felt like a tangled mess, this episode will show you exactly how close you really are to saying it simply.

In this episode, we dive into how e-commerce sellers can combine human strategy with AI to scale ad performance without wasting budget.Stephanie Richter, CEO and co-founder of Adspert, shares how her AI platform helps brands optimize campaigns across major marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, and eBay. She reveals why humans are still needed to set the vision, how smart algorithms handle complex bidding data, and how automating routine PPC tasks can save hundreds of hours while boosting revenue.Topics discussed in this episode:  How humans and AI work together for best ad results.What role humans play when guiding ad algorithms.How AI makes smart ad bidding decisions with data.Why strategy is necessary before setting ad goals.What a typical daily workflow looks like in Adspert.How automated PPC management saves sellers time.Why long-tail keywords require longer AI training.How cross-marketplace ad data drives growth.Why scenario tools help predict results before spending.How simple AI tools make everyday work easier.Start a 30-Day Free Trial Now (plus 20% off discount) at https://dashboard.adspert.net/signup/start?via=024955Links & ResourcesWebsite: https://go.adspert.net/amazon-ads-software?via=024955LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/adspert/X/Twitter: https://x.com/adspert_Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_adspert_Get access to more free resources by visiting the show notes at https://tinyurl.com/nhhfme59______________________________________________________LOVE THE SHOW? HERE ARE THE NEXT STEPS!Follow the podcast to get every bonus episode. Tap follow now and don't miss out!   Rate & Review: Help others discover the show by rating the show on Apple Podcasts at https://tinyurl.com/ecb-apple-podcasts   Join our Free Newsletter: https://newsletter.ecommercecoffeebreak.com/   Support The Show On Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EcommerceCoffeeBreak   Partner with us: https://ecommercecoffeebreak.com/partner-with-us/

Click optimization rewards a fundamentally compromised signal. Chester Scott, Chief Strategy Officer at Lunio, dismantles the two metrics most marketing teams treat as North Stars—clicks and ROAS—and explains why blended efficiency numbers disguise where spend actually delivers. He makes the case for marginal ROAS as the discipline that exposes diminishing returns across channels, platforms, campaigns, and creative, and reframes how enterprise teams should allocate budget for overall effectiveness.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Advertisers optimize for metrics that disguise the truth. Chester Scott, Chief Strategy Officer at Lunio, explains why ROAS—the North Star metric for most advertisers—undermines effective spend decisions across channels and campaigns. He makes the case for shifting to marginal ROAS to measure diminishing returns at the channel, platform, audience, and creative level, and reframes clicks as a fundamentally compromised leading indicator that should never drive optimization.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

AL #011 Social media is not the end-all, be-all in audience building. You know me, I'm always down with OPP. Jumping on other people's platforms is one of my top strategies to pop up, serve, and get new leads! And that's a great place to start for Julie Kleinhans of Reshape and Recover, who's submitted the topic for today's AskLiz session! Julie is worried that people in her weight loss niche might shy away from publicly engaging with her posts. So how do we get creative with our growth when traditional advice doesn't seem to work? Listen in on today's episode because I share how you and Julie can reach people right where they're already gathering online! But in our age of oversharing, I also want to help Julie get over the feeling that her topic is off-limits. I share valuable tips about learning a niche's language to overcome common objections. Enjoy! Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/al011.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Clicks and ROAS remain the industry's most trusted—and most misleading—metrics. Chester Scott, Chief Strategy Officer at Lunio, explains why the North Star metric guiding most advertisers actually disguises the truth about channel effectiveness. He makes the case for marginal ROAS over aggregate ROAS to expose diminishing returns across platforms, campaigns, and audiences, and reframes clicks as a fundamentally compromised leading indicator rather than a signal of performance.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"Creativity is all about creating desire." So what makes people truly desire a brand?This week, we're back at the Havas Café for the second of our three-part series exploring Creating Desire. This conversation focuses on one of the most powerful drivers of all: creativity.Jim is joined by:Ryan Dullea, Chief Growth Officer at ReckittJennie Weber, Former Chief Marketing Officer at Best BuyMatthew Bull, Chief Creative Advisor at AB InBevTogether, they discuss how leaders create cultures where creativity can thrive, why teams need permission to take risks, how healthy debate leads to stronger ideas, and why AI should accelerate human creativity rather than replace it. Along the way, they share lessons from building some of the world's most iconic brands and explain why the best marketing doesn't just capture attention. It creates genuine desire.Recorded live during the Cannes Lions Festival, this conversation is packed with practical leadership lessons for anyone looking to build stronger brands, stronger teams, and more creative organizations.—This week's episode is brought to you by Havas and Infillion.—Meet The CMO Podcast On the RoadThe CMO Podcast will be on the road throughout Q4 2026, capturing conversations with the leaders shaping the future of marketing, leadership, and business. If you'll be attending one of these events, we'd love to connect. Let us know!BLINK Cincinnati | October 8-9ANA Masters of Marketing | October 19–22—Interested in partnering with The CMO Podcast?!Looking ahead to the rest of 2026 and into 2027, we're partnering with brands to create executive content platforms that extend far beyond a single event. From pop-up podcast studios and live recordings to executive roundtables, keynote conversations, and bespoke thought leadership programs, we work with partners to build meaningful experiences that connect with senior marketing leaders.Whether you'd like to partner with us at one of the industry's biggest marketing events or create a custom experience designed specifically for your brand, we'd love to explore what's possible. Reach out to learn how we can build something together.Email us at podcasts@vyve.co—Produced by vYveThe CMO Podcast is proudly produced by vYve Production, a full-service production and content studio specializing in podcasts, executive storytelling, branded content, and live experiences. vYve is a community of ambitious leaders dedicated to unlocking what's next in business and in life. Through executive coaching, transformative experiences, strategic content, and communities like The CMO Podcast, vYve helps entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and teams grow their businesses, strengthen their leadership, and build meaningful connections that last.Learn more about vYve and The CMO Podcast community at www.vyve.co.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.