I hate asking people for things. Call it years of ingrained people-pleasing if you want, but mostly, it comes from my not wanting to waste anybody’s time, including my own. So when I ask you to co-present with me in a webinar or event, it’s because there’s nobody else I wanted to ask. You were
We’ve Learned More About How to Appear in AI Answers
By Thanks to some recent experiments and research in the marketing world (and an unfortunate, manipulative attack by a Reddit mod), we’ve learned a lot more about how to influence the answers AI tools provide. This is particularly relevant for those seeking to have their brand names (or websites) appear when ChatGPT, CoPilot, Claude, Gemini, or
Content as a Service (CaaS): The Framework That Aligns Marketing with the Business
By Marketing often treats content like a vending machine. Sales needs a case study, so you fill in the template. Check the next row on the spreadsheet, write a blog post about that keyword. Insert a Jira ticket, get a graphic version of that blog post. That’s how you end up “keeping the lights on” with
Make Something People Want to Talk About
By In my formative years as a tech entrepreneur, Paul Graham (cofounder of YCombinator), wrote a seminal essay entitled: Be Good. Most tech folks have forgotten the essay itself, but almost everyone has heard the viral piece of advice that came out of that post: “Make something people want.” It’s pithy. Short. Timeless. And a great
The Best Damn Visitors’ Guide to Seattle 2025
By Psst! There’s a marketing conference in Seattle in a few weeks. I’m sure you bought your ticket already, but if you haven’t, let’s fix that right here. Good? Good. Seattle is one of my favorite places to go, and it’s not just because my colleagues are based here. I love the cool weather, the kind
New Research: 20% of Americans use AI tools 10X+/month, but growth is slowing and traditional search hasn’t dipped
By The media hype may be overblown, but the data doesn’t lie: over 20% of Americans are now heavy users of AI Tools (employing them 10X or more each month), and nearly 40% use one AI tools 1X+/month. Despite this massive growth, traditional search engines aren’t going anywhere: 95% of Americans continue to use them each
How to Find Hyper-Specific Audiences with SparkToro’s New AI Features
By It’s time we pulled back the curtain on one of SparkToro’s newest superpowers: Conversational Queries (a.k.a. audience descriptions), powered by AI. Instead of analyzing specified-parameter audiences like “Wix.com visitors” or “people with architect in their bio,” you can now zero in on groups as broad or specific as you like — small law firms seeking
The One Question I Ask to Know If an Agency Will Be Worth It
By Every now and then a career “L” seeps its way into my subconscious, usually at about 11:05pm when I’m about to fall asleep. One of those recurring thoughts is when I had an awful time working with a marketing agency. I can blame them all I want. But for whatever faults they had, I have
Care to Comment? Why, Yes, I Do: How to Get Quoted in the Press
By It’s always, “How do we get mentioned by ChatGPT?!” and not, “How can we be worth mentioning by ChatGPT?” Fortunately, this blog post is your guide to bridging that gap. Journalism is now the most cited source in AI-generated responses to current event queries, according to a new report by Muck Rack. And well more
The Case for Zero-Click Content in a Zero-Trust Ecosystem
By There’s a reason zero-click content has taken over your feed, your marketing strategy, and increasingly, your job description. It’s not just because it performs better (although yeah, that is part of it). It’s because it’s the only reliable path forward in a digital ecosystem that’s hoarding traffic and eroding trust. Welcome to the Zero-Trust Internet