The End of SEO? How SMBs Win AI Search Visibility Instead

Human-Led AI-Assisted Content with Kristen Kent

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2435068/fan_mail/new] In this episode, Mike Montague talks with Kristen Kent [https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristenkent/], founder of Evergreen Content Ops [https://www.evergreencontentops.com/], about what it really means to create human-led, AI-assisted content. They explore why “more content” has become a weak strategy, how AI can create content debt when teams skip tone, voice, audience connection, and content pillars, and why the human belongs at every stage of the process. Kristen makes the case for using AI to support better thinking, better organization, and better content systems instead of passively accepting whatever the tool produces. Mike and Kristen also discuss practical ways SMBs can use AI beyond writing blog posts, including legacy content audits, internal linking, employee onboarding, training materials, case studies, help desk content, safety reports, podcast repurposing, and organizational knowledge management. The big takeaway: AI is most useful when it helps humans synthesize information, find gaps, connect dots, and speed up the work while keeping strategy, creativity, customer understanding, and judgment in human hands. Key Takeaways: * Human-led, AI-assisted is the right working model. Kristen explained that the human should guide the process throughout, rather than only prompting at the beginning or reviewing at the end. * More content was never the real solution. She pointed out that many companies chased volume for years, but audience connection, tone, voice, and strategy still matter more than publishing speed. * Content debt is dragging companies down. Kristen shared that many businesses now have years of legacy content that was created without enough strategy, and that pile can confuse search engines, AI answer engines, and audiences. * AI is excellent for trimming and organizing existing content. She sees one of AI’s best uses in helping companies audit old content, find redundancies, identify gaps, clean up messaging, and get lean again. * Internal linking is a practical AI use case. Kristen explained that AI can quickly map internal linking opportunities across legacy content, turning a painful manual process into something much easier and more effective. * AI can improve organizational content beyond marketing. She emphasized that employee onboarding, training, internal communications, help desk content, safety reports, and customer support materials are all strong use cases for AI-assisted content systems. * Structured interviews create better AI outputs. Kristen reinforced that casual but guided conversations with founders, employees, customers, and department leaders can give AI the right raw material to synthesize useful, human-centered content. * AI is strongest at analysis and synthesis. She said AI is often more useful for connecting dots, finding common themes, spotting disconnects, and summarizing large amounts of information than for writing from scratch. * Tools like NotebookLM work well when accuracy matters. Kristen highlighted NotebookLM as useful because it works from the specific sources you provide, which can reduce hallucination risk during research or document analysis. * AI can support better self-awareness and workflow improvement. She shared how assessments, AI assistants, and reflective prompts can help people understand their own communication style, working patterns, strengths, and weaknesses. * Leaders need to stop dumping AI output on teams. Kristen warned that sending pages of unreviewed AI-generated strategy, workflows, or feedback creates confusion, slows people down, and demoralizes employees. * AI slop starts with unclear leadership. Her point was that low-quality AI content often rolls downhill from vague instructions like “just use AI,” which leaves teams without standards, context, or judgment. * The audience loses when AI replaces judgment. Kristen emphasized that customers, employees, and readers suffer when companies publish AI-assisted work that lacks clarity, usefulness, or human understanding. * AI can help break through the blank page. She acknowledged that AI is useful for brainstorming, outlining, prompting better questions, and helping writers get started without handing over the creative decisions. * Human judgment still decides whether the message lands. Kristen closed with the reminder that AI can measure and generate options, but humans still need to evaluate whether customers understand, trust, and respond to the message. The Human-First AI Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Avenue9 [https://avenue9.com/]. We use artificial intelligence to amplify your unique voice, empower your marketing team, and enable your scaling business to achieve big-brand success. Explore new avenues available with AI marketing at Avenue9.com. [https://avenue9.com/#how] No matter where you’re starting from or how big your goals are, we turn modern marketing challenges into exciting opportunities. Let's get started with a discovery consultation! [https://avenue9.com/contact-us/] Want to be a guest? Send Mike Montague a message on PodMatch here. [https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1738519089289300a62eab036]

Product Marketing for AI Products with Josh Porter

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2435068/fan_mail/new] In this episode of the Human-First AI Marketing Podcast, Mike Montague talks with Josh Porter, founder of Thunderwolf Consulting [https://www.thunderwolf.co/], host of the Marketing Pack Leaders podcast [https://open.spotify.com/show/1srkyPjNs2qiWsrCKPtSEW], and bestselling author of The Last Human Marketer [https://www.thunderwolf.co/thelasthumanmarketer]. Together, they explore what product marketing looks like in a world where AI can generate messaging, write positioning, and help teams move faster than ever; while every company risks sounding suspiciously similar. Josh shares what AI scale-ups, SaaS founders, and marketers need to understand about differentiation, trust, customer experience, and human judgment. The conversation covers why product strategy still needs a strong human operator, how companies can stand out when competitors can copy features and messaging quickly, and why communities, customer references, credibility signals, and real relationships are becoming the new moat. Listeners will walk away with a clearer view of how to market AI products with more substance, sharper positioning, and a human-first edge. Connect with Josh on Linkedin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/thejoshporter/]. Key Takeaways: * AI product marketing has to lead with the customer’s pain. Josh emphasized that buyers care less about model size, context windows, or technical specs and more about whether the product solves a real problem they already feel. * Creating the product and sharing the idea are two different skills. Many AI founders have strong technical ability, but Josh pointed out that explaining the product clearly is where product marketing becomes essential. * AI can make messaging sound the same across competitors. When every company uses similar tools and similar source material, their positioning can collapse into a “sea of sameness,” which makes human judgment more important. * Differentiation has to extend beyond features. Josh shared that AI companies can stand out through communities, advocates, analysts, press relationships, events, targeted campaigns, and stronger customer experiences. * Customer references are becoming a stronger trust signal. A competitor can copy a website quickly, but they cannot easily replicate real customer relationships, reference calls, and the trust-building process behind them. * Community can become a defensible marketing advantage. Josh suggested building spaces where customers and peers can share best practices, which creates value around the product that AI alone cannot execute at a human level. * Human marketers still matter because strategy and experience matter. Josh made the case that AI can support marketing execution, while experienced marketers still bring the judgment needed to design meaningful prospect and customer experiences. * The future of marketing will still rely on evergreen principles. Even as AI changes channels, roles, and workflows, Josh believes honest, clear, emotionally intelligent marketing will continue to work across platforms. The Human-First AI Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Avenue9 [https://avenue9.com/]. We use artificial intelligence to amplify your unique voice, empower your marketing team, and enable your scaling business to achieve big-brand success. Explore new avenues available with AI marketing at Avenue9.com. [https://avenue9.com/#how] No matter where you’re starting from or how big your goals are, we turn modern marketing challenges into exciting opportunities. Let's get started with a discovery consultation! [https://avenue9.com/contact-us/] Want to be a guest? Send Mike Montague a message on PodMatch here. [https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1738519089289300a62eab036]

The AI Search Gold Rush with Stephan Bajaio

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2435068/fan_mail/new] What if most businesses are chasing the wrong AI strategy? In this episode of the Human-First AI Marketing Podcast, Mike Montague sits down with Stephan Bajaio of VibeLogic [https://www.vibelogic.com/] to explore the future of SEO, AEO, AI search, and web presence. Together, they unpack why the current rush to optimize for AI rankings feels a lot like the dot-com boom, why many companies are focused on visibility instead of value, and why small and mid-sized businesses may have a bigger advantage than they realize. Stephan shares practical insights from decades of enterprise SEO experience, helping listeners separate AI hype from sustainable growth strategies. You'll learn why original expertise beats AI-generated content, how to turn your team's knowledge into a competitive advantage, what "Web Presence Intelligence" means for the future of marketing, and why owning your audience matters more than chasing algorithms. If you're a business owner or marketing director, this conversation offers a practical roadmap for building trust, authority, and visibility in an AI-driven world without sacrificing the human expertise that makes your business unique. Connect with Stephan Bajaio on Linkedin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanbajaio/] Visit vibelogic.com [https://www.vibelogic.com/] Key Takeaways from This Episode * Stop chasing AI rankings and focus on solving customer problems. The businesses that win online are the ones that answer real customer questions and demonstrate expertise, not the ones trying to game algorithms. * The current AI boom resembles the early days of the internet. Stephan compares today's AI gold rush to the dot-com era, where hype often outpaced adoption and many companies chased trends instead of building sustainable value. * Original expertise is your greatest competitive advantage. AI can generate content, but it cannot replicate decades of experience, customer insights, and hard-earned wisdom trapped inside your team. * Most SMBs should dominate their niche before trying to dominate the internet. Instead of competing with national brands for broad visibility, businesses should focus on owning their local market, specialty, or category. * AI-generated content alone is not a winning strategy. Generic content created from generic prompts often adds more noise to the web and struggles to create meaningful business results. * Your website should reflect the expertise of your people. Many companies hide their most valuable assets, their subject matter experts, instead of showcasing their knowledge, experience, and perspectives. * Thought leadership starts with documenting what you already know. Customer conversations, sales calls, founder insights, and internal expertise are often the most valuable content sources a business already possesses. * AI is most powerful when it captures and amplifies human knowledge. Tools like meeting transcription, note-taking, and content repurposing help businesses preserve expertise that would otherwise remain trapped in people's heads. * The future belongs to businesses that understand Web Presence Intelligence. Success will come from understanding how customers discover information across search engines, AI platforms, communities, social media, and industry publications. * The best marketing still happens one relationship at a time. While AI can accelerate execution, visibility and trust are still built through relevance, expertise, credibility, and consistent value. * Interactive content often creates more value than static content. AI can help transform articles, presentations, and resources into calculators, assessments, tools, and experiences that audiences actively engage with. * The winners in AI will be the companies that control valuable data and context. Future AI systems will become more useful through connected ecosystems, making access to meaningful data increasingly important. * AI should help businesses create better content, not just more content. The goal is to amplify insight, originality, and usefulness rather than flooding channels with higher volumes of generic material. * Human-first marketing remains the best long-term strategy. Technology changes, platforms evolve, and algorithms come and go, but businesses that genuinely help people continue to earn trust and attention over time. The Human-First AI Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Avenue9 [https://avenue9.com/]. We use artificial intelligence to amplify your unique voice, empower your marketing team, and enable your scaling business to achieve big-brand success. Explore new avenues available with AI marketing at Avenue9.com. [https://avenue9.com/#how] No matter where you’re starting from or how big your goals are, we turn modern marketing challenges into exciting opportunities. Let's get started with a discovery consultation! [https://avenue9.com/contact-us/] Want to be a guest? Send Mike Montague a message on PodMatch here. [https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1738519089289300a62eab036]

AI Adoption with Maryrose Lyons

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2435068/fan_mail/new] AI Adoption with Maryrose Lyons explores what it really takes for SMBs and midmarket teams to learn, adopt, and apply AI in a way that improves daily work. Maryrose Lyons, founder of the AI Institute [https://weareaiinstitute.com/], joins Mike Montague to talk about why AI training needs to stay live, current, practical, and human-led as tools change faster than traditional courses can keep up. The conversation covers AI certificates, team confidence, prompt quality, Claude Code, Microsoft Copilot, custom GPTs, agents, and the shift from experimenting with AI to building real capability inside the business.  For business owners and marketing directors, the big takeaway is clear: AI adoption works best when leaders start with real use cases, give teams permission to learn, and focus on better outcomes instead of shiny tools. Maryrose shares how companies can move from fear and confusion to practical fluency by training people around the work they already do. This episode is a useful listen for leaders who want their teams to save time, improve productivity, and use AI with more confidence, context, and human judgment. Takeaways: * AI training needs to stay current and human-led. Maryrose shared that the AI Institute delivers live training because the tools change too quickly for static, pre-recorded courses to stay useful. * Teach people through real use cases. Instead of walking teams through generic tool features, she recommends showing employees how AI applies to the actual tasks they already do every week. * Different learners need different kinds of support. Maryrose described corporate learners as dreamers, believers, soldiers, and cynics, which means leaders should expect different levels of enthusiasm, fear, and skepticism during adoption. * Cynics can become strong adopters when they see AI solve their own work problems. When skeptical employees use AI to complete a familiar four-to-six-hour task in 15 to 20 minutes, their mindset often shifts quickly. * Deep training creates a long-term advantage. Companies that invested in serious AI training early have already moved ahead by hiring AI program leads, heads of AI, and internal teams to support adoption and governance. * Use case workshops turn excitement into a roadmap. Maryrose explained that after training, teams need help sorting their ideas into what they can do themselves, what needs support, and what deserves to become a built-out AI agent. * AI adoption now needs governance. As employees begin building agents across the business, leaders need to think through ownership, oversight, quality, and what happens when the person who built an agent leaves. * The future worker becomes the “CEO of your own role.” Maryrose said employees will increasingly manage agents, tools, and workflows around their responsibilities instead of simply completing every task manually. * Better prompts start with better thinking. She recommends pausing before opening PowerPoint or starting the task, gathering the right information, and using that context to produce a stronger AI-assisted result. * The real win is better work, not just saved time. Maryrose emphasized that AI should help teams produce higher-quality work and feel more capable in their jobs, which is the adoption sweet spot for business leaders. The Human-First AI Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Avenue9 [https://avenue9.com/]. We use artificial intelligence to amplify your unique voice, empower your marketing team, and enable your scaling business to achieve big-brand success. Explore new avenues available with AI marketing at Avenue9.com. [https://avenue9.com/#how] No matter where you’re starting from or how big your goals are, we turn modern marketing challenges into exciting opportunities. Let's get started with a discovery consultation! [https://avenue9.com/contact-us/] Want to be a guest? Send Mike Montague a message on PodMatch here. [https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1738519089289300a62eab036]

AI in 3D Content, Gaming, and World Building with James Thornton

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2435068/fan_mail/new] Everybody is talking about generative AI. They're missing the bigger opportunity. In a recent conversation with James Thornton, CEO of Daz 3D [https://www.daz3d.com/?], we explored a side of artificial intelligence that most business leaders aren't paying enough attention to. While much of the current AI discussion revolves around generating text, images, and videos, Thornton's work sits at the intersection of 3D content creation, gaming, digital avatars, AI training data, and virtual world building. His team helps create the digital assets that power everything from entertainment experiences to the next generation of AI systems. The conversation revealed an important shift that SMB business owners and marketing leaders should understand. Most companies are focused on creating content. The companies shaping the future are creating digital assets. That distinction may become one of the most important competitive advantages of the next decade. As AI evolves beyond chatbots and content generation, businesses will need new ways to create consistent digital identities, train intelligent systems, and build experiences that span physical and virtual environments. The organizations that prepare now will be positioned to benefit from these changes rather than react to them later. Connect with James on Linkedin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-thornton-1245162/] Visit Daz 3D [https://www.daz3d.com/] Key Takeaways from This Episode: * The future of AI extends far beyond text, images, and video. AI is increasingly being trained to understand 3D environments, movement, physics, and real-world interactions. * High-quality 3D training data is becoming a critical asset. The next generation of AI systems, robotics, and virtual experiences depends on realistic 3D models and simulations. * Digital identity is becoming just as important as physical identity. Younger generations increasingly engage with brands through avatars, gaming, virtual worlds, and digital experiences. * Digital twins and virtual assets can create long-term business value. Brands can build reusable digital assets that scale across marketing, training, entertainment, and future AI applications. * AI avatars and virtual influencers are creating new marketing opportunities. Leading brands are already exploring how digital personalities can connect with audiences in new and immersive ways. * Human creativity remains essential in an AI-powered world. AI can accelerate production and execution, but human insight, storytelling, and strategic direction drive meaningful results. * The "uncanny valley" is still a challenge for AI-generated humans. Audiences can often sense when digital characters feel almost human but not quite authentic, making human oversight critical. * 3D content creation is becoming more accessible than ever. Tools that once required large studios and specialized teams are increasingly available to creators, marketers, and SMBs. * Virtual experiences will enhance, not replace, real-world interactions. The most successful applications of AI and immersive technology will create new experiences while preserving human connection. * Business leaders should combine AI efficiency with human expertise. The greatest opportunities come from using AI as an amplifier of human creativity, intuition, and experience rather than a replacement for them. The Human-First AI Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Avenue9 [https://avenue9.com/]. We use artificial intelligence to amplify your unique voice, empower your marketing team, and enable your scaling business to achieve big-brand success. Explore new avenues available with AI marketing at Avenue9.com. [https://avenue9.com/#how] No matter where you’re starting from or how big your goals are, we turn modern marketing challenges into exciting opportunities. Let's get started with a discovery consultation! [https://avenue9.com/contact-us/] Want to be a guest? Send Mike Montague a message on PodMatch here. [https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1738519089289300a62eab036]