Interview

How to stand out among millions of products.

marketing 17 Dec 2025

1. You’ve carved out a niche supporting beauty, health, and wellness brands. What drew you to this space and what keeps you passionate about it?

I’ve always been drawn to beauty, health, and wellness because it’s such an accessible and relevant space. Everyone interacts with it in some way. Beyond that, it offers incredible breadth for storytelling. There are so many angles to explore, whether it is product innovation, ingredients, problem-solving, influencer collaborations, or experiential moments. Each touchpoint, whether media, influencers, KOLs, or consumers, offers a unique way to connect and create meaningful engagement. What keeps me passionate is seeing how strategic storytelling can turn these touchpoints into authentic connections that resonate and build brand loyalty over time.

2. What’s a common mistake emerging beauty or wellness brands make when trying to differentiate themselves in a crowded space?

A common misstep is lacking a clear mission and unique differentiator. Without that, brands risk creating a product portfolio that is too broad, which can dilute the story and confuse consumers. Emerging brands often try to be everything to everyone rather than focusing on what truly sets them apart. Clarity around mission and messaging is critical. It becomes the foundation for every campaign, every launch, and every interaction with your audience.

3. Beauty and wellness brands need to secure emotional connections with their consumers. What role does storytelling play in building brand loyalty in these industries?

Storytelling is absolutely essential. Consumers today are not just buying products. They are buying into a brand’s mission, values, and narrative. That thread needs to be consistent across every touchpoint, from product packaging to social media, influencer collaborations, and beyond. If your goal is to create loyalty that goes beyond a one-time sale, consistent storytelling is the bridge that transforms a consumer from a buyer into a devoted advocate.

4. With consumers wanting transparency, how can brands use PR to build trust, especially in health and wellness, where credibility is everything?

Transparency is key to building credibility. Brands can leverage PR to tell the story of their mission, share founder insights, and highlight what goes into their products, including ingredients, sourcing, and clinical validations. Introducing the people behind the brand, along with authentic reviews and testimonials, further reinforces trust. Layering these elements creates a multidimensional narrative that signals both integrity and expertise, which is critical in health and wellness.

5. Health and wellness consumers do a lot of research. How do you advise brands to maintain an authoritative voice while avoiding sounding preachy?

The key is to be authentic and focused. Brands should be clear about what their product or service solves and how they arrived at it, whether that is through research, clinicals, or ingredient sourcing. You cannot, and should not try to solve every problem for every consumer. People respect honesty and specificity. Attempting to cover too much risks sounding insincere and inauthentic.

Prezzee Launches its AI-Powered Magical Moments for the Holiday

marketing 17 Dec 2025

How do these AI features transform gifting from a simple transaction into an emotional, interactive moment?

For years, digital gifting has been synonymous with convenience. It is quick, useful, and practical. But practicality alone doesn’t create memories and, for many, it can seem cold and generic. However, our AI-powered Magical Moments were designed to close that gap by bringing emotion and personalization back into digital gifting.

With Magical Moments, what comes forward is pure emotion. A child hearing Santa say their name for the first time, a family or group of co-workers laughing together in the personalized carolers video, or a friend feeling genuinely seen in a video made just for them. These are the moments people replay, share, and talk about long after the holiday.

AI enables the speed and scale, but the magic comes from how personal the experience feels. It turns gifting from “I sent you something” into “I made something special for you”. That emotional elevation is what transforms a transaction into a memory.

Many people think of gifting as seasonal. Why is personalization becoming a 365-day expectation?

The shift we’re seeing is much more about human behavior. Consumers now live in an ecosystem where everything is personalized – their playlists, shopping recommendations, workouts, entertainment, and even news. When personalization becomes the default everywhere else, gifting can’t remain static or generic.

People want to feel seen all year long, not just in December and during the holiday season. A birthday in March, a promotion in July, a new baby in October -- these are equally meaningful touchpoints. Personalization turns these everyday moments into opportunities to build connection.

And that’s why we’re seeing the rise of “micro-gifting.” It’s less about the size of the gift and more about the thought behind it. AI helps to create those personalized expressions instantly, so sending something meaningful no longer requires planning weeks ahead.

How do you balance speed with personalization so gifting still feels thoughtful?

Consumers don’t want to choose between convenience and meaning. They really want both, seamlessly.

With Magical Moments, the sender gives us a few details, and our system builds a beautifully produced, personalized video in moments. On the gifting side, travelers, last-minute shoppers, and busy parents can send a digital experience, and optionally a gift card, that looks like it took much longer than it did. The recipient sees something custom and heartfelt. The giver feels proud of what they created. We think the future of digital gifting sits in this sweet spot -- high empathy, lower effort.

From a technology standpoint, what were the biggest challenges in building AI experiences that feel warm and human rather than robotic?

Our biggest focus was tone. AI can be technically impressive but emotionally flat, and we wanted Magical Moments to feel like it came from someone who knows you, not from a system that generates a script.

That required a lot of intentional design:
• Crafting character voices that sound gentle, joyful, and reassuring
• Ensuring visual elements feel playful rather than synthetic
• Training the models to interpret inputs in context rather than literally
• Building guardrails so the experience always feels safe for children and families

We also had to engineer for global scale without sacrificing intimacy. Millions of people may use Magical Moments, but each one should feel like it was made only for them. That balance between mass personalization and emotional authenticity is where the real innovation happened.

How will AI support more meaningful “micro-occasions” throughout the year?

We think AI will unlock a new category of gifting -- the spontaneous, heartfelt, everyday gestures that strengthen relationships.

Imagine congratulating a teammate on a promotion with a personalized message paired with a digital gift card they can use anywhere. Or thanking a teacher, welcoming a new neighbor, or celebrating a small win with something meaningful that took 30 seconds to send but feels far more intentional.

Those micro-occasions are often when people want to express appreciation but don’t have the time or energy to make it feel special. AI does the heavy lifting creating the message, designing the experience, while the sender remains the heart behind it.

These small touches of humanity matter more than ever these days, and we know that.

How do you ensure AI experiences remain culturally sensitive across diverse audiences?

This is an area we invest heavily in. Gifting is deeply emotional, and traditions vary widely across families, cultures, and regions. That means the experiences we build must feel inclusive and respectful.

We put a cultural lens and language sensitivity at the forefront of our development process. We test with diverse user groups, rely on inclusive creative direction, and build guardrails that ensure content remains positive, warm, and universally appropriate.

Magical Moments should feel magical for everyone, not just a specific demographic or culture.

As AI becomes more advanced, how do you maintain the human touch that makes gifting feel special?

For us, AI is not the storyteller - the human is. AI is just the helper that makes expressing a feeling easier, faster, and more beautiful.

The human element comes through in the choices the sender makes, the message they write, the moment they choose to recognize, the design they select, the thought that prompted the gift in the first place. AI never replaces that intention; it amplifies it.

The future of gifting won’t be about making AI louder, but instead it will be about making human connection clearer. And as long as we focus on designing experiences that celebrate emotions and people, not automation and technology, the heart of gifting remains exactly where it should be.

Influence Mapping: The Secret to Higher Conversion

marketing 15 Dec 2025

Prospecting often feels like a frustrating game of hide-and-seek. In today's B2B world, the idea of a lone buyer is a myth, and deals now involve a diverse group of stakeholders from various departments, each with their own priorities.

This challenging task is made worse by frequent collaboration breakdowns across go-to-market (GTM) teams. A Mural survey found that 85% of GTM teams frequently experience misalignment, with 89% seeing the impact on revenue. Simply put, GTM teams need a better way to engage a complex web of stakeholders.

Enter: influence mapping. This powerful, data-driven capability provides a clear visual guide that goes beyond a traditional org chart - helping teams quickly identify key players, uncover hidden connections, and reach the right people faster.

Accounts Are Ecosystems, Not Individuals

The idea that one person can single-handedly approve a major purchase is a thing of the past. Nowadays, companies bring together an integrated GTM team to evaluate and approve new solutions. This shift means the sales strategy has to evolve as well. Now, teams need to engage an entire ecosystem, which can be done with influence mapping.

For example, a software company was close to finalizing a deal with a new customer. The Head of IT was enthusiastic about the product and ready to move forward, but at the last minute, the legal team raised data privacy concerns that derailed the deal. Without using influence mapping, the sales team missed the opportunity to identify and engage this critical stakeholder early in the process.

On the other hand, influence mapping can also reveal unexpected champions, such as frontline employees or business sponsors, who can become powerful internal advocates. The key to success is viewing every account as a connected network of individuals, each with their own priorities, needs, and influence.

Moving from Contacts to Influence Networks

The most effective sales teams go beyond simply collecting contacts - they create detailed influence maps that clearly visualize key players and the relationships that drive decisions within an account. They want to understand who ultimately influences decisions, whether that's through formal authority or informal trust. Today, marketing and sales teams are increasingly relying on sales intelligence and marketing automation platforms that integrate influence mapping to manage this complexity.

The best way to navigate this complex network is through a visual influence map - it clearly illustrates how people are connected and where influence flows. For example, it might reveal a finance contact with a strong relationship to the Head of IT.

Ultimately, influence mapping enables GTM teams to pinpoint who to engage, anticipate potential resistance, and tailor their approach to each stakeholder’s priorities and pain points.

Creating a Tailored Message

When a decision is shared across an organization, a one-size-fits-all pitch doesn’t work. Each stakeholder has their own agenda: the finance team cares about ROI, the IT department is focused on integration and security, and end-users want to know if the product will make their lives easier.

To secure a deal, teams can use influence mapping to create tailored messages for each group. By understanding each stakeholder's unique motivations, teams can build customized pitches that address each person’s specific needs and concerns.

For example, a pitch to the IT team could focus on seamless integration and reliable support. A conversation with the finance team would highlight cost savings and long-term value. By speaking their language, teams build credibility and trust across the whole organization, shifting your company from being seen as a vendor to being seen as a strategic partner that can solve their problems.

Three Steps To Get Started

Effective influence mapping depends on consistent habits and the right tools to help teams stay focused on the full customer ecosystem, following three key steps:

Identify all contacts early: Don’t rely solely on a primary contact. Use influence mapping proactively to uncover all decision-makers and influencers who could impact the deal before it closes.
Keep maps current: Roles and priorities evolve. Make it a regular practice - during weekly or monthly account reviews to update your influence map to reflect the latest dynamics.
Maintain ongoing engagement: Don’t wait until renewal or an upsell opportunity to connect. Build relationships across multiple people and departments over time. Consistent communication uncovers new opportunities and resolves small issues before they grow.

Building Stronger Customer Relationships

Influence mapping empowers GTM teams to close more deals and build a stronger, more resilient business. By cultivating connections across the organization, teams reduce the risk of losing momentum, or even an account, when a key contact departs or roles shift.

It's time to dismantle outdated strategies and embrace a new way of thinking: holistic, network-driven, and built for the future.

The Five Data and AI Trends Reshaping Marketing in 2026

customer identity management 15 Dec 2025

By: Kimberly Gilberti, General Manager, Experian

1. Your trends outlook says 2026 will be defined by connection. What does that mean for marketers?

For years, marketing systems have grown more fragmented. In 2026, that changes. 2026 will be the year that we see tighter alignment between activation and measurement, more interoperable identity frameworks, and stronger data foundations that support AI at scale. According to our 2026 trends report, the most successful organizations will be the ones that unify their systems so insight moves directly into action and outcomes can be validated across every channel.

2. AI has moved past the hype cycle. What will determine whether marketers actually see value from it this year?

Data quality is what will shape AI outcomes. Our report emphasizes that AI is only as good as the data it learns from, which means accuracy, freshness, consent, and interoperability are essential requirements that marketers must prioritize. Marketers who invest in high-integrity data will see AI unlock more personalization, stronger predictive modeling, and more efficient workflows. Those who rely on incomplete or outdated signals risk automating poor decisions faster.

3. Measurement seems to be changing rapidly in 2026. How are marketers rethinking it?

Measurement is shifting from a retrospective exercise to a real-time capability. Instead of waiting until a campaign ends, marketers now expect live feedback on how audiences are responding, where value is being created, and which channels are driving true incrementality. Our report notes that the walls between activation and analytics are falling, allowing teams to optimize creative, targeting, and spend mid-flight rather than reacting after the fact. This is a foundational change, and it will reshape planning, budgeting, and cross-team collaboration in 2026

4. First-party data remains a big priority. What is different about how companies will use it in 2026?

2026 is the year first-party data becomes operational rather than aspirational. Collecting data is no longer the challenge. Activating it across channels is. Our report highlights that marketers want to unify CRM, digital, and TV data to create full-funnel addressability, as well as use enrichment and modeling to expand their reach intelligently. Marketers are realizing that first-party data is only powerful when it can move securely and consistently across platforms.

5. Commerce media has grown incredibly fast. What does the next phase look like?

Commerce media is evolving from a retail-only phenomenon into a multi-industry movement. Auto, CPG, travel, financial services, and entertainment brands are now building or partnering on media networks. This expansion reflects a broader shift toward connecting exposure with transactions, whether they happen online or offline. Our report notes that identity is the engine powering this evolution because it allows marketers to tie media to real-world results and measure the value of their audiences with greater accuracy.

6. Curation is becoming a bigger part of programmatic. Why now?

Curation is emerging as a structural shift rather than a trend. With signal fragmentation, privacy reform, and concerns about efficiency, curated private marketplaces (PMPs) give marketers more control over who they reach and how. According to our report, curated supply paths now account for a significant share of programmatic spend and offer stronger transparency, real-time optimization, and access to high-quality audiences that can be activated consistently across CTV, audio, and the open web. In other words, curation is becoming the standard path to performance.

7. When you look across all five trends, what unifies them and what should marketers prioritize first?

Identity and data quality unify every trend. Every trend in our outlook depends on them. AI can only perform at the level of the data fueling it. First-party activation depends on consistent identity matching. Commerce media requires clear connections between exposure and conversion. Curation relies on accurate and privacy-forward signals. Measurement is only meaningful when marketers can trace outcomes back to real people and real actions. Our report emphasizes that the leaders in 2026 will be the companies that establish a clean, connected, privacy-first data foundation and apply it consistently across teams and channels.

The 2025 Reality of the Solo Marketing Coordinator

marketing 12 Dec 2025

By Debra Andrews, founder of Marketri

Every industry has its myths. In marketing, one of the most persistent is the idea that a single person, usually a well-intentioned, early-career Marketing Coordinator, can run an entire modern marketing function alone.

On paper, the role still looks deceptively manageable: coordinate campaigns, keep content moving, support sales, maybe schedule some social posts. In practice, the 2025 version of that job is closer to running mission control at NASA…except with fewer people, fewer tools, and a lot less oxygen.

After years of working with mid-sized B2B companies, I can say this with certainty: the “marketer of one” model is officially outdated. Not because people have changed, but because marketing has.

Marketing Grew. The Role Didn’t.

Modern marketing is not one discipline. It’s a constellation of them. Even the simplest initiative touches multiple functions: AI tools, automation, analytics, messaging, content, design, brand, demand gen, SEO, sales enablement, and more.

Yet many organizations are still structuring their teams like it’s 2010.

A typical marketing coordinator today is asked to:

Build campaigns
Manage budgets
Write content
Run automation platforms
Interpret analytics
Support sales
Handle social
Update the website
And, oh yes, “own AI”

No single professional, junior or senior, can be all of these things at once. The work has outpaced the role. What was once a foundational position has quietly become a catch-all for everything no one else has time to do.

AI Didn’t Fix the Problem. It Exposed It.

There’s a belief that AI will solve the talent gap in small marketing teams. I wish it were that simple.

AI speeds things up. It lightens the load. It clears mental space. But it also increases expectations. Once AI enters the workflow, the assumption becomes: “We should be able to produce more, faster, with fewer people.”

But AI doesn’t replace strategic thinking. It doesn’t replace positioning decisions. It doesn’t replace judgment, sequencing, prioritization, or the ability to connect marketing activities to revenue.

If anything, AI has widened the gap between execution-heavy roles and the senior guidance they rely on.

The coordinator is still expected to do the work. They’re just now expected to use artificial intelligence to do all of the work.

Where Companies Get Stuck: The Pattern I See Over and Over

After years of helping companies build marketing engines, I’ve noticed the same cycle repeating itself:

Hire a solo marketer
Expect them to “run marketing”
Flood them with tactics and requests
See the work scatter in 12 directions
Question why results aren’t materializing
Burnout or turnover
Restart

This pattern has less to do with talent and everything to do with structure.

Marketing is no longer an activity. It’s an ecosystem. And ecosystems don’t thrive under one gardener.

The Healthy Alternative: Fractional Support + One Strong Coordinator

The solution I see working consistently isn’t adding more hustle. It’s adding more structure.

A modern marketing engine often needs:

A strategic leader who can prioritize, sequence, and say “not now”
Specialists who can be brought in as needed (content, design, automation, analytics, SEO)
A coordinator who’s no longer drowning, but actually orchestrating

This doesn’t require building a full department. It requires building the right support system.

Fractional models exist for a reason: they give businesses access to strategic thinking and specialized skills at the proportion they actually need.

And coordinators? They go from surviving to growing. They get clarity. They get mentorship.
They get a role that’s manageable, not mythical.

Redefining the Coordinator Role for 2025 and Beyond

If I could rewrite the coordinator role in 2025, it would look radically different. Something like:

A grounded executor, not a one-person strategy team.
They keep projects moving, but they aren’t expected to own the entire plan.

A collaborator, not a lone ranger.
Supported by strategists and specialists instead of improvising everything.

An AI-competent operator, not an AI department.
Using AI to accelerate work, not replace structural support.

A professional with a runway.
Because the role should be a launchpad, not a burnout cycle.

This version of the job is sustainable. It aligns with how marketing actually functions today. And most importantly, it allows talent to develop instead of collapse under unrealistic expectations.

The Bottom Line

Most Marketing Coordinators don’t fail. They’re failed by the structure around them. The “marketer of one” model belonged to a different era before AI, before the martech boom, before marketing became a data-driven revenue engine. Holding onto it today doesn’t just strain your coordinator; it keeps your company stuck in a perpetual state of activity without progress.

When businesses redesign the role with real support like fractional leadership, specialist access, and a clear strategic roadmap, they don’t just protect their people. They finally unlock the marketing results they were chasing in the first place.

The future of the Marketing Coordinator isn’t about doing everything. It’s about finally giving the role the structure it always deserved.

How AI Is Transforming Martech – Jigar Agrawal from eSparkBiz

marketing 10 Dec 2025

1. How is AI influencing the architecture and design of modern Martech applications?

Answer:

AI is fundamentally changing how marketing software is designed. Businesses need platforms that can process large amounts of data, adapt quickly, and deliver personalized experiences in real time. At eSparkBiz, we help companies build custom Martech applications with scalable architectures, cloud-ready infrastructure, and ML Ops pipelines, ensuring the software is future-ready.

2. What key AI technologies does eSparkBiz integrate when developing Martech platforms?

Answer:

When building Martech solutions, we select AI technologies that truly add value to marketing operations. Our toolkit includes machine learning for predictions, NLP for understanding customer intent, generative AI for content creation, recommendation engines for personalization, and automation frameworks for workflows. At eSparkBiz, we don’t just implement technology—we customize it for each business, ensuring the platform delivers actionable insights and improves marketing efficiency.

3. Which AI-driven Martech trends will have the greatest long-term impact?

Answer:

Some trends are game-changers for businesses. Predictive marketing and analytics help companies anticipate customer needs. Generative AI for content creation allows teams to produce more personalized campaigns at scale. And autonomous marketing workflows are reshaping how campaigns are managed, freeing marketers to focus on strategy. At eSparkBiz, we help businesses leverage these trends by building custom AI solutions that keep them ahead of the curve.

4. What are the biggest technical challenges in building AI-powered Martech software?

Answer:

Building AI-driven marketing software is exciting but challenging. Businesses often struggle with messy or siloed data, real-time performance demands, and evolving AI models that need continuous training. Privacy and security add another layer of complexity. At eSparkBiz, we tackle these challenges with robust data pipelines, ML Ops automation, and secure, scalable architectures, helping companies deploy AI confidently and reliably.

5. What future AI capabilities will become standard in Martech?

Answer:

The future of Martech will revolve around real-time personalization, predictive insights, AI-driven content creation, and autonomous campaign optimization. Conversational AI and advanced analytics will also become the norm. eSparkBiz builds custom solutions that integrate these emerging capabilities, helping businesses stay competitive and deliver more intelligent, customer-focused marketing.

6. What role does generative AI play in Martech development today?

Answer:

Generative AI is transforming how marketing software is built and used. It accelerates content creation, campaign ideas, and A/B testing, while also helping software developers prototype features faster. At eSparkBiz, we integrate generative AI into Martech applications so that businesses can automate creative tasks, personalize at scale, and iterate quickly, making AI a true partner rather than just a tool.

Transforming Marketing into a Growth Engine

marketing 25 Nov 2025

How can organizations turn marketing into a true growth engine?

By shifting from scattered activities to a clear, aligned system. But before that shift can happen, organizations must build a strong marketing foundation — one grounded in clarity, consistency, and well-defined goals.

This foundation starts with understanding who you’re targeting, what you want to achieve, and how success will be measured. When companies take the time to define their ideal audience, sharpen their value proposition, clarify messaging, and set realistic, measurable objectives, every marketing decision becomes more intentional and effective.

With that foundation in place, marketing can finally operate as a strategic engine. Each initiative connects to a specific goal, every dollar has a purpose, and performance becomes predictable. Instead of acting as a cost center, marketing becomes a revenue-generating system — one built on alignment, structure, and accountability.

What is the biggest difference between ‘busy marketing’ and strategic marketing?

Busy marketing is activity for activity’s sake — constant posting, designing, and launching without direction. Strategic marketing aligns every effort with business goals, drives measurable outcomes, and eliminates guesswork.

Why do organizations fall into the trap of busy marketing?

Because activity feels productive, without structure, teams focus on “doing more” instead of “doing what works.” Strategy brings the discipline, focus, and clarity needed to move from noise to results.

How can companies build accountable marketing systems?

Accountable marketing systems don’t happen by accident — they’re intentionally designed. The process begins with clarity, because accountability is impossible when teams are unclear about what they’re aiming for.

That clarity is built on three foundational elements:

A unified message – Everyone in the organization should be communicating the same value proposition, not different versions of it.
A defined audience – Teams must know exactly who they’re targeting, what that audience cares about, and which channels reach them.
Clear business goals – Not vanity metrics, but measurable outcomes tied directly to revenue, retention, or customer behavior.

Once the foundation is in place, companies must introduce structure — the operational backbone that turns strategy into consistent, measurable action. This includes:

KPIs that matter: Clear ownership of metrics such as CAC, MQLs, SQL conversion, ROAS, lead quality, and retention drivers.
Dashboards: Real-time visibility so leaders and teams can see progress, identify issues, and make fast decisions.
Workflows & processes: Repeatable steps for content, campaigns, approvals, and reporting — reducing chaos and accelerating execution.
Review rhythms: Weekly, monthly, and quarterly performance check-ins that turn data into action, and action into improvement.

When everyone knows the plan, understands the metrics, and follows a shared structure, accountability becomes a natural part of the culture.

Why is there often a gap between creativity and execution?

Creativity is inspiring, energizing, and often the easiest part of the process. Most organizations have no shortage of ideas — in fact, many generate brilliant concepts every day. The real challenge begins when it’s time to turn those ideas into reality.

Execution requires structure, alignment, and discipline. That’s where the gap appears.

Many teams struggle because:

Ownership is unclear: Everyone loves the idea, but no one knows who is responsible for driving it forward.
Processes are missing: Without a defined workflow, even strong ideas get stuck in bottlenecks, approvals, or confusion.
Communication breaks down: Departments work in silos, so the people ideating aren’t always connected to the people executing.
Priorities shift constantly: Teams are overwhelmed with competing tasks, and new ideas lose momentum or get pushed aside.
No measurable goals exist: Without clarity on what success looks like, execution becomes vague and inconsistent.

Creativity thrives on inspiration, but execution thrives on operational discipline. When organizations combine both — clear roles, strong processes, and cross-functional communication — ideas finally move from the whiteboard to the marketplace. That’s when creativity becomes an impact, and strategy turns into real results.

How can organizations ensure their marketing investment delivers measurable results?

By defining KPIs upfront, aligning marketing with sales, integrating analytics, and using data to inform decisions. Results come from disciplined measurement, not assumptions.

What skills will matter most for the next generation of leaders?

Systems thinking, data literacy, cross-functional collaboration, and the ability to simplify complexity. The most effective leaders blend creativity with operational rigor.

Why is organizational alignment essential for modern marketing?

Because marketing cannot succeed in isolation, when teams share goals, language, and expectations, friction disappears. Alignment accelerates decision-making, strengthens execution, and boosts performance.

What is one actionable step organizations can take today?

Conduct a clarity audit. Review your messaging, audience, goals, channels, and execution processes. Identifying gaps early creates immediate focus and lays the foundation for a scalable strategic marketing system.

Closing Thoughts:

As marketing continues to evolve, the organizations that succeed will be the ones that embrace structure, strategy, and accountability. Azzelera Marketing Consulting believes that growth should be intentional, measurable, and supported by systems that elevate both creativity and execution.

With the right framework, marketing becomes more than activity — it becomes momentum, alignment, and a true engine for growth.

AI Search Optimization Can't Wait: Why Marketers Must Adapt Now

marketing 20 Nov 2025

Global State of Ecommerce 2025 report found that 11.4% of retail traffic from ChatGPT converted to sales, compared with 9.3% for paid search and 5.3% for organic search.

While good SEO contributes to AI referrals, the winners are not always the same. For example, Ally Bank gets more referral traffic from ChatGPT than traditional banks. Why? Because ChatGPT prioritizes well-reviewed, user-friendly products, and Ally Bank consistently performs well in organic sources like Reddit and review sites that ChatGPT favors. So far, there is no ChatGPT advertising that would allow brands to buy a place at the top of the banking recommendations.

Think conversation, not conversion

While high conversion rates for AI are interesting, we can’t just focus on clicks that drive traffic with GenAI the same way we do with search. Traditionally, users who entered search queries were looking for links to click on. That’s changed as AI summaries become common on search engine results pages, driving up zero click behavior. It’s changed even more with GenAI, where links are presented as footnotes to a chatbot’s answers.

That makes it doubly important to understand the types of conversations consumers are having with AI engines. Through repeated prompts, answers, and follow up questions, they are learning about your brand and products through pre-digested AI summaries of your content in combination with independent news, reviews, and social posts that either support or undermine your marketing efforts.

That’s how the AI decides whether your website, blog post, or product page is worth linking to – and how the consumer decides if the link is worth clicking on. Instead of clicking, they might research your brand further through conventional search – about 95% of ChatGPT users also continue to use Google – but only if the AI answer motivated them to learn more. Getting traffic as a result of these interactions is important but so is the opinion consumers form about your brand without even visiting your website or your app.

In other words, conversation comes before conversion.

Just as the exact rules of SEO have to be rewritten every few months to account for algorithmic changes, GenAI technology will continue to change. But SEO experts have established some foundational principles over the years, and we need to do the same for AI.

Here is what we’ve learned from our own explorations and consultations with industry experts.

AI prompts are highly personal and less generic than search keywords

For decades, we’ve been building SEO tools and strategies around identifying common keywords and optimizing content to match. Users may misspell words or use slightly different phrasing, but there’s a reasonable degree of convergence around keywords like “best skincare routine.”

AI prompts tend to be much more specific. Instead of a couple of skincare keywords, a user will often provide their age and details about other products they have tried and what has and hasn’t worked for them. Rather than asking for links, they ask for detailed recommendations and a plan of action.

If you can get access to sample prompts, they can be invaluable for market research. On the other hand, it’s unlikely that thousands of people will enter the exact same prompt with the exact same details. Rather than thinking in terms of search query keywords, we need to identify common themes for prompts. In the example shown below, we’re exploring answers to questions about vacuum cleaner models, their positive and negative sentiment, and specific product attributes different brands win on.

Early theories of AI optimization

For guidance on how optimizing for GenAI is different, allow me to share the insights from experts who participated in a recent Similarweb Search Summit in London: Kevin Indig, who has been providing regular updates on the impact of AI on search through his Growth Memo newsletter and Aleyda Solís, founder of SEO consultancy Orainti, who provided an AI search optimization checklist. Here is a mashup of their recommendations:

Discover the right social and discussion platforms for the focus where your brand needs to win influence, prioritizing those most frequently referenced in ChatGPT answers and Google search results for key topics.
Simplify and structure your branded content to make it easily digestible by both people and machines. For better placement in AI summaries, Solis recommends “chunking” content into focused semantic units that can stand on their own, independent of a larger document.
Aim for recognition as a trusted, clearly differentiated brand. Cultivate proof points (success stories, benchmarks, certifications), experts advocates, validation by partners, analysts, reviews and press, and consistent visibility everywhere that potential customers are forming opinions and making decisions.
Monitor your brand visibility, sentiment, referrals from AI to identify opportunities to improve mentions that matter versus competitors.

Example: Winning in skin care

An example of a brand with a winning share of AI referral traffic is The Ordinary in skin care. Based on U.S. web traffic, March to August 2025, theordinary.com captured a 57.56% share versus several close competitors.

An analysis of typical prompts related to this traffic shows that consumers are often either asking for the brand by name or asking questions related to the characteristics of its best known products (like “Can I use Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% serum with vitamin C products?”). Likely that’s because The Ordinary includes specific ingredients in their product names, where competing brands like Cerave are more likely to use terms like “foaming cleanser.”

As a result, The Ordinary has gotten out the message that these are desirable skincare ingredients, and consumers are asking detailed questions about them.

ChatGPT has gotten the message not only from the brand website but from external news and review sources. So has Google search, which includes an AI Overview summary citing The Ordinary’s content and places theordinary.com at the top of its search engine results, followed by links to a Healthline article and forum posts on Quora and Reddit.

The lesson: Paying attention to what works in GenAI visibility and how that is different from SEO is important. At the same time, improving your content and your external mentions to boost your GenAI standing is also likely to boost your search ranking – particularly as GenAI features are more tightly coupled with search.

Yes, it’s true we’re very early in the process of understanding how to optimize for GenAI. No, it’s not too early to get started.

Don’t wait.