Best Story Wins

• SEO, AEO, and the Return of Good Marketing with Jenna Hannon of Hatter

  Your brand isn’t losing to competitors, it’s getting ghosted by the algorithm. As AI eats search, the “spray and pray” content playbook turns invisible. Are you training the models…or training your team to burn cash?This week, Jenna Hannon, Founder & CEO of Hatter, drops a State of the Union that B2B marketers need to hear: SEO isn’t dead, AEO (AI Engine Optimization) is here and lazy tactics are DOA. We unpack why LLMs reward actual marketing (crisp messaging, specific content, real PR) and punish AI-slop; how to merge SEO, AEO, and content into one motion instead of siloed teams; and why product marketing is the new growth core powering every channel.We also get into:SEO → AEO: Same inputs, new outputs and the extra layers that matter now.Quality > quantity: Why “programmatic, no-human” content craters (and how Google/LLMs sniff it out).Metrics that matter: Beyond traffic to AI visibility, context, and link-back citations that convert.Org design for 2026: Product marketing as the engine; experts in the loop; PR that teaches LLMs.

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• Ditching Best Practices: How Courageous Brands Get Remembered with Udi Ledergor of Gong

  Your funnel isn’t broken, but your nerve is. “Best practices” are just average practices with better PR. If every headline, homepage, and hot take sounds the same… what’s the one bold move that makes you unforgettable?In this episode, Udi Ledergor, Chief Evangelist at Gong and author of Courageous Marketing, torches the safe playbook and helps us build a braver one: a sharp, differentiated POV that slices through “sea of sameness” B2B. We get brutally practical on how to stop shipping beige content, why the CEO (not marketing) owns the brand, and how psychological safety unlocks the kind of creative risks that actually move pipeline. We also cover:Why “best practices” guarantee mediocrity and how to replace them with courageous bets.How to punch above your weight at tentpole events without buying the $500K booth.The 3-part brand promise test (and how most orgs break it in customer support).How to interview your CEO and Sales for risk tolerance before you take the job.Using AI to kill drudgery, not taste so your POV stays unmistakably human.

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• Tomato Sauce and the Stories Behind What We Buy with Andrew Lee of Microsoft

  Marketing is drowning in AI sludge, vanity dashboards, and “spray and pray” content. Your brand is getting lost, not because your product is weak, but because your taste is.In this episode, we sit down with Andrew Lee, Partner Marketing Leader at Microsoft, to torch the illusion that more content equals more impact. Together, we unpack why “brand vs. performance” is a fake fight, why taste is the last unfair advantage, and how to build owned distribution that survives algorithm mood swings. Your CMO will either thank you or feel attacked.We also cover:Annual planning as a power move: kill random acts of marketing.Turning founder POV into a scalable channel (without turning them into a dancing bear).How to benchmark “taste” (with simple, brutal quality bars your team can actually use).Converting narrative into numbers: story→search→sales enablement→SQLs.The “No Rented Moats” playbook: email + podcast + events > social roulette.

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• The Feeling of Knowing: Brand in the Age of LLMs, with Ari Yablok of Island

  LLMs are already “deciding” your brand for buyers. Are you shaping that story or letting the machine write it? If your marketing still sounds like everybody else’s, congratulations: you’ve trained the models to ignore you.This week we rip into the hottest B2B reality: AI Engine Optimization (AEO) meets human-only brand. Ari Yablok, head of brand at Island, shows how to beat sameness by sending clear “this is new” signals, building experiential brands that people feel (not just read), and using unreasonable hospitality to make products and events feel theirs, not “yours.”We also cover:AEO is the new SEO: how to show up inside LLM answers and make people prefer you before they ever ask a bot.Signals over slogans: designing booths, visuals, and copy that telegraph “category shift” without a single bullet point.Unreasonable hospitality in B2B: turning product nuance and in-person moments into retention (and reputation) machines.The “feeling of knowing”: why brand confidence shortens deals—even when buyers can’t explain why.Human as the counter-trend: embracing curated flaws and analog touchpoints to stand out as AI perfects the average.

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• Everything’s Changing: How Smart CMOs Stay Ahead with Drew Neisser of CMO Huddles

  Budgets are shrinking, patience is thinner and the CMO seat is a revolving door. Keep playing the old playbook and you’re next.What if the path forward isn’t “more content, faster”, but a hard reset on power, process and what we even call “brand”?In this episode, Drew Neisser, Founder of CMO Huddles, drops a reality check on B2B: CMOs are operating in Antarctica—hostile, short-term, and PE-pressured and it’s still the most exciting moment in marketing. We get blunt about the “do more with less” lie, why “brand” is a budget-killing word (start saying “reputation”), and how AI should first nuke your workflows and org chart before you let it ghostwrite your strategy.). This is the insider’s guide to surviving the freeze and shipping work that closes.We also cover:CMO power plays: why owning Partnerships/Rev levers earns a real seat at the table.Short-termism judo: aligning with CFOs on “metrics that matter” and fixing attribution theater.What actually converts now: late-stage, face-to-face moments (small dinners > giant trade shows).Direct mail’s comeback: high-impact, targeted sends that unblock stalled deals.

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