When someone asks ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or another LLM for the best solution in your category, does your company show up in the answer?

And if it doesn't, how do you figure out why?

In this episode of The Marketing Share, Alec Cheung and Barb VanSomeren welcome back marketing consultant David Kirkdorffer for a deep dive into how LLMs are changing brand discoverability and what marketing leaders can actually do about it.

When David joined the podcast in 2025, the conversation focused heavily on the technical side of getting discovered by LLMs, including website structure, schema, citations, and other elements happening behind the scenes. Those things still matter. But as David explains in this conversation, they aren't enough.

The words on the page matter too.

David explains why clear positioning, strategic narrative, and buyer enablement are becoming increasingly important as people turn to LLMs to research products, compare vendors, and make buying decisions.

Drawing from the frameworks of Andy Raskin, April Dunford, and Hank Barnes, he breaks down how marketers can make it easier for both buyers and LLMs to understand what their company does, who it's for, how it's different, and why its claims should be trusted.

The conversation also gets into a challenge many established brands may not be thinking about yet: their "narrative wake." Old positioning, outdated company descriptions, previous messaging, and third-party listings can continue influencing how LLMs understand a brand long after the company itself has moved on.

If you're a CMO, Marketing Director, or marketing leader trying to understand GEO, AEO, AI search, or how your brand can earn greater visibility in LLM-generated answers, this episode offers a practical way to think about what actually matters.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Introducing David Kirkdorffer and the evolution of LLM discoverability
05:00 Why the fundamentals of B2B marketing still matter in AI search
10:00 How the way buyers use LLMs changes what marketers need to communicate
15:00 Buyer enablement and the questions prospects want answered
24:00 Why your brand may not appear when someone searches your category
30:00 The "narrative wake" your old messaging leaves behind
39:00 Keeping your messaging consistent across marketing teams
48:00 What CMOs should prioritize for better AI discoverability
51:00 Schema helps LLMs find you, but your content determines what they can use

Connect with David Kirkdorffer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidkirkdorffer/

Connect with the hosts:
👉 Barb VanSomeren: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbvansomeren/
👉 Alec Cheung: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleccheung/

Connect with the Podcast Manager
👉 Cinthya Zeledón: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cinthyazeledon/

Explore the video content of each podcast episode on YouTube

Want to be a guest on The Marketing Share Podcast? Send us your bio and proposed interview topic to marketingsharepodcast@gmail.com, and our Podcast Manager will get back to you.

Sales and marketing alignment sounds like an intuitive thing to have in place in a business, but in practice, it can be one of the hardest things for a growing company to get right.

In this episode of The Marketing Share, Alec Cheung and Barb VanSomeren talk with Paul Huffman, Chief Revenue Officer at EMP Claims, about what happens when sales and marketing stop working as separate functions and start operating toward the same goals.

Paul shares what marketers need to understand about the sales side of the business, why constant feedback matters, how to identify where the funnel is actually breaking, and why metrics and messaging are two of the most important pieces of the puzzle.

The conversation also explores how AI is changing the way lean teams approach marketing and sales, why you shouldn't try to automate everything, and how Paul is using AI to build more efficient workflows while keeping humans involved where strategic judgment matters most.

If you're a marketing leader or a founder, working to improve sales and marketing alignment, build a leaner team, or create a more effective revenue engine, this episode has plenty to take away.

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Introduction: Aligning Sales and Marketing CRO perspective
02:55 Why sales and marketing struggle to work together
04:06 Why companies often build sales and marketing at different times
07:31 Should sales and marketing report to the same leader?
10:05 What marketers need to understand about sales
18:34 Building the right foundation before using AI
20:19 Using AI to understand customers and manage workflows
24:04 Why sales and marketing need shared definitions and metrics
26:05 Where the sales and marketing funnel actually breaks
27:26 Getting a real feedback loop between sales and marketing
31:53 Why you shouldn't automate everything
39:39 How to diagnose a broken sales and marketing engine
41:08 Metrics + messaging: the key to alignment
41:38 The mistake founders make with their first sales hire
43:16 When fractional and outsourced leadership makes sense

Loved this episode?

🎧 Subscribe to The Marketing Share Podcast to get unfiltered conversations with marketing leaders about growth, strategy, and the future of digital.

Connect with Paul
👉 Paul Huffman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-huffman-healthcare/

Connect with the hosts:
👉 Barb VanSomeren: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbvansomeren/
👉 Alec Cheung: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleccheung/

Connect with the Podcast Manager
👉 Cinthya Zeledón: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cinthyazeledon/

Explore the video content of each podcast episode on YouTube

Want to be a guest on The Marketing Share Podcast? Send us your bio and proposed interview topic to marketingsharepodcast@gmail.com, and our Podcast Manager will get back to you.

CMOs spend a lot of time talking about marketing performance, but what happens when it’s time to present those results to the board?

In this episode of The Marketing Share, Alec Cheung and Barb VanSomeren talk with Casey Carey about what CMOs need to keep in mind before they walk into a board meeting.

Casey shares the lessons, the mistakes, and his best approach to presenting marketing results and forecasts to the board successfully.

And he doesn't gatekeep! He also walks through his four-box framework for presenting marketing performance, his six rules for building a board presentation, and why every marketing story should have a clear line of sight to revenue and growth.

If you're a CMO or marketing leader preparing for your next board meeting, there is a lot to take away from this one.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Intro: board presentations can determine the course of your career
03:00 The biggest mistake CMOs make when presenting to the board
08:30 Understanding your board: financial leaders, operators, and marketers
09:30 Casey’s four box framework for presenting marketing results
14:10 Turning marketing initiatives into a strategic story
15:50 Casey’s six rules for presenting to the board
18:20 How to prepare for a board meeting without making it a quarterly fire drill
21:30 Presenting bad news, attribution, and building credibility with the board
29:30 What boards actually care about: bookings, ARR, and free cash flow
30:55 Which marketing metrics belong in the board conversation?
33:15 Managing aggressive growth expectations with realistic marketing investment
41:00 How AI is changing marketing teams and their economics
43:30 Casey’s advice for marketers: learning, earning, and giving


Loved this episode?

🎧 Subscribe to The Marketing Share Podcast to get unfiltered conversations with marketing leaders about growth, strategy, and the future of digital.

Connect with Casey Carey:
👉LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseykcarey/
👉 Email: CCAREY@TCPsoftware.com

Connect with the hosts:
👉 Barb VanSomeren: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbvansomeren/
👉 Alec Cheung: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleccheung/

Connect with the Podcast Manager
👉 Cinthya Zeledón: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cinthyazeledon/

Explore the video content of each podcast episode on YouTube

Want to be a guest on The Marketing Share Podcast? Send us your bio and proposed interview topic to marketingsharepodcast@gmail.com, and our Podcast Manager will get back to you.