How effort, trust, and cognitive load determine modern market share TL;DR Consumers don’t make decisions the way marketers think they do.They optimize for effort, clarity, trust, and risk, not just product specs.In an era where information is abundant, switching is effortless, and AI systems reduce cognitive burdens, Consumer Economics—not marketing tactics—is now the real driver
Lever 1: Consumer Economics — The Demand Engine Read More »
How Stigler, Porter, Ohmae, and the Marine Corps shaped this digital-era strategy model TL;DR George Stigler explained why information shapes markets.Michael Porter explained how competitive forces shape industries.Kenichi Ohmae explained how organizations align around customer value. But today’s economy is shaped by information abundance, digital ecosystems, and AI-driven mediation — forces none of them lived
From Stigler to Porter to AI: Why We Need a New Strategy Model for the Digital Age Read More »
Every significant website migration carries risk. From a search perspective, the more things change, the higher the chance of failure. Over two decades of seeing migrations go wrong—from redesigns to replatforming—I’ve found that most disasters aren’t caused by “Google updates” or “bad luck.” They happen because teams underestimate how interconnected every page is. A high-performing
Why Site Migrations Fail — and How to Prevent It Read More »
Why CMOs Must Think Like Investors—and Treat the Website as a Capital Asset, Not a Marketing Expense The Hidden Asset on Every Balance Sheet Most companies’ most visible business unit isn’t their retail store, sales team, or even their product. It’s their website. It’s where customers research, compare, evaluate, and often, decide to engage with
Digital Value Creation: Turning Web Effectiveness Into Shareholder Growth Read More »
In the first article of this series, we explored how invocation marks the next evolution of digital discoverability — the shift from being found to being called. Invocation is about readiness: when a system or user asks for something to be done, your brand is what gets pulled into that action. But here’s the unglamorous
Why Invocation Depends on Data (The Irrefutable Evidence) Read More »
Why the Data Layer Comes First In the last article, “From Visibility to Callability,” we proved that invocation isn’t theory anymore — it’s happening right now.Platforms like Google, Shopify, Walmart, and OpenAI have already re-engineered around structured, callable data. The evidence is overwhelming: if your data can’t be called, your brand can’t compete. But evidence
From Visibility to Callability — Building Invocation Readiness Read More »
I recently had dinner with my great and GSI Co-Founder friend Jeremy Sanchez, and our conversation turned to where AI is taking marketing and search. Jeremy was telling me where he thought it was going and used the term “invocation,” and it struck me immediately as the right word for the even larger AI shift
Invocation: The Next Frontier of Discoverability Read More »
In a forthcoming Substack article, “Who Is the GEO Coach?”, I describe that role as “a focused version of a Digital Effectiveness Officer — someone charged with making sure the ‘search slice’ of the digital engine is healthy, performant, and well-aligned.” That line deserves some unpacking. For many organizations, the GEO mandate may be the
From GEO Coach to DEO to VP of Answers: The Leadership Path in the Answer Economy Read More »
Every digital leader is under pressure to drive growth, improve efficiency, and maximize returns. Most invest heavily in martech, media, and content. But despite all of that effort, the results often plateau. You don’t see the expected lift. You can’t quite explain the gap. Here’s why: Most enterprise websites are leaking revenue—silently, invisibly, and continuously.
Your Website Is Leaking Money: 4 Hidden ROI Killers No One’s Monitoring Read More »
In both private equity-backed companies and brand licensing conglomerates, growth is the mandate. But too often, performance breaks down at the execution layer—not because the vision is flawed, but because the systems, teams, and tools aren’t aligned to deliver it. Enter the Digital Effectiveness Officer (DEO). In our first article on the DEO role, we
The DEO in Private Equity and Brand Licensing: Operationalizing Performance at Scale Read More »
