If you find yourself increasingly turning to large language models (LLMs) like Google Gemini or ChatGPT when searching for information online, you’re not alone.
Many people treat traditional search and LLMs as a binary choice — one or the other. But in reality, search engines and generative search are experiential competitors, not direct ones. They do very different things, as the table below shows:
Search EnginesGenerative SearchCompetitor in functionCompetitor in experienceBuilt for linksBuilt for answersOwns web trafficOwns user trust
As a marketer, it’s helpful to think of generative search products as unbiased analysts engaging audiences of diverse personas. These tools aim to understand each persona’s intent, analyze relevant data, and personalize results based on user input.
Because search and generative tools work differently, marketers must rethink digital visibility and shift from an SEO mindset to a generative search optimization mindset.
An SEO mindset sounds like: “If we target keywords X with content Y and build Z backlinks, we should rank on page one and drive conversions.”
The generative search mindset is broader: “If we establish ourselves as the authoritative source on topics related to our products and services, we increase the likelihood of being cited and recommended by AI systems.”
LLMs are rapidly changing the landscape of digital visibility.
Semrush (parent company of MarTech publisher Third Door Media) recently studied the impact of AI search on SEO. The analysis predicts that AI search engagement will increase as the technology becomes more familiar. As user habits evolve, many clicks will shift from traditional to AI search — or disappear altogether.
Traditional digital marketing has centered on conversion optimization and keyword targeting. Effective AI brand relevance, however, is rooted in:
Unlike Google’s dominance in traditional search, no LLM has emerged as the clear leader. And each platform behaves differently.
Google Overviews and Gemini heavily index Quora, Reddit, and YouTube. Content on these platforms may enhance AI visibility.
Source: Semrush
ChatGPT relies on Google.com more than any other site. A broad and deep keyword strategy supports visibility there.
Source: Semrush
Like SEO, LLM visibility can and should be measured. This allows marketers to demonstrate progress and justify investment in generative optimization.
LLM visibility is a probabilistic measure of how often your brand appears in AI responses to relevant prompts. It combines:
By pairing multiple personas with prompts, you simulate conversations. The presence of your brand in those conversations determines visibility. Because each LLM behaves differently, you need cross-platform visibility scoring.
Formulas to know:
At the conversation level, you can use Gumshoe.ai to get a competitive ranking for each brand mentioned in the response. Using this information, you can generate a conversation visibility factor for each prompt through this formula:
(Brand Visibility % / Brand Rank) x Link Visibility = Visibility Factor
Link Visibility is a preselected value between 0 and 1 based on the nature of the prompt. LLMs are less likely to display related links for general knowledge prompts. Prompts that are more specific and require more complex responses are more likely to include links to mentioned products and services.
PromptVisibility %Brand RankLink Visibility (0-1)Visibility FactorWhat is SEO?57%6.010.95%What are the best SEO competitor analysis tools?76%1.0968%
You can use the Visibility Factor to measure the impact of optimizations at the prompt level. By clustering prompts by level of specificity, you can measure your authority at each level. You can use this to monitor and adjust your target prompts to find the ideal mix of prompt performance.
The good news: SEO teams are well-positioned to succeed in the era of generative optimization, or AIO (AI optimization).
Due to their reach, Google and ChatGPT remain key priorities. Because ChatGPT heavily indexes Google, optimizing for Google can help with visibility on both.
There are two categories of content to optimize:
1. Human-viewable content. This is content designed for human readers and includes:
2. LLM-optimized content. This supports LLM comprehension:
LLMs build statistical models from large data sets. You can influence their outputs by feeding them relevant, structured data.
Steps:
LLMs reward structured, high-volume datasets that enhance their ability to generate relevant responses. It will become morecriticalt as AI agents capable of completing tasks emerge in late 2025 and beyond.
Executives may not need deep technical details but must understand the strategic impact. Here’s how to frame it:
I love my 2020 M1 MacBook Air. For the work that I do – lots of writing, lots of streaming, photo editing, a smidge of video editing, and an ongoing attempt to set the world record for maximum number of browser tabs open at once – it’s ideal.
The M1 handles all that I throw at it with ease, and looks good doing it. It was also the first 13-inch laptop that I’ve owned, and as I carry with it between home and work offices, its portability has always been a big plus for me. I remember it was $799 for the longest time (though retailed at $999), and honestly I think that was an amazing deal.
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Marketers and business owners are spoiled for choice when it comes to the many social media platforms available for growing an online audience.
From BlueSky to TikTok, LinkedIn to Patreon, social media marketing has never been more robust, or, arguably, time-consuming.
But it doesn’t have to be. Fortunately, you don’t have to be everywhere at once.
Where you choose to show up online should be based on where your target customers spend most of their time. Choose these platforms purposefully.
Also, streamlining your social media marketing is made easier with the right planning tool in your arsenal – and no, it doesn’t require fancy software solutions.
In this guide, I’m sharing a free, easy-to-use social media planning template, plus helpful steps on how to make it work for you.
It’s as simple or as customizable as you need it to be. No unnecessary bells or whistles.
Planning your social media content doesn’t have to be complicated – or require the use of expensive tools.
With the free Planner Template, you’ll find an easier way to plan, organize, and schedule your social media content.
Whether you are an individual, business owner, or marketer, this template is designed to help you publish content consistently, stay organized, and make better decisions about your social media strategy.
With this Google Sheets template, you can:
Note: Click on File > Make a Copy to edit your template. You do not need to request edit access.
Make a copy: Social Media Planner Template for Google Sheets
The Google Sheet template makes it easy to see your schedule well in advance and save all of your social media assets in one place.
Here’s how to plan your social media content this year.
Once you have access to the template, click “File” and then “Make a Copy.” This will create a new copy of the template that you can edit.
Screenshot from Social Media Planner Template, May 2025
Next, give your copy a descriptive name, such as “[Business name] – Social Media Plan Q1-Q4 2025,” and save it to Google Drive.
Depending on when you’re reading this article, you will want to identify the quarter and/or month in which you plan to start your social media planning.
The bottom of the template includes tabs spanning from “Q1: January” to “Q4: December” of 2025.
Open the tab for the month in which you want to start planning your content:
Screenshot from Social Media Planner Template, May 2025
For simplicity, we started with “Q1: January” and began filling out the first few topics as an example:
Screenshot from Social Media Planner Template, May 2025
You will also see in the left-hand columns that there is a calendar for each month. This is simply a reference to the correct days of the week/month for 2025 so you can plan accordingly.
You can, of course, update this for 2026, 2027, and so on.
Column K includes a dropdown of various social media platforms to which you may be publishing your content.
You can select from this list of options (Blog, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter/X, TikTok, YouTube, or Other), or you can add your own by clicking the pencil icon:
Screenshot from Social Media Planner Template, May 2025
This dropdown allows you to easily identify which platform you plan on publishing to. Whether it be Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), or any other platform, this will help you keep your content organized.
Now, it’s time to fill in your topic ideas.
There are quite a few ways to think of engaging social media topics, which we covered in our guide on how to create authentic social media content.
However, the research process doesn’t have to stop there. Here are a few ways to come up with social media posts:
Once you think up some ideas, you can start filling out your social media planner.
Just fill out Columns J through R with your “Title/Topic,” “Description,” and the like.
Start editing the template by adding relevant information, such as your descriptions, content document links, hashtags, publish dates, and tracking links (if needed).
Screenshot from Social Media Planner Template, May 2025
Feel free to add rows, columns, or fields to suit your needs.
In the “Images” and “Video/Media” columns, you can add links to the visual assets you plan to use in your social media post. You can do this by adding a link to a Google Drive folder with images or your chosen Digital Asset Manager (DAM).
Next, use the template to schedule your posts in advance by adding the date and platform for each post.
Don’t forget to update the “Status” column (I) as you work through your social media plan.
You can also use the template to track the success of your content by adding metrics such as likes, comments, and shares.
If you are working with a team, share the template with your colleagues and give them access to edit the template.
This will allow you to collaborate and work together to maintain a consistent social media presence.
The “Notes” column is for any miscellaneous notes about your upcoming content, including details about your upcoming content, drafts, due dates, etc. and you can use this to work with your team async.
Planning your social media content in advance offers numerous benefits that can greatly enhance your social media presence.
By taking the time to plan your content, you can ensure that you are consistently publishing relevant posts that engage your audience and drive results.
With a clear content plan in place, you can focus on creating high-quality content that is aligned with your overall marketing strategy and avoid the pitfalls of impulsive, unplanned posting.
I recommend using the social media planner to plan at least one quarter’s worth of content, so you’re not scrambling to write the copy, collect the assets, schedule the posts, etc.
Social media marketing doesn’t have to be a headache. With the right process, you can streamline your social media content planning and publishing schedule.
In as little as a few hours per quarter, you can plan your content well in advance, taking the guesswork out of your social media posting.
Using a planning template allows you to be proactive in your topic planning, get organized, and stay on schedule. Over time, planning your content will feel like second nature rather than a chore.
With social media planning, marketers gain:
Also, when you plan your social media posts in advance, you can better allocate budget and resources to your efforts, ensuring you’re using your time in the most effective way possible.
So, take advantage of the free social media planning template, make it yours, and save time in your social media marketing efforts.
More Resources:
Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal
In an email to employees in May, after pulling back on some diversity, equity and inclusion goals, Target’s CEO tried to reassure employees that its values are not up for debate and that it is still a retailer for everyone. Some retail and communications consultants told Modern Retail that the message was vague or failed to directly address the issues the company faces regarding culture and sales.
A similar sentiment is being shared on the store level. In the latest entry in our Confessions series, in which we offer anonymity in exchange for candor, Modern Retail spoke with a transgender Target employee who lives in Texas and has worked for the company for about 10 years. He has been on a leave of absence for mental health purposes since March, which he said is in response to discrimination, the DEI pullback and societal changes after the election of President Trump.
The employee said he sent an email to Target CEO Brian Cornell in which he explained that the retailer had been a “safe haven” for him — there aren’t many employers he felt safe working at as a transgender person, he said. However, Target’s recent decisions related to diversity, equity and inclusion have made him feel “dehumanized, undervalued and disposable,” he stated in the email.
“I could go and get hired, but once they find out that I’m queer or trans or whatever, I don’t know that my situation will be much different,” the employee told Modern Retail. “I would love to say we could do away with big-box [retail], but the truth is, we need them, and they need us — our diverse perspectives. I think it’d be in everybody’s best interest if we could figure it out.”
In the interview, the employee discusses how he expects the DEI decisions to impact Target’s workforce, how he has felt the company’s response to transphobic comments has shifted and what the company would need to do to win back his trust. Target did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
How did you feel about the pullback from some of the DEI initiatives and the most recent email sent to staff by the CEO?
“In the email from the CEO, the only thing that they took a little accountability for was they said that they had left us out of the loop with silence, but we really haven’t heard anything since then. … A lot of the programs they did away with are predominantly minority-based programs, so we’re seeing a higher turnover rate in minorities now. … There’s a big emotional hit there with mental health and feeling supported within our workplace.
They’re not going to be reporting to the Human Rights Campaign. [The company had previously participated in the organization’s Corporate Equality Index surveys.] When you don’t have the data to support things, to me, it feels like you’re not doing the things to support that data. … The numbers aren’t going to be there. You’re not going to see minorities moving up within the company the way you had promised, and so, you don’t want to report this kind of thing and be a part of that change.”
How do you feel about working at Target now versus when you started?
“Whenever I started socially and medically transitioning, Target had a really good response to transgender people in the restrooms. … I felt deeply supported by the company. … I left the mental health field that I was working in previously, because at that time, people really [believed] and still do believe that transgender people aren’t competent to provide mental health services.
Target was really somewhere I felt like I belonged. It has kind of taken a big hit, seeing as, as the political climate has changed, Target’s stance has changed a lot. [Target’s diversity stance] felt very performative, even looking back now to whenever I thought it was something different [before the DEI pullback].
[Now,] I feel disposable to a degree where even microaggressions feel like they’re more tolerated — like [the company suggesting] our identities are opinions. Just as the world is more hostile, they’re more accepting of those things within the workplace. I thought they would stand up against that kind of stuff.”
What kind of situations have you faced in the stores?
“Not long ago, within the last six months, I’d redirected a gentleman, and his response to another person was, “I don’t care what he, she, it has to say to me.” Through HR, it wasn’t addressed appropriately. [To the company], it’s a matter of opinion about what we’re called. So you’re just not seeing that support, I think. If somebody were to say something blatantly racist, we would call it racism, but we don’t call things transphobia.
With the Trump presidencies, in general, I’ve seen the change within the world, and within Target. … Even if [people] felt [transphobic] before, they weren’t as vocal, and I think people are more vocal now and feel like they can express that within a workplace more openly.
We see pretty regularly where [with] guests — [like with] the pride set that came out a couple years ago; there was extreme negative response to that — we are instructed just to validate that that’s their opinion and their feelings and they’re entitled to their feelings. So even at the store level, if they would come in and complain or call, that’s what we were doing — and it felt kind of gross as a trans person and as somebody who has other trans people and queer people that work there.”
The coverage around Target’s DEI pullback has largely focused on the Black community. Do you think others are being left out of the conversation?
“I think there is a lot of focus on the Black community, and rightfully so. But I do think that, demographically, Target is pretty diverse, and so, leaving the LGBTQ population out of that conversation, it affects us also. Even women are being affected by DEI being dropped, because there are still just disproportionate numbers. We still have some progress that needs to be made from where we’ve been held back in the past — so I think by dropping DEI, we’re largely going to see that progress slow.”
What would Target have to do to correct this?
“I think honest conversation is the biggest thing they’re missing — some humility. I also think just partnering with minority people and hearing us first [would help]. … Sitting down and starting the conversations, it’ll have to start there.”
As Jude came to know the townspeople over the years, the initial divide between photographer and participants all but faded; openness and sense of belonging steered Jude’s image making. Captured in his dynamic snapshots of daily life are the people that warmly welcomed him into their world; children venturing close to the lens with broad grins; fishermen with nets draped over their shoulders in regal-like poses; and a little girl in a colourful floral skirt sitting on a mooring pole, staring out to sea. Jude’s glimpse of life in Moree centres on this sense of connection — it’s an intimate insight from someone caught up in a nostalgic net.
As a self taught image maker born and raised in Accra, Jude’s journey into the world of documentary photography all started with his late grandfather who would “share stories of the countries colonial period” throughout his childhood with the use of “old reference images” and “family photo albums” — an early insight into the power of images “in telling stories and capturing history”, Jude says.
Land of the Morees is one project in an ongoing photographic practice that continues to explore the documentation of personal and cultural history from Ghana and beyond. The series was put on show for the first time in 2024 in Ghana, in a debut solo exhibition for the photographer. Since then he has continued to document the community and build connections with the people of Moree. Jude is also in the process of working on some prints of the series, in the hopes of selling some of his work with proceeds from the project directed back to the people of Moree. Outside of photography, his aim is to support the community in practical ways, “whether that’s through providing resources, assisting with local projects, or simply giving back to the people who have opened their hearts to me”, he says.
Overall, Land of the Morees stands as Jude’s heartfelt tribute to both the steadfastness of the towns people, and coastal communities as a whole. “The series captures the essence of life on the shores of Moree, celebrating the resilience, joy, and unity of its people, while also reflecting on the timeless connection between humans and the sea.”
Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, responded to concerns about the impact of recent changes in Search and was repeatedly asked to clarify his position on the web ecosystem and how it fits into what he calls the next chapter of search. Pichai’s responses were given in the context of a recent interview on the Lex Fridman podcast.
Lex Fridman challenged Pichai on whether Google will continue sending users to the human-created web. Pichai responded that supporting the web ecosystem is something he feels deeply about.
Fridman said:
“And the idea that AI mode will still take you to the web, to the human-created web?”
Pichai responded:
“Yes, that’s going to be a core design principle for us.”
Fridman followed up by noting that he’s been asking more questions from Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode and exploring but he still wants to end up on the “human-created web.”
Pichai responded:
“It helps us deliver higher quality referrals, right? You know where people are like they have a much higher likelihood of finding what they’re looking for. They’re exploring. They’re curious. Their intent is getting satisfied more… That’s what all our metrics show.”
The interviewer added:
“It makes the humans that create the web nervous. The journalists are getting they’ve already been nervous.”
Sundar Pichai answered:
“Look, I think news and journalism will play an important role, you know, in the future we’re pretty committed to it, right? And so I think making sure that ecosystem… In fact, I think we’ll be able to differentiate ourselves as a company over time because of our commitment there. So it’s something I think you know I definitely value a lot and as we are designing we’ll continue prioritizing approaches.”
Pichai mentioned that user metrics of AI search are “encouraging” and referred to it as the “next chapter of search,” underlining that AI Search is an inevitability and is not going away.
Search technologies have consistently been in a steady state of change. The strongest effects were visible in the 2004 Florida update, the 2012 Penguin links update, the 2018 Medic update, and the more recent series of helpful content updates, all of which brought massive changes to search rankings. None of those changes are as ambitious and consequential as what the human-created web is facing with Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode.
Speaking as someone who has been a part of search marketing for over 25 years, I believe Pichai may be understating the situation by calling it the next chapter in search. It may well be that Google AI Search is an entirely new book.
Lex Fridman remarked on how Google was legendary for its simple layout and the ten blue links, saying that Google is starting to “mess with that” and that surely there must have been battles within Google about that.
Pichai subtly corrected Fridman’s suggestion that Google was moving away from the ten blue links, which hasn’t been a thing for nearly 15 years by stating that the shift to mobile is the reason why Google shifted away from ten blue links, evolving along with the pace of technological advancements and user’s expectations for answers, not links.
Pichai emphasized that Google remains the “front page of the Internet” as Fridman put it, because of their commitment to making it easier for users to explore the web, only with more context.
Pichai answered:
“Look… in some ways when mobile came… people wanted answers to more questions, so we’re …constantly evolving it. But you’re right, this moment, …that evolution, because underlying technology is becoming much more capable. You can have AI give a lot of context.
But one of our important design goals though, is when you come to Google search. You’re going to get a lot of context. But you’re going to go and find a lot of things out on the web. So that will be true in AI mode. In AI overviews and so on.
But I think to our earlier conversation, we are still giving you access to links, but think of the AI as a layer which is giving you context summary. Maybe in AI mode you can have a dialogue with it back and forth on your journey.
But through it all, you’re kind of learning what’s out there in the world. So those core principles don’t change, but I think AI mode allows us to push… we have our best models there, models which are using search as a deep tool.
Really, for every query you’re asking, fanning out doing multiple searches, assembling that knowledge in a way so you can go and consume what you want to and that’s how we think about it.”
Something that isn’t immediately apparent is that Google treats advertising as a form of content that is relevant to users. Advertising is not seen as an intrusion but as something relevant to users within a context of their interests.
Fridman next asked him about advertising in AI Mode. Pichai responded that they are currently focusing on getting the “organic experience” right but he also turned to the concept of context.
Pichai’s response:
“Two things.
Early part of AI mode will obviously focus more on the organic experience to make sure we are getting it right. I think the fundamental value of ads are it enables access to deploy the services to billions of people.
Second is, the reason we’ve always taken ads seriously is we view ads as commercial information, but it’s still information. And so we bring the same quality metrics to it.
I think with AI mode, to our earlier conversation, I think AI itself will help us over time, figure out the best way to do it.
Given we are giving context around everything, I think it will give us more opportunities to also explain, okay, here’s some commercial information. Like today, as a podcaster, you do it at certain spots and you probably figure out what’s best in your podcast.
There are aspects of that, but I think the underlying need of people value commercial information. Businesses are trying to connect to users. All that doesn’t change in an AI moment. But look, we will rethink it.”
Lex Fridman asked if Pichai sees a time where AI Mode will become the interface through which the Internet is filtered, asking if there’s a future where it completely replaces the current combination of AI Overviews and ten blue links.
Pichai answered:
“Our current plan is AI Mode is going to be there as a separate tab for people who really want to experience that, but it’s not yet at the level where our main search pages, but as features work, we’ll keep migrating it to the main page. And so you can view it as a continuum. AI model offer you the bleeding edge experience. But things that work will keep overflowing to AI Overviews in the main experience.”
The questions posed by Lex Fridman echo the fears and negative sentiment felt by many publishers about Google’s evolution to providing answers to queries instead of links to the open web.
Sundar Pichai repeatedly stated that Google intends to keep sending users to the human-created web, explaining that AI provides more context that encourages users to explore topics on the web in greater depth.
Those statements, however, are undermined by Google’s delay in enabling web publishers to accurately track referrals from AI Overviews and AI Mode. This creates the impression that publishers are an afterthought and feeds web publisher skepticism about Google’s commitment to the human-created web. While it’s refreshing to hear Google’s CEO emphatically declare his concern for the web ecosystem, I believe it will take more positive actions from Google to overcome web publishers’ negative outlook on the current state of AI search.
Watch the interview here:
Featured Image is a screenshot by author
WGBA neighborhood reporter Andrew Amouzou is leaving the Green Bay, Wisconsin NBC affiliate.
Amouzou started working at WGBA two years ago. He hasn’t said where he he’s heading next.
“The biggest thing I’ll miss is having the honor to learn and share inspirational stories of those who are on a mission to impact the city, Brown County and Northeast Wisconsin in a special way,” Amouzou said. “This area means so much to those who make Green Bay the special place that is it, and it has truly been a highlight to witness that up-close.”
“My most special memories come from hearing and seeing the reaction of people who see themselves on TV and having their stories shared with the community,” he added. “Being able to make their voices heard and their impact magnified has been rewarding and I know that it helps people of all backgrounds feel encouraged to share their own story with the world.”
Marvel may have a permeating presence in pop culture, but its forays into video games haven’t always been a great success. From 2017’s thoroughly disappointing crossover fighting game Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite to 2020’s blockbuster flop Marvel’s Avengers, uncanny adherences to the MCU have led to uninspiring character designs that fell short of their big-screen counterparts.
Marvel Rivals has, however, smashed expectations since its launch last December, having already reached 40 million players worldwide as of February. That’s no mean feat given that it’s a team-based PvP shooter, a genre that faces fierce competition and only a few emerge victorious.
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Google retires seven structured data features including Book Actions, Course Info, and Claim Review to streamline search results. Rankings unaffected.
There’s a troubling trend in boardrooms worldwide. As companies move from startup mode and scale into growth-stage execution, many are choosing to underinvest in marketing leadership, mistaking it as a cost center rather than the strategic engine behind revenue generation and go-to-market (GTM) execution.
Instead of hiring experienced VPs or CMOs, founders and investors hire cheaper, less seasoned marketers. While they are often digitally savvy, they have little exposure to the full scope or strategy behind GTM leadership. Many have only worked in one or two areas of marketing, like demand gen or content, and lack the experience with brand, product marketing, operations, analytics and sales alignment needed to grow a company.
You know these seasoned marketing leaders. They’re battle-tested, data-driven and growth-proven. Suddenly, thousands or tens of thousands of them aren’t getting interviews because companies choose budget over backbone. Unfortunately, the cost of that decision shows up in pipeline gaps, missed revenue targets and stalled growth.
The sad fact is that these leaders were the builders behind the very success stories VCs now chase. Many led companies through scale-ups, acquisitions and IPOs. And yet, they’ve been cast aside in a tech economy increasingly unwilling to pay for experience.
What has changed? Startups think they’re being lean. In reality, they’re blind.
Dig deeper: Why ‘head of marketing’ is the most misunderstood title in startups
The logic appears sound: Hire early career exceptional talent now, layer in leadership later. This misstep introduces significant risk. GTM execution and the rise of account-based strategies are not just about sales enablement and running siloed campaigns. They require the orchestration of:
All of these require building organizational alignment (or what I call herding cats). That requires meeting your stakeholders where they are, not where you are. It is the biggest challenge for marketing and not for the inexperienced or faint of heart.
When startups build without senior marketing leadership, they gamble on short-term activity over long-term strategy. It rarely pays off and is certainly not a sustainable pipeline strategy.
But do startup CEOs know any better? Many do not. Marketing is one of the most misunderstood parts of the business.
A great marketing leader is not just a storyteller but a strategist, growth driver and cross-functional partner who works closely with sales, product and customer success to accelerate pipeline and expand customer value. They translate market insights into action, structure high-performing teams and build scalable, measurable campaigns.
Marketing doesn’t directly drive opportunities, create meetings or close deals. Sales does that. But great marketing makes doing those things easier, faster and more predictable. Marketing does this by building awareness, generating demand, warming up the market and positioning the brand as the best choice. It shapes the narrative, identifies high-intent accounts and arms sales with the insights, messaging and content needed to convert interest into action.
Marketing is the strategic force multiplier behind every deal closed. When aligned with sales, marketing doesn’t just hand off leads; it fuels pipeline velocity and increases win rates.
If you haven’t hired a marketing leader for this profile, what are you losing and what is the impact on the business?
Startups without seasoned marketing leadership often skip out on:
Without this, messaging lacks resonance, product launches miss the mark and teams chase unqualified leads. Misalignment here leads to churn, poor retention and missed revenue from high-fit segments.
Without a seasoned marketing leader to align strategy across functions, silos form quickly.
The result is a fractured GTM effort where revenue opportunities are lost not from a lack of leads but from a lack of cohesion.
Startups are racing to adopt AI, automation, big-box ABM platforms and analytics. However, these tools are expensive clutter without the strategic guidance to deploy them effectively and the respected leadership to gain cooperation. Misconfigured platforms and misaligned talent can cost companies hundreds of thousands in wasted budget without moving the revenue needle.
Without a senior leader to shape the narrative, pressure-test messaging and own win/loss insights, startups often sound like everyone else. Generic messaging kills conversion. Immature positioning leads to:
Every seasoned marketing leader knows how important it is to choose and partner with reliable and trustworthy vendors. A rebrand or website redesign can quickly go off track due to delays and poor content management, undermining a marketing leader’s credibility. These failures ripple across the GTM engine, stalling demand generation and diminishing revenue impact.
Dig deeper: Key marketing lessons from startup to scale-up
In the wake of widespread tech layoffs and challenging reentry into the workforce, many seasoned VPs and CMOs are turning to fractional CMO or GTM consulting roles — some to stay professionally active and support their families, others as a step toward building their businesses or agencies after leaving corporate life behind.
Each VP or CMO on the sidelines has a unique story, but most are eager to reenter the full-time workforce. Access to health insurance and retirement benefits like a 401(k) are critical for many who support families and plan for the future.
While some enjoy fractional work, they describe it as challenging to find and retain long-term clients. Without a recurring revenue model, which is rare in strategic advisory roles, this path is often unsustainable and falls short of replacing their previous income.
There’s a growing belief that fractional marketing work is becoming necessary in today’s revenue landscape. Sangram Vajre, co-founder of GTM Partners and Terminus, is a leading advocate of this perspective. He promotes fractional GTM consultants and CMOs through a newly launched certification program, offering independent senior marketing leaders the opportunity to leverage his brand, materials and methodologies for a fee.
He believes fractional GTM roles represent the future. They can provide startups with fast, flexible, cost-effective access to senior-level expertise without the lengthy hiring cycles or overhead of full-time executives. He positions fractionals as ideal for early-stage or transitional companies needing to define ICPs, build GTM infrastructure and test strategy until they’re ready for a permanent leader. It’s a model aligned with agility and outcomes.
But here’s the risk: while some experienced marketing leaders intentionally choose the fractional path, the majority view it as a stopgap while they seek full-time roles that fully utilize their capabilities and track record. That is not a true talent evolution. It’s a reactive trend born from a flawed hiring market and perpetuated by misguided narratives.
If the real risks of placing early-stage GTM ownership in inexperienced hands were fully understood, seasoned marketing leaders wouldn’t find themselves sidelined in the first place.
To be clear, I support the value of consultants — I am one myself — but when companies treat fractional roles as permanent substitutes for executive leadership, they normalize a revolving-door approach to marketing. It creates serious risks:
Fractionals aren’t in the weekly leadership meetings, and they aren’t present for boardroom decisions. They can’t drive internal culture, mentor teams daily or adapt to shifting business contexts in real time. They may temporarily herd the cats, but once they step away, they can’t transfer the credibility or organizational trust needed to sustain alignment.
Marketing isn’t a gig; it’s a core function. When you outsource leadership, you lose control of the discipline that connects your product, market and revenue engine.
This isn’t about age or title. It’s about outcome ownership. Seasoned marketing leaders are expensive because they reduce risk. They’ve built repeatable demand engines, scaled GTM models, adapted to downturns and driven sustainable growth. When companies choose not to hire them, they’re not saving money. They’re exposing themselves to:
In today’s AI-first, ABM-centric world, GTM execution is far too complex for junior staff or part-time leadership.
Respecting seasoned marketing leadership protects your GTM from unnecessary risk.
Why would you entrust GTM strategy to someone without proven executive chops? How important is revenue attainment to your VC or PE investors or to raising your next round of funding?
Here’s what a risk-mitigating, growth-ready C-suite does:
If product-market fit matters to you, so does marketing leadership. Fit doesn’t scale itself. Without a senior leader driving it, the machine breaks, the product stalls, the pipeline clogs, and the business suffers.
Stop asking why seasoned talent costs more. Start asking what it costs not to have it. Because when the pressure to grow arrives (and it always does), your leader will either be someone who’s done it before or who’s trying to figure it out on your dime.
And in the end, you get what you pay for.
Dig deeper: Rethinking fit, growth and go-to-market for the modern startup
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