10 Minute Martech

Suzanne Reed, Chief Marketing Officer at LBMC, joins Sara to unpack the modern marketer’s biggest challenge: keeping pace with AI-driven change without losing the human touch.

Together, they explore why a smaller, integrated MarTech stack delivers better results, how buying communities reshape the B2B playbook, and why AI can accelerate great marketing—but can’t replace the marketer’s critical thinking.

Suzanne also reveals LBMC’s recent experiment comparing AI-generated brand outputs across competitors—an eye-opener about commoditization and the importance of brand distinctiveness in the age of large language models.

You’ll learn:

• Why simplifying your MarTech stack may be your highest-ROI move
• How “HGO—Human Engine Optimization” reframes modern marketing
• What AI can (and can’t) do when it comes to buyer understanding
• How to equip early-career marketers to thrive in an AI-heavy world
• Why direct mail is back—and what personalization really means today
• What LBMC discovered when analyzing competitors via LLMs

Suzanne: 
“I call it the HGO… Human Engine Optimization. The human is the hub of all of this.”

“Marketing has always been about the psychology of the buyer. AI can help us be smarter and faster, but it cannot address those things.”

“We think we control our brands—but the models showed we’re all in the same bucket. We’re commoditizing ourselves.”

Links & Resources:
Connect with Sara: linkedin.com/in/sara-faatz-b67213
Connect with Suzanne: linkedin.com/in/suzannereedfranklintn
Learn more about LMBC: www.lbmc.com
Learn more about Progress: www.progress.com

Timestamps:
00:40 – Marketing Challenges and Technology
01:20 – MarTech Integration and Success
03:17 – Human Element in Marketing
05:15 – Advice for New Marketers
08:56 – Hyper-Personalization in Marketing
09:58 – Experimentation and Brand Differentiation
10:57 – Inspiration and Industry Leaders

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2025 was the year AI stopped being a headline and became a reality in every marketer’s workflow. In this special year-end edition of 10 Minute Martech, we revisit the most impactful insights from guests across the season—operators, CMOs, analysts, and innovators who helped define what human-centered marketing looks like in an AI-first world.

You’ll Learn:

• How leading marketers are redefining “human in the loop” to drive creativity, strategy, and better outcomes
• Where AI is delivering real, measurable impact across workflows, personalization, and productivity
• The hottest Martech takes of the year—from content strategy to customer experience to rethinking systems entirely

You’ll hear from:
 Mariam Tariq, SVP, Marketing & Digital Strategy, Progress [00:44]
 Scott Brinker, Martech Analyst & Advisor, chiefmartec [01:52]
 Karen Steele, Founder, Steele-Alloy [03:20]
 Jennifer Ortiz, EVP & CMO, Progress [04:32]
 Juan Mendoza, CEO, The MarTech Weekly [05:34]
Tom Wentworth, CMO, Incident.io [06:54]
Elizabeth Edwards, Founder & CEO, Volume Public Relations [07:58]
Frans Riemersma, Founder, MartechTribe [08:47]
Mallory Russell, Award-Winning Content Marketing Strategist [09:40]
 Hazem El Zayat, Chief Experience Officer, Ogilvy One [10:13]
Amanda Cole, CMO, Bloomreach [11:08]

Links & Resources:
Connect with Sara: linkedin.com/in/sara-faatz-b67213
Learn more about Progress: www.progress.com

Timestamps:
00:40 – The Role of Humans in the AI Era
04:25 – Practical AI Tools in 2025
05:40 – Martech Hot Takes

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Elizabeth Edwards, Founder & CEO of Volume Public Relations, joins Sara to explore how modern marketing is being reshaped by AI, affective science, and rising expectations around trust. 

She breaks down the pitfalls of weaponized language, the risks of false scarcity, and why brand credibility matters more than ever in an era of generative search and offsite reputation signals.

You’ll learn:

• Why false urgency and hyper-personalization can erode trust—and even violate compliance norms
• How behavioral science can guide healthier, more resonant customer communication
• The emerging risks of AI-driven emotional manipulation
• How to rethink AI as a verbal collaborator for richer context and better outputs
• What it means to design marketing for relationship-building rather than rapid reaction

Elizabeth: 
“You do not need to encode false scarcity, urgency and fear into everything. It's a hyper manipulation… and it doesn't make me feel like you're an authentic company I want to trust and do business with. Marketers need to downshift a gear or two and realize we are here to create relationships, not just reaction.”

Links & Resources:
Connect with Sara: linkedin.com/in/sara-faatz-b67213
Connect with Elizabeth: linkedin.com/in/volumepr
Learn more about Volume PR: www.volumepr.com 
Learn more about Progress: www.progress.com

Timestamps:
01:30 — Ethical Marketing in the Age of AI
03:00 — Examples of Manipulative Marketing
04:50 — The Importance of Ethical Communication
10:25 — Legal and Business Implications
11:50 – Final Thoughts and Advice

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Mike Rizzo believes marketing operations pros are sitting on one of the biggest untapped opportunities in business today: owning the tech stack as a strategic function.

In this conversation with Sara, Mike shares why modern marketing doesn’t happen without technology—and why the people managing that technology need a seat at the leadership table. He breaks down how ops teams can bring structure, product thinking, and ROI discipline to their tech investments, especially as AI and consumption-based pricing reshape how we buy and use software.

You’ll learn:

• Why MOPs leaders should be treated as business strategists, not just system admins
• How to “begin with the end in mind” when implementing new tech or AI models
• The dangers of unchecked tool sprawl in the age of consumption pricing
• Why slowing down to design intentional processes can actually accelerate growth

Mike: 
“Modern marketing doesn’t happen without technology. Someone needs to run the technology—and translate the language of the business to the tools.”

“These new models should force people to stop and think: where will this actually make an impact? Slow down to speed up.”

Links & Resources:

• Connect with Sara: linkedin.com/in/sara-faatz-b67213
• Connect with Mike: linkedin.com/in/mikedrizzo
• Learn more about MarketingOps.com: www.marketingops.com
• Learn more about Progress: www.progress.com

Timestamps:
00:23 Guest Introduction: Mike Rizzo
00:40 Challenges in Marketing Operations
02:20 The Role of AI in Marketing Ops
03:43 The Evolution of MarTech and RevOps
05:52 Navigating AI Tools and Implementation
10:42 Resources and Inspiration for Marketing Ops Professionals

#MarketingOps #MarTech #AIinMarketing #Podcast #Progress #MarketingLeadership

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Greg Kihlstrom, Principal of The Agile Brand, joins the show to talk about the practical side of AI adoption in MarTech.

Greg and Sara dig into the tension between innovation and operational guardrails, the risks of tool sprawl when “anyone can build an app,” and why proactive leadership is essential to keep experimentation from turning into chaos. Greg also offers clear advice for cautious adopters: start with a small, meaningful use case and be ready to fail a couple of times—because those early failures are how you build long-term success.

Greg: 

“Pick a small [AI] use case and follow through with it. If you're the kind of person that's reluctant to do something that might fail, try to be okay with getting it wrong the first 2 or 3 times. Those are good muscles to build regardless.”

Links & Resources:

• Connect with Sara: linkedin.com/in/sara-faatz-b67213
• Connect with Greg: linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom
• Learn more about Progress: progress.com

Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction to Greg
00:32 - AI Hype and Realities
02:20 - Effective AI Implementations
05:01 - Challenges of Democratizing AI
09:21 - Advice for AI Beginners
11:08 - Final Thoughts

#martech #AIinMarketing #contentstrategy #datamanagement #progress

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Amanda Cole, Chief Marketing Officer at Bloomreach, joins the show to explore how AI is reshaping marketing roles, data strategy, and the customer experience.

Amanda and Sara dig into how AI agents consume and reframe content, why brands should focus on “overwhelming the agents” with rich, structured information, and how new data enrichment tools open the door to leapfrog past old data management challenges. Amanda also shares how Bloomreach customers are already experimenting with conversational shopping assistants and AI-driven fraud detection, while reflecting on what this shift means for creativity, entry-level talent, and the evolving role of marketing leaders.

Amanda: 
“Now we have an opportunity to really overwhelm the agents, if you want to call it that, for AI—with information and make sure that they have the tools to actually build context and respond.”

Links & Resources:
Connect with Sara: linkedin.com/in/sara-faatz-b67213
Connect with Amanda: linkedin.com/in/amandajoycole
Learn more about Progress: progress.com
Learn more about Bloomreach: www.bloomreach.com

Timestamps:
00:40 – Why AI is keeping marketers up at night
02:15 – Rethinking creativity and human value in the AI era
03:45 – Data hygiene, unstructured data, and enrichment opportunities
05:30 – Training AI and the future of marketing roles
06:50 – Real-world AI use cases: fraud detection and conversational shopping assistants
08:40 – Sources of inspiration and ongoing learning
09:30 – Amanda’s MarTech hot take: rethink everything

#martech #AIinMarketing #contentstrategy #datamanagement #progress

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Progress SVP of Digital Experience Marketing & Strategy Mariam Tariq joins host Sara Faatz to unpack why the website isn’t a “brochure” anymore—it’s the structured source of truth that powers your AI agents, headless experiences, and every channel that needs clean, reusable content. They dive into how to keep CMS strategy relevant in an agent-driven world, where humans add judgment, taste, and context, and AI accelerates repetitive work.

Mariam: 
“The website is the brand’s control center—the one owned channel—and a clean, structured source of truth for AI.” - Mariam Tariq

Links & Resources:
Connect with Sara: linkedin.com/in/sara-faatz-b67213
Connect with Mariam: linkedin.com/in/mariamtariq
Learn more about Progress: progress.com

Timestamps:
00:45 - The Overwhelming Volume of Martech 
01:40 - The Role of CMS / Websites in the Age of AI
03:45 - Humans vs. AI: Finding the Balance
05:15 - Practical Use of AI in Martech
06:30 - Inspiration and Learning Sources
10:40 - The Future of Content Management and Marketing

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Reed Hansen, Chief Growth Officer at MarketSurge, joins Sara to talk about the evolving role of marketers in the age of AI. From the renewed value of liberal arts degrees to the resurgence of old-school human interaction, Reed shares his take on where marketing is headed and what it takes to stay ahead.

Reed: 
“Humanities majors of all varieties are going to be ultimately the most empowered by AI… with their ability to think and think critically… I think that the humanities majors are back in the game.”

Links & Resources:
Connect with Sara: linkedin.com/in/sara-faatz-b67213
Connect with Reed: linkedin.com/in/reedhansen
Learn more about Progress: progress.com

Timestamps:
00:15 – Reed’s biggest concern as a marketing consultant
01:10 – Why human touch still matters in a tech-driven world
02:30 – Merging human language with AI output
03:45 – How to get fluent with AI (before buying martech tools)
05:10 – Composable stacks vs. monolithic platforms
06:10 – Where Reed finds inspiration (hint: Product Hunt + DMs)
07:10 – The rise of the liberal arts marketer in the AI age

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Tom Wentworth, CMO of incident.io, joins the show to discuss how AI is reshaping modern marketing infrastructure—starting with the CMS. Tom makes the case that as AI streamlines content creation and personalization, marketers who invest in design, language, and experience will come out ahead.

Tom and Sara dig into what AI can and can’t do, why high-quality design still beats average AI outputs, and why “taste” is the most underrated skill in today’s marketing org. He also explains how AI is speeding up execution while giving marketers space to deliver more intentional, human-centered brand experiences.

Tom: 
"[AI] makes [the CMS] more relevant because now marketers will be able to get more personalized experiences out to people faster. We'll be able to build these bespoke design experiences. If I'm a design agency today, I use the tooling to speed up building but I focus all my effort on taste.”

Links & Resources:
Connect with Sara: linkedin.com/in/sara-faatz-b67213
Connect with Tom: linkedin.com/in/twentworth
Learn more about Progress: progress.com

Timestamps:
00:30 –  The Role of AI in Marketing
02:20 – AI’s Impact on CMS
03:50 – Discoverability and Content Strategy 
03:50 – Hot Takes on Attribution and MQLs
07:50 – Inspiration for Martech Insights

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Is your marketing team still measuring success the old way?

In this episode, Matt Bertram, Head of Digital Strategy at EWR Digital, fractional CMO, and podcaster, shares how the digital landscape is shifting beneath our feet. Traffic is down. Impressions are up. Buyers are more informed than ever — but most of the buying journey now happens before anyone lands on your website.

Sara and Matt dig into how AI, off-page search behavior, and frictionless web experiences are changing the rules of digital strategy. They also explore why it’s time to retire outdated KPIs and focus on building brand equity, not just lead funnels.

Matt: 
“They're true buyers if they're coming to your website because 75% of search is happening before it even gets to your website. So, your digital PR needs to be strong.”

Links & Resources:
Connect with Sara: linkedin.com/in/sara-faatz-b67213
Connect with Matt: linkedin.com/in/mattbertramlive
Listen to The Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing
Listen to Oil & Gas Sales and Marketing Podcast
Learn more about Progress: progress.com

Timestamps:
00:30 –  Changing Landscape of Search
02:20 – Adapting to New KPIs and Metrics
03:10 – The Role of AI in Digital Strategy
09:35 – Navigating Negative SEO 
12:40 – Inspiration for Martech Insights

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