Performance Delivered

AI is transforming SEO, but the skills that make great marketers remain timeless. In this episode, Steffen Horst sits down with Lindsie Nelson (Symphonic Digital) and Andreas Voniatis (Arteos) to explore how empathy, validation, and adaptability can keep SEO strategies both smart and human-first.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• Why chasing algorithms is the wrong approach
• How empathy sharpens SEO decisions
• The value of cross-channel collaboration in AI search
• How to validate AI insights with real customer data
• The evolving skills SEOs will need to thrive

Featured Guests:

• Lindsie Nelson – Head of SEO, Symphonic Digital
• Andreas Voniatis – Founder, Arteos

Resources & Links:

• Connect with Andreas on LinkedIn or visit Arteos at rtos.ia
• Learn more about Symphonic Digital at symphonicdigital.com

The views and opinions expressed on the “Performance Delivered” podcast are solely those of the author and guests and should not be attributed to any other individual or entity. This podcast is an independent production of Performance Delivered, and the podcast production is an original work of the author. All rights of ownership and reproduction are retained—copyright 2025.

In this episode of Performance Delivered: Insider Secrets for Digital Marketing Success, host Steffen Horst explores the evolving challenges of the CMO role with Karl Van den Bergh, Chief Marketing Officer at Illumio.

Karl shares insights from his 25+ year career leading marketing, product, and GM roles across startups and billion-dollar tech companies. Together, they unpack:

• Why the CMO role is uniquely difficult in today’s business environment
• How to build credibility and trust with boards and executive teams
• The “Plan on a Page” framework for aligning strategy, execution, and KPIs
• Leading with authenticity in campaigns and leadership culture
• How AI is transforming marketing workflows and the buyer’s journey

Timestamps:

00:00 – Intro

01:00 – Karl’s career journey

04:09 – Why the CMO role is uniquely difficult

06:16 – Building credibility and trust

09:00 – The “Plan on a Page” framework

13:30 – Building trust through transparency & authenticity

14:55 – What authenticity looks like in leadership and campaigns

19:30 – How AI is reshaping marketing

23:58 – Driving efficiency and conversion with AI

24:46 – Preparing for the rise of AI agents

27:20 – Why SEO is no longer enough

28:42 – Buyers already using ChatGPT to discover vendors

29:22 – Closing thoughts + how to connect with Karl

👉 Learn more about Illumio: https://www.illumio.com

👉 Learn more about Symphonic Digital: https://symphonicdigital.com

📝 Episode Description

In this episode of Performance Delivered – Insider Secrets for Digital Marketing Success, host Steffen Horst is joined by Lori Stout, CMO of Bigleaf Networks.

Lori shares how marketers can blend AI-driven insights with customer feedback loops to sharpen positioning and messaging in a fast-changing landscape. From leveraging advisory boards and user groups to setting AI guardrails, Lori explains how to keep authenticity at the center of your marketing while using AI to accelerate efficiency and testing.

💡 You’ll learn:

• How Bigleaf has incorporated AI since its founding
• Why authenticity and warmth in messaging can’t be automated
• Practical testing methods for headlines, value props, and campaigns
• Which metrics prove that blended AI + customer insights drive impact
• When and how often product marketers should revisit positioning

⏱ Timestamps

[00:00] Introduction

[00:10] Positioning & messaging in the AI era

[01:15] Lori’s journey into marketing

[02:18] AI at Bigleaf Networks

[03:26] “Cheating” perception of AI in marketing and schools

[05:18] Balancing AI analysis with direct customer feedback

[07:00] Messaging as a living playbook

[08:11] Accelerating AB testing with AI + traditional tactics

[09:49] Human warmth vs. AI automation

[10:31] Guardrails: prompts, brand voice, human input

[13:19] Training AI with brand docs & guidelines

[15:21] Advisory boards, user groups, and peer reviews

[18:34] AI freeing marketers for higher-impact work

[19:58] Revisiting positioning: frequency & triggers

[21:11] Signals: churn, NPS, competitor moves

[22:30] Testing across dashboards & user journeys

[23:00] Metrics that prove real outcomes

[24:15] Sales team feedback as qualitative insight

[24:27] Closing thoughts & connect with Lori

🔗 Links & Resources

• Discover Symphonic Digital: https://www.symphonicdigital.com

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed on the Performance Delivered podcast are solely those of the author and guests and should not be attributed to any other individual or entity. This podcast is an independent production of Performance Delivered, and the podcast production is an original work of the author. All rights of ownership and reproduction are retained—copyright 2025.

In part two of Performance Delivered: Insider Secrets for Digital Marketing Success, host Steffen Horst continues his conversation with marketing experts Navah Hopkins (Microsoft) and Shawn Walker (Symphonic Digital) on how AI is transforming paid search strategy.

They dive into:

• When to use AI vs. manual campaign management
• How to differentiate your brand when competitors use similar AI tools
• Testing AI in new accounts without risking core campaigns
• Why clean data and human oversight are essential
• Predictive modeling — promise vs. reality
• How to plan budgets in an AI-first world

If you missed part one, catch up to hear their discussion on AI’s truly disruptive trends vs. efficiency gains, and predictions for the next 12–24 months in paid search.

Timestamps:

00:00 – Intro

00:11 – Welcome back & episode overview

01:22 – When to plan with AI from day one

03:28 – Differentiation in an AI-driven market

04:34 – Brand positioning and being where competitors aren’t

07:07 – Strategy shifts: reporting, funnel growth & brand control

10:07 – Dunning-Kruger effect in campaign evaluation

12:32 – Trusting AI insights vs. human verification

15:04 – Critical thinking in prompting & data interpretation

18:10 – Predictive modeling: promise vs. reality

22:42 – Budget planning in the AI-first world

26:14 – Accounting for learning periods & runway

27:59 – Focusing spend for better results

29:45 – Targeting by time zone & campaign consolidation

31:47 – Closing thoughts & guest info

The views and opinions expressed on the “Performance Delivered” podcast are solely those of the author and guests and should not be attributed to any other individual or entity. This podcast is an independent production of Performance Delivered, and the podcast production is an original work of the author. All rights of ownership and reproduction are retained—copyright 2025.

AI is everywhere—predictive bidding, dynamic creative, campaign forecasting—but is it really replacing human strategy, or just enhancing it?

In this episode of Performance Delivered: Insider Secrets for Digital Marketing Success, host Steffen Horst is joined by two industry leaders: Navah Hopkins, a seasoned strategist now at Microsoft, and Shawn Walker, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer at Symphonic Digital.

Together, they unpack how AI is reshaping paid search campaigns—from landing page relevance and creative asset structure to the evolving role of intent and the limits of automation.

This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation, packed with tactical advice, strategic frameworks, and a few strong opinions on where AI helps—and where it absolutely does not.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why AI-first strategies demand high-quality creative and landing pages
• How Google and Microsoft interpret site content through AI
• The growing importance of behavioral signals over keywords
• Where manual intervention still outperforms automation
• The real risks of relying too heavily on AI for campaign success
• Why collaboration between SEO and PPC teams matters more than ever

Guests:

• Navah Hopkins – Microsoft Ads; AI educator, strategist, and digital marketing speaker
• Shawn Walker – Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer, Symphonic Digital

Links & Resources:

🔗 Learn more: https://www.symphonicdigital.com

🐦 Follow us on X: https://twitter.com/symphonichq

In this episode of Performance Delivered, host Steffen Horst sits down with Kurt Uhlir, CMO at EZ Home Search and a veteran of more than 80 funding rounds and exits, to explore how AI is redefining modern marketing teams.

From cutting down content production costs to empowering leaders to be more hands-on, Kurt shares how AI isn’t replacing talent—but rather multiplying its impact. Whether you’re managing an in-house team or partnering with agencies, this episode will help you think more strategically about your people, your tools, and your outcomes.

🔑 Key Takeaways:

• Why AI is a force multiplier, not a job killer
• How marketing leaders must evolve beyond strategy and into implementation
• Why servant leadership creates space for innovation
• The future of SEO: topical authority and semantic search
• How to build peer communities that filter out “shiny object syndrome”

⚠️ Disclaimer:

The views and opinions expressed on the “Performance Delivered” podcast are solely those of the author and guests and should not be attributed to any other individual or entity. This podcast is an independent production of Performance Delivered, and the podcast production is an original work of the author. All rights of ownership and reproduction are retained—copyright 2025.

Are your SEO metrics stuck in the past? In part two of our AI + SEO series, guest host Ximena Cordon (Head of Marketing at Symphonic Digital) is joined once again by Lindsie Nelson (Head of SEO at Symphonic) and Andreas Voniatis (Founder of Artios) to challenge the way we think about measuring SEO success in an AI-powered world.

With the rise of zero-click search and tools like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews, traditional metrics like CTR and traffic are losing their relevance. In this episode, the trio explores smarter ways to connect SEO to ROI, how to rethink attribution, and why human-first content still matters.

Key Takeaways:

• Why zero-click search is shifting how we measure performance
• How AI is reshaping the buyer journey and discovery process
• The limitations of Google Analytics for modern SEO
• New approaches to attribution modeling and ROI tracking
• Why content needs to “fight for its life” in AI search
• How to present SEO performance to leadership with confidence

Memorable Quotes:

Connect with Us:

🔗 Website: https://www.symphonicdigital.com

🐦 X (Twitter): @SymphonicHQ

How to Listen:

Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Timestamps:

00:00 – Intro

00:47 – What is zero-click search?

02:00 – AI’s impact on click value and brand awareness

03:42 – Why content must now meet a higher standard

06:00 – Shifting focus from traffic to lead quality

07:59 – What should we actually be measuring?

10:15 – Connecting SEO to ROI

13:08 – Attribution modeling and data limitations

17:41 – Content-based vs. channel-based attribution

21:05 – Why you need CRM integration to prove SEO value

24:00 – How to get leadership buy-in for SEO strategies

25:45 – Should SEO go beyond Google?

27:55 – Final thoughts and takeaways

Grant Johnson on How to Measure Marketing Effectiveness and Align on KPIs

Episode of Performance Delivered – Insider Secrets for Digital Marketing Success

In this episode, Steffen Horst chats with Grant Johnson, Chief Marketing Officer at Chief Outsiders, about how companies—especially mid-market B2B SaaS brands—can better define, measure, and optimize their marketing performance.

Grant shares his Marketing Performance Assessment framework, which helps companies evaluate their effectiveness across three key areas: market presence, brand strength, and pipeline health. With over 20 years in the marketing world and seven exits under his belt, Grant breaks down how to align on KPIs, prove value to leadership, and make data-driven decisions that lead to measurable growth.

🔍 Key topics include:

• The problem with vague or shifting KPIs
• How to define the right marketing metrics for your team
• Using assessments to uncover quick wins and long-term gaps
• Why GenAI changes the game—but doesn’t replace strategy
• How marketers can respond to pricing pressure from AI adoption
• The link between alignment, creative, and consistent pipeline generation

Whether you’re a marketing leader, founder, or agency partner, this episode offers clear advice for improving performance and building trust with the C-suite.

🎧 Listen now and learn how to bring focus, structure, and results to your marketing efforts.

In this episode of Performance Delivered, Steffen Horst is joined by Elizabeth Eberle, SVP of Marketing at Spoiler Alert—a CPG tech company helping brands turn excess inventory into revenue. Elizabeth shares how understanding your customer at a deeper level can transform not only your messaging, but your product and go-to-market strategy.

Whether you’re building a mission-driven brand, launching a SaaS product, or simply trying to better connect with your audience—this episode offers a masterclass in customer empathy, product-market fit, and the real role of marketing in growth.

🔍 In this episode, we discuss:

• How to uncover deep customer insights through interviews and behavior tracking
• Why marketing must act as the glue between product, sales, and customer success
• Using storytelling to drive mission alignment
• Real-life examples of turning feedback into product strategy
• Balancing corporate goals with user pain points in a way that scales

The views and opinions expressed on the “Performance Delivered” podcast are solely those of the author and guests and should not be attributed to any other individual or entity. This podcast is an independent production of Performance Delivered, and the podcast production is an original work of the author. All rights of ownership and reproduction are retained—copyright 2025.

In this episode of Performance Delivered, Steffen Horst speaks with Daphne Johnson, CEO and Growth Advisor at Daphne, about how legacy brands can successfully conquer new markets. Daphne shares her extensive experience working with Fortune 100 brands like Verizon, American Express, and Yahoo, and discusses foundational strategies such as understanding customer needs, identifying problems worth solving, and leveraging partnerships and technological innovations like AI. Daphne also delves into the importance of competitive analysis, customer interviews, and internal alignment when navigating market expansions. Tune in to gain insights on how legacy brands can adapt and thrive in an evolving marketplace.