The Agentic CMO

After interviewing 11 CMOs, founders, and AI leaders, Dave Lehman steps behind the mic to share the biggest themes shaping the future of marketing.

In this solo episode of The Agentic CMO, Dave explains why AI hasn't changed the fundamentals of great marketing, but it has transformed how marketers execute and how customers discover businesses. He explores answer engine optimization (AEO), AI search, trust signals, reviews, and the marketing systems that help teams move faster without sacrificing quality.

If you're leading marketing for a multi-location business, this episode offers a practical framework for preparing your team for the next wave of AI.

AI isn't replacing great marketers.

It's amplifying the ones who already understand their business.

In this episode of The Agentic CMO, Tim Shea, Founder & CEO of Latticework Insights, explains why the biggest obstacle to AI adoption isn't choosing the right model. It's building the right data foundation. He shares why marketers need to align on metrics before they automate workflows, how AI and human intuition work best together, and why experimentation has become one of the most valuable skills in modern marketing.

If you're trying to separate AI hype from practical strategy, this episode offers a realistic roadmap for building AI into your organization without losing sight of what actually drives growth.

The AI conversation has shifted.

It's no longer about choosing between ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or the latest model. It's about building AI systems that actually deliver business results.

In this episode of The Agentic CMO, our own CMO, Deepak Bahree, shares why marketers need to stop focusing on AI models and start focusing on outcomes. He explains how AI is reshaping customer discovery, why local trust signals matter more than ever, and how multi-location businesses can build connected AI workflows that generate measurable growth.

If you're trying to understand where AI marketing is headed next, this episode provides a practical framework for moving beyond experimentation and into execution.

Dom Garrett doesn't just use AI. He's building his marketing organization around it.

As SVP of Marketing & Communications at Diamond Residential Mortgage Corporation, Dom shares how AI has become his team's operating system, helping automate workflows, summarize meetings, prototype new ideas, and scale marketing across distributed teams without adding headcount.

In this episode, he explains why AI-powered customer discovery is changing local marketing, how he approaches the build versus buy decision for AI tools, and why the marketers who experiment today will have the biggest advantage tomorrow.

Adam Dorfman has spent nearly two decades helping brands stay ahead of search, from the early days of SEO to today's AI-powered discovery engines. In this episode, he explains how customer journeys are evolving across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews, why strong SEO is the foundation for success in AI search, and what multi-location brands need to do to stay visible. He also shares why marketers shouldn't stop at using AI for content generation, but should start building their own AI-powered tools to better understand what's possible in the next era of marketing.

Melissa Stiles, Chief Growth Officer at Storage Asset Management, oversees marketing for more than 500 self-storage locations across 100+ brands, giving her a front-row seat to how AI is changing customer acquisition at scale. In this episode, she shares why AI-driven traffic is converting at twice the rate of paid search, the foundational SEO strategies that matter more than ever in the age of ChatGPT, and how her team is using AI to turn data into faster, smarter marketing decisions without losing the human touch that customers expect.

Rob D'Annibale has watched patients begin their search for addiction treatment in ChatGPT and Gemini instead of Google, and at Crossroads, one of the largest national providers of medication-assisted treatment, with 100+ locations across nine states. In this episode, he explains why trust, not volume, is becoming the deciding factor in how AI engines surface healthcare providers, how centralizing patient reviews gives his team a real-time competitive edge, and why responsible AI adoption means lifting the administrative burden off clinicians without ever removing the human touch.

Michael DeHaven, Chief Systems & Digital Officer at Removery, has spent his career at the intersection of technology, digital experience, and marketing, and he believes the AI revolution will reshape every part of how companies operate. In this episode, he explains why leaders must challenge long-held assumptions about team structure, workflows, and customer experience if they want to stay relevant in an AI-first world.

Michael Toth is helping Sun Auto Tire & Service navigate AI at enterprise scale, overseeing growth and strategy across more than 600 locations and 30+ brands. In this episode, he shares why AI should be viewed as an amplifier rather than a replacement, how his team is using call intelligence to uncover revenue opportunities, and why the fastest path to AI success often comes from maximizing the technology partners you already have. 

United Franchise Group Chief Growth Officer Chad Palmer has watched AI reshape how franchise owners and consumers discover businesses, and he’s helping his teams stay ahead of the shift. In this episode, he shares why AI-driven search is already changing lead generation, how his team is building agentic workflows internally, and why the companies that adopt AI fastest will have the biggest competitive advantage.