Tricia Black

Performance agencies sometimes think they need to differentiate by building proprietary tech. I’ve seen that story many times — and I disagree. I recently had a check-in with two C-level execs at a performance agency. We’d been delivering exceptional results for their clients, including a $33 CPA using our machine learning optimization engine, compared to $120 manually. But performance wasn’t their focus. They'd decided to build new tech in-house. “If other agencies can use tvScientific,” they said, “we’re not unique.” It brought to mind the New York Times’ decision to build its own ad server — a costly, years-long detour that ended with a move back to DFP. The problem was a lack of clarity about what business they were really in and what they were positioned to excel at. The same applies to performance agencies. They’re not in the business of building ad tech (which is a constantly evolving, capital intensive business and is an entire business in its own right). They’re in the business of delivering outcomes. That means using the best tools available on the market and winning on superior client service. Not rebuilding tools from scratch. The edge comes from execution — knowing how to evaluate, adopt, and apply best-in-class technology to drive better results. Trying to be both a tech company and a service business is a recipe for subpar results on both fronts. Instead, invest in identifying cutting-edge technology, use it better than your competitors, and deliver both superior results and superior client service. That’s the path to agency differentiation. Just my .02. More detailed thoughts on this topic in my weekly newsletter (see comments).

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Just wrapped up a keynote interview with SaaS expert and Mercury Fund’s Aileen Allen on the transformation of search. Here are some of the key takeaways from our discussion: AI-POWERED ANSWER ENGINES ARE REDEFINING SEARCH ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and others are reshaping how consumers discover brands—by delivering direct answers instead of a list of links. Traditional SEO is no longer enough. Being the first answer is the new frontier. (As Nat Ives noted this week in the Wall Street Journal, marketers are scrambling to catch up as AI upends the rules of search.) ORGANIC TRAFFIC IS DECLINING FAST Many brands are already seeing 20%+ drops in organic traffic—well ahead of Gartner’s 2028 prediction. At the same time, younger audiences are increasingly discovering products through social search, not just Google. If you’re not optimized for these new channels, you’re invisible. THE LEGAL LANDSCAPE IS SHIFTING Google’s antitrust trial and Chegg Skills lawsuit against AI summaries are wake-up calls. The power dynamics in search are under scrutiny—and the outcomes will shape how brands fight for attention in the future. CONTENT READINESS IS THE NEW CURRENCY Winning in answer engines means content that’s available, deep, and clear. Forget keyword stuffing—what matters now is structured, trustworthy, high-utility content that AI engines recognize and elevate. MEASURING WHAT MATTERS: BRANDRANK.AI’S APPROACH BrandRank.AI tracks three key metrics across all major LLMs: visibility (are you showing up?), vulnerability (where are the risks?), and readiness (is your content optimized?). We even monitor our own brand daily across 200+ keywords—it’s that critical. STARTUPS FEEL IT EVEN MORE THAN ENTERPRISE BRANDS While we work with large global companies, startups may have more to lose. Answer engine output already shapes perception, traction, and even valuation. If your AI presence is weak, investors and customers may never see your best story. IMPERATIVES FOR B2B SAAS TEAMS This shift isn’t just for consumer brands. B2B SaaS companies—many of whom rely heavily on inbound—need to reassess how they show up in AI and social answers. Now’s the time to audit your AI presence and rethink your go-to-market strategy. Thanks again to Aileen for the smart conversation—and to all the SaaS builders embracing the Answer Economy. Blair Garrou Heather Butler Shiv Singh Hank Hudepohl John Costello Dave Balter Michael Donnelly Frederic Colas Michael Kassan Hilding Anderson Matias Perel Chetan Parekh James Knott Ximena O. Zack Huhn

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"Every agency I've talked to has told me they are 'fiercely creative' and that they don't have client's they have partners" -- CMO I'm working with. Agency messaging in general, is hard. Differentiating, is harder. In my experience, on average, most brands shopping for a new agency will chat with 3-7 groups. All of those groups, + or -, aren't that different. The convo's will be generally the same. The structure of the calls will be generally the same. The proposals will be generally the same. *The people will be different. **The vibes will be different. So what's an agency to do? If you know everyone is saying the same stuff, you have 2 options 1) Do something f*ckin wild and/or memorable to stand out. 2) Call those things out and go further. Option 2 is easier and less scary, in my opinion. "We know a lot of groups say they are 'fiercely creative' -- here's what that means to us and what it looks like in practice." "I'm guessing you're going to hear a lot of agencies tell you that they don't have clients, they have partners, right? Here's what partnership looks like here if you work with us. Here's what some of our current and past partners would say" If everyone is ziggin' Zaggin' sounds pretty good.

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Just came off a sharp, forward-looking panel on how AI-enabled search—or “answer engines”—are transforming commerce at MARCC. Moderated by Mark Stenberg ADWEEK the panel featured Josh Blyskal Profound , Colin Duethorn Snap Inc. and Ben Dietz @rangelife Each brought a unique perspective on how AI is collapsing the traditional marketing funnel and redefining discovery, attribution, and brand visibility. Josh dropped one of the most important takeaways: if your site is heavily built in JavaScript and not structured in clean, crawlable HTML, AI models may not even be able to see your products—let alone recommend them. In the age of AI, visibility starts with infrastructure. The future of commerce is being shaped by AI. The question is—can it find you? #AI #Search #Commerce #Marketing #Profound #AIVisibility #Ecommerce #MarTech

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