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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