From AI Flood to Originality — Jonathan Gillham on Protecting Authentic Content in 2025

In this episode, I sit down with Jonathan — founder and CEO of Originality.ai, co-founder of Motion Invest, and one of the earliest voices warning about generative AI’s impact on publishing — to dig into the evolving battle between authenticity and automation. From building the first-ever paid AI detection tool (launched days before ChatGPT) to spotting the gray zone between ethical and spammy AI content, Jonathan shares what it takes to keep your brand’s voice intact while still working at the speed of modern marketing.

We cover:

• Why Google’s “AI forward” messaging hides a war on mass-produced AI content
• How AI-assisted ≠ AI-authored — and where the detection line gets drawn
• The fatal flaw in copy-paste AI blogs and why they’re tanking site authority
• Why “value beyond words” is the new SEO edge in an AI-saturated world
• What publishers, marketers, and site buyers now demand as proof of authenticity
• How AI hallucinations are already warping book publishing, journalism, and search results

🎯 Key Takeaways:

• AI is a tool, not a replacement — human oversight is non-negotiable
• Mass-produced AI content will eventually tank your rankings
• Adding value beyond text (data, tools, design) is your long-term moat
• Have an internal AI policy — and enforce it with detection and QC systems
• Authenticity is now a competitive advantage you can’t fake

This episode is for marketers balancing speed with substance, publishers guarding brand trust, and business owners who want to win with SEO without sacrificing integrity.

🔗 Connect with Jonathan:
LinkedIn
Originality.ai
Motion Invest

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🎙 From Google to Growth Engine — Cody Jensen on Building Ethical SEO That Actually Works

What do Groupon knockoffs, offshore shortcuts, and a Lil Wayne lyric have in common? For Cody Jensen, they were all lessons on his path to building Search Bloom — a multimillion-dollar SEO and digital marketing agency built on transparency, strategy, and results.

In this episode, I sit down with Cody — former Googler, data-obsessed strategist, and CEO of Search Bloom — to pull back the curtain on what actually works in SEO today. From the dark side of snake oil tactics to the surprising power of AI (used right), we unpack the foundational mindset and methodology that’s helped his team generate over $800B in attributable revenue for clients.

We cover:

• Why SEO isn't dead — it’s just misunderstood
• What white hat really means, and how Search Bloom built a business that clients don’t want to leave
• The evolution from ART to ARTS (Authority, Relevance, Trust, Strategy) and why it still holds up in an AI-dominated world
• Local SEO that actually works — from Google Business Profile hacks to citations that matter
• Why organic + paid is the growth combo most businesses ignore
• AI-generated blogs? Why they’re killing your site (and what to do instead)

🎯 Key Takeaways:

• Real SEO is built, not bought. If it’s $500/month, you’re likely getting nothing.
• Do SEO from the bottom up. Start with ROI, not just rankings.
• Local SEO can deliver ROI in 2 weeks — but only if you're doing it right.
• AI is a tool, not a shortcut. Use it for strategy, not content dumps.
• Strategy is the new secret sauce. Your roadmap is your edge.

This episode is for small business owners navigating digital growth, marketers who’ve been burned by bad SEO, and anyone curious about ethical, high-ROI search marketing in 2025.

🔗 Connect with Cody:

• LinkedIn
• Search Bloom

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From Car Washes to $20M Funnels — Chris Shihadeh on Scaling Smart with Pay-Per-Call

What do data lists, AI-generated ads, and a six-year-old’s car wash have in common? For Chris Shihadeh, they were all stepping stones on a journey to building Skylab Digital, a powerhouse in pay-per-call lead generation for the Medicare and insurance space.

In this episode, I sit down with Chris — a scrappy entrepreneur, creative tactician, and CEO of Skylab Digital — to talk about how he turned failure into fuel and scaled a $20M business with a lean team of just ten. From childhood lessons in leverage to building campaigns with real-time dashboards and tight feedback loops, Chris shares the behind-the-scenes of building a high-performing performance marketing engine.

We cover:

• What pay-per-call really means — and how it compares to pay-per-click
• How Chris went from falling flat with a digital agency to pioneering a scalable lead gen model
• The secrets to hiring A-players and building a culture that performs
• Why campaign templates (yes, even “rip-and-run”) work when customized with data
• Why AI can’t replace copy that converts — but it can still move mountains

🎯 Key takeaways:

• Contact rate is everything. Inbound calls > cold leads. Always.
• Test small and often. Don’t get emotionally attached to underperforming campaigns.
• Templates are a launchpad. Start with what works, then optimize based on your data.
• Real-time feedback loops matter. If you’re not getting disposition reports, you’re flying blind.
• A great team beats a big one. Culture fit and accountability are the real growth levers.

This episode is for business owners scaling performance marketing, founders navigating growing pains, and anyone curious about how high-growth lead generation actually works behind the curtain.

🔗 Connect with Chris:

• LinkedIn
• Skylab Digital

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From Madison Avenue to Main Street — Benjamin Hawk on Brand Strategy That Actually Works

What do BMW, American Express, and small-town coffee shops have in common? They’ve all benefited from Benjamin Hawk’s sharp creative mind and brand-building expertise. In this episode, I sit down with Benjamin Hawk — a seasoned creative strategist, brand whisperer, and self-proclaimed “couples therapist for brands” — to unpack what enterprise brands get right about marketing, and how small businesses can apply the same principles to scale without the bloat.

With 20+ years in the advertising world, Ben has worked with everyone from global giants like Verizon and Mini to solo entrepreneurs trying to turn passion into profit. His advice is grounded, clear-eyed, and full of the kind of practical wisdom you wish more marketing gurus gave.

We cover:

• The #1 reason most entrepreneurs sabotage their own growth
• Why branding is business hygiene — and what it has to do with deodorant
• What big brands know about customer experience that small businesses miss
• Why community and "brand citizenship" matter more than ever post-COVID
• How to do more with less — and why your strategy needs to start before your ad spend

🎯 Key takeaways:

• You are not your customer. You are also not your brand. Understand that early, and build accordingly.
• Don’t skip strategy. Without a playbook, you’ll work harder and spend more to go nowhere fast.
• Marketing is not an expense — it's an investment in relationships, recognition, and revenue.
• AI is a tool, not a strategist. Use it for speed and research, but don’t hand it your brand voice.
• Brand is behavior. It shows up in every touchpoint — your pricing, your tone, your actions in the world.

This episode is for entrepreneurs who’ve hit a wall, brand builders chasing clarity, and anyone who believes great marketing starts with knowing who you are — and who you're talking to.

Connect with Benjamin:

• Benjamin LinkedIn
• Ok Let's Brand LinkedIn
• Ok Let's Brand Website
• Instagram
• Facebook
• YouTube

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What happens when you reach the top of your game — and suddenly everything feels harder, not easier? In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Adam Formal, a clinical psychologist who works with Team USA athletes, C-suite executives, and elite performers who look superhuman from the outside but are very much human on the inside.

From Olympic athletes dealing with post-career identity crises to executives burning out despite having "everything," Dr. Formal shares insights that cut through typical success narratives to reveal what actually drives sustainable performance — and what destroys it.

We cover:

• Why adding rewards to something you love actually decreases your motivation
• How social media creates "need substitutes" that feel like connection but leave you emptier
• Why most elite athletes retire before 24 and struggle more than anyone talks about
• His "donut hole theory" — why we can't see our own patterns even when they're obvious to everyone else
• The uncomfortable truth about why people who "have it all" often feel the most lost

🎯 Key takeaways:

• Success without sustainability is just delayed failure. Focus on your "why," not "what if I fail."
• Your coping strategies reveal your unmet needs. Whether it's Netflix binges or 80-hour work weeks, we're all avoiding something.
• The higher you climb, the scarier it gets. Peak performance means confronting your actual limits.

This isn't your typical "mindset and motivation" conversation. Whether you're climbing toward your own version of "the top" or wondering why success doesn't feel the way you thought it would, this episode offers real talk about achievement, burnout, and sustainable excellence.

Connect with Dr. Adam Formal:

• LinkedIn: Adam Formal, PhD
• Practice: www.formaltherapy.com
• Hyer Calling: hyercalling.org/adam.html

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Build Before You Burn Out — Chris Davis on What Startups Keep Getting Wrong About Tech

What does it really take to build a tech startup that scales — and how do you avoid the costly mistakes most founders make? In this episode, I sit down with Chris Davis, a seasoned startup operator, strategist, and former CEO of multiple venture-backed companies, to talk through the gritty, unglamorous parts of launching a tech business that actually works.

From his early years navigating sports tech and recruiting startups to his current role at Intucia Labs, Chris has helped dozens of founders move from vision to viable product — without wasting months (or millions) trying to reinvent what already exists.

Chris shares:

• His journey from football captain at Duke to CEO and product strategist
• Why most startup founders fail at product design (and how to fix it)
• How to think about “second launches” when your MVP wasn’t built right the first time
• The rinse-and-repeat tech systems that cut costs and increase speed to market
• What great founders do differently (spoiler: it starts with writing things down)

We also get into the real conversations founders need to have with investors, why many MVPs are built backwards, and how to avoid becoming the startup that hemorrhages cash because the backend is a mess.

🎯 Key Takeaways:

• Ingenuity beats investment. Hustle, resilience, and resourcefulness still matter more than fancy pitch decks.
• Design isn't just colors. User experience design = mapping out the entire customer journey before you write a single line of code.
• Don’t build from scratch. 80% of most products are the same — focus on the 20% that makes you different.
• Fix the foundation before scaling. Tech debt will cost you more in time and money than investing in the right setup early.
• Know your flame. If you don’t have traction, a waitlist, or a working prototype — you’re not ready for investors.

Whether you’re a non-technical founder figuring out product for the first time, or you’re ready for a second shot at building it right — this episode gives you a framework to think smarter and build faster.

📌 Learn more about Chris’s work at Intuitio Labs
📌 Connect with Chris on LinkedIn

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🎙️ This Week’s Episode: Allyson Havener on Owning the Modern CMO Role

What does it take to go from ballerina to CMO in the fast-paced world of B2B tech? In this episode, I sit down with Allyson Havener, Chief Marketing Officer at TrustRadius, to unpack what it really means to lead marketing today—across content, data, strategy, and most of all, trust.

With a background that spans SaaS, brand building, and go-to-market strategy, Allyson shares how she orchestrates marketing teams to drive growth—and why being action-oriented beats perfection every time.

Allyson shares:

• Her journey from creative roots to tech CMO
• The difference between marketing for marketing’s sake and marketing that drives business
• Why original content (not AI copycatting) is the next frontier
• How TrustRadius is redefining the buyer’s journey with real customer voice and reviews
• Why marketers need to take off the “marketing hat” and think like business leaders

We also dig into the evolving B2B customer journey (hello, Google’s messy middle), the power of word-of-mouth at scale, what makes modern demand gen work, and how CMOs can build boardroom credibility by aligning marketing to revenue—not just vanity metrics.

🎯 Key Takeaways:

• Build trust by showcasing real customer experiences
• Original content means having a POV, not just publishing AI fluff
• B2B buyers want pricing, proof, and peer validation—fast
• CMOs must balance brand-building with revenue accountability
• Content + distribution + consistency = the simplest (and smartest) growth plan

Whether you're leading a marketing team, building a go-to-market plan, or trying to make your way to the C-suite, this episode offers fresh perspective on how today’s top marketers are adapting, iterating, and leading with purpose.

📌 Learn more about TrustRadius at trustradius.com
📌 Follow Allyson on LinkedIn
📌 Follow TrustRadius on LinkedIn

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🎙️ This Week’s Episode: From Magic Tricks to Marketing Truths—Jeff Greenfield on Attribution’s Future

Is marketing attribution still possible without cookies? And how do you actually know which of your efforts are driving conversions? In this episode, I sit down with Jeff Greenfield—entrepreneur, magician, and co-founder of Provalytics—who’s building the next generation of privacy-compliant, AI-driven attribution for marketers who are tired of guessing.

Jeff’s career path is anything but ordinary—starting in chiropractic and close-up magic, detouring into early SEO, product placement, and branded entertainment, and eventually pioneering one of the first multi-touch attribution models at C3 Metrics. Now with Provalytics, he’s empowering marketers with actionable insights without relying on cookies or user-level data.

Jeff shares:

• His wild journey from Magic Castle magician to measurement expert
• How marketers can confidently defend spend in a privacy-first world
• Why impressions—not clicks—are the true currency of marketing
• What legacy marketers need to unlearn (and relearn) to keep up
• How Provalytics is helping brands find ROI in places they never thought to look

We also dig into why marketers often fear data (and how to fix that), what SMBs can do to DIY their own measurement, and why being “less wrong each month” is a smarter goal than perfection.

🎯 Key Takeaways:

• Attribution is no longer about perfect tracking—it’s about predictive trust
• Focus on impressions, not just clicks—they’re your first signal of interest
• Marketing mix modeling isn’t just for big brands anymore
• Visibility into what’s actually working can save you millions
• It's time to bridge the gap between creative marketing and cold, hard finance

Whether you're a data-driven CMO, a scrappy founder trying to stretch your budget, or a marketer who wants to sound smarter in front of the CFO—this episode is a must-listen.

📌 Learn more about Jeff’s work at provalytics.com
📌 Follow Provalytics on LinkedIn
📌 Follow Provalytics on Facebook

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