To all marketers leading GEO SEO:

What if we told you that reviews are actually one of the most powerful marketing and conversion channels out there?

In this episode of The Marketing Share Podcast, Alec Cheung and Barb VanSomeren talk with George Swetlitz, co-founder of Right Response AI and former CEO of a multi-location healthcare business, about how reviews really influence buying decisions, especially in B2C environments where trust is everything.

George breaks down how reputation management and the key role the responses from companies play when it comes to driving revenue from reviews.

You’ll also hear how personalized responses can increase conversion, why generic replies actually hurt trust, and how AI can help teams turn reviews into something far more strategic than just customer support.

This interview also dives into the reality of managing reputation across multiple locations, how to think about competition at a local level, and why reviews can act as an early warning system for deeper business problems.

If you’re in a B2C business, managing multiple locations, or just trying to understand how AI is changing the way customers make decisions, this episode will change how you think about reviews.

Connect with George via LinkedIn

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Want to be a guest on The Marketing Share Podcast? Send us your bio and proposed interview topic to marketingsharepodcast@gmail.com, and our Podcast Manager will get back to you.

Want to connect with Alec and Barb to talk all things marketing and how they can help you leverage the marketing wing of your organization?

Connect with Alec here
Connect with Barb here
Connect with Cinthya, Podcast Manager, here

Cheers.

AI is reshaping marketing as we know it, and its impact is reaching the CMO role.

In this episode of The Marketing Share, our co-hosts Alec Cheung and Barb VanSomeren talk with Kate Johnson, CMO at Dscout, about her transition from VP of Marketing to CMO, and why that shift looks very different today than it did even a year ago.

Kate dives into her experience as a first-time CMO in the era of AI, and how this new technology is reshaping everything at once: how teams operate, how products are built, how fast companies move, and how marketing shows up in the business.

If you're stepping into a leadership role or already in one, this episode offers a grounded look at what’s actually changing behind the scenes, and what it takes to keep up.

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction, Alec and Barb
02:00 Kate Johnson’s journey from VP of Marketing to CMO
05:40 What surprised her most about becoming a CMO
10:00 How AI is changing marketing, products, and customer expectations
13:00 AI inside the marketing team: faster product cycles, new bottlenecks
16:00 Using AI tools in real workflows (automation, research, sales enablement)
20:00 Decision-making as a CMO when you’re not the expert
24:00 Hiring for new roles and evaluating talent outside your experience
28:00 What she had to let go of moving into the CMO role
36:00 Navigating brand messaging in an AI-driven market
40:00 Final thoughts and where to connect with Kate

🎧 Subscribe to The Marketing Share Podcast to get unfiltered conversations with marketing leaders about growth, strategy, and the future of digital.

Connect with our guest:
👉Kate Jhonson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kateathmer/
👉 Sign up to be a Scout and get paid to participate in research! https://www.dscout.com/participate-in-research-studies

Explore the video content of each podcast episode on YouTube

Want to be a guest on The Marketing Share Podcast? Send us your bio and proposed interview topic to marketingsharepodcast@gmail.com, and our Podcast Manager will get back to you.

Want to connect with Alec and Barb to talk all things marketing and how they can help you leverage the marketing wing of your organization?

Connect with Alec here
Connect with Barb here
Connect with Cinthya, Podcast Manager, here

Cheers.

What happens when a company has great technology but struggles to explain why it matters?

In this episode of The Marketing Share, our co-hosts Alec Cheung and Barb VanSomeren explore, in a conversation with Virtual CMO Mark Donnigan, what tends to break down when technical companies try to scale their marketing.

In this interview, they unpack the reality many founder-led companies face: they know their product deeply, but that doesn’t always translate into a clear story for the market.

Mark shares what he looks for when stepping into these environments and why the first step is often helping teams reconnect with the real problems their customers are trying to solve.

Along the way, the conversation touches on why marketing execution matters more than marketing theory, how small teams can move faster than large organizations, and why many companies still rely too heavily on outdated lead generation tactics.

If you're a founder, a first marketing hire, or a marketing leader working inside a technical company, this episode gives you a practical perspective on how to turn product expertise into messaging that resonates with the market.

🎧 Subscribe to The Marketing Share Podcast to get unfiltered conversations with marketing leaders about growth, strategy, and the future of digital.

Connect with our guest:
👉Mark Donnigan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markdonnigan/

Explore the video content of each podcast episode on YouTube

Want to be a guest on The Marketing Share Podcast? Send us your bio and proposed interview topic to marketingsharepodcast@gmail.com, and our Podcast Manager will get back to you.

Want to connect with Alec and Barb to talk all things marketing and how they can help you leverage the marketing wing of your organization?

Connect with Alec here
Connect with Barb here
Connect with Cinthya, Podcast Manager, here

Cheers.