Suzanne Reed: Simplify the Stack, Amplify the Story

06/01/2026 12 min Episodio 21
Suzanne Reed: Simplify the Stack, Amplify the Story

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Episode Synopsis

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 moveHow “HGO—Human Engine Optimization” reframes modern marketingWhat AI can (and can’t) do when it comes to buyer understandingHow to equip early-career marketers to thrive in an AI-heavy worldWhy direct mail is back—and what personalization really means todayWhat LBMC discovered when analyzing competitors via LLMsSuzanne: “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-b67213Connect with Suzanne: linkedin.com/in/suzannereedfranklintnLearn more about LMBC: www.lbmc.comLearn more about Progress: www.progress.comTimestamps:00:40 – Marketing Challenges and Technology01:20 – MarTech Integration and Success03:17 – Human Element in Marketing05:15 – Advice for New Marketers08:56 – Hyper-Personalization in Marketing09:58 – Experimentation and Brand Differentiation10:57 – Inspiration and Industry Leaders Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.