Business
Jessica Goodrum, Director of Content Marketing at Rival Mind, joins Austin Willman to unpack how digital marketing agencies are actually using AI in 2026 — and where they're deliberately holding back. Jessica explains why Rival Mind's in-house design team still handles nearly every client-facing visual asset, why AI-generated graphics struggle with brand accuracy and logo interpretation, and how AI is used instead for ideation to save creative teams time without replacing their judgment.
The conversation moves into SEO strategy for the AI Overview era: why foundational SEO — strong content, not keyword stuffing — still wins, how location pages and LLM-readable pages are changing, and why answering user questions early in the content (before the storytelling) matters more than ever. Jessica also breaks down how Rival Mind builds brand voice for clients who don't yet know their own identity, and why that discovery work is baked into onboarding rather than upsold separately.
The episode closes with a look at leadership: Jessica's transition from individual contributor to building a department, why video SOPs beat written ones, how she avoids becoming a "diminishing leader," and why the steadiest team member — not the most dynamic one — is often the right pick for a leadership seat.
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In this episode, we discuss:
00:00 - 00:52: Introduction and Coffee Banter
00:52 - 02:44: Setting AI Boundaries for Creative Work
02:44 - 04:55: Why AI Struggles With Brand and Logo Accuracy
04:55 - 06:27: AI Maxing and Using AI Strategically
06:27 - 08:06: Cross-Team Collaboration on Creative Assets
08:06 - 09:27: Technical Break
09:27 - 11:08: From Individual Contributor to Team Builder
11:08 - 13:17: Are SOPs Still Relevant in a Fast-Changing World
13:17 - 15:29: Where AI Fits Into the Production Workflow
15:29 - 17:08: Foundational SEO in the AI Overview Era
17:08 - 19:13: LLM Pages and Answering Questions Faster
19:13 - 21:29: Balancing Depth and Brevity in Content
21:29 - 23:52: The New Hybrid Skill of SEO, Content, and Host
23:52 - 25:44: Brand Discovery and What's Included in Onboarding
25:44 - 27:01: Jessica's Favorite Part of the Job
27:01 - 30:29: Leadership Styles Across Sales and Engineering Teams
30:29 - 32:59: Avoiding the Diminishing Leader Trap
32:59 - 34:27: Right Person, Right Seat
34:27 - 35:08: Where to Find Rival Mind
Connect with Jessica Goodrum
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-goodrum/
https://rivalmind.com
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