AI Search Rewards Simple Stories: GEO for Growing Businesses with Jackson Wightman
Jackson Wightman, founder and CEO of Proper Propaganda, joins Gary to break down how AI search is changing the way customers find, compare, and choose the businesses they hire.
Jackson has run Proper Propaganda, a Montreal-based tech PR and GEO agency, since 2011, and is co-author of The Tech PR Playbook. His view is direct: for any business selling a considered purchase, AI engines are the new front in reputational competition. And because AI is, in his words, “more A than I,” it rewards businesses with a simple, coherent story told consistently across the web.
Jackson lays out the five elements of AI search (web architecture, traditional SEO, PR, content, and metrics) and the first steps any business can take, whether it has four employees or four thousand. He explains why building a program on your own data beats following industry averages, how to write website content that AI can read accurately, and where podcasts fit in. He also shares how Proper Propaganda put its own advice to work, competing for visibility against agencies many times its size.
The conversation closes on measurement and money: share of answer, accuracy, citation, and inbound leads, plus why roughly 20% of the effort tends to drive 80% of the results.
If you lead a business that depends on being found and trusted, this conversation will show you how to tell whether AI search matters for you, see where your company actually shows up, and invest only in what moves the needle.
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What You’ll Learn
- Which businesses should invest in AI search, and which may not need to
- How a conversation with an AI engine differs from a page of Google results
- Why your own data matters more than industry averages
- The five elements of AI search and how they fit together
- Three first steps: know your customers’ AI tools, open your website to AI bots, and run a diagnostic
- Why AI rewards a coherent, consistent story about your business
- How to write website content AI can extract accurately
- How to measure success: share of answer, accuracy, citation, and inbound leads
- Where businesses waste money chasing AI visibility
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Chapters
00:00 Preview
01:07 Introduction
02:24 Is AI search worth it for small businesses?
03:47 How AI search answers differ from Google’s blue links
08:02 What business owners get wrong about PR and AI search
10:36 First steps: AI tools, website access, and a diagnostic
14:20 Where podcasting fits into AI search
16:24 Why AI rewards a coherent story
20:51 Writing website content for AI
22:41 A client success story and Proper Propaganda’s own results
25:02 How to measure AI search success
27:48 Should a consultant write a book?
29:55 Where businesses waste money chasing AI visibility
32:11 Does It Hold Water?
37:05 Chip Shots
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Book Recommendation
Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal
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Connect with Jackson Wightman
Website: https://properpropaganda.net
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacksonwightman
Substack: https://jacksonwightman.substack.com
Email: jackson@properpropaganda.net
The Tech PR Playbook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C54B4XB7
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Connect with Gary Marra
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/
Schooley Mitchell: https://www.schooleymitchell.com/office/gmarra/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourcustomeryoursuccesspodcast
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Please Listen and Subscribe
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About Your Customer, Your Success
Your Customer, Your Success is a leadership and business growth podcast built on one idea: client focus is a growth strategy. Hosted by Gary Marra, the show brings together business owners, executives, and advisors for practical conversations on customer relationships, leadership, and operational discipline, and how each drives trust, retention, and sustainable growth.
About Gary Marra
Gary Marra is a Schooley Mitchell Franchise Owner, business advisor, and host of Your Customer, Your Success, a Top 50 Over 50 award-winning podcast. A Babson MBA, Gary spent 30 years in investment servicing managing institutional client relationships. Today he helps businesses and mission-driven organizations eliminate overspend while keeping the capacity that drives growth.
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