Kitchen Side: Boots on the Ground and the Power of Vocabulary and Depth

In this Kitchen Side episode of The Long Game Podcast, Alex Birkett and the team discuss the evolving landscape of content creation, AI-powered tools, and the importance of structured thinking. They dive into how automation is making some SEO and marketing tasks easier while increasing the need for differentiation. The conversation covers how marketers must think like product managers, why unique insights and data are critical for standing out, and the barbell strategy for balancing safe bets with high-risk, high-reward experiments. They also touch on vector embeddings, AI-powered SEO strategies, and the future of human-AI collaboration in content marketing.

Key Takeaways

• AI in Content Creation: AI can enhance content creation, but human intelligence and strategic thinking are still essential.
• The Power of Structured Thinking: Frameworks and structured approaches help clarify ideas, whether for human communication or AI-driven content.
• Differentiation in the Age of AI: As automation makes basic SEO and content tasks easier, brands must focus on unique insights and high-value contributions.
• Marketers as Product Managers: Understanding customer needs and thinking systematically will define the next generation of marketing success.
• Barbell Strategy in AI Marketing: Balancing foundational strategies with high-upside experiments is key to staying ahead in an AI-driven world.
• Vector Embeddings and SEO: AI-powered tools can revolutionize keyword research, internal linking, and content clustering for better search results.
• AI’s Impact on User Intent: While AI tools automate aspects of SEO, true differentiation comes from understanding user needs and providing unique perspectives.

Show Links

• Connect with David Khim on LinkedIn and Twitter
• Connect with Alex Birkett on LinkedIn and Twitter
• Connect with Allie Decker on LinkedIn and Twitter
• Connect with Omniscient Digital on LinkedIn or Twitter

What is Kitchen Side?

One big benefit of running an agency or working at one is you get to see the “kitchen side” of many different businesses; their revenue, their operations, their automations, and their culture.

You understand how things look from the inside and how that differs from the outside.

You understand how the sausage is made. 

As an agency ourselves, we’re working both on growing our clients’ businesses as well as our own. This podcast is one project, but we also blog, make videos, do sales, and have quite a robust portfolio of automations and hacks to run our business.

We want to take you behind the curtain, to the kitchen side of our business, to witness our brainstorms, discussions, and internal dialogues behind the public works that we ship.

Past guests on The Long Game podcast include: Morgan Brown (Shopify), Ryan Law (Animalz), Dan Shure (Evolving SEO), Kaleigh Moore (freelancer), Eric Siu (Clickflow), Peep Laja (CXL), Chelsea Castle (Chili Piper), Tracey Wallace (Klaviyo), Tim Soulo (Ahrefs), Ryan McReady (Reforge), and many more.

Some interviews you might enjoy and learn from:

Actionable Tips and Secrets to SEO Strategy with Dan Shure (Evolving SEO)

Building Competitive Marketing Content with Sam Chapman (Aprimo)

How to Build the Right Data Workflow with Blake Burch (Shipyard)

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