Is your marketing team ready for the future? As the lines between physical and digital blur, and buyer journeys become more non-linear than ever, those who fail to adapt may find themselves left behind.
I am here at Opticon 2024 in San Antonio Texas and getting the opportunity to see a lot of inspiring ideas from some of the world’s leading brands and hearing all about Optimizely’s platform and how it enables 1:1 personalization, streamlined content operations, and incorporates the latest generative AI features.
Today we’re diving into the future of marketing with Izabela Misiorny, Chief Marketing Officer at Siteimprove. We’ll explore how marketing strategies must evolve to stay ahead, from upgrading the funnel to mastering AI tools and creating quality-first content.
Resources
Siteimprove website: https://www.siteimprove.com
Optimizely website: https://www.optimizely.com
Wix Studio is the ultimate web platform for creative, fast-paced teams at agencies and enterprises—with smart design tools, flexible dev capabilities, full-stack business solutions, multi-site management, advanced AI and fully managed infrastructure. https://www.wix.com/studio
Don’t miss Medallia Experience 2025, March 24-26 in Las Vegas: Registration is now available: https://cvent.me/AmO1k0
Use code MEDEXP25 for $200 off registration
Register now for HumanX 2025. This AI-focused event which brings some of the most forward-thinking minds in technology together. Register now with the code “HX25p_tab” for $250 off the regular price.
Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom
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Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com
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The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company
Transcript
Note: This was AI-generated and only lightly edited
Greg Kihlstrom:
Is your marketing team ready for the future? As the lines between physical and digital blur and buyer journeys become more nonlinear than ever, those who fail to adapt may find themselves left behind. I’m here at Opticon 2024 in San Antonio, Texas, and getting the opportunity to see a lot of inspiring ideas from some of the world’s leading brands and hearing all about Optimizely’s platform and how it enables one-to-one personalization, streamlined content operations, and incorporates the latest generative AI features. Today, we’re diving into the future of marketing with Izabela Misiorny, Chief Marketing Officer at Siteimprove. We’ll explore how marketing strategies must evolve to stay ahead, from upgrading the funnel to mastering AI tools and creating quality-first content. Isabela, welcome to the show.
Izabela Misiorny: Thank you so much. I’m excited to be here.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, looking forward to talking about this with you. Before we dive in, why don’t you start by telling us a little bit about yourself and your background?
Izabela Misiorny: Yes, so my name is Izabela Misiorny and I’m the Chief Marketing Officer at Siteimprove and I’ve been at Siteimprove for almost five years now and it’s been an incredible journey because we are here at Siteimprove, you know, our goal is to empower marketing teams and accessibility teams to perfect their digital presence from digital accessibility through content quality to SEO and analytics. And so, of course, as a marketer, that’s such an exciting space to be, right? And offer something for fellow marketers.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, yeah, that’s great. So yeah, we’re going to talk about quite a few things here. And I guess just to give for those less familiar with Siteimprove, could you talk a little bit about what is the Siteimprove platform?
Izabela Misiorny: Yes. So Siteimprove, exactly as you mentioned, we are a software vendor. And we offer a platform that allows you to optimize your digital presence. And when we say optimize digital presence, it means looking at everything from, is your content accessible? Is it without errors, without broken links, right? Is it optimized for search? And also, how can you understand your customers? So it’s the whole analytics part, right? Like we are providing you insights on where your users are, how they are interacting with your content. So it is very much for us. Our goal is to provide marketers with this like super easy to use platform where so you can log in and say, hey, you know, I have all the data. I have all the insights I need. I know how to make my decisions about which content to optimize, which content to kill, which content to produce.
Greg Kihlstrom: Great, great. So yeah, we’re going to talk quite a bit about most of that today. So yeah, let’s dive in. And I wanted to start by talking about upgrading the marketing funnel for non-linear journeys. A lot of teams focused on one single channel and kind of the old way of thinking. So you’ve mentioned that the marketing funnel needs this 21st century upgrade. What exactly do you mean by that, especially in the context of the non-linear TikTokified buyer journeys?
Izabela Misiorny: Yes, so at Sign& Improve we’ve been thinking a lot about the funnel, right, and how marketers show up in the world. The traditional marketing funnel is exactly what it says. It is traditional. I don’t know if you know, it has been created in 1898. Oh, wow. Yes. Right? A little while. Exactly. It’s over 100 years ago.
Greg Kihlstrom: Time for an upgrade.
Izabela Misiorny: It’s pretty incredible that as marketers we still use it. And we know our buyer journeys are non-linear anymore. Think about yourself, we talk about this messy middle where you research, you jump from consideration to intent to awareness. It’s a little bit like our brain synopsis, kind of like jumping around. So we think it needs an upgrade, right? And the whole idea is, okay, the whole idea with the traditional funnel was, okay, how can I understand my customers, right? So the question is, now that we know that users are interacting with content differently and with your brand differently, it’s also still about the understanding, right? So we need to make sure that the way we think about the funnel is anchored in customer understanding.
Greg Kihlstrom: Got it. So how can marketing teams adopt this kind of thinking? How do they rethink their mid-funnel strategies to better engage audiences who are doing exactly what you’re saying, jumping between channels, formats, even decision processes, all of that?
Izabela Misiorny: Yes. So mid funnel, as I mentioned, it’s exactly that messy middle. Right. And that’s that becomes the most important part of interaction, because that’s exactly where you are, even, you know, without actually clicking on ads. Right. Or interacting with specific brand content. That’s where you are actually making your decisions. Right. So these mid funnel strategies have to focus now on trust. and responding to user’s intent and responding to user’s need. So it’s no longer about stuffing keywords and being like, hey, this is the top of funnel keyword. I will just put it on my website and people will come. No, it is really about making sure that you use the mid funnel to actually not create this like passive communication towards your customers, but think about, okay, like how am I addressing their intent and how can I make it interactive as a brand, right? Like how am I adding value to my user? Because with all the generic content created now by ChatGPT and Cloud and whatever, right? Like it is the only way to stand out. is if you can say, hey, my brand stands for this topic, like this is my niche, this is what I know about, this is my expertise, and this is how I can help you as a user.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, yeah. And I think that’s a great segue to the next topic. Because, I mean, to your point, the easier content is to make with AI tools and things like that, the more of it. But the quality doesn’t necessarily go up. It’s quantity, right? So how do we look at quality first content in the era of this generative AI and search generative experience? So I wanted to start here with search engines. increasingly prioritizing quality and rankings. How should marketers adjust their content strategies to remain competitive here?
Izabela Misiorny: Yes, and that’s exactly also the question we have at SiteImprove almost every day. And I hear it from our customers every day, right? Because we number one problem right now in the industry that I hear from customers is my traffic is dropping, right? Like, how do I bring my customers to my content? So first of all, I think we have to say what quality content means, right? Exactly. It’s no longer about keywords. It’s about the depth. It’s about the relevance. It’s about the user intent. So the way to adjust content strategies is, first of all, to think, as I said, about customer understanding. How do I show with my content that I understand you as a customer, as my user, right? And then the other thing that becomes super important with search engines, you know, crawling of all the content is you need to think about your content as a holistic ecosystem, right? Because you also, as a user, you may be interacting with my brand’s content on TikTok, maybe here on Instagram and you are expecting the same cohesive experience. So as marketers, we also have to think exactly in the same way that it is an ecosystem. And how am I, how am I saying the like cohesive narrative towards the market?
Greg Kihlstrom: Right, right. Yeah. Cause to your point, people are, I think there’s some people are using at least like five or six channels per purchase or something like that, I saw.
Izabela Misiorny: Easily, exactly. And another thing to it is exactly it’s not only online, right? Like it’s also the offline experiences. And another one of my favorite topics is also when you, for example, use Amazon and you have this amazing experience that raises your expectation towards other vendors. So then imagine you have to use an app from your energy provider and it’s a really bad experience. You’re like, I don’t have to do this, right? please do better. And that’s exactly, and we have to deal with this as marketers, right? And we have to adjust to that. So even though, for example, for my team, even though we are in B2B space, right? I always, we always look outside and say like, what is the best B2C experience that you get? Because that’s the expectation from your users.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, yeah. Because I mean, you know, B2B buyers or B2C consumers, after 5 p.m. or whatever you want to, probably even during work. Exactly, there are also people. Right, right, exactly, good to remember. So, you know, in terms of this and keeping this multi-channel and putting a focus on quality, what are the top methods or tools that you’d recommend for making sure that content meets those expectations?
Izabela Misiorny: Yes, let me start with the tools. So obviously tools like content optimizations platforms, right? So Siteimprove and Market Muse, for example, of course, we help you ensure that your content aligns with all the brand standards and also accessibility, right? So that’s very, That’s a very foundational level of ensuring that your content is high quality. And it also makes sure that it’s clear, that it’s well structured. And this is super important, especially now with AI, because it allows not only you as a user to understand it better, but also the machines. And that influences the search rankings. And in terms of strategies in general, very much do not be afraid to leverage AI for content creation and optimization. Everybody does it, right? Like you don’t want to get left behind. But remember that you want to keep that human in the loop, right? So you want to, you will never, at least not for now, we will not replace that like human driven strategy and creativity. And one last thing is focusing on this unique value across the content lifecycle. So again, what is your subject matter expertise as a brand and how do you communicate it to the customers?
Greg Kihlstrom: So you touched a little bit on AI there and let’s talk a little bit more. Certainly at Opticon here we’ve been hearing a lot about AI and one of the big announcements was around AI agents. So I want to kind of start there of how marketers should be preparing for using these semi-autonomous AI agents and how that might disrupt marketing. So semi-autonomous AI agents are expected to disrupt some marketing departments. To your point, I don’t think they’re going to replace people altogether, but there is some, I think of it as augmentation, not replacement. But how can marketers prepare for this shift and make sure that they stay in control of these technologies?
Izabela Misiorny: Yes. And as you mentioned, AI is like the talk of town, right? For marketing departments, because we are always at the forefront, right? But I think the key is to approach AI as a co-pilot or co-marketer, if you will. And not exactly, as you said, not a replacement. We mentioned that there’s this saying, right, that your job will not be replaced by AI, but it could be replaced by someone who knows how to use AI. And I think that’s a great way to look at it, right? Like we have to invest, and I think as marketers, we have a responsibility to invest in understanding how to use AI. What are the strengths? What are the limitations? I mean, my personal example is, you know, when ChatGPT came out, Once you start using it, it’s just so easy to understand what the limitation is, right? Because you see, okay, you know, it’s great, for example, to start your ideation so you are not sitting there staring at the blank page. So it’s a great start. But for me, for example, it’s never a finished product, right? Like you always have to make some tweaks. And that’s why, you know, it is your responsibility to start using it, to understand how it works. And it also means, you know, you are fostering the culture of experimentation, right? And I think as a marketing leader, this is extremely important for me, right? To make sure that people on my team are open to that change, but also understand their responsibility in, first of all, educating themselves. And secondly, in not thinking, OK, you know, this is out of my control. I’m like completely hands off. Whatever happens, happens. Right. So I think that kind of approach and making sure that, OK, yes, I understand that, you know, I can optimize maybe parts of my workflow. But then where do I, how do I figure out where to add my expertise and my creativity and my humanity? So figuring out that value add part of the whole process.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, I mean, it’s kind of a partnership, right? Exactly. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, given that and, you know, anyone that’s been, I’ve been doing this for a few years myself and, you know, I’ve certainly seen a lot of trends come and kind of the role of the marketers and the skills that marketers need to understand shift over the years. Given this and where AI is headed and its continued role, what are some of the key skills that teams should focus on developing now to be able to leverage AI effectively?
Izabela Misiorny: That’s a great question. And I think I want to mention three. So I would start that it all starts with a foundation in data literacy. Right. I think, you know, sometimes as marketers, maybe we want to say, hey, we’re just like they’re being creative. But you you you have to understand a little bit how it works. Right. Because that allows you to understand how AI works and why it works that way. And that allows you to kind of to respond to it. Right. And allows you to make informed decision about how, which AI tools you want to use, right? Because obviously there’s so many, obviously we say AI, but it means so many things, right?
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, that’s a big umbrella.
Izabela Misiorny: Exactly, exactly. And then the second one is this adaptability, right? So, yeah, understanding, you know, how you can adapt in a creative way. And finally, I think it is very much about kind of being strategic about how you implement it. So especially for, I think, for companies that are only starting their AR journey, it’s about understanding, OK, can I just choose a couple of use cases? for AI, where I can start testing it, where I can start measuring the return on investment and go from there. So, you know, it requires thinking, right? It requires actually like taking a step back, thinking a little bit more strategically and saying, how can I implement AI for my specific company, for my specific use case, so we are successful with it. And I think the biggest problem I see also talking to customers is, that we go into these situations with such overwhelming expectation. We’re like, we’ll start using AI, we will see return on investment in three months, it’s gonna be amazing. And it’s never this, right? Like AI is still a tool, right? So why would we expect a return on investment in three years in a tool that is supposedly not AI powered and something else from an AI powered tool, right? So common sense.
Greg Kihlstrom: yeah yeah but but a lot a lot of with with the hype i think comes just unrealistic expectations so yeah but i i like the other thing that you were touching on which is Thinking strategically and about AI and having teams focus on that actually emphasizes what humans are best at in the first place. So I think it actually underscores the whole difference between, you know, AI, it does a lot of things very, very well, but it also, it doesn’t replace the strategic thinking or tying abstract ideas together and all those things that make us valuable as humans, right?
Izabela Misiorny: Exactly, and I think that’s good news for all of us.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, we got a few years at least, right? Yes. So, looking ahead, as you mentioned, it’s not just digital even, it’s physical experiences as well. As these experiences continue to blur, what do you see as some trends that marketers should be ready for in the near future? And what advice would you give to marketers to stay ahead of them?
Izabela Misiorny: Mm-hmm. So definitely, exactly with our ability to produce so much content at scale, one of them that we already see is this hyper-personalization. So again, as consumers, we are expecting more and more to just be understood, right? And have answers to our questions. So definitely, that’s one of the ones deeply impacting marketing teams, right? Because you need all these content variations to personalize it, right? And it becomes this segment of one, right? Where you have to address specific user needs. And another trend, I think, is the conversational AI, right? So all these chatbots, and we are more and more used to interacting in a very natural way with the machines. So that’s another thing, right? Like, how am I feeding into these AI agents with content that is conversational, that sounds natural. And finally, you know, it is about predictive analytics, right? So it is not only like Gen AI and AI producing content, but also producing all the data and insights that we are getting and responding to that. And the way to prepare, I think definitely it is, as I mentioned a little bit before about the skills for marketing leaders is on the one hand, you want to have this foundation of technical skills, right? And understanding how it works. And then obviously the creative part, right? So skills like storytelling and being able to think logically, being able to think strategically, that will still definitely, as you mentioned, at least for the next couple of years, be super important. So let’s not forget about that.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, love it. So two last things before we wrap up here. You know, we’re here at Opticon 2024 in San Antonio. What’s been a highlight so far for you?
Izabela Misiorny: Definitely connecting with other marketers and other marketing leaders. I think it’s such a beautiful place exactly to connect with others and say, hey, we are actually all facing the same problems, right? Like independently of industry, we all have these incredible expectations from our stakeholders to address and exactly being like, oh, are you using AI? How are we using AI? You know, like, can you as a marketing team drive our AI adoption and just seeing, OK, how can we solve it together, you know, as marketers to ultimately, again, I think my definitely the guiding principle is also always It is about the customer, right? So let’s not forget that we don’t want to say, oh, we are adopting AI because it’s the hype. No, let’s adopt AI if it makes sense because we are making our customers’ lives better.
Greg Kihlstrom: Yeah, yeah. I write a newsletter called AI isn’t a goal or a strategy. So it’s totally with you there. Love it. Well, last question. I ask this to all my guests, so I always like to hear what people think here. So what do you do to stay agile in your role and how do you find a way to do it consistently?
Izabela Misiorny: OK, I think for me, agility starts with clarity of purpose. So my purpose is exactly to stay ahead of trend, to keep informed, to be customer centric. So for me, I always very tactically write a block of time on my calendar. On one hand, to just do thinking. I think AI speeds up a lot of stuff. it will not speed up your thinking processes. So I think it is extremely important to block off time for just strategic thinking, go for a walk, look at the water, look at the trees and get inspired. So that’s one thing I block off for. And then the other block I have is exactly talking to customers. I think it’s so powerful because Sometimes, you know, a customer will say a word here or there and you’re like, yes, that’s exactly like that’s the insight I need to make your life better now. And how do I do it consistently? Again, like it’s just about blocking it on your on your calendar. But I also think consistency comes down to to feedback loops, right? Like consistently meeting with my team, making sure that we have these feedback loops that we react to that, that we act on it.
