Straight To Voicemail

AI continues to change the way buyers discover and choose brands, with many turning to tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude for answers. This has made content planning and development more critical than ever. So how should brands evolve their content strategy to stay visible in the age of AI?

In this episode of Straight to Voicemail, Rachel Elsts Downey sits down with Jennifer Jackson, CMO at Actian, to discuss how brands can adapt their content strategy in an AI-driven world. Jennifer shares why discoverability now depends on both human relevance and machine readability, and how brands can build for both.

You’ll learn:
  • How AI tools are changing the way buyers interact with brands
  • Why clarity and consistency matter for brand visibility
  • How to create content that works for both people and AI platforms

Jump into the conversation:
(00:00) Why we wanted to hear from Jennifer Jackson
(00:11) Content Strategy Isn’t What It Used to Be
(00:32) The Rise of AI Search
(00:55) Meet Jennifer Jackson, CMO of Actian
(01:58) The Big Question: Content Strategy in the Age of AI
(02:35) Less Website Traffic, More AI Discovery
(02:57) Double Down on Brand Messaging
(03:16) Writing for Humans and Machines
(04:00) Building Credibility Through Evidence

Straight to Voicemail is for CMOs, CEOs, and Heads of Marketing in B2B tech who want insights from the people who’ve been there. Each episode centers on one big question answered like a voicemail you’ll want to play again.

Don’t miss this conversation! Follow Straight to Voicemail and explore Genius Cuts for more B2B content strategy insights.

What is Straight To Voicemail?

What are the best brands doing to stay relevant, build trust, and create content smarter?

At Share Your Genius, we have the same questions, so we're tapping the best in the space for their answers—one voicemail at a time.

Join us each week for quick hits of insights from b2b marketers and leaders.

[00:00:00]
[00:00:11] Rachel Elsts Downey: Look, I'm not gonna sound like a genius when I say this, but I think it's fair to say content strategy, it isn't what it used to be. Buyers no longer rely solely on websites or white papers. Instead, they're turning to people, they're turning to social. They're turning to LLMs for instant insights.
[00:00:32] Rachel Elsts Downey: When we talk about LLMs, AI tools like Chat GPT, Perplexity,
[00:00:36] Rachel Elsts Downey: these are engines that allow buyers to quickly sift through vast amounts of information, find the answers they need, and make decisions quickly.
[00:00:45] Rachel Elsts Downey: Again, this isn't rocket science, but what it ultimately means is that we have to rely less on website traffic and more on AI -powered search engines. Now, I won't bore you with how we think about that from a people first media perspective, but I will tell you that my guest, Jennifer Jackson, JJ, she knows how to navigate this shift to help your brand stay visible.
[00:01:08] Rachel Elsts Downey: She's the CMO of Actian and she's been leading the charge to grow the company's cloud native data platform, all while staying ahead of the changing dynamics. She's got over 20 years of experience, so she's seen how smart strategies work, built on the key principles of what great marketing looks like.
[00:01:27] Rachel Elsts Downey: But now she's helping people understand the AI conscious content approach and how to drive growth even in the most crowded or competitive spaces. See for JJ, brand visibility, it's never been more important. We're in an era where content has to resonate absolutely with people, but also be optimized for AI engines.
[00:01:50] Rachel Elsts Downey: Understanding that balance between the basics and the future. That's a dance that I am frankly trying to learn. So here was my question for JJ:
[00:02:00] Rachel Elsts Downey: How do we approach content strategy for brand visibility in the age of AI? Here's what JJ had to say.
[00:02:18] Jennifer Jackson: Hey Rachel, it's JJ. I got your message asking about how companies need to reevaluate in the age of AI, their content strategy, and how their brand shows up. Thought I'd leave you a voicemail to let you know my thoughts.
[00:02:35] Jennifer Jackson: AI has changed everything about how buyers research and understand options for whatever market they're seeking solutions in.
[00:02:44] Jennifer Jackson: And the impact of that means less traffic to the website, more online search through Perplexity and Claude and Chat GPT. So today, when we think about our content strategy, number one, it's critical to show up to sort of double down on your brand and your message. Your brand message allows you to be referenceable across multiple sites and that feeds these engines.
[00:03:10] Jennifer Jackson: So brand has never been more important maybe than it is today. It's important to understand that you're writing content not just for humans, but also for AI engines and machines. In some cases, how you think about the content types you develop, where you show up, perhaps what you write about and how you write it.
[00:03:31] Jennifer Jackson: The third thing I would say is that the basics are still the basics. Content strategies have historically been built on how you show up using keywords and search and organic SEO kind of practices. All of that still exists. So, continuing to build on the basics, that foundational layer that we've built over years has to keep working,
[00:03:51] Jennifer Jackson: but you have to layer in how you build and create content for machines and AI engines now.
[00:03:58]
[00:03:59] Jennifer Jackson: The other thing I think that has really changed is the referenceability aspect, right? It's important to show up in, trusted sources that these engines rely upon to give outputs and answers. So the world is changing, it sometimes feels scary, but it's really not. Do the basics and build from there.
[00:04:19] Jennifer Jackson: That's all I've got for you. I'll talk to you next time. Bye.

[00:00:00]
[00:00:11] Rachel Elsts Downey: Look, I'm not gonna sound like a genius when I say this, but I think it's fair to say content strategy, it isn't what it used to be. Buyers no longer rely solely on websites or white papers. Instead, they're turning to people, they're turning to social. They're turning to LLMs for instant insights.
[00:00:32] Rachel Elsts Downey: When we talk about LLMs, AI tools like Chat GPT, Perplexity,
[00:00:36] Rachel Elsts Downey: these are engines that allow buyers to quickly sift through vast amounts of information, find the answers they need, and make decisions quickly.
[00:00:45] Rachel Elsts Downey: Again, this isn't rocket science, but what it ultimately means is that we have to rely less on website traffic and more on AI -powered search engines. Now, I won't bore you with how we think about that from a people first media perspective, but I will tell you that my guest, Jennifer Jackson, JJ, she knows how to navigate this shift to help your brand stay visible.
[00:01:08] Rachel Elsts Downey: She's the CMO of Actian and she's been leading the charge to grow the company's cloud native data platform, all while staying ahead of the changing dynamics. She's got over 20 years of experience, so she's seen how smart strategies work, built on the key principles of what great marketing looks like.
[00:01:27] Rachel Elsts Downey: But now she's helping people understand the AI conscious content approach and how to drive growth even in the most crowded or competitive spaces. See for JJ, brand visibility, it's never been more important. We're in an era where content has to resonate absolutely with people, but also be optimized for AI engines.
[00:01:50] Rachel Elsts Downey: Understanding that balance between the basics and the future. That's a dance that I am frankly trying to learn. So here was my question for JJ:
[00:02:00] Rachel Elsts Downey: How do we approach content strategy for brand visibility in the age of AI? Here's what JJ had to say.
[00:02:18] Jennifer Jackson: Hey Rachel, it's JJ. I got your message asking about how companies need to reevaluate in the age of AI, their content strategy, and how their brand shows up. Thought I'd leave you a voicemail to let you know my thoughts.
[00:02:35] Jennifer Jackson: AI has changed everything about how buyers research and understand options for whatever market they're seeking solutions in.
[00:02:44] Jennifer Jackson: And the impact of that means less traffic to the website, more online search through Perplexity and Claude and Chat GPT. So today, when we think about our content strategy, number one, it's critical to show up to sort of double down on your brand and your message. Your brand message allows you to be referenceable across multiple sites and that feeds these engines.
[00:03:10] Jennifer Jackson: So brand has never been more important maybe than it is today. It's important to understand that you're writing content not just for humans, but also for AI engines and machines. In some cases, how you think about the content types you develop, where you show up, perhaps what you write about and how you write it.
[00:03:31] Jennifer Jackson: The third thing I would say is that the basics are still the basics. Content strategies have historically been built on how you show up using keywords and search and organic SEO kind of practices. All of that still exists. So, continuing to build on the basics, that foundational layer that we've built over years has to keep working,
[00:03:51] Jennifer Jackson: but you have to layer in how you build and create content for machines and AI engines now.
[00:03:59] Jennifer Jackson: The other thing I think that has really changed is the referenceability aspect, right? It's important to show up in, trusted sources that these engines rely upon to give outputs and answers. So the world is changing, it sometimes feels scary, but it's really not. Do the basics and build from there.
[00:04:19] Jennifer Jackson: That's all I've got for you. I'll talk to you next time. Bye.