Visibility Brief

About Visibility Brief

Intelligence Brief is your bi-weekly guide to brand visibility in the age of AI search. Hosted by Yext SVP of Product Management Chris Brownlee, each episode breaks down how AI is reshaping discovery, and what CMOs, digital leaders, and transformation executives need to do to stay visible when traditional SEO no longer applies. From shifting consumer behavior to platform disruption, we go beyond the buzz to deliver clear, strategic insights you can use, fast. Featuring expert guests, original research, and real-world advice from the front lines of AI adoption, Intelligence Brief helps you understand where brand discovery is headed, and how to lead through the change. New episodes every other week.

Publisher

Intelligence Brief by Yext

Category

business · technology

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

29 Oct 2025

Latest episode

13 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

27 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   13 Oct 2026

   Using One Marketing Strategy to Unite Thousands of Independent Franchisees

   Getting found is only half the battle for multi-location brands. Customers are discovering businesses through Google, Apple Maps, AI assistants, and countless other platforms. But what happens when the information they find is outdated, inconsistent, or simply wrong? And how do you get thousands of local franchisees working toward the same goal? In this episode of The Intelligence Brief, Chris Brownlee (SVP of Product, Yext) sits down with Lisa Hake (Chief Marketing Officer, Winmark) to discuss what it takes to modernize marketing across 1,750 independently-owned franchise locations. Lisa shares how Winmark, the parent company of Plato's Closet, Play It Again Sports, and Once Upon a Child, is tackling these challenges head-on. From discovering that roughly 80% of its Apple Maps locations had never been claimed to using competitive visibility data to motivate franchisees, she explains how Winmark is bringing consistency to its digital presence without losing what makes each local business unique. This episode breaks down: How national brands can align marketing priorities across thousands of locations Why inaccurate business information can cost brands thousands of potential customers How Winmark has brought together business listings, local pages, and reviews to help customers find accurate information everywhere they search Why showing local business owners how their visibility compares to competitors is more effective than just asking them to update their listings How automating repetitive tasks can help marketers on small teams focus on more impactful work If you're a marketing leader managing multiple brands, locations, or franchisees, this episode offers a practical look at how to turn fragmented information into a more consistent customer experience — and make it easier for local teams to act on the insights that matter.

2. 

   29 Sept 2026

   Building a Local Marketing Strategy That Converts

   People don’t choose a financial advisor based on a single ad, search, or recommendation. Instead, they look at an advisor’s background, check their local reviews, and, increasingly, use search and AI to decide who they can truly trust. For First Command — where 78% of digital leads have search as their last marketing touchpoint — showing up was only part of the equation. But Scott Spidell and his team discovered something else: paid and organic marketing become much more powerful when they work together. By combining local pages, reviews, social engagement, and paid media, First Command was able to nearly double their conversion rates. In this episode of The Visibility Brief, Rebecca Colwell (SVP of Marketing, Yext) sits down with Scott Spidell (SVP of Brand and Strategic Marketing, First Command) to discuss the strategy behind those results. During their conversation, Scott shares how First Command built a repeatable formula for improving local visibility, the trust signals that help individual advisors stand out, and why marketers should stop treating paid and organic as separate strategies. This episode breaks down: How to identify the local signals that can turn visibility into stronger conversion Why reviews, local pages, and social engagement became the foundation of its strategy What trust signals to include on local pages to help customers feel confident choosing your brand Why paid media works harder when the right organic foundation is already in place What marketers with distributed teams, locations, or representatives can do to improve visibility at the local level If you're a marketing leader managing locations, advisors, agents, or other local representatives, this episode offers a real-world look at what happens when paid media, local content, reputation, and social work together — and the measurable impact that can have on visibility and conversion.

3. 

   15 Sept 2026

   Getting Customers From Search to Storefront

   The way people find physical businesses is changing. Traditional search, maps, and directories still matter, but AI is increasingly answering questions before someone ever clicks through to a website. And those questions are getting more specific: Where should I park? Is this location wheelchair accessible? What’s opening this weekend? What time does it close today? Right now, making sure customers can find accurate answers to those questions (regardless of where they choose to look) requires brands to think differently about the information behind every location and experience. In this episode of The Visibility Brief, Rebecca Colwell (SVP of Marketing, Yext) sits down with Patrick Flanagan (SVP of Digital Development, Operations and Strategy, Simon Property Group) to explore how one of the world’s largest retail real estate companies thinks about the customer experience. During their discussion, Patrick shares how Simon manages local information across a massive portfolio, keeps critical details accurate as experiences change from location to location, and uses millions of reviews to understand what shoppers are actually looking for. This episode breaks down: Why traditional search and maps are still important in the AI era How reviews can reveal what customers are really experiencing Why hyper-local details matter How Simon keeps local information accurate at scale Why declining traffic doesn't necessarily mean declining visibility If you’re a marketing leader responsible for hundreds or thousands of physical locations, this episode offers a practical look at what it takes to stay visible when customers can discover you anywhere.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

6 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

19 ratings

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.