What Matters for Strategic Growth in the AI-First Web?
Most brands have a messy digital presence: a website built three years ago, LinkedIn profiles that say different things than the website, a Crunchbase entry that's out of date, and Google Business info that no one's touched in months.
You've probably lived with this because it worked well enough. But here's what's changed: machines are now trying to understand who you are — and they're doing it by synthesizing information across all those scattered properties.
When AI systems like ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google's AI Overviews generate answers about your brand, your market, or your category, they're pulling from everywhere. If your story isn't consistent, clear, and strategically orchestrated, you're either invisible or misrepresented.
The solution isn't just "update your website" or "add schema markup." It's getting your brand fundamentals right and building systems that keep your digital presence consistent across every channel you own.
The Real Problem: Most Brands Don't Have Digital Orchestration
Here's what I see with almost every client:
The scattered state:
Your company description is different on your website, LinkedIn, and Crunchbase
Team bios are copy-pasted across platforms but drift over time
When you update your positioning, it takes weeks (or never happens) to propagate everywhere
No one owns the "source of truth"
Different agencies or team members built different properties with different priorities
Why this has always mattered:
Confuses potential customers ("Wait, what do you actually do?")
Wastes internal time (updating the same content in 10 places)
Creates friction for sales and marketing
Makes you look less credible
Why it matters more now:
AI systems are trying to resolve "Is Company X on this website the same as Company X on LinkedIn?"
They're synthesizing your scattered signals into a representation of your brand
Inconsistency reads as unreliability to machine reasoning
You don't control the narrative anymore — the systems do, based on what they find
The Shift: From SEO to AEO
For 20 years, web strategy was about one thing: win Google SERP #1. You optimized for keywords, watched your rankings, and drove traffic to your site.
Today, AI-powered search tools (ChatGPT search, Perplexity, Claude, Google AI Overviews) don't just link to your site — they synthesize information about you from multiple sources and generate direct answers.
The change for an AI-driven world:
Before: Search engines crawled and ranked pages
Now: AI systems interpret, synthesize, and make inferences across sources
What this means for you:
Your brand needs to be structurally clear so machines can understand what you do
Your message needs to be semantically consistent across all platforms
Your content needs to be factually explicit (no vague marketing speak)
This isn't about gaming algorithms. It's about clarity, consistency, and authority — the same things that have always mattered for building a strong brand, now amplified because machines are less forgiving than humans.
The Right Approach: Brand First, Platform Second
Most businesses do this backwards. They start with: "Should we use Webflow? Framer? WordPress?"
Then they try to fit their brand into whatever platform limitations they chose.
The better approach:
Step 1: Build Your Brand Foundation
Before you touch any platform, get clear on:
Your Message Kit:
Why you exist, what you do, how you operate (core positioning)
Standard boilerplate description (consistent everywhere)
Team bios and photos
Visual identity (logos, colors)
Your Source of Truth:
One place where all canonical content lives
Everything else propagates from this
Updates happen once, deploy everywhere
Someone owns it
Your Content Strategy:
What is your publishing cadence, depth, and breadth?
What topics will you own?
What formats matter for your audience, and how will you service them?
How will content flow across platforms?
Step 2: Choose Platforms That Support Your Strategy
Now — and only now — should you think about platforms.
The questions that matter:
Content strategy: How deeply will you publish?
Simple site (5-10 pages)? → Most platforms work
Complex content hub (100+ pages, multiple categories)? → You need real CMS flexibility, advanced schema control
Operational maturity: What's your team's sophistication?
Small team, limited resources? → No-code platforms with good templates
Strategic content operation? → You need import/export, API access, content spine architecture
Scale and localization: Multiple languages? International presence?
Single language, single market? → Most platforms work
Multi-locale? → You need serious CMS flexibility, translation workflows
Growth infrastructure: How do you track and optimize?
Basic analytics? → Standard tools are fine
Sophisticated growth practice? → You need parameter handling, campaign tracking, programmatic personalization
The insight most people miss: Your platform choice is a business strategy decision, not a technical one. The right platform depends on your content ambitions, operational sophistication, and growth model.
Platform Expertise Matters
Here's what 15 years of digital strategy has taught me: there's no one-size-fits-all platform.
No-code platforms (Framer, Webflow, Squarespace):
Great for: Fast launches, design-forward brands, lean teams
Limitations: Customization constraints, scaling challenges, limited operational extensibility
Low-code platforms (WordPress, Drupal, Shopify):
Great for: Flexibility, extensive ecosystems, content-heavy sites
Limitations: Can get bloated, requires more technical oversight
Headless CMS (Contentful, Sanity):
Great for: Multi-channel publishing, complex content models, developer teams
Limitations: Higher technical lift, requires development resources
Enterprise platforms (Adobe AEM, Sitecore):
Great for: Large organizations, complex governance, integration requirements
Limitations: Expensive, heavy, slower iteration
The right answer depends on you: Your content strategy, team capabilities, budget, and growth plans.
I've worked across all of these — from managing 50+ sites in 42 languages at Twitter to implementing growth strategies at early-stage companies. The platform isn't the strategy; it's the tool that enables your strategy.
What You Actually Need
If you're a CMO, VP of Marketing, or founder trying to figure this out, here's what matters:
1. Get your brand fundamentals right first
Clear, consistent messaging
Single source of truth
Deployment system across channels
2. Make platform decisions strategically
Match platform to your actual needs
Don't choose based on what's trendy
Plan for how you'll scale
3. Build for both humans and machines
Clear, factual language
Consistent presence across platforms
Structural clarity in how you present information
4. Work with someone who understands both brand AND technical
Most agencies are good at one or the other
Brand agencies don't understand platform constraints
Development agencies don't understand brand strategy
You need someone who bridges both
Why This Matters to Your Business
Right now:
Potential customers are asking AI tools about your category
Partners and investors are researching you through AI search
Your competitors are being cited while you're not
Your scattered presence is costing you credibility
The opportunity:
Get your brand orchestration right
Choose platforms that support your growth
Build systems that scale
Show up consistently everywhere that matters
The cost of waiting:
AI representations of your brand are being formed now, with well-funded players taking first advantage of already-strong brand signals to strengthen positioning
Inconsistent signals are being baked into how systems understand you
Every day with fragmented presence is a day of confusion