One line of thinking at a time.
Field Notes from Throughline: explainers, diagnostics and essays on cross-channel attribution, visibility in AI answers, and the systems problem every founder-marketer has been handed. Short, concrete, no false precision.
Does our brand come up partway through a buyer’s conversation with ChatGPT?
Buyers rarely ask one question and stop. They ask, narrow, compare and ask again. A company missing from the first answer can still appear in the third. Here is how to test the whole conversation.
My CEO asked what ChatGPT says about us. A one-page answer you can send by Friday
Your CEO wants four things. Are we named, is it right, who is named instead, and what are we doing about it. Here is how to collect that in an afternoon and fit it on one page.
We repositioned. How long until AI assistants describe us the new way?
Two clocks run after a repositioning. Search answers can change once your pages are read again. Memory answers change when a newer model is trained. Here is how to move the first clock and what to do about the second.
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity name different companies for the same question. Here is why.
Each assistant searches in its own way, reads a different set of pages and remembers a different slice of the web. So one buyer question can get four shortlists. Here is what differs, and how to check all four in one sitting.
ChatGPT says something wrong about my company. How do I fix it?
You cannot edit the answer. You can find where the wrong fact comes from, fix it there, and give the assistant a clearer source to read. Here is how, step by step.
Why does ChatGPT mention my competitor and not me?
An assistant names the companies it can read about when your buyer asks. If a competitor is on those pages and you are not, it names them. Here are the four usual reasons, and how to tell which one is yours.
Referral-led business? Make sure referred buyers find good things about you online and in AI answers
A referral gets you considered. The check the buyer runs next decides whether they reply. Here is what they look at, how to make every source say the same true thing, how to gather reviews within the rules, and a 30-day checklist.
AI product videos for SaaS: a script-to-publish workflow
AI can help with every stage of a product video, from script to captions. The real product should stay the star. Here is the workflow, the choices at each stage, what to review before publishing, and when to disclose AI use.
Done-for-you social content: what you should get, and how to vet a provider before you sign
A done-for-you social service should hand you a strategy, drafts in your voice, finished design, an approval step, publishing and a report worth reading. Here is how to check all six before the contract, and how to test them in two weeks.
How to get into Google AI Overviews: the page formats and signals that get pulled
Google says there is no special markup or trick for AI Overviews. There is still a lot you can do: be eligible, answer the question plainly, add what nobody else has, and measure it in Search Console. Here is the checklist.
Can AI do your startup’s marketing? A founder’s weekly workflow with a time budget
AI can take on much of the execution. It cannot decide who you sell to or vouch for what you claim. A weekly schedule with time boxes, the context file that stops the tools guessing, and one approval rule that keeps your name safe.
How to turn one podcast or webinar into ten LinkedIn posts and five short clips
A good recording holds a week or two of content, if you treat it as a source of separate ideas rather than something to chop up. Here is the workflow from transcript to schedule, a repurposing map, and rough time estimates.
How long until new content shows up in ChatGPT? A simple test you can run
There is no published wait time. There is a test: publish one page, log what each crawler and search engine does with it, and ask the question it answers on a fixed schedule. Here is the log.
Your first marketing move after a seed round: head of marketing, fractional CMO, agency or AI (a scorecard)
A round of funding is not proof that your marketing is repeatable. A scorecard for the four options, a way to test each before you commit, and a 30-day process for deciding, including how to compare quotes when nobody will publish a price.
How to automate LinkedIn posts with AI and still approve every one before it goes out
Let AI find the material, write the drafts and hold the schedule. Keep one step for a person: the approval. Here is the workflow, the difference between a company page and a founder profile, and a checklist to approve against.
How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT: find the sources it trusts in your niche, then earn a place there
You cannot submit your company to ChatGPT. You can find the pages it reads when your buyer asks for a recommendation, sort them by type, and work out how to earn a place on each. Here is the method and the template.
Is my SEO growing, or is it just branded search? How to tell in Google Search Console
A rising clicks line can mean your pages are winning new searches, or simply that more people already know your name. Here is how to split the two in Search Console, step by step.
What is an AI growth agency, and how do you tell a real one from a relabelled agency?
A definition that would stand if a competitor wrote it: what the term should mean, what a real one shows you, and the red flags of an ordinary agency with a new word on the door.
Doing marketing yourself with no team? What to focus on each week
One number to read, one thing to ship, one conversation to have, one thing to stop. A calm weekly routine for the founder who is also the whole marketing department.
Tools that track ChatGPT brand mentions, and how to choose one
A young category of AI visibility trackers asks assistants your buyers’ questions on a schedule and records who gets named. Here is what they do, the criteria that separate a careful tool from a score, and how to run the check yourself first.
How to see your whole funnel in one place when the data lives in HubSpot, Google Analytics, Mailchimp and Calendly
Four tools, four versions of the truth. What each one knows, why they disagree, and three ways to join them, with what each costs and what it can never show you.
What is a GTM autopilot, and which tools run go-to-market on autopilot?
A GTM autopilot is a bundle of automations that runs the repeatable parts of go-to-market. Here are the jobs it can do, the tools it usually means, and the steps that should never run without a person approving them.
Marketing agency or AI marketing tools? An honest way to choose for a B2B startup
An agency sells judgement and hands. AI tools sell speed. Neither sells knowing your buyer. Here is how to tell which one your startup is short of, and what to insist on seeing either way.
The shortlist is written before the first call
Your buyer asked an assistant who to consider before they filled in your form, or instead of it. None of your tools saw the question.
Remembered or retrieved: the two ways an AI assistant can name your company
An assistant either answers from what it learned in training or from pages it reads just now. The two fail differently, and they are fixed differently.
Does ChatGPT recommend my company? How to check if ChatGPT mentions your brand, in one hour
To check if ChatGPT mentions your brand, ask the questions your buyers ask, without your name in them. Ten questions, three assistants, two modes, one sheet. Here is what to record, and what each result tells you to fix first.
AEO vs SEO vs GEO vs LLMO: what each one means, and which one you actually need
Four acronyms, one worry: when a buyer asks an AI assistant who to consider, are you in the answer? Here is what each term covers, where they overlap, and how to measure it in an hour.
What did my marketing spend actually buy? A one-line answer per channel
Between six figures and a million dollars a year goes into marketing at most growing companies, and it disappears between the tools. Here is how to make each dollar say what it became.
Your weekly marketing report, if a machine wrote it honestly
Most reports are a wall of numbers and a hope. Here is the four-paragraph report a founder actually needs, and the rules that keep it honest.
Your website went quiet. What buyers check before they reply
Cold email works until the buyer opens your site. The four things they check in ninety seconds, and the ones your tools cannot see.
AI marketing agents that never send: what human-in-the-loop should mean
“Human in the loop” has become a checkbox. Here is the version that actually protects you: the machine drafts, a person decides, and every run leaves a receipt.
Why did leads drop this month? The four places to look before you panic
A dip almost never has one cause. It has one cause you can see and three you cannot. Check all four, in this order.
Marketing attribution for startups: what works when your sample is forty people
Enterprise attribution assumes thousands of conversions a month. You have forty. Here is what honest attribution looks like at that size.
What is a throughline in marketing? (And why we named the company after it)
In stories, a throughline is the thread that connects every scene. In marketing, it is the one line from reach to revenue that your tools refuse to draw.
Which marketing channel is actually working? Stop trusting last click
Last click gives the credit to whoever was standing nearest the till. Here is how to find the channel that started the conversation.
How do I know if my marketing is working? A founder’s honest test
Not a dashboard. A five-line test you can run on a Sunday, and the one number most founders never write down.