Tag Archives: content marketing

Is Your Content Up-to-date?

Are you a technology marketing leader who lies awake at night worrying about the following?

“Keeping up with the speed and complexity of the digital landscape.”

Well, maybe not that exact phrase. That sounds like something generative AI would write.

And in fact, my buddy Bredebot wrote it when answering a question about Chief Marketing Officer pain points relative to content.

In a huddle space in an office, a smiling robot named Bredebot places his robotic arms on a wildebeest and a wombat, encouraging them to collaborate on a product marketing initiative.
Bredebot is the one in the middle.

But I’m not going to let Bredebot write an entire post about it, because I’m going to write it myself.

The human way to reflect the sentiment above is to ask whether your content is up-to-date, or is as dated as a Pentium.

And that’s something that a marketing leader DOES worry about, because they (usually) want their firms to be perceived as innovative, not old fashioned.

Let me give you an example of outdated content that persists today.

SEO, AEO, GEO…I believe they’re different

For years we have been discussing search engine optimization, or SEO. The whole point of SEO is to ensure that your content appears at the top of results when you use Google or Bing or another search engine to launch a search. (Ignore “sponsored content” for a minute here.)

In case you haven’t noticed, fewer and fewer people are using search engines. Instead, they are searching for answers from their favorite generative AI tool, and now the new term the kids are using is answer engine optimization, or AEO. Or perhaps you can follow the lead of Go Fish and refer to generative engine optimization, or GEO.

Now some people are continuing to use SEO when they mean AEO and GEO, under the theory that it’s all just optimization, and it’s all just searching but just with a different tool. Personally, I believe that continuing to refer to SEO is confusing because the term has always been associated with search engines.

Plus, the concept of keywords is fading away, as Lisa Garrud noted in May.

“Unlike traditional SEO, which focuses on ranking for keywords, AEO concentrates on providing comprehensive, authoritative answers that AI systems can easily process and deliver to users….

“Think about how you use AI tools today. You don’t ask for ‘electrician Auckland residential services’, you ask, ‘What’s causing the flickering in my kitchen lights?’ or ‘How much should it cost to rewire a 1970s house?’ You want answers, not search results.”

But forget about XEO and let’s return to the content YOU create.

How do you keep YOUR content up-to-date?

Let’s say that you’ve reached the point in your content calendar where you have to write a blog post about pop music.

And let’s also say that you’re old enough to remember the 20th century.

You may have a problem.

For example, when you see the words “pop music,” you may immediately spell the second word with a “z” and a “k” when you TALK ABOUT.

Pop Muzik.

Or if someone mentions INTERPOL, you immediately respond with Deutsche Bank, FBI, and (und?) Scotland Yard.

Computer World.

And now that I’ve lost half my reading audience, you can see my point. While personas are approximations, you need to refer to them when crafting your content. If your hungry people (target audience) tend to be in their 20s and 30s, they’re probably not going to understand or respond to songs from M (Robin Scott) or Kraftwerk.

There are other things you can write that are obviously old, such as “fingerprint identification decisions are infallible.” That statement was questioned back in 2003…BEFORE the whole Brandon Mayfield thingie.

So how does a marketer ensure that their content is not dated? By remembering to ask, then act. Question your assumptions, do your research, write your content, then check your content.

Question your assumptions

Before you write your content, ensure your premise is correct. For example, I didn’t assume without questioning that “keeping up with the speed and complexity of the digital landscape” was a pressing issue. I KNEW that it was a pressing issue, because I encounter it daily.

Do your research

Next, take a moment and check what you are about to say. Was your assumption about fingerprint examiner infallibility affected by the NAS report? Was your assumption affected by activities that occurred after the NAS report?

Write your content

At some point you have to stop asking and start acting, writing your content. Write your draft 0.5 to get your thoughts down, then write your draft 1.0. And keep your personas in mind while you do it.

Check your content

Once it’s drafted, check it again. Have your dated assumptions crept into your writing? Did you use the term “SEO” out of habit, by mistake? Fix it.

The results of up-to-date content

If you do all these things, you’ll ensure that your competitors don’t laugh at your content and tell you how out of touch you are.

Ideally, you want your competitors to show how out of date they are.

“Look at WidgetCorp, who doesn’t even know how to spell! Their writer’s left finger slipped while typing, and they typed the so-called word ‘AEO’ rather than ‘SEO’! Everybody know the term is SEO!”

Which gives you the opportunity to write a succinct reply to your bozo competitor.

I’ll give you the joy of writing it yourself.

Unless you want Bredemarket to write it, or other content. Book a free meeting to discuss your needs. https://bredemarket.com/mark/

Stop losing prospects! Use Bredemarket content for tech marketers

The Missing Piece to Solve Your Firm’s Product Marketing Puzzle

Technology marketing leaders know that product marketing is a puzzle that your firm can solve…with the proper resources.

Think of these four product marketing puzzle pieces:

  1. Product marketing strategy (not tactics), including why, how, what, and process.
  2. Product marketing environment, including the market and competitive intelligence, the customer feedback loop, and the company culture.
  3. Product marketing content, both internal and external, including positioning, personas, go-to-market, sales enablement, launches, pricing, packaging, and proposals.
  4. Product marketing performance, including metrics, objectives, and key results.

Does your firm have all four puzzle pieces? Or are one or more of the pieces lacking?

Imagen 4.

Can a technology product marketing expert with proven content, proposal, and analysis skills help your firm move forward?

Proven expertise from Printrak BIS, MorphoWay, and a recent launch for a Bredemarket client?

Recent Go-to-market.

If you are ready to move your firm’s product marketing forward with Bredemarket’s content-proposal-analysis services for technology firms, let’s discuss your needs and how Bredemarket can help you solve them. Book a free meeting at https://bredemarket.com/mark/.

Stop losing prospects! Use Bredemarket content for tech marketers
Content for tech marketers.

Unlocking High-Value Financial Transactions: The Critical Role of Identity Assurance Level 3 (IAL3)

(Picture designed by Freepik.)

I’ve previously discussed the difference between Identity Assurance Level 2 (IAL2) and Identity Assurance Level 3 (IAL3). The key differentiator is that IAL3 requires either (1) in-person identity proofing or (2) remote supervised identity proofing.

Who and how to use IAL3

Who can provide remote supervised identity proofing?

“NextgenID Trusted Services Solution provides Supervised Remote Identity Proofing identity stations to collect, review, validate, proof, and package IAL-3 identity evidence and enrollment data for CSPs operating at IAL-3.”

And there are others who can provide the equivalent of IAL3, as we will see later.

How do you supervise a remote identity proofing session?

“The camera(s) a CSP [Credential Service Provider] employs to monitor the actions taken by a remote applicant during the identity proofing session should be positioned in such a way that the upper body, hands, and face of the applicant are visible at all times.”

But that doesn’t matter with me now. What matters to me is WHEN we need remote identity proofing sessions.

Mitek Systems’ Adam Bacia provides one use case:

“IAL3 is reserved for high-risk environments such as sensitive government services.”

So that’s one use case.

But there is another.

When to use IAL3 for financial transactions

Governments aren’t the only entities that need to definitively know identities in critically important situations.

What about banks and other financial institutions, which are required by law to know their customers?

Now it’s one thing when one of my Bredemarket clients used to pay me by paper check. Rather than go to the bank and deposit it in person at a teller window (in person) or at an ATM (remote supervised), I would deposit the check with my smartphone app (remote unsupervised).

Now the bank assumed a level of risk by doing this, especially since the deposited check would not be in the bank’s physical possession after the deposit was completed.

But guess what? The risk was acceptable for my transactions. I’m disclosing Bredemarket company secrets, but that client never wrote me a million dollar check. Actually, none of my clients has ever written me a million dollar check. (Perhaps I should raise my rates. It’s been a while. If I charge an hourly rate of $100,000, I will get those million dollar checks!)

So how do financial institutions implement the two types of IAL3?

In-person

Regarding IAL3 and banks, in-person transactions are supported in certain cases, even with the banks’ moves to close branches.

“If you need to initiate a funds transfer payment, an authorized signer for your account may also initiate funds (wire) transfers at any Chase branch.”

Note the use of the word “may.” However, if you don’t want to go to a branch to make a wire transfer, you have to set up an alternate method in advance.

Remote supervised

What about remote supervised transactions at financial institutions, where you are not physically present, but someone at the bank remotely sees you and everything you do? Every breath you take? And every move you make? Etcetera.

It turns out that the identity verification providers support video sessions between businesses (such as banks) and their customers. For example, Incode’s Developer Hub includes several references to a video conference capability. 

To my knowledge, Incode has not publicly stated whether any of its financial identity customers are employing this video conference capability, but it’s certainly possible. And when done correctly, this can support the IAL3 specifications.

Why to use IAL3 for financial transactions

For high-risk transactions such as ones with high value and ones with particular countries, IAL3 protects both the financial institutions and their customers. It lessens the fraud risk and the possible harm to both parties.

Some customers may see IAL3 as an unnecessary bureaucratic hurdle…but they would feel differently if THEY were the ones getting ripped off.

This is why both financial institutions and identity verification vendors need to explain the benefits of IAL3 procedures for riskier transactions. And do it in such a way that the end customers DEMAND IAL3.

To create the content to influence customer perception, you need to answer the critically important questions, including why, how, and benefits. (There are others.)

And if your firm needs help creating that content, Underdog is here.

I mean Bredemarket is here.

Visit https://bredemarket.com/mark/ and schedule a time to talk to me—for free. I won’t remotely verify your identity during our videoconference, but I will help you plan the content your firm needs.

No Strategy, Tactics, or Content?

I just created a new reel for my Meta social channels, but in the process invented the Bredemarket t-shirt.

If I didn’t insist on shirts with pockets I’d consider printing some.

No strategy, tactics, or content? Contact Bredemarket. bredemarket.com/mark

One More Time…and Content Reviews

“I ask, then I act” is an attention-grabbing statement, but it’s admittedly simplistic. I don’t fall in the “ready, fire, aim” school, but believe that action incorporates review. As the management consultants Daft Punk stated many years ago:

One more time

And they proceeded to say:

One more time

So I guess it’s important.

“One more time” with a client’s content

One time I used my technology product marketing expertise to draft a piece for a client, which the client then edited with Track Changes on. The client made a number of improvements to my text, so I should have been happy with that and let it go. But I thought I’d look at the document.

One more time.

Stupid Word tricks, the Read Aloud edition

So I made a copy of the document, accepted all the changes in the copy, and had Microsoft Word read the document to me (Review menu, Speech section, Read Aloud).

Imagen 4.

Unlike the audio transcription tool (now superseded by AI meeting assistants), the built-in “Read Aloud” feature remains essential today.

Everything flowed well, and Word’s built-in editor didn’t flag anything.

My eyes had seen the problem

But my eye caught something.

In my initial draft, I had referenced the client’s 800 number.

Which in and of itself isn’t bad.

Except for the fact that this is a worldwide company, and many of the prospects who responded to the piece would be calling from outside the United States, where 800 numbers are not supported.

Imagen 4.

So I shot an urgent message saying to correct my error and change the number from an 800 number to a domestic number.

That one additional review eliminated a possible source of friction between my client and its prospects.

Problem solved, even before anyone noticed there was a problem.

You knew this was coming

Anyone notice the similarity between this song and Phil Collins’ “One More Night”? Or is it just me?

The Transitive Property, Technology, Biometrics, Content, and Product

Follow along.

If I am the technology product marketing expert…

…and if I am the biometric product marketing expert…

…and if content marketing and product marketing significantly overlap…

…then I am not only the biometric content marketing expert…

…but am also the technology content marketing expert.

I’m claiming it all.

Could Any Company Create Your Content?

Take a look at your most recent content. If you extracted this content from your channels, changed the names, and injected it into the channels of one of your competitors, would anyone know the difference?

This post looks at content created by human SEO experts, and my generative AI colleague Bredebot. And how to differentiate your content from that of your competitors. (Inserting a wildebeest isn’t enough.)

Several years ago

Several years ago (I won’t get more specific) I was a writer for a company’s blog, but I didn’t own the blog. Frankly, I don’t think anyone did. There were multiple writers, and we just wrote stuff.

One writer had the (apparent) goal of creating informational content. The writer would publish multiple articles, sometimes with the same publication date.

The posts were well-researched, well-written, and covered topics of interest to the company’s prospects.

They were clearly written with a focus on SEO—several years ago, AEO didn’t exist—and were optimized for keywords that interested the prospects.

The goal was simple: draw the prospects to the company website with resonating content.

What could be wrong with that?

This week

Now it’s 2025, I’m writing for the Bredemarket blog, and I own the blog and control what is in it.

In a huddle space in an office, a smiling robot named Bredebot places his robotic arms on a wildebeest and a wombat, encouraging them to collaborate on a product marketing initiative.
Bredebot. (In the middle.)

But I’m not the only writer. I brought a new writer on staff—Bredebot. And like a managing editor, I’ve been giving Bredebot assignments to write about.

As of Sunday August 31 (when I’m drafting this post), the next three Bredebot posts to be published are as follows (subject to change):

  • Move Over, Authentic AI: Why You Shouldn’t Overlook AI’s Role in Modern Marketing
  • Power Up Your Sales: A CMO’s Guide to Sales Enablement (with a Wink and a Nudge)
  • What Is Liveness Detection? Let’s Re-Examine a Sentence

Bredebot just finished writing the sales enablement and liveness detection posts Sunday afternoon, and they blew me away.

The posts were well-researched, well-written, and covered topics of interest to Bredemarket’s prospects.

And while I’m not as much of an SEO/AEO expert as my colleague from several years ago, the posts do feature critical keywords. For example, the references to Chief Marketing Officers are intentional.

The goal is simple: draw prospects to the Bredemarket website with resonating content.

What could be wrong with that?

Next week

I’ll tell you what’s wrong with that:

Any other company could publish identical content.

My colleague from several years ago could produce identical content for any firm in that particular industry. Or some other writer could produce identical content.

Moving to the present day, my esteemed competitor Laurel Jew of Tandem Technical Writing could (if she wanted to; she probably wouldn’t) log in to her favorite generative AI engine and churn out bot-written posts on sales enablement and liveness detection that read just like mine—I mean Bredebot’s. Especially if she reverse engineers my prompts and includes things like “Include no more than one reference to wildebeests as marketing consultants and wombats as customers of these marketing consultants.” Once Bredebot has been easily cloned, game over.

TTW Bot?

As I noted Sunday, a correlation in which two bots use the same source data ends up with the same results.

Perhaps I could mitigate the risk by using a private LLM with its own super secret data (see Writer) to generate Bredebot’s content, but as of now that ain’t happening.

Another way to mitigate the risk is by careful prompt tailoring. I experimented with this in the pre-Bredebot days, back when Google Gemini was still Google Bard, and I told it to assert that “Kokomo” is the best Beach Boys song ever.

But in the end, no matter what data you use and what prompt you use, a generative AI bot is not going to produce anything original.

Another reason that humans should always write the first draft.

(Although philosophers may question whether even humans can produce anything original; they say there is nothing new under the sun.)

Imagen 4.

But at least attempting to control the strategy behind your content helps to ensure that you are differentiated from everybody else.

So what of my pal Bredebot who is incapable of original thought or differentiation? For now I will continue the experiment.

How Does It Feel?

Whether you’re a marketer, a biometric expert, a technologist, or just someone scrolling the webs, you can feel a variety of emotions after reading a Bredemarket blog post.

Maybe amused.

Maybe informed, 

Maybe empowered.

But some will experience more powerful emotions.

For a targeted few who find themselves paralyzed, maybe afraid. Afraid that your competitors will steal your prospects unless you act.

Or for those targeted few who despise powerlessness and want to act, maybe hungry. Hungry to get your product’s benefits to your prospects so they convert.

I have to be honest. Some of the people who are inspired to act are perfectly capable of acting on their own. Because they’re not complete unknowns.

But others can use the help of an outside consultant such as Bredemarket.

Content, proposals, analysis. I can help with all of them.

You’re the ones I’m talking to right now.

And perhaps you should take the time to talk to me. https://bredemarket.com/mark/

Stop losing prospects! Use Bredemarket content for tech marketers
Stop losing prospects!

How to Take On Zoominfo

If you compete with Zoominfo, you have to understand Zoominfo…so you can exploit its weaknesses.

Highlights from the Zoominfo podcast

I could have listened to a long podcast with CEO Henry Schuck to understand the company’s weaknesses, but I didn’t have to because Matthew Robinson provided a time-stamped list of highlights. Or maybe Robinson didn’t do it himself, because Robinson is no longer necessary.

This first one caught my attention as the biometric product marketing expert, for obvious reasons.

(13:34) How they automated product marketing: From 26 people translating product info into content, down to 2 people managing AI agents.

Basically, mining data and auto-creating content.

And this second one just plain caught my attention.

(27:32) When you know the AI pressure is working: His CMO literally dreamed she disappointed him because her kids weren’t AI algorithms yet.

It’s good to know that Zoominfo has a distracted CMO. And that the CEO thinks it’s funny.

When Zoominfo’s headcount hits zero

And it’s awfully amusing that 24 product marketers lost their jobs. Remember the claims that AI wouldn’t replace you, but would let you do your job better? Lies.

Zoominfo’s business, by the way, is providing information on companies and the people who work for them. And as companies like Zoominfo right size, there is less demand for their services.

And that’s when Zoominfo will eliminate the position of the CMO and automate it.

Followed by the position of the CEO.


From Mika’s LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mika-ai-ceo/. See this Bredemarket blog post.

Outsmarting the Zoominfo bots

So how do you take on the bot-controlled companies like Zoominfo?

By borrowing a tactic from the Cyber Security Hub.

After all, if autonomous SOC truly has these drawbacks…

  • AI tools hallucinate and miss context
  • Custom attacks slip by without human insight
  • Escalations stall when no one’s validating alerts…

…then autonomous PMM potentially has these same drawbacks.

Let’s talk person-to-person about your product marketing content, proposal, and analysis needs.

In a way that two bots never could.

And let’s outsmart your competitors…together.

Book a human-to-human meeting (OK, maybe a wildebeest will be listening in) with Bredemarket at https://bredemarket.com/mark/.

Stop losing prospects! Use Bredemarket content for tech marketers