How to build long-term market visibility

Opportunity can't find you if you can't be found. I tell my clients this constantly. Yet most executives are still playing hide-and-seek with their careers—working brilliantly behind closed doors while remaining invisible to the opportunities that could transform their trajectory. In today's market, being excellent isn't enough. You have to be findable. After 25+ years in financial services, I've watched too many talented executives wait for opportunity to somehow discover them. It doesn't work that way, especially today. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀: 𝟭. 𝗢𝘄𝗻 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼-𝗡𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲 Stop trying to be known for "leadership" or "strategy." The MD who became the go-to expert on cross-border M&A integration? She gets called for every major deal. Pick your lane: AI in risk management, ESG in private credit, post-merger talent retention. Then dominate it. 𝟮. 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗘𝘅𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 That transformation that saved $20M? Package it into a case study. Share the framework (not the confidential details) at one industry conference. Write one LinkedIn article about the approach. Now you're not just someone who did something—you're the expert others call. 𝟯. 𝗕𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗸 Update your LinkedIn weekly—not with motivational quotes but with insights only someone at your level would know. When headhunters search "TMT restructuring expert NYC," do you appear? When board members ask "who's the best person for this challenge?"—is your name in the mix? 𝟰. 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗢𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 Skip the generic thought leadership. Share the counterintuitive insight from your last board meeting. The framework that made your CEO pause. The trend you're seeing that others are missing. Make people think "I need to talk to this person." 𝟱. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸 One speaking engagement → One published article → One podcast appearance → One board appointment. Each builds on the last. You're not everywhere—you're strategic about where you show up and what you're known for. 𝟲. 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗢𝘄𝗻 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗧𝗲𝗿𝗺𝘀 When someone needs exactly what you do, what words do they use? Make sure those words are associated with your name. Not through SEO tricks—through consistent, valuable contributions in your domain. The market is full of brilliant executives nobody knows about. Don't be one of them. Because opportunity can't find you if you can't be found. And in today's market, being unfindable is career malpractice. 💭 What's one specific expertise you have that the market doesn't know about yet? ------------ ♻️ Share with that brilliant executive who's been flying under the radar too long ➕ Follow Courtney Intersimone for more strategies on strategic visibility and executive advancement

I’ve been the first marketer at two companies now worth over $2 billion. If I did it again, here’s 9 things I’d do differently: 1️⃣ Start with brand as a scalable system Build a modular design system early with components you can combine instead of create. A Figma system, Canva templates, Google Slide layouts. Pair that with a messaging doc, your "copy-paste" bank of positioning, beliefs, and product language. It becomes a foundation for consistency and a knowledge base for AI. 2️⃣ Prioritize the 95%, not just the 5% LinkedIn & search ads worked early, but only because we caught the 5% already in market. The "demand capture" pool dries up fast. Invest early in "demand creation." Reach the 95% who aren’t ready yet, but will be. 3️⃣ Build in public People trust people more than companies. Let internal voices share what they’re building and learning. In the AI era, content is easy. Opinion & stories are valuable. 4️⃣ Know your customer so well the strategy writes itself I used to sit on every sales call and write every piece of copy. That proximity helped me hear what customers cared about, what words they used, where they hung out. Be close enough to "hear the music," and messaging & growth channels become obvious. 5️⃣ Start community early Create spaces where early customers can connect: Slack, Reddit, meetups, certification. It fuels your roadmap and scales support when customers can help each other. Even better if it creates user-generated content that is indexable/shareable. 6️⃣ Create the problem Don’t build the whole funnel on day one. If you don’t have traffic, don’t worry about conversion. Solve the problem you actually have. Let the next one emerge or you'll be building and rebuilding as things inevitably change. 7️⃣ Look bigger than you are Design clean & consistent. Logo small (bigger companies don't oversize their logo). Feature your biggest customers, your compliance certifications. Use big company channels but use them small (buy one billboard, get one great PR story, speak on one well-known podcast). Make big company content but do it small (like a single high production video). 8️⃣ Build lightweight systems You don’t need full-blown infrastructure. A Notion board or copy-paste doc can carry you farther than you think. Build systems for speed, not scale. 9️⃣ Protect your focus Get used to working with an infinite backlog. I used to start each day with a sticky note on my laptop of my 3 to 5 most important tasks. You weren’t hired to do everything, you were hired to make impact. If you've done this - what would you add?

If you’re not showing up in AI search right now, the problem might not be your website. You might be invisible in the places that train the algorithms. Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and even DuckDuckGo are pulling data from dozens of places to decide which brands show up. Here’s how to gain real visibility in 2025: 1️⃣ Brand presence = AI visibility Most generative search tools (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity) pull from: • Directories (eg. Yelp) • Trusted third-party sites (Crunchbase, BBB) • Review platforms (Trustpilot, Google Reviews) • News outlets (TechCrunch, NYTimes) • Niche forums (Reddit, Quora) If your name isn’t mentioned across the right sources, you simply won’t be part of the answer. Start with: ✅ Industry-specific directories ✅ Review platforms ✅ Reddit, Quora, niche communities ✅ Press mentions & guest posts ✅ Listicles (e.g. “Best X in [City]”) Pro Tip: Run your target keywords through ChatGPT/Perplexity/Gemini, and scroll to citations. If you're not already listed, those citation sources become your priority. 2️⃣ Create linkable assets that work Build tools and resources people actually want to link to. Examples that consistently work: • Industry statistics reports • Free calculators • Interactive tools • Original research data These assets get you mentioned across multiple key platforms simultaneously. 3️⃣ Build topical clusters Every business needs a content map that answers: • What services do you offer? • What locations do you serve? • What problems do you solve? Then build: • Dedicated commercial pages • Supporting blog content • Internal links tying it all together This is how you prove relevance and expertise - across AI and Google alike. 4️⃣ Multi-channel content Google’s increasingly prioritising video content in their search results. To capitalize on this, shoot quick clips answering questions related to your niche.  Publish them where Google heavily crawls: • Instagram • TikTok • Facebook Shorts • YouTube Shorts These are now SEO assets. You don’t need perfect production. Just relevance and consistency. 5️⃣ Schema isn’t optional anymore AI and traditional crawlers rely on structured data to understand who you are and what you do. No schema = no context = no inclusion. Cover the basics: • Organization schema • LocalBusiness schema • Product / FAQ / Article schema • Dataset schema (if applicable) Pro tip: Use ChatGPT to write your schema in seconds. Verify with Google’s Schema Validator. The businesses that win in 2025 will: ✅ Show up across all search layers ✅ Build trust signals across the web ✅ Create content built for both humans and machines

Most teams treat AI visibility as a new channel. Wrong frame. AI visibility is the compounded return on years of distribution decisions. SEO. Community participation. Review management. Guest contributions. Independent comparisons on sites you don’t own. Large language models pull from your entire digital footprint. Every review, community mention, guest post, and independent comparison feeds the answer they give about you. Your homepage is one input of hundreds. That footprint is your real competitive moat. G2’s new research shows the buyer journey has split: → AI dominates early discovery → Review platforms gain influence as buyers evaluate and decide → Owned content matters most during retention and expansion Your strategy can’t stop at top-of-funnel awareness. You need a full-stack approach: Owned properties that clearly explain your positioning Third-party mentions that validate your claims Customer voice that reinforces credibility Consistent messaging across every profile, directory, and community Strategic work. Requires structure. The instruction underneath it is simple though: build trust signals where your buyers and the models advising them already look. Five years from now, the most trusted brands will win. Full stop. Volume and noise stop mattering. Trust becomes the signal. We’ve been saying this at Foundation since we started publishing on GEO/AEO 18 months ago. The G2 data just put the numbers behind it. Full breakdown of what the Answer Economy means for your content and distribution strategy below. 👇 https://lnkd.in/eVAgxda5

One of the most valuable lessons I have learned from growing markets and leading field marketing programs is that trust is built by showing up, intentionally and consistently. I was reminded of this recently at an event where several prospects I had engaged with over the past couple of years walked up and started conversations as if we already knew each other. Some I had met at roundtables, others at conferences, dinners, and customer programs. None of those interactions was game-changing on its own. But together, they created familiarity. And familiarity became trust. Over time, buyers start recognising the people behind the brand. In a crowded room full of strangers, they gravitate toward what's familiar. Conversations become easier. They share what's happening in their business, introduce you to peers, and engage more openly because the relationship has moved beyond a transaction. What's even more interesting is that some of the relationships that started in 2024 are beginning to translate into business outcomes today. Not because of one campaign, one event, or one sales conversation, but because trust is compounded across dozens of interactions over time. We often think brands are built through campaigns, messaging, products, and positioning. They are. But they're also built by the people who represent them every day. In my experience, buyers often trust the people before they trust the company. That's why the best marketing doesn't just create awareness. It builds familiarity, credibility, and trust at scale. It's a long game. And the brands that win are usually the ones willing to stay invested.

Strategic visibility means playing the long game. And AI has changed the rules. In the last year, one of my largest and most rewarding organizational engagements came from a leader finding me in a ChatGPT search. Our work began with a one-off training and has evolved into ongoing fractional leadership team development, executive coaching, and sales training design. More recently, at least a third of the people who reach out tell me that I or Step into Your Moxie came up in a Chat, Claude, or Google search when they went looking for speaking or executive team support. Why does this happen? AI tools recommend the people the internet already treats as authorities. Two decades of speaking, podcast interviews, best-of lists, published articles, and pillar posts have created a deep, consistent trail that these tools draw on when someone asks, "Who can help me or my leaders communicate better?" The visibility work I have done since 2007 is consistently generating client inquiries in 2026. Several years ago, one of my women's leadership articles brought the incredible Angela Dodd, Founder and CEO of Females in Food, into my life. What began as an "I love your approach to developing women's leadership pipelines" connection call has morphed into a deep sister bond and, professionally, into opportunities to work with Angela on growing her professional association and movement, speaking at FIF events, facilitating FIF's Executive Circle, and supporting numerous members to step into the spotlight as speakers, facilitators, and trusted thought leaders. This week in Chicago, I got to watch several of those members step up and speak during a visibility exercise. My own daughter joined them. It was a proud mama moment! 📸 A few favorite moments from the Summer Soiree are below. I hear from a lot of leaders and consultants alike that they don't have time to invest in visibility. But if standing out in a sea of sameness is a goal, you can't afford to skip it. Here's what I see working on the visibility front. Pick a small number of visibility activities you can sustain, like speaking, guesting on podcasts, or publishing your point of view where your buyers already look. Use AI to organize your ideas but never to outsource your voice, because the leaders getting recommended are the ones who sound like themselves everywhere they show up. And remember that every talk, article, and interview signals to both humans and AI that you're the authority in your lane. So be sure that you don't just land visibility opportunities but that you also speak with moxie during them. What visibility activities have paid off the most for you? Which ones are you desiring but feel elusive?

Most creators start with the wrong question. Here's what they should be asking... When Isaac French built Live Oak Lake — a luxury cabin resort that sold for millions — he didn’t start by asking “How do I get more followers?” He started with: “What’s the most remarkable thing I can create?” Here’s the framework he used — and how you can apply it: 1. Design for emotion, not just function “Craftsmanship, design, and storytelling—that’s what moves people. That’s what scales trust.” Anyone can build a functional product or service. Few build something people are emotionally invested in. Isaac obsessed over design details — from the architecture to the texture of the wood — because he knew that’s what guests would remember and talk about. Whether you’re making a course, software, or physical product, ask: → What emotional response do I want my customer to have? → How can my design, branding, and story make them feel that? When your audience feels something, they remember you. 2. Use storytelling to scale trust Isaac didn’t just post polished “final product” shots. He documented the process: sketches, material choices, build challenges, even mistakes. This built trust and anticipation. Stop hiding the messy middle. Share how you’re building, why you’re making certain decisions, and what you’re learning. This transparency turns casual viewers into long-term supporters — people who feel personally invested in your success. The more your audience trusts you, the faster your sales cycles become. 3. Create something press-worthy from day one Most entrepreneurs build, then scramble to find marketing angles. Isaac built marketing hooks into the product — unique architecture, a beautiful location, & a personal founder story. Before you launch, ask: → What makes my project worth talking about? → What’s the “headline” someone could write about it? → If the answer isn’t obvious, tweak your concept until it is. Press and influencers are always looking for a good story — give it to them. 4. Build assets you can sell or scale When Isaac sold Live Oak Lake, the buyer wasn’t just buying cabins — they were buying the brand, media coverage, customer base, and operational systems. Even if you never plan to sell, think like you might. Build assets such as: → An engaged email list → A content library that ranks or gets shared → A productized service or course you can deliver repeatedly These assets give you leverage and optionality down the road. 5. Think beyond the first project Isaac saw Live Oak Lake not as the final chapter, but as the first rep — the experience that would make him unstoppable for his next venture. – ♻️ Share this post if you found it helpful. ➕ Follow me ( Ish Verduzco ) for more posts like this.

I’ve built my personal brand online for over five years, and here’s what most people get wrong when asking their company to support their online growth. (Save this post for later) What was true five years ago has improved slightly, but many companies still hesitate:  a) “It’s a waste of time.”  b) “It’s a distraction.”  c) “Personal brands aren’t a thing.”  d) “Only the CEO can be visible.”  e) "Marketing handles this." Your result? No support. Resentment. Frustration. 2026: People buy from people, and investors, clients, and talent read leadership visibility as proof of trust, culture, and market signal.  • POV-led content shortens cycles by building trust pre-call.  • Top candidates follow credible leaders more than career pages.  • Visible operators de-risk execution, prove distribution, and lower CAC. When your team isn’t visible, your company loses out. So you need three things on point to win this conversation: 1. Build the business case Demonstrate how presence drives qualified inbound traffic and brand trust. Tie to KPIs (credibility, recruiting, pipeline). Cite competitors 2. Systemize the process Make visibility an operating rhythm: → Weekly: share and engage → Monthly: analyze and refine → Quarterly: evolve positioning → Annually: expand channels 3. Translate visibility into value Boards, CEOs, and investors all move on data. Track reach, recruiting, and relationships. Present visibility as a measurable business function, not a marketing budget line item. Do this, and you stop defending yourself; you become a strategic advantage that compounds brand equity for both you and the company. Win/Win. If a top candidate or investor were to check your and your leaders’ LinkedIn profiles today, would you be proud or nervous?

𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁. A common misconception I’ve observed over the years is that visibility automatically leads to authority. This is not the case. Visibility only ensures people know you exist. Authority is established by what people understand, believe, and feel about you once you are visible. That is the difference between publicity and positioning. Publicity creates exposure. Positioning shapes perception. Without strategic clarity, even substantial visibility can quickly diminish. I have seen leaders gain major media coverage, appear on influential platforms, and speak at key events, yet still leave audiences uncertain about: • what they truly stood for, • what made their perspective different, • or why their leadership warranted long-term trust. Audiences rarely remember visibility alone. They remember the leaders who • make the complex decisions easier to understand, • communicate with conviction, • and create confidence in their thinking. That is what gives visibility staying power. Without that clarity, even significant exposure can quickly be forgotten. Through interviews and consultations with executives, founders, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders, I have seen how strategic clarity can transform a leader’s visibility. 1. The right conversation. 2. The right framing. 3. The right clarity. These elements can turn a public appearance from mere exposure into a powerful positioning asset that enhances credibility, trust, authority, and long-term opportunity. The most memorable leaders are rarely the loudest; they are the clearest. In today’s visibility-driven world, strategic clarity often distinguishes those who are merely noticed from those who are truly trusted. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂: Are your public appearances generating only temporary attention, or are they building long-term leadership positioning? #ThoughtLeadership #StrategicClarity #ExecutivePresence #LeadershipCommunication #AuthorityBuilding