If you feel like your ad dollars buy less every month, you’re not imagining it. Peter Kalanda (Co-Founder, 3 Horizons Interactive) and I unpack what’s still real in SEO/SEM...and where to double down as LLM search starts stealing clicks.

Highlights

• Paid as visibility tax vs. conversion: how to target so small budgets don’t vaporize.
• Run SEO and SEM as one system (structure, titles, keywords, quality score).
• Local/service landing pages that rank...and don’t clutter your nav.
• ABT: Always Be Testing from forms to fulfillment.
• LLM search is already in analytics; teach users branded prompts to find you.

Chapters

0:00 Cold open

1:00 Peter’s path, hospitality → EY → SEO/SEM

5:00 Paid that actually converts

7:15 SEO + SEM together

8:30 Landing-page pattern

11:30 ABT: Always Be Testing

12:10 First fixes

13:00 AI design vs human design

16:00 LLM search strategy

18:30 Free mini-audit & close

Guest Links

• 3 Horizons Interactive: 3h-i.com

Host Links / CTAs

• Transition Leadership Foundation Call (20 min): https://calendly.com/adamwbarney/foundation-call-20min

• Subscribe on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@adamwbarney

Reddit is the trust engine of the internet. It’s where buyers validate big decisions - and where AI and search borrow real perspective. In this episode, Colin James Belyea (Co-Founder, Karmic) shares a field-tested playbook for winning on Reddit without astroturfing or getting banned.

What you’ll learn

• The why now: Reddit’s role in zero-click journeys and high-consideration purchases
• How to build credibility (karma + participation) before a single brand post
• The comment-elicitation thread structure that multiplies saves, replies, and CTR
• Promoted thread settings that invite discussion instead of backlash
• Safety: disclosure, language, and moderation that keep you brand-safe
• Measuring impact when clicks under-report: brand search, holdouts, blended CAC
• A 30-day quickstart from lurker → contributor → repeatable results

Guest

Colin James Belyea - Co-Founder, Karmic

• withkarmic.com • linkedin.com/in/colinjamesbelyea • colin@withkarmic.com

Host

Adam W. Barney - Is Anything Real? (Reality-First Leadership)

• adamwbarney.com • Book: Make Your Own Glass Half Full

👉 Need a reality-first plan? Book a 20-min Transition Leadership Foundation Call:

https://calendly.com/adamwbarney/foundation-call-20min

Award-winning strategist Steve Biegel shows why purpose outperforms spectacle - and how to use Think > Say > Do to win beyond Super Bowl weekend.

This exclusive drop lands the Friday before the Super Bowl and the opening of the Winter Olympics - for a reason. Steve Biegel (Dreamboat Group; ex-Ogilvy) unpacks how purpose beats spectacle, when celebrity helps instead of hurts, and why Think > Say > Do is the simplest path to tribes that buy for years, not days.

We cover

• Using tent-pole moments without faking it
• The right and wrong way to deploy celebrity
• A practical definition of purpose in 2026
• The protest-ad fiasco vs. AmEx + Jerry Seinfeld
• What Bernbach/Ogilvy/Reeves would do with TikTok & AI
• Where the first dollar of a $10M brand budget should go

Chapters

00:00 Cold open - the problem with glitter & spectacle

00:44 Purpose & the soul of a brand

01:29 Long-term relationships > short-term metrics

05:55 Super Bowl celebs: attention vs. value

07:17 Case that worked: AmEx x Seinfeld

08:47 Case that flopped: protest-ad fiasco

10:41 The Think > Say > Do framework

13:47 What the winners do in the next decade

16:21 If I had $10M…where the first dollar goes

18:47 Reframing a conservative category around smart risk

20:23 What the legends would say about TikTok & AI

22:34 Where to find Steve + his book

23:11 Close: “Purpose burns long.”

Links

Steve Biegel - Dreamboat Group: thedreamboatgroup.com

Steve: stevebiegel.com • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-biegel-1b03503/

Host: Adam W. Barney - Transition Leadership Foundation Call (20 min) → https://calendly.com/adamwbarney/foundation-call-20min