Zero Click Marketing

The Beige of Marketing

Amanda Natividad — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 01:00:00 -0700

Best practices can help you avoid obvious mistakes — but they can also make your marketing forgettable. In this episode, I explain why the real problem isn’t best practices themselves, but using them without personalization, taste, or audience insight. Drawing on my experience at Fitbit, I’ll show you how audience research leads to stronger content, smarter channel choices, and more compelling marketing — plus a few practical ways to get started without spending much money or time. This episode is an expansion of my blog post, “Best Practices Are Meaningless Without Audience Research.”

Timestamps:

00:00 How best practices turn into beige marketing

01:27 The antidote: audience research

02:01 The Fitbit example and the real B2B challenge

03:43 Good marketers have always done some version of this

05:08 More examples: marketers, skincare, and sports betting

06:36 How to start doing audience research

07:40 How to spot patterns faster

09:38 Best practices only tell you the format

10:05 How audience research improves taste

11:02 Best practices get you on the field. Audience research helps you win.

You can do audience research with all kinds of tools and networks like Google Trends, Exploding Topics, Reddit, and of course, my launch sponsor, SparkToro. You can create an always-free account and get 5 reports per month on sparktoro.com.

Learn more: zeroclickmarketing.co

Connect with Amanda Natividad (@amandanat): LinkedIn | Substack | Instagram | Threads

This episode was produced in partnership with Share Your Genius
www.shareyourgenius.com

A Playbook for Shaping What the Internet Says About You

Amanda Natividad — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 01:00:00 -0700

Before someone clicks your website, they may already have formed an opinion about your brand from the public record — snippets, Reddit threads, reviews, and AI answers. So today, I’m sharing a 7-step playbook for shaping your brand’s public record. I’ll help you audit what’s visible, identify weak claims versus strong facts, publish more credible proof, make that proof easier to retrieve and cite, and track whether the public story around your brand is getting stronger over time. It’s a practical episode about reputation, visibility, and what marketers can still influence in a world of fragmented discovery.

This episode pairs nicely with the previous week’s “Why Better Attribution Won’t Fix Your Measurement Problem.” You might want to check that one out after this one. :)

Timestamps:

00:00 Why your brand’s public record matters

02:00 The 7-step playbook

02:35 Audit the story the internet is already telling about you

04:00 Treat third-party services as an extension of your brand

05:25 Separate weak claims from strong facts

07:22 Make your content easy to retrieve, cite, and summarize

09:01 Measure whether your public record is getting stronger

Resources:

Wil Reynolds’s “GEO Experiment: How AI highlighted the 1 bad review we got in 24 years”
Ross Simmonds’s “Reddit’s Impact on B2B Search” study
Search Engine Land’s “Why your content doesn’t appear in AI Overviews”
Alertmouse for brand monitoring
SparkToro for audience research

Learn more: zeroclickmarketing.co

Connect with Amanda Natividad (@amandanat): LinkedIn | Substack | Instagram | Threads

This episode was produced in partnership with Share Your Genius
www.shareyourgenius.com

Why Better Attribution Won’t Fix Your Measurement Problem

Amanda Natividad — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 01:00:00 -0700

A lot of marketers say they want better measurement. Usually, what they really want is cleaner attribution.

In this episode, I argue that those are two different jobs. Attribution tends to reward the channel that captured demand once the buyer was already in motion. SparkToro's latest research proves that influence happens everywhere. So what we really need is better measurement — to help us understand lift: are more people searching for you, remembering you, mentioning you, and showing up ready to buy? If you confuse the two, you’ll keep overvaluing what’s easiest to credit and underestimating what actually drives demand.

Timestamps:

00:00 The real problem: buyers are influenced before the click

01:41 Attribution vs. measurement: two different jobs

04:33 Stop giving the wrong channels all the credit...

05:10 ...because influence happens everywhere!

08:05 Why measurement needs to get broader and simpler

09:30 Why we (accidentally?) end up starving our demand creation channels

10:47 Measurement needs to grow up.

11:24 Next week: influencing the public record

Learn more: zeroclickmarketing.co

Connect with Amanda Natividad (@amandanat): LinkedIn | Substack | Instagram | Threads

This episode was produced in partnership with Share Your Genius
www.shareyourgenius.com

ZCM Field Notes: Search Is Now an Evidence Game (Ugh, Thanks, AI)

Amanda Natividad — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 01:00:00 -0700

Today I'm sharing my notes on recent news/research in the worlds of AI and Google Search. I'm breaking down 3 key pieces:

Ross Simmonds of Foundation Inc shows how Reddit influences buyer discovery earlier than many marketers realize.
Cyrus Shepard of Zyppy Signal argues that clicks still matter — not as a vanity metric, but as a signal of relevance and satisfaction.
Wil Reynolds of Seer Interactive offers a brutal real-world reminder that if you don’t publish defensible facts about your brand, AI may fill in the gaps with whatever scraps it can find.

If you want a more polished version of this episode along with a spiffy graph, read my blog post.

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:27 Why these three studies belong together
01:05 Ross Simmonds on Reddit’s growing role in SaaS search
03:05 Cyrus Shepard on why clicks still matter
04:18 Zero-click does not mean clicks stopped mattering
06:10 Wil Reynolds on AI surfacing an old negative review
07:26 Why “the truth is out there” is not enough if it isn’t published
09:08 What marketers should do now

Big thank you to my launch sponsor, SparkToro, the makers of fine audience research software. Rand Fishkin/SparkToro did the research that also supports the ideas in this episode.

ZCM Field Notes are short reactions to news or observations of what’s happening in the field.

Learn more: zeroclickmarketing.co

Connect with Amanda Natividad (@amandanat): LinkedIn | Substack | Instagram | Threads

The Difference Between Fine and Good

Amanda Natividad — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 01:00:00 -0700

A lot of marketers confuse polished with effective. Or they confuse consistency with substance. But neither one guarantees the work is actually good.

In this episode, I make the case for a higher bar: usefulness. In a zero-click world, your content has to stand on its own. So before you worry about making it prettier or posting more often, ask whether the idea is actually strong enough to deserve attention.

New here? Start with Episode 2: What Zero Click Marketing Actually Is

Join us next week — I’ll break down why marketers overvalue what’s easiest to count.

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:37 The tension between polish and volume
01:24 Why polish can signal care but not guarantee value
02:02 Why volume can create momentum but still say very little
02:38 The real bar: usefulness
03:15 Respecting your audience by assuming they’re smart
04:54 A simple test: strip away the design and ask whether the idea still holds up
05:20 What Amazon’s memo culture gets right
06:30 What to do when the idea itself is the problem
07:01 Three signs a piece of content is ready to publish
09:28 The hierarchy of useful marketing content
11:03 Why this matters even more in a zero-click world
11:46 The question to ask before you publish
12:15 Next week: why marketers overvalue what’s easiest to count

Learn more: zeroclickmarketing.co

Connect with Amanda Natividad (@amandanat): LinkedIn | Substack | Instagram | Threads

Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius
www.shareyourgenius.com

From Old-School SEO to Zero Click Marketing (with Brendan Hufford)

Amanda Natividad — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 03:00:00 -0700

My buddy Brendan Hufford drops by! We talk about his journey from old-school SEO to zero-click marketing. We cover the early days of SEO, the content habits that helped him build a reputation, and why he stopped trying to win by playing the obvious game.

We also get into why zero-click marketing works, why it was happening long before it had a name, and why attribution gets messy fast in B2B. Brendan shares how he thinks about buyer journeys, self-reported attribution, becoming your audience’s favorite, and the simplest way to start measuring zero-click impact today.

This was a fun one because Brendan brings both the receipts and the realism. If you’ve ever struggled to explain marketing impact beyond first-click or last-click attribution, this episode is for you.

00:00 Intro
00:15 Brendan’s early path from teaching and side hustles into SEO
02:03 The SEO era when useful, original content started to matter more
04:54 The “100 Days of SEO” project and building a body of work in public
07:56 From SEO specialist to audience-first marketer
09:36 Why Brendan had been doing zero click marketing before it had a name
10:17 Why “zero click marketing” works as a phrase — and why naming matters
11:56 Rand’s earlier search for a term for “marketing to sources of influence”
13:14 Why zero-click marketing is effective but hard to sell internally
14:38 The rise and limits of software-based attribution
16:06 How Brendan talks to leaders about marketing impact beyond hard attribution
19:10 Why people buy when they’re ready — and why attribution gets messy
23:10 My take: make it easy for people to choose you when they’re ready
23:35 “Don’t be the best. Be their favorite.”
25:25 Brendan’s zero-click ask: follow his work and learn along the way
27:08 Brendan’s practical advice for getting started with zero-click measurement
28:30 Outro

This episode was edited by Share Your Genius (shareyourgenius.com)

Connect with Brendan Hufford and check out his work: LinkedIn | GrowthSprints.co for B2B SaaS growth | BrendanHufford.com for his personal site

Learn more: zeroclickmarketing.co

Connect with Amanda Natividad (@amandanat): LinkedIn | Substack | Instagram | Threads

Where Zero Click Marketing Happens

Amanda Natividad — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 03:15:00 -0700

Once you understand the concept of Zero Click Marketing, the next question is obvious: Where should you actually be doing this?

In this episode, I break down the four environments where Zero Click Marketing thrives — the places on the internet where influence happens before someone ever clicks a link. From social feeds to AI answers, these platforms reward content that delivers value natively. If you understand where ZCM happens, you can create content that builds trust, recognition, and demand — even when you can’t track the click.

I also share three real-world examples of Zero Click Marketing in action, including a fascinating product launch from Seattle Ultrasonics that shows how a single piece of content can explain — and sell — an entirely new category.

New here? Start with Episode 2: What Zero Click Marketing Actually Is.

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro and orientation
01:00 Where ZCM generally works best
01:30 The four environments where ZCM specifically works best
05:25 The pattern of ZCM
05:55 3 case studies of ZCM in the wild
06:01 ZCM when you've created a totally new category
07:56 ZCM in a highly-competitive space
09:12 ZCM with a core idea and remixing across channels/formats
10:33 Next week: Brendan Hufford tells his firsthand experience with ZCM!

Learn more: zeroclickmarketing.co

Connect with Amanda Natividad (@amandanat): LinkedIn | Substack | Instagram | Threads

ZCM Field Notes: Why LinkedIn Has Two Algorithms (And Why That Matters)

Amanda Natividad — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 03:15:00 -0700

ZCM Field Notes are short reactions to news or observations of what’s happening in the field. Today, we're talking about the LinkedIn algorithm — because Christopher S. Penn just published an unofficial guide on how LinkedIn's algorithm works right now — and I have some quick notes and a "party" analogy I want to share.

Subscribe to Christopher's Almost Timely newsletter on Substack for lots more on AI, data science, and marketing. And download his report and read it yourself! :)

IMO, some of the best pages to read in the 150-page report:

pg. 19-29: great high-level explainer of how LinkedIn works
pg. 91-94: addresses the things you/your brand could likely improve

Thank you to my launch sponsor, SparkToro, the makers of fine audience research software. This show wouldn't be possible without 'em!

Oh also, I tried to find when I posted something about social media being a party, and I couldn't find it, but I did find this awesome blog post from Grace at Demand Curve where she explains how I built my Twitter following and she includes my party analogy.

Learn more: zeroclickmarketing.co

Connect with Amanda Natividad (@amandanat): LinkedIn | Substack | Instagram | Threads

Tell Your Execs: AI Rankings Are BS (with Rand Fishkin)

Amanda Natividad — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 04:00:00 -0700

You know the zero click problem is real. But how do you get your CEO or CMO on board — and how do you prove it's working once they are? In this episode, I chat with Rand Fishkin to talk measurement frameworks, his new AI visibility research, and why correlation (not causation) is the name of the game.

Guest: Rand Fishkin, Co-founder and CEO of SparkToro

Key takeaway:

Zero Click Marketing is not about giving up on sales or clicks. It’s about accepting that influence often happens before the click — and measuring that influence more honestly.

Timestamps:
00:00 "All the things that happen in a zero click environment will eventually lead to the same thing that clicks led to"
01:13 What do you tell an executive who believes in zero click but doesn't know what to do next?
04:20 How to start thinking about measurement when there's no single dashboard to point to
07:41 The double standard: executives are comfortable with fuzzy measurement for TV and display ads, but demand perfect attribution for content, influencers, and PR
11:02 Where your competitors refuse to invest leaves more room for you
14:07 AI hype as a Trojan horse to convince skeptics: if you believe AI is the future, what's the logical conclusion of AI summarizing content?
17:22 AI as both the cause of and a mental model for zero click
19:14 Rand and Gumshoe's AI visibility research: Rand noticed AI gives different answers to the same prompt every time, which made him skeptical of the entire AI rank-tracking industry
24:12 The big finding: you'd need ~1,000 prompts to get the same ranked answer — rank tracking is unreliable. But brand visibility percentage is real.
29:08 AI visibility as a trackable indicator for zero click marketing success
33:36 Myth busting: zero click marketing ≠ zero sales, and it's not just a Google problem — it's every platform

This episode is brought to you by SparkToro — the audience research tool that helps you find where your audience spends time, what they read, watch, and listen to, and who influences them. Learn more at sparktoro.com. And be sure to check out Gumshoe.ai for search and AI visibility.

Edited by Share Your Genius (shareyourgenius.com)

Learn more about Zero Click Marketing and Amanda Natividad:

What Zero Click Marketing Actually Is

Amanda Natividad — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 00:03:00 -0700

I (Amanda Natividad) define Zero Click Marketing, share a simple mental model (the ZCM Ladder), and give you a mini playbook you can use this week.

What you’ll learn:

What Zero Click Marketing is (and what it isn’t)
The ZCM Ladder: Seen → Understood → Remembered → Preferred → Sought out
The scoreboard: what to measure when clicks aren’t the whole story
3 moves to start doing ZCM this week (without burning out)
And here's your free ZCM one-pager!

Timestamps:
00:00 Zero-click isn’t anti-click. It’s pro-reality.
01:20 The definition (and why it’s not “no clicks”)
03:10 What ZCM is not: “ignore your website,” “post more,” “just brand vibes”
07:10 The ZCM Ladder: Seen → Understood → Remembered → Preferred → Sought out
10:30 Why “remembered” matters in B2B (buyers do most deciding without vendors)
13:40 The scoreboard: leading indicators vs. lagging indicators
16:20 Mini playbook: 3 moves you can try this week

This episode was edited by Share Your Genius (shareyourgenius.com)

Learn more about Zero Click Marketing and Amanda Natividad:

zeroclickmarketing.co
amandanat.com
Follow @amandanat on LinkedIn and Instagram

The Clicks Lie

Amanda Natividad — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 17:47:36 -0700

If clicks are your primary success metric, you're probably undercounting what's working — and over-rewarding what isn't. In the debut episode of Zero Click Marketing, I (Amanda Natividad) make the case that the click-based funnel isn't just outdated, it's actively misleading. And the cost isn't just bad measurement — it's bad decisions.

In this episode:

Why the click-based funnel made sense for a while — and exactly when it broke
How Google, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and X all quietly started hoarding traffic
What "dark social" is, and why it's a bigger deal than most teams realize
Why AI tools like ChatGPT are the next frontier of zero-click — and what that means for your brand
The 95/5 rule: why optimizing for conversions means ignoring 80% of your future buyers
Amanda's own story: how she grew from 1,000 to 100,000+ followers without ever spending a dime

Key insight from this episode:

"When you stop optimizing for the click and start optimizing for genuine value in the platform, you end up with better clicks — more intentional ones from people who actually want to be there."

This episode was edited by Share Your Genius (shareyourgenius.com)

Learn more about Zero Click Marketing and Amanda Natividad:

zeroclickmarketing.co
amandanat.com
Follow @amandanat on LinkedIn and Instagram