Digital Velocity

You are publishing more content than ever. So is everyone else. And somewhere in the rush to keep up, a lot of it started to sound the same. David Ebner, President of The Content Workshop, has a blunt explanation for why. "A tool doesn't know what good is." In this episode of the Digital Velocity Podcast, host Erik Martinez and David Ebner get into storytelling in the age of AI: why so much of it...

Erik Martinez and Pat Barry made their AI predictions six months ago. Agents, AI shopping, rising costs, governance. They were right about almost all of it, and almost none of it showed up the way they expected. Pat keeps running into the same pattern across every organization he works with. Someone has quietly built something remarkable with AI. When Pat tells them to share it, the answer is alwa...

Most agencies have someone who's figured out AI better than anyone else on the team. They built the custom GPTs. They know the prompts. They're the one everyone asks when something breaks. Now ask yourself: what happens if that person leaves tomorrow? "If your agency relies completely on one AI champion, the agency's progress is limited to one resignation." Ishant Kulshreshtha , AI Strategic Analy...

579 agency leaders were asked what they need to do to succeed. The answers were clear. Then they were asked if they're doing it. 83% aren't. Brian Gerstner, president of White Label IQ and co-founder of Agency Core, sits down with host Erik Martinez to unpack what the Agency Core 2026 research found when it studied the gap between knowing and doing across small and mid-sized agencies. As Brian put...

The headlines say AI is changing everything about how businesses get found online. Cameron LiButti says those headlines are missing the point. Cameron is the founder of Bidview Marketing, a fourteen-person agency working with medical practices, law firms, and service businesses across the country. He spent four years as a mechanical engineer before finding his way into digital marketing, and that...

There's no agreed definition of an AI agent yet. The people building them, the people selling them, and the people writing about them all mean different things by the term. There's also a real disagreement about how to start. The conventional wisdom is to pick a small task and let an agent take it off your plate. That's not wrong. But the small thing you pick should be doing real work for you, or...

Most of us are using AI to solve a problem once. We polish an email. We summarize a document. We move on. And we tell ourselves we are getting good at this. Wes Lemos has been at this longer than most. He runs Roll Digital, founded TIV AI and Vibe Scribe, and has built hundreds of projects across multiple servers. In Episode 108, he sits down with Erik Martinez to talk about why solving a problem...

Ryan Shenefelt, digital marketing and AI innovation lead at deNovo Marketing, has been in this work for 13 years. Over that time he's watched what happens when agencies and marketing teams use AI the way most people use it: to confirm what they already think, to move faster, to check the box.   In Episode 107 of the Digital Velocity Podcast, Ryan shares a different approach. He uses AI to argue ag...

What would happen if you had a version of yourself available every morning that already knew your values, your blind spots, and the two or three things that actually need your attention today?   In Episode 106 of the Digital Velocity Podcast, Erik Martinez sits down with Joe Newberry, founder of ExecClone.com, to explore how AI is changing the way high-functioning leaders work. Joe brings a backgr...

What does an agency actually sell when AI can produce the work? That's the question driving this conversation, and Brian Gerstner has a clear answer. In Episode 105 of the Digital Velocity Podcast, host Erik Martinez sits down with Brian Gerstner, President and Owner of White Label IQ, an agency that works exclusively with other agencies. With over 25 years in the marketing industry, Brian brings...

In Episode 104 of the Digital Velocity Podcast, Pat Barry joins Erik Martinez for a fast-moving, practical conversation about how to build "individual capability with AI" as the foundation for stronger teams. Rather than treating AI like a one-time experiment, Erik and Pat focus on how capability is built through repetition, discipline, and real workflow reps (repetitions). Pat shares how his lear...

In Episode 103 of the Digital Velocity Podcast, Erik Martinez sits down with Kaitlyn Study, entrepreneur and owner of South Street and Co., to explore what it really means to move from experimenting with AI to fully operationalizing it inside your business. Over the past year, Kaitlyn has automated "250 plus tasks across her business," transforming repetitive processes into structured, strategic s...

In Episode 102 of the Digital Velocity Podcast, Erik Martinez and Pat Barry have a candid conversation about one of the most common challenges businesses face with AI today: buying too many tools without a clear strategy. As AI capabilities explode, teams are overwhelmed by choices, and often mistake experimentation for progress. Pat and Erik dig into why many organizations start with the question...

In Episode 101 of the Digital Velocity Podcast, Erik Martinez is joined by Amber Goetz, founder of The Active Media, for a practical, no-fluff conversation about how SEO is really changing in 2026. With more than a decade of hands-on SEO experience, Amber shares what she's seeing in the data, what's no longer working, and where brands should focus their time and energy as AI reshapes how people se...

In Episode 100 of the Digital Velocity Podcast, Erik Martinez is joined by Pat Barry, President of AI Consulting Partners, for a forward-looking conversation on where artificial intelligence is headed as we move into 2026. After several years of experimentation, this episode focuses on what it looks like when AI shifts from novelty to something embedded in everyday business operations. Pat brings...

In Episode 99 of the Digital Velocity Podcast, Erik Martinez sits down with Chris Seminatore, founder of GetGeofencing.com, to unpack how location-based targeting can help brands stop wasting budget and start reaching the people most likely to buy. As Chris puts it, "Location is the strongest indicator of buying intent." For direct-to-consumer teams without a retail footprint, the key shift is thi...

In Episode 98 of the Digital Velocity Podcast , Erik Martinez sits down with Jen Neumann , CEO and owner of deNovo Marketing , to break down the findings from the 2025 AI Consumer Survey —a study her team launched to understand how real people feel about AI showing up in ads, emails, and digital content. The results reveal a mix of curiosity, confusion, and contradiction that every brand—especiall...

In Episode 97 of the Digital Velocity Podcast , Erik Martinez welcomes back Carla Johnson , globally recognized innovation architect, keynote speaker, and author of Rethink Innovation . Together, they explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping creativity, collaboration, and business innovation — and why human curiosity remains the ultimate competitive advantage. Carla introduces her framewor...

In Episode 96 of the Digital Velocity Podcast , Erik Martinez welcomes Alane Boyd , co-founder of BiggestGoal.ai , to explore how "agentic AI" is transforming the way businesses automate, scale, and innovate. As a serial entrepreneur and automation expert who has built and sold companies across marketing and technology, Alane has a clear mission: to make workdays easier and help teams focus on wha...

In Episode 95 of the Digital Velocity Podcast , Erik Martinez sits down with Kristin Chambers — social media strategist, agency owner, and founder of Meerkat Media Group — to explore artificial intelligence and its role in social media marketing. With over a decade of experience helping brands navigate the rapidly evolving digital marketing landscape, Kristin shares where human creativity must sta...

In Episode 94 of the Digital Velocity Podcast, Erik Martinez sits down with Brady Skye—award-winning filmmaker, creative director at Meerkat Media Group, and producer of the Amazon documentary 'Beyond the Ruins'—to explore how artificial intelligence is transforming video storytelling, brand authenticity, and the future of marketing creativity. Brady draws from his experience in both filmmaking an...

In Episode 93 of the Digital Velocity Podcast, Erik Martinez sits down with Ginger Grant, a seasoned data strategist, to explore how artificial intelligence and machine learning are reshaping the fundamentals of business analysis and decision-making.     Ginger shares her unique perspective on the crucial distinctions between generative AI and machine learning, highlighting why accuracy, data qual...

In Episode 92 of the Digital Velocity Podcast, Erik Martinez talks with Timothy Peterson—an executive leader with 25+ years across retail, e‑commerce, data, and operations—about how to integrate artificial intelligence thoughtfully and profitably. Drawing on roles from Bloomingdale's and Pottery Barn to CPG business intelligence and today's fractional CEO work, Timothy shares a pragmatic, cross‑in...

In Episode 91 of the Digital Velocity Podcast, Erik Martinez sits down with environmental scientist and sustainability expert Sheryl Barbosa to uncover how artificial intelligence (AI) is driving the next wave of sustainability for direct-to-consumer (DTC) businesses. Sheryl brings more than 20 years of experience across industries and business sizes, from Fortune 50 corporations to local nonprofi...

In Episode 90 of the Digital Velocity Podcast, Erik Martinez speaks with Lucas Petty, founder and CEO of AI Daddy, about how companies can strategically integrate artificial intelligence in their business and marketing processes to drive growth, innovation, and long-term success. Lucas shares his personal journey from having his own startup disrupted by AI to becoming an AI strategist and educator...