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318. Leveraging AI for SEO Advantage, with Carl Holden

The Innovative Agency

Release Date: 10/08/2025

334. Create Predictable Profitability, with Marcel Petitpas show art 334. Create Predictable Profitability, with Marcel Petitpas

The Innovative Agency

On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek is joined by Marcel Petitpas, CEO and co-founder of Parakeeto. Their conversation focuses on one of the most persistent and misunderstood challenges facing agency leaders today: profitability. Often when margins feel tight, we blame pricing, overhead, or “the market.” But even agencies with growing revenue can struggle to take home real profit. Marcel helps us look beneath the surface to uncover what’s actually driving (or draining) your margins.  From breaking the habit of measuring success by revenue alone to...

info_outline 333. Succession Under Pressure, with Christy & Whit Hiler show art 333. Succession Under Pressure, with Christy & Whit Hiler

The Innovative Agency

On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek welcomes Christy and Whit Hiler of Cornett, for a candid conversation about what happens when leadership, legacy, and marriage all intersect. As a married couple stepping into agency ownership, Christy and Whit share the real story behind succession and transition: the uncertainty, the high-stakes decisions, and the mindset shifts required to reimagine what ownership can look like.  They unpack how intentional decision-making became their anchor, how they strengthened culture while the ground was moving, and why betting on...

info_outline 332. The Value of Brand Today, with Marc Rust show art 332. The Value of Brand Today, with Marc Rust

The Innovative Agency

Branding is often treated like decoration. Something you polish after the “real” business decisions are made. But when agencies are navigating growth, mergers, acquisitions, or fundraising, that mindset can quietly erode value. Today on The Innovative Agency Podcast, Sharon Toerek is joined by Marc Rust, CEO and Founder of Consequently Creative, to challenge that thinking head-on. Marc works with venture-backed and high-growth organizations, and has seen firsthand how intentional branding becomes a strategic asset, not a risk. In this conversation, he breaks down why branding is far more...

info_outline 331. Visibility Beats Perfection, with Carrolee Moore show art 331. Visibility Beats Perfection, with Carrolee Moore

The Innovative Agency

So many agency owners struggle with the tension between wanting to be visible and waiting until their message feels “perfect.” On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast, Sharon Toerek sits down with Carrolee Moore, CEO and founder of Podcast Pitching Society, to challenge that mindset and unpack why visibility, not perfection, is the true foundation of agency growth. Drawing from her journey running a multi-six-figure agency to building a business around strategic storytelling, Carrolee explains why so many agency leaders struggle to get noticed by the right clients. She reveals how...

info_outline 330. Advance Your Agency’s Operational Maturity, with Harv Nagra show art 330. Advance Your Agency’s Operational Maturity, with Harv Nagra

The Innovative Agency

This episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast welcomes Harv Nagra, host of The Handbook podcast and Head of Brand Communications at Scoro, to unpack a hard truth many agency owners overlook: growth stalls when operational maturity can’t keep up with success. Harv draws from his own agency experience to explain why chaos, burnout, and shrinking margins are often symptoms of broken systems, not broken strategy. He breaks down the five pillars of operational excellence, the stages agencies move through as they grow, and the exact moments when “winging it” stops working. If your agency feels...

info_outline 329. What Clients See That Agencies Miss, with Armando Turco show art 329. What Clients See That Agencies Miss, with Armando Turco

The Innovative Agency

This episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast features a guest that has truly seen our industry from every angle. Armando Turco, President of Mojo Supermarket, has built a career that spans major creative agencies, brand consultancies, media companies and crucially, leadership roles on the client side. That journey gives him a rare, unfiltered perspective on what’s really happening inside client organizations right now. Armando discusses what agency leaders often don’t see: the internal pressures brands face, where agencies unintentionally create friction, and why smaller, independent...

info_outline 328. Find Opportunity in Uncertainty, with Brook Shepard show art 328. Find Opportunity in Uncertainty, with Brook Shepard

The Innovative Agency

On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek welcomes CEO and co-owner of Mason Interactive, Brook Shepard, for a conversation about one of the most pressing realities every agency leader is feeling right now: uncertainty. Brook offers a candid look at navigating volatility, understanding what today’s clients truly expect, and why deep industry expertise has become one of the most powerful differentiators an agency can cultivate. He also shares smart, practical ways to uncover pockets of optimism, from demographic changes reshaping higher education to the relentless...

info_outline 327. Cracking the ROI Code, with Sam Piliero show art 327. Cracking the ROI Code, with Sam Piliero

The Innovative Agency

On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek is joined by someone who understands the real pressures agency owners face in today’s results-driven digital world. Sam Piliero, Founder of The Moonlighters, went from running entrepreneurial lemonade stands as a kid to leading a high-performing agency serving nearly 100 clients across Facebook, Google, and the ever-shifting digital advertising landscape. Sam digs into the challenges that keep agency leaders up at night: proving tangible ROI when the metrics get murky, navigating client churn, recruiting and retaining top-tier...

info_outline 326. Breaking the Trust Recession, with Ari Galper show art 326. Breaking the Trust Recession, with Ari Galper

The Innovative Agency

This episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast features one of the world’s foremost authorities on trust-building in the sales process, Ari Galper. If you’ve been feeling the squeeze of longer sales cycles, increasing commoditization, or the growing “trust recession” impacting today’s marketplace, this conversation will hit home. Founder of AriAI, Ari joins Sharon Toerek to unpack the very real challenges agency owners face as AI accelerates competition and prospects become more skeptical than ever. He digs into the shift from outdated, high-pressure selling to a trust-centric...

info_outline 325. Your Agency + Small Businesses = Big Opportunities, with Aya Kikimova show art 325. Your Agency + Small Businesses = Big Opportunities, with Aya Kikimova

The Innovative Agency

On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek welcomes Aya Kikimova, Founder and CEO of LeapEngine, for a conversation that hits directly at one of the biggest questions agency leaders are wrestling with today: How do you build a profitable, innovative marketing practice while serving small and midsize businesses for clients who need high-quality work but often operate with leaner resources?  Aya shares her intentional journey from working with major enterprise brands, both at top agencies and inside Microsoft, to crafting a service model purpose-built for entrepreneurial...

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Today on The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek and guest Carl Holden tackle one of the biggest shifts reshaping our industry — how AI is rewriting the rules of SEO and digital marketing.

Carl, agency owner and Founder of RankBot, has been at the forefront of this transformation. He’s seen firsthand how AI is changing client expectations, lowering barriers to entry, and forcing agencies to redefine what “value” really means.

Carl digs into what it takes to stay relevant and profitable in this new landscape, from redefining your agency’s value proposition to applying AI strategically (not reactively).

If you’ve been wondering how to lead through this next evolution of search and strategy, this is an episode you’ll want to take notes on.

What you will learn in this episode: 

  • Why AI is rapidly disrupting the traditional SEO landscape 

  • How agency owners can adapt before the competition

  • The real impact of generative AI tools like ChatGPT on content creation, link-building, and external SEO strategies

  • Key opportunities and threats AI poses for agencies focused on search, local, and digital marketing

  • How to identify and automate repetitive agency tasks to boost efficiency and diversify your services

  • Strategies for educating clients about AI’s impact on findability and how to set realistic expectations for SEO outcomes

  • Best practices for upskilling your team, fostering a culture of innovation, and protecting your agency’s intellectual capital

  • The impending shift toward immersive, AI-powered marketing experiences and what agencies should do now to prepare

Bio

Carl Holden is the CEO and co-founder of RankBot, an AI-powered SaaS specializing in off-page SEO, backlinks, keyword tracking, and website optimization, making SEO easy, accessible, for his clients, giving them a competitive edge in their industry. With more than 200 hours of AI training from Wharton, IBM, Microsoft, and Google, Carl brings deep expertise in generative AI to the world of digital marketing. He’s also the co-owner of Zellus Marketing, an Amazon Top Author in Marketing and Web Analytics, and a contributor to Forbes and the Huntsville Business Journal. A former Toastmasters world semifinalist, Carl speaks on AI and marketing at events nationwide.

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