Jake Ward

Rank #1 in ChatGPT and AI Search: My next LIVE SEO session on 8th April. Co-Founder at Contact (and 3x SaaS companies).

I've spent 10 years in SEO and 8 years working with SaaS companies, from high-growth startups like beehiiv to billion-dollar platforms like Kajabi. Launched multiple SEO products like Byword.ai (2 weeks before ChatGPT) to scale SEO programmatically, and Mentions.so to win AI visibility. Ran high-profile experiments like the world's largest AI SEO case study, SEO speedruns, and the infamous SEO heist.

I'm leading product and SEO innovation at Contact.so across 25+ active clients and a 20-person SEO and content team. And building and growing Kleo.so to help entrepreneurs scale their personal brand and turn LinkedIn into a lead generation machine (like I have).

Most of my work today focuses on one question:

"How can SaaS companies win marketing (and SEO) in this AI era?"

Founder

We help software companies get more qualified traffic, sales and revenue through conversion-focused SEO and content marketing. Turn your blog into a 6 figure sales channel.

"I don't know how to do SEO in 2026"

Start from level 1 in The New SEO Game:

SEO isn't just Google rankings anymore.

It's now "Search Everywhere Optimisation".

Reframe your “New SEO” project as a game, and you'll become addicted to levelling up.

Level 1: Traditional SEO

- Fix technical problems killing your rankings
- Research keywords and target quick wins
- Optimise on-page elements (titles, content)
- Earn quality backlinks through outreach and PR

Level 2: AI Search Optimisation

- Format content so AI can parse it easily
- Build pages that AI platforms want to cite
- Structure information for machine consumption
- Test how your brand appears in AI search results

Level 3: Paid Search Visibility

- Run Google Ads for high-intent keywords
- Target competitor terms with YouTube Search Ads
- Capture Bing traffic through Microsoft Ads
- Measure paid performance across every platform

Level 4: LLM Answer SEO

- Produce authoritative content LLMs trust
- Build a knowledge base for AI training data
- Position your brand as the definitive source
- Monitor brand mentions in LLMs with Mentions

Level 5: Brand Authority SEO

- Get unlinked brand mentions across the web
- Feature in industry roundups and expert lists
- Build brand recognition without traditional backlinks
- Track brand mention volume and sentiment

Level 6: Community SEO

- Provide value in relevant Reddit threads
- Share expertise on Quora in your space
- Engage in Slack communities and Discord servers
- Build reputation in industry forums and groups

Level 7: Parasite SEO

- Repurpose content on Medium and LinkedIn Pulse
- Publish beehiiv newsletters to rank in Google
- Guest post on high-authority platforms/websites
- Leverage existing domain authority for quick rankings

Level 8: Platform-Specific SEO

- Optimise for Amazon search if selling products
- Focus on YouTube SEO for video content
- Master TikTok's algorithm for short-form content
- Optimise App Store listings for apps/extensions

Level 9: Topic Domination

- Own conversations across ALL channels
- Create content ecosystems to reinforce each platform
- Become the go-to expert mentioned everywhere
- Monitor and maintain authority across all channels

Completed all levels?

SEO is constantly evolving in 2026.

Stay ahead or get left behind.

PS. Need help levelling up? We'll help build and execute your “New SEO” domination strategy.

Book a call: https://www.contact.so/

SEO has been dying since 1997.

Some notable "deaths" include:

- Web 3.0
- Google Ads
- Social media
- TikTok search
- Voice assistants
- Featured snippets
- Zero-click searches
- Every Google update
- AI Overviews in Google
- GEO/AEO as the new SEO
- ChatGPT replacing Google

And now... AI agents?

Here’s the reality:

- SEO will always evolve
- People will always use search
- Search habits take time to change
- Google handles 14B+ daily searches
- Sends 190x more traffic than ChatGPT
- SEO is a $100B+ industry (growing ~12% YoY)

Even the newest "SEO killer" (GEO/AEO) is literally built on SEO fundamentals.

Richard Hoy said this in 1997:

"I’m beginning to believe that search engines are a dead-end technology and fretting over where your site comes up is a big waste of time."

Don’t be him in 2026.

SEO is very much alive.

I can’t stop thinking about this Tweet.

ChatGPT now handles over 2.5 billion queries per day and Google is eventually defaulting to "AI Mode."

This is the future of SEO.

6 tips you need to rank in AI platforms:

1. Win brand mentions

- Get your brand mentioned on high-authority websites
- Contribute to industry publications
- Be featured in news outlets
- Engage in forums and community discussions
- Encourage authentic UGC and word-of-mouth mentions

2. Build brand equity

- Monitor online reviews and brand sentiment
- Respond to feedback and address complaints
- Build a consistent, trustworthy public image
- Use tools like Mentions.so to track visibility, sentiment, and competitors

3. Be the source

- Publish authoritative, reference-style content
- Use neutral, factual, data-backed tone
- Avoid excessive personal takes or fluff
- Regularly update key content for accuracy
- Include credible citations and external data sources

4. Embrace passage-level SEO

- Structure content into short, focused paragraphs
- Use clear subheadings for logical segmentation
- Include concise, standalone answers
- Avoid burying insights in long text block
- Add structured data (e.g. schema markup)
- Make each paragraph extractable and cite-ready

5. Cover the conversation

- Use tools like Semrush for question research
- Monitor forums/socials for emerging questions
- Identify and answer sub-questions users ask
- Add relevant FAQs and support content
- Internally link related topic clusters

6. Optimise for crawlability

- Ensure AI crawlers are allowed in robots.txt
- Verify CDN settings aren't blocking crawlers
- Submit up-to-date XML sitemaps in GSC
- Optimise for fast page speed and clean HTML
- Review server logs for GPTBot, BingBot, etc. behaviour

But first, start with an audit:

- Your current visibility across all LLMs
- Prompt and content gaps vs your competitors
- Technical issues preventing AI from citing your site

Use a tool like Mentions.so to find this information.

Don’t regret not starting AI SEO sooner.

SaaS SEO in 2026: Join my (free) LIVE session on 4th March. Co-Founder and Head of Strategy & Innovation at Contact (and 3x SaaS companies).

A single "Competitor Alternatives" blog post made $1M+ in revenue for my SaaS client over 3 years.

They are ALWAYS the highest converting articles.

Alternative articles help users discover a better alternative (i.e. your product) to what they're currently using or considering buying.

For example:

You might target the following keywords if you're a team communication platform.

- Microsoft Teams Alternatives
- Discord Alternatives
- Slack Alternatives

= 16.5K/mo Google searches

These searchers are the most ready-to-buy AND they’re highly cited by LLMs once ranking in Google.

Here’s how to write your own:

PS. I’m hosting my very first SaaS SEO in 2026 LIVE session on March 4th. Register for free: https://lnkd.in/eherWr2a

I built 13,000+ pages with AI in 3 hours and grew my SEO traffic by +466% 60 days later.

- No template spam
- No city-name swaps
- No thin AI content

Instead, I built a system where content isn’t written page by page...

It’s built like software.

13,000+ useful pages generated in under 3 hours.

Weekly organic clicks went from 971 to 5,500 (~50% of pages aren't even indexed yet).

And the curve is still going up.

Read my LinkedIn article below:

60 days ago, the pages driving most of our SEO traffic didn't exist. Today: 13,000+ programmatic pages live Weekly organic clicks went from 971 to 5,5

Open article: Programmatic SEO in 2026: How I built 13,000+ pages in 3 hours and grew SEO traffic +466% in 60 days by Jake Ward • 9 min read

Programmatic SEO in 2026: How I built 13,000+ pages in 3 hours and grew SEO traffic +466% in 60 days

I just built SEO strategies for beehiiv and Kleo.

A ~$300M newsletter platform and my own 7-figure SaaS we launched 43 days ago.

(Sadly I didn't make this pic with Tyler Denk)

Completely different products, audiences, and business stages. But I'm using the same playbook.

SaaS SEO in 2026 isn't what it was 2-3 years ago.

The old playbook:

- Target high volume keywords
- Build comparison pages
- Rank in Google and get clicks

But in 2026:

1. Search is as fragmented as ever across Google, LLMs, socials, and other platforms.

2. Even if you rank, SERPs are busy with AI Overviews and ads making position 1 less valuable.

3. Zero-click searches mean AI is answering queries before any clicks to your website.

4. AI has commoditised average content and the quality bar is much higher.

I'm breaking down how I built the strategies for beehiiv and Kleo in a live session tomorrow at 12PM EST.

You'll see:

- What 20% of SEO to focus on in 2026
- How to rank across Google AND AI platforms
- The exact playbook for turning SEO into revenue

Register for free: https://lnkd.in/eherWr2a

PS. The next 20 SaaS companies that register and comment below get a free AI visibility report from my team (normally only for our clients like beehiiv).

I've been doing SEO for 10 years and AI search is making me rethink everything I know, here are 10 changes I’m seeing:

PS. Join my (free) SaaS SEO in 2026 live session on Wednesday, March 4th @ 12pm EST.

Add it to your calendar: https://lnkd.in/eherWr2a

SEO vs AI SEO/AEO/GEO...

Jason Vana

Marketing Director

Attract the RIGHT customers to your business | Brand & content strategist | Founder at SHFT | Known as #sassyjason

𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐁2𝐁 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠.

Not because their service isn’t good. Because nobody can tell the difference between them and the 100s of other options on Google.

Selling on referrals. Starting every sales call from scratch. Struggling to articulate what makes your business different all leads to the same place: competing on price, taking on bad-fit clients, and wondering why growth has stalled.

That's not a sales problem. That's a brand operations problem.

I fix that.

𝐈 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐮𝐩: How you sell, who you target, what you charge, and how clients experience you.

When we get this right, everything changes:

→ 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐬. Fewer tire-kickers. More ideal-fit clients who already understand your value before the first call.
→ 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫. At higher prices. Without discounting.
→ 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤. Your brand does the heavy lifting, so you're not "saving" every deal at 9pm.
→ 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬. Clients have a clear reason to buy from you, and do.

This is what I call Onlyness: owning an uncopyable position in your market that makes you the obvious choice for the clients you actually want.

Here's how we get you there:

1. Uncover your Onlyness: through deep research, workshops, and competitive analysis
2. Build your brand operations: strategy, messaging, positioning, marketing, and design that work together
3. Deploy it: a 12-month, step-by-step roadmap you own and execute

𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐞 75–200% 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡. 

Not because we gave them a prettier logo or new website, but because they finally know what makes them uncopyable, and so does every prospect they talk to.

Ready to stop competing on price and start owning your market?

Book a call: shft.agency/discovery


Founder & CEO

We transform B2B service companies into the ONLY choice for their ideal customers. Our clients see a 20%+ increase in revenue with our brand and content strategies. 

Here's how we help:

◼️ Brand Strategy (customers, uniqueness, messaging, touchpoints, story)
◼️ Brand Design (logos, colors, fonts, collateral)
◼️ Content Strategy (demand gen, content creation)
◼️ LinkedIn (strategy, content, profile audits)

Interested in learning more? DM me or book a discovery call below.

I'd rather stick hot pokers under my fingernails than respond to your AI comment. 

Do better, boo.
Especially if you want my money.

✌🏼

undefined undefined

Hey there!

Stoked to hear you're looking to find your unique brand differentiator!

Here's the link to download my B2B ‘Just Be Authentic’ Playbook:

https://findyourdifferentiation.com/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=linkedin&utm_campaign=launch_dm

I've spent weeks working on this resource, and I honestly think you'll find it super valuable.

Let me know if you have any questions as you go through it, and enjoy!

-Jason

Content Driven By Brand Strategy

📌 The best content is driven by a solid brand strategy.

- know your ideal customers
- know what makes your offer unique
- know your position in the market
- know the right tone and voice

Then create content that intersects all three.

You'll never create content your ideal customers love if you don't know who they are.

Want your content to generate real revenue?

DM me today or visit https://shft.agency/content 

Offer -> Brand Strategy

📌 The right offer matters.

No amount of marketing, content, or personal branding will help you sell a sh*t offer long-term.

And it certainly won't be something people pay a premium price for.

Nailing your offer is a core step in creating a profitable brand.

Need help with that?

DM me or visit https://shft.agency/services/brand-strategy to get started.

Clarity Call: Offer

📌 Productizing your strategy or service offer makes it much easier to sell.

Think of it like hiding your strategy behind a core deliverable. 

You sell the deliverable.
And your service/strategy is HOW you create the deliverable.

Need help with that?

We can nail it down in a 1-hour Clarity Call.

DM me or book a call directly at https://shft.agency/clarity 

Go Up Market

📌  You won't be able to successfully stumble up-market.

You need a solid brand strategy to help determine:

- your new ICP
- your new position
- your new price points
- your new differentiation
- your new brand personality

Getting that nailed down will make your transition up-market far more successful.

And by successful, I mean profitable.
For you.

Want to move up-market successfully?

I've helped 125+ businesses reposition their brand for maximum profitability.

DM me for more or visit https://shft.agency/services/brand-strategy 

Brand Strategy

📌 I'm not saying all is lost when you don't start with a brand strategy.

But, starting with one makes revenue generation far easier and faster than just 'testing' what works.

The need to 'test' is often the result of not having the right foundation for your business.

Get that foundation in place and you'll be able to move faster and make far more money.

Need help with that?

I might know a #SassyStrategist who can help.

DM me or visit https://shft.agency/services/brand-strategy to get started today.

Become the only choice | I build brand operating systems that attract higher-paying clients for 7-9 figure B2B service companies | Founder/CEO at Shft.Agency | Known as #SassyJason

I ignore the LinkedIn experts.

Those who sell LinkedIn services, courses, and coaching.

Here's why ↓

NONE 👏🏼 OF 👏🏼 THEM 👏🏼 SELL👏🏼 TO 👏🏼 MY 👏🏼 IDEAL 👏🏼 CUSTOMERS 👏🏼 

Their tactics, post hooks, and advice work for attracting:

- solopreneurs
- who make under 7-figures
- sell coaching, courses, or communities
- and do not have the resources to truly stand out

The exact people I do NOT work with.

My ideal customers:

- make 7-9-figures
- are experts in their field
- have developed something unique
- already have processes and teams in place
- sell 6-to 7-figure offers

And the tactics those LinkedIn "experts" push:

- hook templates
- vulnerable posts
- engagement pods
- posting selfies

Do not work for them.

I have yet to see a LinkedIn "expert" mention their 9-figure, industrial client who landed a 7-figure client using their LinkedIn framework.

🙄

We have industrial clients who have made $1M+ from LinkedIn...
...while generating only 5 likes per post.

Because my ideal customers don't care about going viral.

They want revenue.

Something the so-called LinkedIn "experts" suck at.

Don't listen to "experts" who don't sell to your ideal customers.

Their tactics will ruin your position.
And repel the very people you're trying to attract.

Gross.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

I'd rather gouge my eyeballs out with a spoon than read the AI-generated slop some of you pass off as content.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

Here's how to get AI to sound like you: 

I'm building an AI blog writer for Shft. 

SEO is part of our new marketing strategy. 

And while I used to love writing long-form content... 
(my professors in college docked me for going OVER page limits) 

I don't really have the patience for it anymore. 

I'm running a business. 
Writing blog posts is the lowest priority item on my list. 

But using AI to write my content? 
When I'm a brand strategist and know that tone of voice matters?
And I hate everything AI writes?

🤮 

I've spent the last 2 months developing a system to get AI to write like me.

Here's how ↓ 

→ Step 1: Create Project & Upload Documents
I created a project in Claude and uploaded my brand strategy, messaging, ideal customer profile, and 7+ years' worth of content.

→ Step 2: Create AI Tone of Voice Guide
I told Claude to read all of my content and create a tone of voice guide with:
- Standard tone of voice chart
- Word choices and language preferences
- Formatting and punctuation
- Phrase preferences

→ Step 3: Analyze SEO
I had Claude perform keyword research on my and my competitors' websites. Verified this with my own research in SEMrush.

→ Step 4: Create a Hub & Spoke Strategy
Using everything above, I had Claude create a hub and spoke strategy. 5 hubs, each with 5 spoke posts to create.

→ Step 5: Create Post Outline
I picked one post and had Claude create an extensive outline that I edited and approved.

→ Step 6: Write a Rough Draft
I told Claude to use my existing content, my ICP, tone of voice guide, and the outline to draft a post.

→ Step 7: Ruthlessly Edit
I ruthlessly edited (and in some cases rewrote) the post. This step is KEY.

→ Step 8: Rework Tone of Voice Guide
I fed my edited post into Claude and told it to compare the posts and update the tone of voice guide to write more like me.

Rinse and repeat. 

I anticipate it will take 20-30 blog posts before I don't have to ruthlessly edit. 

Content is a long-term play. 
Not a "dump 100 blog posts today that sound like sh*t" game. 

The key to making this work: 

- 7 years' worth of content to give Claude 
- Extensive ICP document with customer quotes 
- Tone of voice guide based on existing content 
- SEO analysis of ours and our competitors' websites 
- Blog post strategy to follow 

And the biggest key: 

- Reworking the post and updating the tone of voice guide 

Train AI on your expertise and writing style. 

It'll be far more useful to repurpose your content. 

✌🏼 #shftyourbrand 

PS - Want the full breakdown? I'm sharing it with complete prompts in this Saturday's Brand Shft email. Link in comments to subscribe ↓

I'm a brand strategist, but I've also built:

- automations
- feedback systems
- AI content systems
- sales teams and cycles
- operational guidelines
- hiring procedures
- org charts

Most people think brand strategist = identity work

And, yes, that's part of a brand strategy.

But a brand strategy IS the customer-facing side of your business strategy.

It takes your business strategy.
And brings it to life.

Meaning, a real brand strategist needs to understand:

- sales
- marketing
- operations
- customer service
- automations
- content
- AI

Otherwise, their work will NEVER change your business.

A brand strategy should touch EVERY part of your business.

Not just your brand.
Or your personality.
Or your marketing.
Or your purpose.

If it doesn't include sales, operations, and even HR...
It's not a brand strategy.

It's fluff that won't generate and close deals.

Get yourself a complete brand strategy.

Or don't be surprised when those personality adjectives and the story you spent $50K on don't produce any ROI.

You deserve more than that, boo.

✌🏼

#shftyoubrand

One lesson I teach every client:

You can only be known for ONE thing.

Most B2B service founders want to be known for everything.

- every offer
- every vertical
- every transformation
- every possible solution

If someone in their target market needs something, they want to be the solution.

That's not how our brains work.

People will remember your business for ONE key thing.
It's how they categorize you in their mind.

For example, most people know me and Shft for BRAND STRATEGY.

So when they have a brand strategy issue, they know to come to us.

But we do more than brand strategy:

- brand strategy
- brand architecture
- brand naming
- marketing strategy
- content strategy
- brand design
- website design
- ad/collateral design
- sales systems
- demand generation

If it involves making you money, we likely do it.

But Shft is not trying to be known for websites, or ads, or sales systems.

We want to be known for brand strategy.

Because once you get that strategy...
and a plan to implement it across your business...

It's easy to get you to do the rest with us.

But that focus does require a sacrifice.

I'm not out there pushing design-only services.
Or websites.
Or content creation.

We push ONE thing.
And let it sell everything else.

What's your ONE thing?

Drop it in the comments. I'll roast the sh*t out of it.

In a nice, but sassy way, of course. 

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

Your CEO's personal brand isn't going to save:

- sh*t positioning
- sh*t experience
- sh*t marketing
- sh*t offer

Create a brand strategy first.
A corporate brand second.
Then, build a personal brand for your CEO.

Or don't be surprised when your CEO's shiny new personal brand doesn't produce revenue for the business.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

Branding is agnostic.

It doesn't matter:

- what you're selling
- who you're selling to
- what industry you're in

The principles of branding don't change.

- Find something you DO that's different
- Build a position and message around it
- Create an identity that matches it
- Craft an experience for customers to feel it

And stick to those things for YEARS.

Case in point:

Shft has created unique and profitable positioning strategies for:

- food processing manufacturers
- vacuum pump remanufacturers
- IoT remote monitoring system creators
- energy & sustainability SaaS companies
- custom website and MVP developers
- custom software developers
- communications agencies
- generative AI developers
- relationship coaches
- IaC system creators
- content creators

Those are as different as you can get.

But the same principles applied.

You don't need a strategist who has worked in your industry.
Or who has created designs for your competitors.

You need a strategist who understands the fundamentals of branding.
And can apply them to any industry.

That will get you the most creative and effective ideas.

All to make you a sh*t ton of money.

If that's something you actually want.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

Your brand is built by every interaction with your business.

- every email
- every call
- every ad
- every post
- every proposal
- every support call
- every website visit
- every price point
- every sales pitch

It all creates the gut feeling in people that we call a brand.

Meaning your brand is NOT a marketing tactic.

And it's NOT something to do later.

- when you have the time
- when you have the money
- when you've magically gotten PMF
- when you've sold enough to know your customers

Your brand is a whole company initiative. 

That you should have a strategy for from DAY ONE.

Because while you're waiting to get PMF...
Or waiting to hopefully land a few clients to test your offer...
Or choose to run some Google ads to see if this thing is viable...

YOU'RE 👏🏼 CREATING 👏🏼 THE 👏🏼 WRONG 👏🏼 BRAND 👏🏼 

One that will take extra time and money to fix.

Because that first impression?

It means everything.
And is incredibly hard to change.

So, go the typical route.

Hold off on building your brand and push your ideal customers away.

Or start today with a brand strategy.

You'll get PMF and revenue much, much faster.

If you're into that sort of thing.

Some of you clearly aren't.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

Most businesses amplify confusion and call it a brand.

I chatted with the CEO and CMO of an 8-figure business last week.

They provide IT and verification services for enterprise SaaS companies.

I asked the question I ask of every prospect:

What do you DO that your competitors can't or won't?

Their answer: 15 minutes of the fluffiest differentiators I ever heard.

- We provide the best quality of service
- We care about our customers
- We're the industry leader

And my favorite:

- We can do everything they need

Followed by a breakdown of their 20 services.

🤦🏻‍♂️

A brand amplifies what's already there.

If you aren't aligned on the unique value you bring...
And have 20 offers across 10 industries, each serving a different ICP...

YOU 👏🏼 ARE 👏🏼 CONFUSING 👏🏼 YOUR 👏🏼 PROSPECTS 👏🏼 

Take our IT example.

Their message: Industry-Leading IT Services for Enterprise SaaS
Their content: Buy our industry-leading IT services
Their customer acquisition: all outbound sales

And their competitors? Also, industry-leading IT services

Look, you might be able to get to 8-figures with outbound sales alone.

But breaking into 9-figures?
Scaling the business?
Attracting better clients?
Reducing your sales team?

That takes clarity.

Internally with your team.
Externally in your messaging and marketing.

If you can't explain what makes you different in 1 sentence...

Your messaging will be off.
Your marketing will be off.
Your experience will be off.
Your sales will be off.

And revenue?

It will NEVER hit the levels you want.

Stop amplifying confusion.

Gain clarity around your differentiation.
Wrap your entire strategy around it.
Create an identity that displays it.

And watch as your revenue climbs.

If you're into that sort of thing, that is.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

Branding = building operating systems

Most founders and marketers see branding as identity work.

- who you are
- how you sound
- the way you look
- the values you hold

That's only a fraction of branding.

Real branding takes your identity...
your differentiation...
your value...

And turns it into repeatable systems your team can use.

Like these systems we create for our clients:

Many that incorporate AI, templates, and tools to do the heavy lifting for you.

→ Content systems
Turning your expertise into content that your ideal customers want

→ Marketing systems
Generating high-intent, ideal leads across multiple channels

→ Offer systems
Tiered offer structure that upsells clients into larger deals

→ Sales systems
Sales stack that turns leads into customers and customers into clients

→ Team systems
Recruiting and hiring the right team members to optimize your other systems

→ Design systems
Templates, prompts, and guidelines to stay consistent with your design

Systems build businesses.
And your brand SHOULD expand your business.

If that brander you hired is not creating systems...

RUN

You don't have a brander.
You have an identity creator who doesn't know how to drive real business results. 

And that, my friend, is a complete waste of money.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

Your brand needs a villain.

Someone or something to fight against.

And, no, I don't mean your competitors.

It's basic psychology.

We often connect over what we hate.

→ that coworker you all can't stand
→ that neighbor who keeps everyone up til 1am
→ that politician who spits on everything you hold dear

Can you guess #SassyJason's villain?

*cough*ThoseDamnFluffyBranders*cough*

Like it or not, villains connect us.

Use that in your brand.

Align yourself to fight the same villain as your ideal customers.

→ branding that is all design but no substance (my real villain)
→ IOT vendors who don't help make sense of your data
→ manufacturers who push equipment, not solutions
→ marketing agencies that produce sh*t content

Every great story has a villain.

Find something that pisses off your ideal customers.
And aligns with what you sell.

Then beat the living sh*t out of it.

(metaphorically speaking, of course)

Your ideal customers will connect with you in a deeper way.

And see you as the hero they've been looking for.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

------
PS - Drop your villain below. I'll roast your choice and give you suggestions on how to fight it. 👇🏼

Your corporate brand should be an operating system.

Taking your uncopyable IP and turning it into:

Messaging, marketing, content, sales, operations, offers, and HR directives.

On repeat.
For decades.

Logo, fonts, colors.
Adjectives and archetypes.
Purpose, mission, vision, values.

All great stuff.
But none of it will drive business decisions.

Or tell you if that new marketing campaign will generate ROI.

BRANDING IS NOT FLUFF

If it's not driving business decisions...
If it's not operationalizing your efforts...
If it's not driving revenue growth...

You don't have a REAL brand strategy.

You have a fluff document that looks good, but doesn't actually help.

Get a brand system.

Not adjectives.
Not a new logo.
Not a list of values.

A system that helps you:

- create a unique position
- craft an attractive brand identity
- drive your marketing efforts
- create resonating content
- nurture and convert prospects

All so you can attract and convert your ideal customers.

We call it a Brand OS.

And it's driven $40M+ for our clients.

With fewer salespeople, lower marketing budgets, and streamlined offers.

As a brand should do.

✌🏼

#shftyoubrand

Stop treating AI like a trusted advisor.

It's an entry-level intern at best.

Here's why ↓

I'm building an AI blog writing system.

Taking my 7+ years' worth of content...
A hub and spoke blog strategy...
SEO keyword research...

And having it create blog posts in my voice with my expertise.

Most people just ask AI to write a blog post for them.

That's not near enough context to get the results you want.

Here's what I've created to tell AI what to do:

1️⃣ AI Tone of Voice Guide
This is far more than a brand tone of voice. My 10-page document includes:
- typical tone of voice descriptions
- formatting instructions
- layout instructions
- phrase choices
- word choices

2️⃣ SEO Keyword Guide
I created a 19-page guide on proper SEO tactics, including:
- keyword clustering guidelines
- keyword research process
- keyword difficulty rules
- keyword quality filters
- search volume rules
- keyword templates

3️⃣ SEO Blog Guide
I wrote a 23-page blog writing guide, including:
- CTA guidelines with potential links
- incorporating keyword guidelines
- layout and formatting guidelines
- graphic placement guidelines
- blog intro guidelines
- subtitle guidelines
- header guidelines
- meta guidelines
- title guidelines

4️⃣ Repurposing Guide
I wrote a 10-page guide on repurposing content, including:
- turning video transcripts into a blog post
- turning LinkedIn posts into a blog post
- turning brand guides into a blog post
- turning courses into a blog post

All of that treats AI like an intern.

Telling it exactly what to do.
What I expect.
What is acceptable.
What is unacceptable.
And how to think. 

Prompts are not enough.

You need to give AI context to deliver what you want.

Or don't be surprised when it gives you a sh*tty output.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

The main reason your 6-8-figure offer isn't selling:

I've spent the last 10+ years diagnosing revenue issues.

- Why businesses aren't attracting ideal customers
- Why prospects ghost after seeing a proposal
- Why sales can't seem to close a deal
- Why revenue keeps hitting a ceiling

Across 30 industries.
For 7-9-figure businesses.
Selling 6-8 figure offers.

The underlying reason for revenue stagnation is always the same:

Lack of clarity on their unique value.

No prospect I've talked with was able to clearly communicate why their ideal customers choose their offers.

And that lack of clarity impacts everything:

- messaging that doesn't resonate
- sales process that doesn't work
- marketing that falls flat
- experience customers don't like
- design that annoys prospects
- website copy that sounds like competitors
- content that lacks a resonating, unique POV
- offers that solve mild annoyances rather than real pains

Looking to move from 6 to 7, 7 to 8, or 8 to 9-figures of revenue?

Stop "testing" new tactics.
Get clarity on why ideal customers ACTUALLY choose you.
Beyond the things every competitor says.

Then build everything around it.

You'll attract more high-paying, long-lasting clients.

The type of clients that push you into a new level of revenue.

✌🏼

#shftyoubrand

90% of Shft's revenue comes from content.

My LinkedIn, the Brand Shft email, our essays, and our YouTube channel.

None of that happened by accident.

And it sure as hell didn't happen from:

- vulnerable content
- engagement pods
- endless selfies
- being myself

How has our content been so successful?

I stopped thinking in funnels.
And started thinking in buyer awareness.

These six levels of awareness, to be exact:

- Unaware: oblivious to the problem
- Problem Aware: knows the problem
- Solution Aware: actively seeking solutions
- Service Aware: knows about your solution
- Most Aware: ready to buy
- Advocate: purchased and referring clients

Creating content for those levels of awareness ensures:

- I'm meeting prospects where they are
- with the content that matters to them
- and pulls them closer to working with me

No selfies, pods, or fake "living in my car" stories needed.

Your content is an extension of your brand.

If you aren't creating a content mix that draws prospects closer to you...

...you're just creating noise
...that no one wants
...and will never convert

Map your content to those 6 levels of awareness.

And watch prospects start seeing you as the ONLY solution for them.

I shared more in a previous Brand Shft email.

Including examples of content for each level.

You can access the link in the comments.

Or keep posting selfie-riddled nonsense.

I'm sure that will work, too.

NOT

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

B2B companies: "We're the industry-leading..."

Also B2B companies: Why aren't we attracting higher-paying clients?

Maybe stop with the sh*tty, generic, overused messaging.

But what do I know?

I've only helped B2B companies generate $40M+ in new revenue.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

How I helped a client achieve a 100% close rate.

(and generate $90k within 2 months of our strategy work)

Spinlab came to Shft with a sales problem.

They had a successful offer.
Already had clients.

But something shifted, and they struggled to close deals.

- Weeks of discovery
- Countless meetings
- Lots of testing
- Days created proposals

All for a prospect to ghost them.
Or say they changed their mind.

🤦🏻‍♂️

Spinlab didn't have a sales problem.
They had a positioning problem.

Here's what we did:

- repositioned them as tech experience builders (not just developers)
- crafted messaging that resonated with their ideal customers
- uncovered their differentiating factor
- rewrote their website copy

But the biggest change came from one thing:

- turning their discovery process into a low-cost offer

Instead of doing months of work for free.
We turned that work into an offer.

4 weeks.
4 workshops.
1 week of testing.

All to give you a report with the MVP, website, and tech stack you need, along with costs and timelines.

That's a month of building trust 1:1.
To get a report of what you actually need.

And a proposal to have Spinlab build it for you.

The result:

Every client who purchased the Spinguide was upsold into a full development project.

One offer that solved their "sales" problem.

That's the power of a brand strategy.

Want to create a Paid Discovery Offer for your business?

Check the comments for my course.

Or DM me to build one for you.

I'm taking on 2 more clients from now until June.

Let's uncover your real business issues.

And create a strategy to level up your revenue.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

The only brand strategy you need:

(save this for later)

Most founders and marketers don't know what a brand strategy is.

They think it's:

- purpose, vision, mission, values
- personality and tone of voice
- messaging frameworks
- visual identity

All important parts of building a brand.

But a brand strategy is the step BEFORE all of that.

It's a decision that defines:

- the unique value you bring (differentiation)
- for whom (ideal customers)
- how (methodology, IP)
- category (identity)

And is expressed in a single sentence:

We are the only {category}
who provides {unique value}
by {how/methodology}
for {ideal customers}.

👆🏼 That is the foundation of your business.

And drives your messaging, marketing, sales, operations, offer, customer service, purpose, values, personality, design, pricing...

Every decision in your business revolves around that statement.

Get that in place.

And watch how fast your business grows.

Want to write one yourself?

Grab my Onlyness Strategy Template: https://lnkd.in/gzghrNk9

Fill-in-the-blank Google Doc with video tutorials to uncover and own your brand strategy.

It's like working with me.
For a fraction of a fraction of the cost.

#shftyourbrand

One tool to find and engage with your ideal customers on LinkedIn:

Sales Navigator

I use it every day to:

- find ideal customers
- segment by buying intent
- connect with my ideal customers
- start conversations with them
- engage with their content
- land them as clients

I wouldn't use LinkedIn without it.
Especially when I'm trying to attract 8- and 9-figure clients.

You can even create a custom feed with just the people you want to engage with.

BRILLIANT

I created a mini-course to teach my clients how to use Sales Navigator.

It's part of our new Brand Accelerator — a platform with how-to lessons, frameworks, and templates to implement your brand strategy.

But I pulled it out.
Made it a stand-alone course.

And have just made it live.

Want to find and engage with your ideal customers on LinkedIn?

Grab the Sales Navigator Tutorial today → https://lnkd.in/gYvjN8vQ

It'll make starting conversations with ideal customers much faster and easier than on LinkedIn alone.

Something every founder, CEO, and marketing leader should want.

Unless pipeline and revenue aren't important.

Then, by all means, scroll past.

✌🏼

#shftyourbrand

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The Battle

Jake Ward

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The Battle

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Jake Ward's LinkedIn Performance

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