Proof Point

Stacie Porter Bilger is the Founder and President of Proof Digital, a strategic and creative performance marketing agency that blends modern marketing tools with traditional sales funnel processes. She spent the first 20 years of her career helping businesses develop growth strategies and connect with investors. Before founding Proof Digital, Stacie worked with several chambers of commerce and startups like the Indiana Venture Center. She helps organizations leverage data, digital marketing, and emerging technologies such as AI to uncover opportunities and drive growth. In this episode… AI is changing the way people discover businesses, and traditional SEO strategies alone are no longer enough to stay visible. As customers turn to AI platforms for answers, businesses need to rethink how they show up online. How can brands prepare for this new era of AI-powered search? As a digital marketing strategist with deep experience in search and online visibility, Stacie Porter Bilger explains that businesses need to embrace AI readiness by optimizing their content, technical foundation, and authority to improve how they appear across AI platforms. She highlights that search is expanding beyond Google into tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity, where brands must focus on being cited for accurate and relevant information. This shift requires businesses to understand customer intent, answer real questions, and create content structures that AI systems can recognize and trust. The result is a new approach to visibility where expertise, credibility, and accessibility drive discovery. In this episode of Proof Point, Dr. Jeremy Weisz of Rise25 interviews Stacie Porter Bilger, the Founder and President of Proof Digital, to discuss AI readiness and the future of search visibility. Stacie explores AI-driven discoverability, content strategies for LLMs, and building authority in the new search landscape. She also shares insights on AI readiness audits and improving brand citations across emerging AI platforms.

Stacie Porter Bilger is the Founder and President of Proof Digital, a business growth-marketing agency that blends modern marketing tools with traditional sales funnel processes. She spent the first 20 years of her career working with businesses to strategize development and connect them to investors. Before founding Proof Digital, Stacie worked for several Chambers of Commerce and startups like the Indiana Venture Center. Her commitment to leveraging cutting-edge digital tactics has revolutionized business growth strategies, cementing her status as a digital marketing thought leader. In this episode… Sustainable business growth requires leaders to continually evaluate how their organizations operate, adapt, and improve. By staying open to new perspectives and creating an environment where people and ideas can thrive, businesses can become more resilient and better prepared for long-term success. What approaches can leaders use to strengthen their organizations and support meaningful growth? This compilation episode brings together practical insights from BJ Lippert, Tyler Breadlescomb, Carrie Schroeder, Ken McLoud, and Nicole Donnelly. These business growth experts explore the value of letting capable employees step up, leveraging customer feedback to strengthen content strategy, inviting consultants and advisors to uncover overlooked opportunities, and applying AI to specific workflows rather than replacing entire roles. They also emphasize giving employees dedicated time to learn, collaborate, and share new ideas. In this special episode of Proof Point, Stacie Porter Bilger revisits key conversations about people-centered leadership and practical innovation. From delegation and audience engagement to consulting, automation, and team development, the episode shows that lasting progress depends on combining effective tools with human judgment. Together, these lessons offer leaders a practical framework for creating more efficient, responsive, and growth-oriented organizations.

John Overton is an engineer, podcast producer, and graduate of the Round Table Recording Arts program. He is the founder of Popular Rapture, a podcasting company, and is responsible for co-production and recording of the Follow D$ Podcast, Conversation Piece Podcast, and North Indy Podcast. In addition to podcasting, John's expertise extends into voice-over work, audiobook recording, mixing, and mastering. He is also an artist and composer, specializing in Hip-Hop, Rock, Pop, and Electronic. In this episode… AI search is changing how people find local businesses, and most small business owners don't fully understand what that means yet. Is it just the next evolution of SEO, or something businesses need to approach completely differently? And once you understand it, what should you actually do about it this week, not eventually? In this episode, John Overton flips the script and interviews Stacie Porter Bilger, Founder and President of Proof Digital, breaking down AI search in plain terms. Stacie explains why the fundamentals of good SEO still apply, why PR and credible mentions now carry as much weight as backlinks, and why businesses that show up in AI-generated answers tend to see higher conversion rates. She also shares a real case study of a client who landed some of the biggest deals in their company's history after being structured and found for a specific search term in AI results. In this episode of Proof Point, John Overton sits down with Stacie Porter Bilger, Founder and President of Proof Digital, to break down AI search and what it means for small businesses. Stacie covers the new rules for being found online, how reviews, PR, and site structure factor into AI results, and the exact steps a small business should take this week to get ready.

John Overton is an engineer, podcast producer, and graduate of the Round Table Recording Arts program. He is the founder of Popular Rapture, a podcasting company, and is responsible for co-production and recording of the Follow D$ Podcast, Conversation Piece Podcast, and North Indy Podcast. In addition to podcasting, John's expertise extends into voice-over work, audiobook recording, mixing, and mastering. He is also an artist and composer, specializing in Hip-Hop, Rock, Pop, and Electronic. In this episode… AI is changing how customers find and choose a business, but the fundamentals of good marketing haven't gone anywhere. Knowing what problem you solve, who you serve, and how to make it easy for someone to trust and pay you is still the foundation everything else sits on. The businesses winning right now aren't the ones chasing every new tool. They're the ones who nailed the basics first and then layered AI on top with a plan. Stacie Porter Bilger, Founder and President of Proof Digital, sits down with John Overton to talk through what that looks like in practice. She walks through why your website and social content now have to speak to AI bots as much as to humans, why she treats AI like a new salesperson who needs training and context, and why Claude has become her favorite platform for coding and safety even as Gemini and ChatGPT hold their own ground. Stacie also gets specific about cost, the data points that actually prove a marketing effort is working, and the AI policy every business should have in place before a team starts using these tools. It's a grounded, practical look at where AI genuinely helps small businesses and where the old rules of marketing still apply. In this episode of Proof Point, recorded in partnership with Round Table Recording Company, host John Overton interviews Stacie Porter Bilger, Founder and President of Proof Digital, on building AI into a small business marketing strategy without losing what makes that business trustworthy in the first place.

Nicole Donnelly is the Founder and globally recognized AI Adoption Specialist at AI Smart Ventures, a company dedicated to helping teams integrate AI with clarity, confidence, and real‑world impact. As an award-winning prompt engineer, she has nearly two decades of entrepreneurial leadership experience combined with over a decade of guiding organizations to adopt AI effectively. Dedicated to making AI transformational, Nicole trains professionals and delivers hands‑on workshops, consulting, and strategy to streamline processes and drive growth. Her work has helped thousands adopt AI and saved millions of productivity hours. In this episode… AI is evolving rapidly, and teams across industries are experimenting with tools at every level of business. However, many of these experiments fail to deliver real, tangible results. To truly harness AI's potential, companies must transform scattered tools and ideas into cohesive systems that drive growth. But what does it take to build an AI stack that your team can consistently use and scale? Nicole Donnelly, a global AI speaker and entrepreneur, says the answer starts with practical implementation — using AI to simplify workflows, strengthen marketing, and create scalable systems that actually deliver results. She explains that businesses must think in three layers: AI-powered SEO for visibility, generative AI for daily productivity, and autonomous agents for advanced automation. The real impact comes when teams combine these tools with strong systems and human oversight, ensuring their unique strengths aren't lost in automation. Nicole also emphasizes that early AI adoption provides a competitive edge, especially by structuring content and data in ways AI can easily discover and prioritize. Ultimately, success with AI isn't about using more tools — it's about using the right ones effectively and consistently across the organization. In this episode of Proof Point, Stacie Porter Bilger sits down with Nicole Donnelly, Founder and AI Adoption Specialist at AI Smart Ventures, to discuss building an effective AI stack. Nicole details some AI tools for workflow automation, tactics for AI-driven SEO and content strategy, and how to drive team adoption. She also shares advice on training teams and maintaining a human touch in AI-powered systems.