# brand building (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 3 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover brand building. Page: Feed: --- ## [EP 270 - The Hidden Advantage: How Brand Awareness Decides the Click in Legal Search](https://www.nearmedia.co/ep-270-the-hidden-advantage-how-brand-awareness-decides-the-click-in-legal-search/) _2026-08-20 · Near Media · Near Media_ We end the brand-building series with Greg walking through our original research: the "Choosing a Lawyer" study of the Atlanta personal lawyer market. Survey data, ad-creative testing, and a user-testing combine to show how prior brand awareness steers online behavior and the final hire. ## [EP 269 - Tactics for Building a Local Brand in the Age of AI Search — An Agency Panel](https://www.nearmedia.co/ep-269-tactics-for-building-a-local-brand-in-the-age-of-ai-search-an-agency-panel/) _2026-08-14 · Near Media · Near Media_ We close the run of solo interviews with a working session on what "brand" means for a local business and which tactics move the needle now that answers are generated, not just ranked. Join Paula French, Joy Hawkins, Andrew Shotland, and Matt McGee to explore the tactics that helped the most ## [From the Studio | July 2026](https://oleadanyc.substack.com/p/from-the-studio-june-2026-065) _2026-08-07 · OLEADA · The Current_ Welcome to From the Studio. A monthly note from inside OLEADA. What we built. What we refined. What we couldn’t stop thinking about. And a little BTS on how we’re building this brand, little by little. ## [EP 268 - AI Overviews, Brand Search & Local SEO: Cyrus Shepard on Earning the Click - from the archives](https://www.nearmedia.co/ep-268-ai-overviews-brand-search-local-seo-cyrus-shepard-on-earning-the-click-from-the-archives/) _2026-08-07 · Near Media · Near Media_ Cyrus Shepard joins us on the Near Memo to connect what the Google antitrust trial and API leak revealed about click data to the questions local operators care about: how Google decides a result was good, why brand search keeps correlating with rankings, and what AI Overviews do to that ecosystem . ## [Start with Google, Alexa+ Local, SEO v. AEO, Local AI Varies, Chat UI Wins](https://www.nearmedia.co/start-with-google-alexa-local-seo-v-aeo-local-ai-varies-chat-ui-wins/) _2026-08-06 · Greg Sterling · Near Media_ Local Search Still Starts with Google According to our research, somewhere between 60% and 70% of AI users have used AI for local search. There are questions about frequency and trust. But regardless of what industry you're in, AI is probably somewhere in your customer's journey ## [How a Song I Heard at Burning Man Became a Bag.](https://oleadanyc.substack.com/p/how-a-song-i-heard-at-burning-man) _2026-08-03 · Tiffany Zhou · The Current_ I spent months chasing it down. The track led me back to my mother, and then became our Dream Pouch. ## [EP 267 - You Can't Outspend a Bad Intake Experience: Brand-Building for Legal](https://www.nearmedia.co/ep-267-you-cant-outspend-a-bad-intake-experience-brand-building-for-legal/) _2026-07-30 · Near Media · Near Media_ Gyi Tsakalakis, of AttorneySync, joins us for Part 3 of our brand-building series — bringing the brand conversation down to earth in professional services, and specifically in legal, where a client hires once in a lifetime, can't judge quality, and every ad on the screen looks the same. ## [LSA-Max, ChatGPT + Yelp, Legal Karma, Google Self-Preferencing Fine](https://www.nearmedia.co/lsa-max-chatgpt-yelp-legal-karma-google-self-preferencing-fine/) _2026-07-24 · Greg Sterling · Near Media_ LSAs Now P-Max PPL Local Services Ads (LSAs) are merging into Google Ads and will run as Performance Max campaigns optimized for pay-per-lead goals. Google says, "This transition allows you to manage all your Google advertising in one unified platform while keeping the pay-per-lead ## [EP 266 - Cyrus Shepard: What Local Brand Actually Means to Google and AI](https://www.nearmedia.co/ep-266-cyrus-shepard-what-local-brand-actually-means-to-google-and-ai/) _2026-07-22 · Near Media · Near Media_ Cyrus Shepard, founder of Zyppy, joins Greg Sterling and Mike Blumenthal for Part 2 of the Near Memo brand-building series — this time on the technical side: how Google and AI systems actually model a brand, and what a local business can do about it. ## [Game, Set, Style!](https://oleadanyc.substack.com/p/game-set-style) _2026-07-22 · Nikki Miller · The Current_ How Summer's Biggest Sports Moments Are Dressing the Culture ## [Countdown to Getting Paid (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/Jd8lXTslfp6J) _2026-07-22 · **Sponsored**_ Create a shareable wallet timer — deposits buy back time and pay debt down ## [EP 265 - Decoding Local Branding with John Jantsch](https://www.nearmedia.co/ep-265-decoding-local-branding-with-john-jantsch/) _2026-07-16 · Near Media · Near Media_ We explore local branding with John Jantsch, examining how to build trust through offline distinctiveness, mine customer interviews to identify primary differentiators and leverage programmatic referral loops to thrive in this bold new world. All with an eye towards increasing profitability ## [Future of Websites, Review Abstracts, Search Shift, Apple Sues OpenAI](https://www.nearmedia.co/future-of-websites-review-abstracts-search-shift-apple-sues-openai/) _2026-07-16 · Greg Sterling · Near Media_ Local Websites in a Sea of Slop People increasingly feel that the "open web" is over. The web is now dominated by a small number of powerful "gatekeepers." Beyond this, more paywalls are going up, less traffic is being delivered by Google and AI slop is ## [EP 264 - Why Small Businesses Need 'Trust Artifacts' in the Age of AI Search Friction - Raj Singh, Mozilla](https://www.nearmedia.co/ep-264-why-small-businesses-need-trust-artifacts-in-the-age-of-ai-search-friction-raj-raj-singh-mozilla/) _2026-07-10 · Near Media · Near Media_ Discover why small business websites are shifting from growth engines to "trust artifacts" to battle AI search friction, click fraud, and generative slop. ## [The Season of Yes](https://oleadanyc.substack.com/p/the-season-of-yes) _2026-07-09 · Nikki Miller · The Current_ Have the perfect Euro Summer, wherever you are. ## [From the Studio | June 2026](https://oleadanyc.substack.com/p/from-the-studio-june-2026) _2026-07-03 · OLEADA · The Current_ A monthly note from inside OLEADA. ## [My Entire Business Fits in an OLEADA Tote Bag](https://oleadanyc.substack.com/p/my-entire-business-fits-in-an-oleada) _2026-06-26 · Olivia Wickstrom · The Current_ On building a creative business portable enough to carry anywhere. ## [Luxury Brand Building 103: Your Ideal Customer Isn't A Single Avatar](https://oleadanyc.substack.com/p/luxury-brand-building-103-your-ideal) _2026-06-17 · Tiffany Zhou · The Current_ And why the loudest customer isn't the shallow. ## [Luxury Brand Building 102: External vs Internal Signals](https://oleadanyc.substack.com/p/luxury-brand-building-102-external) _2026-06-10 · Tiffany Zhou · The Current_ Does your brand shout or whisper? ## [From the Studio | May 2026](https://oleadanyc.substack.com/p/from-the-studio-may-2026) _2026-06-02 · OLEADA · The Current_ A monthly note from inside OLEADA. ## [I Never Wanted to Be a Mom](https://oleadanyc.substack.com/p/i-never-wanted-to-be-a-mom) _2026-05-10 · OLEADA · The Current_ The Mother's Day Essay I Almost Didn't Write ## [Try Before You Buy, Risk-Free (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/8bC42qSbDCUr) _2026-05-10 · **Sponsored**_ Free trial hosting plus refunds processed in 12-24 hours, guaranteed. ## [Between You and the Mirror](https://davidshirley.com/2026/03/03/between-you-and-the-mirror/) _2026-03-03 · David Shirley · Author Site_ When you look in the mirror, you see: Your history.Your beliefs.Your comparisons.Your narrative. The mirror reflects light. Photons bounce off your body, hit the glass, and return to your eyes. Then Your brain interprets the image through memory and identity. If you believe you’re aging poorly, you’ll see flaws first. If you think you’re strong, Continue reading "Between You and the Mirror" ## [Something Is Better Than Nothing](https://davidshirley.com/2026/01/27/something-is-better-than-nothing/) _2026-01-27 · David Shirley · Author Site_ Most of the things we put off are the things that take time. Writing a blog. Starting a book. Drawing. Working out. Playing an instrument. Anything that requires learning, repetition, and patience. These are usually the things we want to do, but somehow never “find the time” for. The idea is simple: something is better Continue reading "Something Is Better Than Nothing" ## [The Seduction of Self-Help](https://davidshirley.com/2026/01/16/the-seduction-of-self-help/) _2026-01-16 · David Shirley · Author Site_ There’s a big difference between learning about change and actually changing. A lot of money has been made living in that gap. Tony Robbins is an obvious example. He figured out something simple and true: people want to change. They want clarity. They want to feel like they’re moving toward a better version of themselves. Continue reading "The Seduction of Self-Help" ## [Honesty](https://davidshirley.com/2026/01/05/honesty/) _2026-01-05 · David Shirley · Author Site_ The hardest person to be honest with is ourselves. Not because we lack the ability to tell the truth, but because we are deeply attached to what we already know. Our collected knowledge—our beliefs, habits, and justifications—is how we navigate the world. We cherish it. We protect it. And that makes self-honesty far more difficult Continue reading "Honesty" ## [All Roads Lead to Consistency](https://davidshirley.com/2025/02/10/all-roads-lead-to-consistency/) _2025-02-11 · David Shirley · Author Site_ What gets done consistently gets done. Things need to get done. Big and small. Each little thing contributes to the big thing we want. If something needs to get done, it needs to be worked on. There’s no escaping it. It can be avoided, put off, or shoved in a drawer. The longer we wait, Continue reading "All Roads Lead to Consistency" ## [The Point of Blogs](https://davidshirley.com/2025/01/24/the-point-of-blogs/) _2025-01-24 · David Shirley · Author Site_ The point of blogs is to write in them. The point of writing in them is to think. To imagine what can be. And, of course, will you read my blog? Not unless I write in it. Often.