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Brightspot Illuminate 2025

Strategy & trends

Experts and industry leaders explored how brand strategy, AI-driven discovery and new monetization models are reshaping customer engagement and digital content at the Brightspot Illuminate 2025 user conference. Sessions offered practical guidance on standing out in AI search, building brand loyalty and navigating the balance between free and paid experiences. Watch them here.

Your brand is the soul of your business: Operationalizing irrational loyalty everywhere

Influencer, branding expert and bestselling author, Deb Gabor shows how to use brand as a strategic operating system to build lasting customer loyalty.

Irrational loyalty is the condition where people are so indelibly bonded to your brand that they’d feel like they were cheating on you if they chose an alternative.

Deb Gabor, Founder/CEO, Sol Marketing
The best brands aim their brand at a singular, ideal customer — the one who is most profitable and a delight to serve.

Deb Gabor, Founder/CEO, Sol Marketing
If the first word on your website is your company name or the word ‘we,’ you’re doing it wrong. The best brands make the customer the hero.

Deb Gabor, Founder/CEO, Sol Marketing

Download: Interactive exercises worksheet

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AI is the new search: Are you being found?

AI is rewriting discovery and citations are the new clicks. Learn how to show up and stand out in AI search, plus get a practical rundown on measuring LLM performance from a Brightspot expert who’s already doing it.

In the age of AI, your brand story is being told for you. The question is… how well?

Ravi Singh, President & Chief Product Officer, Brightspot
Clicks are no longer the gold standard for SEO. Ranking doesn’t guarantee reach—the win is being in the answer itself.
Miles De Feyter, Senior Director of SEO / Customer Engagement, Brightspot
LLMs don’t fully render pages; they grab the markup and move on. Clean structure and schema matter more than ever; citations are the new clicks.
Miles De Feyter, Senior Director of SEO / Customer Engagement, Brightspot
AI has created a brand blind spot. LLMs give zero visibility into how you show up. If you can’t measure AI visibility, you can’t manage it.
Tim Burke, Senior Revenue Operations Manager, Brightspot
We’ve seen a 175% increase in sessions from LLMs year-to-date, converting 57% better than site average. ChatGPT drives most of that traffic.
Tim Burke, Senior Revenue Operations Manager, Brightspot

Related resources

10 KPIs to know in the era of AI search

AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google SGE are reshaping content discovery, making AI the first readers of your content and driving new KPIs that reveal influence and visibility.

The role of SEO in a website redesign: How to avoid a traffic disaster

SEO needs a seat at the redesign table from day one. Delaying SEO planning can lead to costly traffic drops and search visibility issues.

SEO, AEO & GEO services

Brightspot’s SEO services can help your business stay ahead of the competition.

The future of content monetization: Winners, losers and what’s next

Industry leaders and influencers discuss emerging monetization models, AI’s impact and how brands balance free and paid experiences.

The winning model is mixed: use free content to drive leads, then upsell to curated, verified paid experiences — guided by AI to match intent along the journey.

Jeffrey Malcolm, Operating Advisor, Goldman Sachs
One of AI’s principal purposes is connecting people to knowledge. If you can’t create internal value first, you’ll struggle to do it externally

Kai Blakeborough, Senior Research Analyst, R&D, Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company
Events are no longer ‘untrackable’ side bets... they generate authentic content, activate community and are increasingly core to the business model.

McNeel Keenan, VP Product Management, Cvent

Related resources

Brightspot CMS capabilities: Monetization

Turn your content into a revenue engine with a platform that’s built for monetization at scale.

Atomizing content for better ROI: The power of modular content in CMS

Learn why atomizing content is essential for scalable, personalized marketing. Save time, reach more channels and boost ROI with modular content workflows.

Why experimentation belongs in your CMS

A/B testing is the first step toward delivering personalized experiences at scale, enabling teams to understand what resonates with every audience segment. Find out here how Brightspot CMS enables content teams to run A/B tests quickly, track results in one place and optimize campaigns with confidence.

Explore our other sessions by topic

Product & roadmap session replays

At the Brightspot Illuminate 2025 user conference, Brightspot leaders unveiled their vision for the future of digital content, showcasing new innovations in Brightspot 5.0 and the roadmap ahead. Customers, partners and the Brightspot team also shared real-world stories of speed, flexibility and orchestration already transforming their work. Watch the session replays here.

Customer spotlights

During Brightspot Illuminate 2025, Brightspot customers and partners shared how AI and digital innovation are transforming knowledge management, fan engagement and real-time storytelling. The sessions also highlighted standout customer achievements with the Aha Awards, celebrating digital strategy success across industries.

Technical deep dives

Learn from Brightspot experts with these hands-on sessions showcasing how to build headless sites, apply AI in daily workflow and strengthen CMS security. From real-time coding to zero-trust strategies, these deep dives offered practical insights for teams looking to innovate with confidence.