Laura Busche

Full-stack brand strategist blending design, marketing, and psychology to craft memorable brands. Over the last 12 years, I've designed identities, campaigns, and websites for the world’s most creative brands. My client list includes Creative Market, Webflow, Dribbble, National Geographic, Littledata, Digital Knack, Partners of the Americas, Domestika, among many others.

Brand Consultant

Creative Market – The World's Marketplace for Design

Head the brand's content strategy and craft memorable stories to share with blog readers, social media followers, and the creative community at large. Managed contractor relationships to produce video content, product copy, and in-depth articles related to creativity and design, cultivating relationships with thought leaders in the industry.

Developed Creative Market's signature Color of the Season program. Forecasted design trends across fields to craft 4 seasonal trend reports per year. Led product curation and social media programs. Advanced executive communications including public letters and press releases.

Brand Content Strategist

Ozone Group

Ozone Group is a full-service digital agency designing brands and websites from Latin America to the world. 

Specialized in WordPress development, we offer monthly hosting memberships that keep your site fast, performant, and secure. Members also have access to our Mission Control dashboard for real-time support and easy backups. Ozone sites are powered by Google Cloud. Details about tiers and pricing at ozonegroup.co/start. 

More about our work at www.ozonegroup.co

Cofounder

Led large-scale brand design projects, structured brand development programs, guided video and photo shoots, and facilitated brand strategy sessions. Creative directed and designed brand identities for dozens of companies and one city.

Speaker at The Next Web Conference (Amsterdam, NL), SAAS Generation (Santiago, CL), Lean Startup Conference (San Francisco, US), Startup Marketing Conference (Ft. Lauderdale, US), Reaktor Breakpoint (Helsinki, FI), Campus Party (Bogota, CO), among other global events.

Brand Director

Dribbble

Lead community content strategy. Manage contractor relationships to produce video content , product copy, and in-depth articles related to creativity and design, cultivating relationships with thought leaders in the industry.

Forecast design trends across fields to craft 4 seasonal trend reports per year. Lead product curation and social media programs. Advance executive communications including public letters and press releases.

Brand Strategist

Domestika

Structure, develop, and deliver "Content Strategy: Build Your Brand from Scratch".

Reviews:
“The course is packed with useful tools, I love her simple approach to branding you just feel less overwhelmed after going through this course.”

“Great step-by-step approach to understanding how to craft and communicate your brand. Taking this work, you then have a clear guide on how to approach developing your content. Laura is engaging to listen to and each unit is a manageable amount of time. Finished the course enthused and with a clear actionable plan. Thank you!”

Brand Strategy & Content Instructor

Webflow

Developed a content audit and playbook for Webflow, including brand positioning, personality & voice, persona profiles, content goals, pillars, and distribution plan.

Brand Strategist: Content Playbook Development

Smashing Magazine

Write articles related to design thinking, innovation and prototyping. Examples include “Up On The Wall: How Working Walls Unlock Creative Insight” and “The Skeptic’s Guide To Low-Fidelity Prototyping”. Both were included in Smashing Media’s book “Unlocking Innovation: How To Generate And Realize Great Ideas”.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/author/laura-busche/

Contributing Author

O'Reilly Media

Author of Lean Branding, a practical toolkit to help you build your own robust, dynamic brands that generate conversion—without having to hire an agency. You’ll find over 100 DIY branding tactics and inspiring case studies, and step-by-step instructions for building and measuring 25 essential brand strategy ingredients, from logo design to demo day pitches, using The Lean Startup methodology’s Build-Measure-Lean loop.

Brand Strategy Author & Instructor

World Economic Forum

The Global Shapers network of the World Economic Forum invites young individuals with great potential for future leadership roles in society. Aged between 20 and 30 years, they represent all walks of life and share a spirit of entrepreneurship in the global public interest. They have an entrepreneurial track record; have already initiated and delivered a major project or founded a company or organization; contribute exceptionally to serving society at large.

More in Globalshapers.org

Global Shaper

Ministerio de Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones

Created and delivered an 8-week brand marketing workshop for several cohorts of entrepreneurs within a Lean Launch Pad program. More than 300 entrepreneurs and their 90+ internet-based startups have experienced "Lean Branding", the workshop's name, which has since iterated into methodology for startups around the world. The Lean Branding book (www.leanbranding.com) was published by O'Reilly Media in 2014.

Senior Brand Strategist

Brand strategist, author & speaker. Helping individuals & companies build disruptive brand stories. 

Let's get started: laurabusche.com/contact or laura@laurabusche.com

-- 

Author of the Lean Branding and Powering Content books, published by O'Reilly Media. Experienced brand strategist with a track record of helping companies in the public and private sector bring their message to life with a compelling brand story, memorable visual symbols, and a bold communication strategy. My approach to brand design is holistic: it combines insights from an undergraduate degree in business, master's degree in design management, and Ph.D. in consumer psychology. I've implemented Lean Branding tactics with more than 150 entrepreneurs and their 50+ companies and regularly share branding tips at laurabusche.com/blog and instagram.com/laurabusche.

Specialties: Brand Strategy and Design, Content Marketing, Consumer Research

Let's connect:
www.facebook.com/laurabusche 
www.instagram.com/laurabusche 
www.twitter.com/laurabusche 

Thrive Internet Marketing Agency

Vice President Brand Communication

Vice President Creative Services

As a full-service digital marketing agency, we provide web design, internet marketing, SEO, social media, PPC, email marketing, content writing and web hosting services to businesses large and small that are looking to broadcast their messages more efficiently.

As the Vice President of Operations, I work with clients across a variety of industries. We deliver the right mix of digital marketing to accomplish their business goals.

Vice President Operations

As a full-service digital marketing agency, we provide web design, internet marketing, SEO, social media, PPC, email marketing, content writing and web hosting services to businesses large and small that are looking to broadcast their messages more efficiently.

As the Director of Operations, I work with clients across a variety of industries. We deliver the right mix of digital marketing to accomplish their business goals.

Director Of Operations

As the Strategy Development Manager, I work with clients, across a variety of industries, to show how a digital marketing approach can accomplish their business goals.

Strategy Development Manager

Forbes Agency Council

My author page: https://councils.forbes.com/profile/Jimi-Gibson-Vice-President-Creative-Services-Thrive-Agency/64c88f36-9228-42be-9f2e-3e895c6d3985

Forbes Councils Contributor

Jimi Gibson Creative

Corporate Speaker: "You have magic power. Use it for good."
Jimi exposes the secrets to your "abracadabra" and how your talents can be used to help others. 
https://www.ted.com/talks/jimi_gibson_you_have_magic_power_use_it_for_good

Podcast: The Thumbody® Show
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-thumbody-show/id1668588107

Corporate Speaker • Entertainer • Author

The Keynote Group

Lead marketing team serving clients through 
• Brand discovery and strategy
• Business planning
• SEO/SEM strategy and implementation
• Content marketing - Blogs, Social media, Podcast, Marketing automation
• Online course development and marketing
• Book launch and marketing
• Multi-channel marketing
• Strategic planning
• Competitive analysis
• Leadership and mentoring

Marketing Director

Mission Mercantile

Luxury Brand eCommerce/Retail/Wholesale

• Executive Leadership Team
• Manage Marketing, Customer Care
• Brand development (launched initial start-up brand concept)
• Website traffic growth
• Website UI/UX
• eCommerce CRO
• Marketing automation and Email marketing
• B2C and B2B marketing
• SEO/SEM
• Influencer marketing
• Editor and blogger outreach
• Social media
• Customer/competitor/market analysis
• Persona creation
• Forecasting and planning
• Landing page development

Creative Director • eCommerce Director • Digital Marketing Director

Saddleback Leather Co.

Luxury Brand eCommerce

• Executive Leadership Team
• Managed IT, Customer Care, Marketing, and Operations
• Website traffic growth
• Website UI
• eCommerce CRO
• Marketing automation and Email marketing
• SEO/SEM
• Influencer marketing
• Editor and blogger outreach
• Social media
• Customer/competitor/market analysis
• Persona creation
• Forecasting and planning
• Landing page development

General Manager • Marketing Director

Free Agent Academy

Online membership site for entrepreneurs. Served as the branding "professor", delivering a 10-part branding series for site subscribers. Quarterly events included intensive training for conference attendees. Keynote, breakout sessions, and individual business owner coaching.

Branding "Professor" • Consultant

Bernard Hodes Group

OMNICOM Advertising Agency

• Branch operations over account managers, copywriters, art directors, and support staff. 
• Employer branding
• Career site development
• Employee referral programs
• Developed continuing education seminars for HR professionals
• Traditional and digital campaign strategy, development, and implementation.

Branch Manager • Associate Creative Director

Richmond SHRM

Board

Beatley Gravitt Communications

Director of Interactive Services

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Jimi Gibson

Most blogs are invisible to AI.
The good news? It’s fixable.

If your content is not showing up in generative search or getting cited by models, the issue is not the writing. It is the structure. AI pulls answers, not paragraphs. 

When you format your posts the way models read, everything changes.

Here are the eight reasons most blogs get skipped by AI and the action you can take to fix each one.

1. LLMs Love Q & A
↳ AI is trained on question and answer content, not long form essays.
✅ Action. Add two or three FAQ entries to every post.

2. Your Formatting Blocks Extraction
↳ If the model cannot tell what the question is, it cannot lift the answer.
✅ Action. Use real H2 or H3 headings for every FAQ question.

3. You Are Missing the Schema Cheat Code
↳ Search engines and AI understand FAQPage schema instantly.
✅ Action. Add FAQ schema to every page with an FAQ section.

4. You Are Not Building Topical Authority
↳ FAQ entries give your content more “surface area” for AI to reference.
✅ Action. Interlink your FAQs to deeper blog or guide content.

5. Your Answers Are Too Long
↳ AI does not trust rambling explanations. It wants direct, single idea answers.
✅ Action. Keep answers between forty and eighty words.

6. Your Underperforming Posts Stay Underperforming
↳ If a post is weak or invisible in AI, it usually lacks extractable content.
✅ Action. Add an FAQ to revive older posts and improve signals.

7. You Are Ignoring What Works in the Data
↳ Across Thrive clients, adding FAQs consistently increases generative visibility.
✅ Action. Use this as a standard step in your content workflow.

8. AI Cannot Extract What You Did Not Structure
↳ The model is not reading. It is scanning.
✅ Action. Write for extraction first. Storytelling second.

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No‑Fluff Digital Strategies for Fed‑Up Owners | VP, Thrive Agency | Keynote Speaker

Most people think ChatGPT “lies.”
It doesn’t.

It just predicts words in order and says them with Oscar-level confidence.

To prove it, I made a simple 6-panel infographic using the prompt:
 “How should I invest my money?”

Watch how harmless prediction turns into confident nonsense.
Here’s the breakdown.

1. The Innocent Question
You ask a normal question.
↳ ChatGPT doesn’t hear “financial advice,” it hears “time to autocomplete a paragraph.”

2. Pattern Goblin Mode
It starts scraping its internal pattern pile.
Blog posts, gurus, dad-advice, Warren Buffett quotes.
↳ It’s not thinking. It’s guessing what “smart” humans usually say next.

3. The Prediction Parade
It doesn’t know your income, your goals, or your risk tolerance.
↳ It just predicts the next statistically likely sentence about money.

4. Confidence Dial: STUCK ON MAX
LLMs don’t do uncertainty.
↳ So even when it’s guessing, it’s guessing with swagger.

5. The Follow-Up Trap
You ask, “Are you sure?”
It says, “Absolutely.”
↳ Translation: The probabilities said I should sound confident here.

6. The Big Lie
It suddenly claims to know your financial situation, your risk profile, and your life goals.
It made all of that up.
↳ Because prediction models don’t understand consequences, they understand patterns.

Here’s the lesson:
ChatGPT isn’t your enemy.
↳ Your assumptions are.

It’s not designed to protect your wallet, your business, or your future.
↳ It’s designed to predict the next word.

Use it for ideas.
Use it for drafts.
↳ But don’t hand it your life choices and expect wisdom.

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Most people aren’t scared of AI.
They’re scared of leaving their comfort zone.

Here’s the truth no one wants on a slide:
AI isn’t your enemy — your comfort zone is.

People blame technology for their anxiety:
“It’s moving too fast.”
“It’s replacing everything.”
“It doesn’t feel human.”

Please.

AI didn’t make you stop learning.
AI didn’t make you cling to broken workflows.
AI didn’t make you recycle the same strategy you swore you'd reinvent.

That wasn’t AI.
That was comfort.

Comfort is the silent killer.
It convinces smart people to coast.
It makes leaders think they’re future-proof.
It fuels entire careers polishing the past instead of building the future.

AI just exposes it.

The people thriving right now aren’t the smartest.
They’re the ones breaking the habits that feel good but no longer serve them. 

They trade ego for experimentation. 
They ship faster. 
They iterate louder. 
They treat AI like a power tool, not a threat.

Your competition isn’t the robots.

It’s the professionals who stepped out of their comfort zone while you defended yours like a pension plan.

The future rewards movement, not nostalgia.

The question isn’t “How do I keep up with AI?”
 It’s “What am I willing to outgrow?”

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This is my most advanced business strategy.
Please take it very seriously.

You’d think, with everything happening in the world,
I’d be sharing a deep insight about AI, branding, or growth.

Instead, here I am…
in an inflatable turkey suit…
strutting around like the CEO of Thanksgiving.

And honestly?
It might be the most important thing I’ve done all week.

I know… this is not TikTok?! 

But if you can’t laugh at yourself,
if you can’t break the pattern,
if you can’t shake your own seriousness loose,

you're going to hate it when things get tough.

No lesson here.
No takeaway.
Just pure, unfiltered nonsense

from a man who believes joy is a leadership skill.
Proceed with gratitude, ambition, and maybe…
a little waddle.

A magician taught me the career lesson I never forgot.
He refused to speak to me… three times.

I shared this story on the Bold Business Podcast with Jess Dewell, and it’s one of the most important lessons I ever learned about breaking into any industry.

Years ago, I read a magazine article about a magician who had mastered something I wanted to do. 

I didn’t reach out at first. I just kept that issue on top of a stack of trade publications, returning to it over and over, knowing one day I’d finally make the call.

Eventually, I tracked him down.

Call #1
 “Hey, I read about your work and wondered if I could ask a few questions.”
 He said, “I’m swamped. Call me next Thursday at 11 AM Eastern.”
 “Okay.”
 I waited a full week and called at 11:00 on the dot.

Call #2
 “Ah, I hate to do this to you. Something came up. Call me next Friday morning at 9.”
 “Okay.”
 Another week. Another calendar reminder.

Call #3
 Friday, 9 AM sharp.
 He picked up and said, “Great. You passed the three tests. What do you want to know?”

I was stunned.

He continued, “You wouldn’t believe how many people reach out. I finally had to create hoops. If you can’t follow through on three simple instructions, you’re not determined enough to get the real answer.”

I asked, “Do you mind if I record this?”
 
“No problem. You earned it.”

That call changed my perspective.

It proved that doors don’t open because you’re talented or curious.

They open because you’re consistent, respectful, and relentless enough to try again.

Here’s the full episode if you want the whole conversation:
https://lnkd.in/eHwMZc8s

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SEO isn’t dying.
But visibility has completely changed.

Most websites still play by old SEO rules: keyword stuffing, bloated content, and a prayer for clicks.

But the game has shifted. Search engines reward the page that answers the question first.

Here’s the science.

Cognitive psychology shows humans and now AI scan for instant, direct answers. Our brains are wired to favor clarity and efficiency.

This is why modern search engines and AI tools pull concise Q&A content for summaries and voice results. They skip pages that bury the point.

Research reports that 60+ percent of searches end without a click because the answer appears directly in the results.

The Answer First approach is simple.

Lead with a clear, well structured answer.
Use real language.
Then add depth.

Pages built this way are 35 percent more likely to be cited by Google’s AI and the new answer engines.

They do not just rank. 
They get sourced, cited, and trusted.

Stop optimizing for links.
Start winning by answering the question first.

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taplio

The Battle

Laura Busche

Jimi Gibson

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreJimi Gibson's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Laura Busche

Jimi Gibson

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

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);}Jimi Gibson's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreJimi Gibson's LinkedIn Performance