Sutherland Weston Marketing Communications

08/07/2026

SEO, AEO, and GEO—what is the difference?

✅ SEO helps people find your business through traditional search.

✅ AEO helps search engines and AI tools use your information when answering questions.

✅ GEO helps generative AI platforms understand, reference, and recommend your business.

FINDABLE brings all three together to strengthen your visibility across traditional and AI-powered search. Learn more: https://sutherlandweston.com/findable/

08/06/2026

Biguita Hernandez-Smith has lived and worked in very different parts of the country, but she has found something worth believing in right here in Bangor.

In the newest episode of The Ric & Dan Show, Biguita talks about her path to Maine, her work in economic development, what helps businesses and communities thrive, and how her lifelong love of dance led her to teach Latin Zumba at Sunshine's Fitness Studio & Wellness Center

It’s smart, funny, candid, and very Biguita.

Listen now at ricanddan.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

08/05/2026

What convinces a born-and-raised New Yorker, by way of Texas, to make Bangor, Maine, home?

Tomorrow on The Ric & Dan Show, Biguita Hernandez-Smith sits down with Ric and Dan to unpack the places she's called home, her career in economic development, and her side gig teaching Latin Zumba three times a week, because apparently one full-time job wasn’t keeping her busy.

She also brings enough personality to keep Ric and Dan on their toes, which, if you know the show, is no small feat.

The new episode drops tomorrow at ricanddan.com and everywhere you get your podcasts.

08/04/2026

The best marketers are not always the ones doing the talking.

In this episode of The Briefcase, Bangor International Airport’s Aimee Thibodeau joins us to discuss why listening is one of the most useful marketing tools a business has. Customers will tell you what matters to them, what is missing and what needs to change. The trick is actually paying attention.

Listen to “Listen Up” wherever you get your podcasts: https://sutherlandweston.com/briefcase/

08/03/2026

What kind of 15-year-old saves her summer-job tips for dinner at a James Beard Award-winning restaurant?

Makaila Hickey, apparently.

Our digital specialist’s love of food has since expanded to gardening, preserving, wild Maine game, strawberry-rhubarb tiramisu, and occasionally producing far more sage than any reasonable person could use.

In the latest edition of The View from Here, Makaila explains why she finally started writing down the recipes worth making twice.

What’s one recipe you could make entirely from memory?

Read Makaila’s feature in the latest Strategy Brief: https://conta.cc/4g2ZJJN

07/31/2026

Are you invisible to 37% of your audience? 🤯

With 37% of people now turning to AI tools first, the way people discover your business is shifting. The good news? Adapting your strategy is easier than you think.

Learn what it means to stay findable in the age of AI: https://sutherlandweston.com/findable/

Help AI platforms find, trust, and recommend your business with FINDABLE’s managed Generative Engine Optimization services for Maine Businesses.

07/30/2026

Your competitor’s website may be winning customers you never even see.

We asked ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude the questions your buyers actually type before calling anyone. One Maine business received only one AI-referred website visit in 30 days. Its competitors received at least 55 each from buyers searching in the same market.

AI is already helping decide who makes the shortlist. The question is whether you’re on it.

That’s the exact problem Findable was built to solve.

Also this week: three emails (well, four) worth opening, plus Mitch and Tyler Smith of Greenway Equipment Sales on running a family business without running each other out of it.

Read this and more in the latest Strategy Brief, live now: https://conta.cc/4g2ZJJN

07/29/2026

📍 PAGE 47. GRID B-6. Wrong turn, zero service, logging road. Classic Maine Gazetteer moment.

A wrong turn using the Atlas makes a great story. A wrong turn in search sends customers straight to your competitor.

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘

Our new managed GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) service is designed to help AI platforms better understand, trust, and surface your business. When customers search using AI, make sure the route leads to you. 👉 https://sutherlandweston.com/findable/

07/29/2026

We promise we actually worked yesterday. 😄

We just happened to have one of those client meetings that started with a Jeep ride on a picture perfect Maine day.

Jeep hair is a real thing. 💁‍♀️

Thanks to the team at Allenfarm Fence Company for another great visit! ☀️🚗

07/28/2026

Your audience probably won’t remember every word of your ad. Rude, but true.

What they may remember is how it made them feel.

In this episode of The Briefcase, Ric Tyler explores the power of memory marketing and why familiar feelings and experiences can help your brand stick around long after the ad is over.

What commercial do you still remember years later, and why do you think it stuck?

Listen to “The Power of Memory Marketing” wherever you get your podcasts.
https://sutherlandweston.com/briefcase/