Turning Competitive Intelligence Into Actionable AI Visibility Strategies | Tyler Young from ProperMuse

RICK: Pathmonk is the AI for website conversions. With increasing online competition, over 98% of website visitors don’t convert. The ability to successfully show your value proposition and support visitors in their buying journey separates you from the competition online. Pathmonk qualifies and converts leads on your website by figuring out where they are in the buying journey and influencing them in key decision moments with relevant micro experiences like case studies, intro videos, and much more.

Stay relevant to your visitors and increase conversions by 50% by adding Pathmonk to your website in seconds by letting the AI do all the work and increase conversions while you keep doing marketing as usual. Check us out on pathmonk.com. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Pathmonk Presents. Today, we are joined by Tyler Young.

He’s the co-founder of Proper Muse. Tyler, welcome to the show.

TYLER YOUNG: Thanks for having me

RICK: Of course, and I’m excited to dig into it, Tyler. we were just talking about o- offline about Proper Muse and, we didn’t get into it as much, but I, actually like this because when we get to the recording phase and, I, I’m, starting the exploration.

So maybe we start- Yeah … with the basics a little bit. if you can, tell us what’s the big idea behind Proper Muse. If you were explain- explaining it to a friend over coffee, let’s say, how would you describe what you do, Tyler?

TYLER YOUNG: Yeah. we really focus on building out intelligence, pulling in a lot of information to give you, the…

our customers, our clients, the playbook on what to do, strategy and tactics. I think one of the layers that kinda gets missed a lot is the intelligence layer, so that you know what the competitive, landscape is doing, what your competitors are doing, how you’re showing up, how disc- discoverability is happening, online.

right now obviously there’s a pretty big move around AI visibility, citations, and al- also the accuracy of that information. So we pull all that stuff together and present that as, a, a kind of quarterly playbook so that a marketing director or VP of, digital knows exactly what they should be doing, and they can give that to their team to, execute on.

RICK: Now that’s, huge obviously, because you have so much information out there that just putting it all together, getting that right type of intelligence, it’s gonna take a while, right? So it sounds like a, a much needed service. As far as the people who might need it, you just mentioned a marketing director, right?

For example. And if we get into, say, the, the, the marketing lingo, the, the ICP of yours, are there specific types of businesses or industries where you feel your, service and your product really shines at this point, and, is there a key problem- Yeah … that you help them solve with this?

TYLER YOUNG: Yeah. we’re typically working with, brands that are around five to 50 million in revenue. They have a team, maybe from three to eight people, and they’re really looking for something that they can act on. So we really provide the insights, the action plan, and the tactics so that they can take it and run with it.

We also work with agencies. A lot of, agencies like to use our services, in a white label solution so they can add in kind of an intelligence layer. So if it’s a new business pitch, there’s that intelligence slide that hopefully will help them win the pitch or re-engage with, old clients or even, continue to build and grow with their current client set.

So the… we kinda have two ICPs, direct to brand and also an agen- agency solution.

RICK: Okay, gotcha. So it, varies a little bit. but it’s also, in a way, focused on, obviously the problems that they’re seeing that they might have all of this information again, or ways to pull, this information together.

But, w- then what do you do with it, right? So you give them an actionable pl- plan, right? Yeah. and a course of action for their strategy. Now- Yeah … within these companies, within these agencies, how do these people discover you? Have you gotten any, information around, how people get to you, whether it’s referral, of course, or…

In other words, what are the marketing channels that are working best for you at the moment?

TYLER YOUNG: Yeah, that’s a good question. there’s a couple kind of platforms we’re using. LinkedIn has been pretty helpful as far as publishing content and people finding us through that. we have a pretty strong and robust cold email outreach program that we’ve, developed.

and we do speaking engagements, word of mouth. kinda just warm networking and cold networking are the avenues. at some point I’d love to spin up more of a maybe, paid media, opportunity to, just get in front of more people and do some brand building.

But, it’s tough. I think that’s one of the biggest challenges in facing any business, is just how do you… how are people finding You people might be, really in need of what you, offer, but if they don’t know you exist, it’s, really, a big miss. we’re always trying to find new ways to, tell the story and getting in front of as many people as possible.

And if it’s a, a good fit, then that’s really exciting for us. But, yeah, always a challenge to find, the traffic that you’re looking for.

RICK: And then speaking of traffic, I was on your website, before, of course, doing our research and due diligence and, checking you guys out, before inviting you to the podcast.

and I was impressed, with the flow of it and, the messaging, and it was really good, copywriting too. Thanks. Now, how much of a role does your website play in pulling in new business? And, is there anything about it that you think really works at the moment?

TYLER YOUNG: it’s so funny that, we’re talking about this ’cause we’re right in the middle of doing some revamping of the website just to help, provide more solutions and be more of a, here’s an opportunity to solve your problem versus here’s all the things that we can do and not really matching up that.

I think the website for us, it really helps legitimize what we do and also explains it in a really clear and concise way because it- it’s not the most complicated thing, but also it’s, somewhat robust and we want people to understand the depth and breadth of what we’re providing and really show how much value that we’re bringing for, what I think is pretty approachable for, most brands.

and, so the website to us I think is just a key pillar of all the things that we’re doing, and if, it’s not really converting or it’s not really getting the right information across or conveying, like, how much value we provide, then that’s pretty, a pretty big miss. So we are actually continuing to…

It’s, and it’s always, an i-

We want, everyone that lands on there to understand what we do and how it can benefit them as quickly as possible. and so that’s, it’s a science. It’s, and, and, an art. So we’re trying to really get all of that pulled together. and weekly we’re doing updates. But, we like where it’s at, and we wanna continue to move in the direction of having something that’s really, robust so that people can have all their questions answered.

and then by the time that they wanna speak with us, it’s, really just getting into the, the details

RICK: I love that. I love that approach also that you’re, talking about in a sense that, you’re observing how it works and then iterate on the existing, and then, it’s a continuous cycle.

It’s a testing cycle of, what works, what doesn’t. so that, that’s pretty cool to see. from your experience, Tyler, what actually makes a website convert? ‘Cause you- we’re on that topic, right? So sometimes people are very tool, centered, sometimes they’re more like framework centered. What, do you think is the best way to make a website convert, even from just, grabbing it from your experience, if you will?

TYLER YOUNG: Yeah. that’s a really good question. I think, you really have to have as much information as possible and, for it to be as easy to navigate as possible. So giving everyone, have the information flow so it’s giving you, okay, at an awareness level, who are we? What do we do? Then the consideration level.

Okay, how, can we solve your problems? What are your challenges? Does this ladder into what you’re working on? And then lastly, like a call to action. What can we do for you? we offer complimentary snapshots so it… people can get a, a really, nice idea of how are they showing up in, in AI search, Is that something that’s important to them? And then we have products beyond that really goes into the detail and builds that out. having FAQs so that people can really have their questions answered. I think a lot of times you want your website to be as informational as possible and…

but as clean and as simple to understand as possible. So that’s always a, a really tough balance. I think when we first started our site, we had so many things that we were excited about, and we probably had too much information on there, and I think at a certain point, it starts to get a little cloudy and blurry.

And so we wanted to actually pull that back, simplify it, make it more of a, “Hey, what is your challenge? Here’s our solution to that challenge.” versus, “Hey, this is who we are, this is what we do,” ’cause that doesn’t really speak to everyone. yeah, I- it should feel like a, good e- engaging experience as well.

And then, hopefully it’s visually appealing. we really work hard. We spent a lot of time getting our brand right, getting our, tone right so that it feels very approachable, but it feels intelligent as well. we’re really focused on, trying to, meet that, that modern digital marketer who really understands the space and knows that there’s, solutions out there.

and we’re one of them.

RICK: Gotcha. Okay, that’s, very interesting just knowing how you approach it. And, I like to hear that, that, that focus on the visual side of things, right? ‘Cause many people just brush it off, and I think it’s very important. It might be… I’m biased ’cause, I have a design background- Oh, yeah

but I think, there’s something to do that, right? To, to how you design a website. And of course, the copy. there’s some websites that it’s just copy and it’s, still compelling, of course, but if you add that visual layer to it, then, you’re playing with more, like, of, the emotions of the person that are, that is reading, right?

The colors and the animations and whatnot. So love to hear that. Yeah. Love to hear that. Tyler, let’s switch gears for a second. we talked about, ProperMews. let’s talk about you as a leader. Maybe, if you can give us an idea about, what a day in the life is like for you, and, what are the, the main things you focus on when you get to work every day?

TYLER YOUNG: Yeah. we have a daily sync every morning, my co-founder and I, and it really helps us align on what the day looks like, what we need to accomplish, what we achieved the day before, what’s coming up. I, I try to attack every day with, like- I feel like every week is just slipping by and there’s just so much more that we can be doing.

And, I’m ex- I just feel like there’s so much to do every single day, so I just kinda jump right in. My day typically consists of, a lot of, meetings, just having conversations. really kinda having the same conversation that you and I are having, talking about, what’s the approach?

what’s the challenge? What are you trying to solve for? How can we be a solution? if we can help, fantastic. and then I go to a lot of networking events that are super fun. Yeah. I actually didn’t know how much I would enjoy that element of this. I’ve, worked in, kinda some different areas.

Tech was a, a big background of mine. And, you’re kinda in the office and you’re working with the team, and you’re focused on that, and that’s really great, but now I get to go out and meet a lot of other people in the marketplace, and they’re doing s- cool things. I get to hear about what they’re up to.

And it’s just a really kinda fun place to be right now because it’s the first time that I’ve really felt like there’s been a, a pretty massive shift in marketing since maybe kinda social media came to-

to be such a, a, a big player for, brands. yeah, it’s just really, I know every day we get, pretty excited about what we’re, what we get up to.

My co-founder and I kinda nerd out a lot. We have to be careful ’cause we’ll just talk and talk about the latest news or the latest release, so we, do, we do have fun with it. and that’s probably one of the, the better elements o- of kinda what we’re up to. So yeah.

It’s a good question.

RICK: No, that’s, personally I think that’s what it’s all about, right? ‘Cause, you’re in marketing, you’re… Of course you have a business, so networking is huge, Yeah … huge strategy if you will. But i- also at a human level, just connecting with other people, hear different stories, and you say, you kinda say you have to be careful about how much time you spend.

And, at the same time it means that, it’s something that drives you, right? It’s just speaking to people, some things take from your energy, some things give you energy. If that’s it- Yeah … I think, that’s, beautiful ’cause that’s, that’s how business is created, that’s how relationships are created at a, at a fundamental level.

Yeah … it’s kinda I, I had… I was at a, a speed, networking, type of event once where you only have a few seconds. Maybe you can try- Yeah … some of those if you think, a constraint- No, no … is needed, but, Yeah, but yeah, I think it’s beautiful. It… Speaking of speed dating and being in a high speed, we have a rapid-fire segment just to wrap things up here, Tyler.

Okay. Do you mind if we go into it? It’s just a way to, just keep things light and engaging really.

TYLER YOUNG: Yeah, let’s do it.

RICK: All right. So when you pr- when it comes to consuming content, do you prefer watching, listening, or reading?

TYLER YOUNG: ooh, that’s a great question. I probably do a mix of listening and watching.

RICK: Okay. Okay.

TYLER YOUNG: Yeah.

RICK: So a visual person like me. So when you consume content, whether you’re… Maybe you’re watching, a course or a YouTube video or whatever it may be, or listening to an audiobook, what’s the latest piece of content that you consumed in one of those formats, and was there anything that really stuck with you in it?

TYLER YOUNG: I think what’s really standing out to me lately is just the level of production on, vertical video. So if you have, Instagram Reel, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, the level of production that’s going into these vertical videos now and the depth and some of the information that you can gain from them, it’s grown and improved drastically, I would say in the last, couple years.

But even the last w- one year, I’m blown away. And, just how much content’s out there is, is… It’s… I know that’s kinda what the platforms wanted, but, the way that people have kinda matched that, it’s really impressive. So you can get all the information that you could ever want in a vertical video now, and I think that’s pretty crazy.

RICK: There’s so much out there. That’s true, yeah. Yeah. maybe this is related, maybe not, but if you had a magic wand and you could fix one frustrating thing in your life with tech, it could be related to marketing or maybe, just generally speaking- Yeah … for your life, right? Yeah. What would you do with it?

TYLER YOUNG: okay. I’ve got a, a very basic simple one, because it’s super annoying, but I wanna, tell my phone, “Hey, set an alarm for 20 minutes if I wanna take a nap,” and for it to just be like, “Okay, done.” It just… It won’t do that. I know there’s ways to figure that out. I just haven’t figured it out yet, and that, that’s really annoying to me.

But I think the other thing is, I, I would love for there to be less garbage out there. I think whe- when I say there’s a lot of content, there’s a lot of bad content too. There’s a lot of AI content now that’s flooding the streams, and that becomes a problem. and that’s o- it’s only gonna get worse.

So if I had a magic wand, I would wanna course correct that now before it does get worse, if that makes sense.

RICK: Curation. That’s what I hear, right? Yeah. Just being able to curate, what, what’s being put out there. I know, right? This is a lot of AI slop, a lot of-

a lot of just bad content, just misinformation even Yeah … yeah. No, that’s, a great point. what’s one repetitive task that you’d love to put on autopilot forever, Tyler?

TYLER YOUNG: we ha- I have Claude set up, so it’s dialed into our Google workspace, and I can… I just type in good morning to my Claude, and it goes through my whole email and tells me, what my day looks like and all that stuff.

And it can just draft responses. So if I need to, respond to emails, I just like, “Hey, you wanna respond to this?” Yeah. And it drafts the email. I’m like… And it’s like, “Is this good?” And I say yep. And taking out the kinda day-to-day email, administrative, all that kinda stuff is… That’s no longer…

I’ve bui- been able to- Primarily automate that, and that’s been really nice. just gives you more time to think and be creative and strategic. yeah, and I, think that there’s just gonna be more and more elements of that people can kinda tap into, so that’s pretty exciting.

RICK: Absolutely.

Okay. Yeah, I love that. And, I haven’t gotten into the… Is it called, Work or CoWork? I can’t remember now, but,

TYLER YOUNG: Yeah …

RICK: it’s pretty sweet, right? I’ve heard that- Yeah … some pretty good, workflows with that one,

TYLER YOUNG: Yeah. If you can kinda get your MCP ta- dialed into whatever kind of y- you know, workspace you work with, it…

You can automate so many different things with- within that.

RICK: Yeah. I’ll look into it, 100%. We, need it. Yeah … Tyler, I wanna thank you for being on the show with us today. As we wrap things up, I also wanna give you the last word. If someone forgets everything about the interview, today, what is the one thing that they should remember about Proper Muse and, and the work you guys are doing?

TYLER YOUNG: the… I think the primary thing is everyone has a lot of information. Everyone knows what has kinda worked in the past for their brand. But intelligence and strategy is really the key differentiator to, help you move quickly. And I think in this marketplace, moving fast with the, right information w- really gives you the biggest advantage, and I think that’s really the, the solution that we’re trying to provide.

So speed, clarity, and, and the ability to outmaneuver your competitors is, what we offer.

RICK: That’s perfect. if people want to check you guys out, how can they do it? Where can they go?

TYLER YOUNG: Yeah. It’s, propermuse.co, for the website, and we’re on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Reddit if you wanna check out those channels as well.

RICK: Too easy. Too easy. All right. Tyler, thank you so much again for being with us today. Thank you for the insights. And, I’m gonna look into the, Claude, workflow. That’s super interesting. Yeah. And I’m sure other people are already… They’re already doing it, but for those who are a little bit behind, let’s say, like myself, then I-

I, I suggest, highly suggest looking into it. Thank you again, Tyler. I wish you a wonderful day.

TYLER YOUNG: thanks, Rick. I appreciate it.

RICK: Of course. Bye, everyone.