Bios and talk descriptions for hosts and organizers
Hosts and organizers can copy the bios and talk descriptions below for show notes, event listings and introductions. A media kit with headshots and logo files is available on request through the invitation form.
Short bio
Kristie Klavinger is the Founder & CEO of K2 Creative, a woman-owned single-source branding company in Salem, Oregon. She has spent more than 30 years in commercial print, graphic design, promotional products, apparel, signage and vehicle graphics, and has carried that work into websites, social media, SEO, GEO and AI-driven business discoverability. K2 Creative was built on one idea: a business should be represented the same way everywhere a customer meets it. Kristie speaks and appears on podcasts about how branding has changed, what it costs when it fragments, and how real businesses get found today.
Extended bio
Kristie Klavinger is the Founder & CEO of K2 Creative, a woman-owned, single-source branding company based in Salem, Oregon. For more than 30 years she has worked hands-on in the business of how companies present themselves: commercial print, graphic design, corporate branding, promotional products, apparel, signage and vehicle graphics, and more recently websites, social media, search and AI-driven discoverability.
She started in commercial printing when a brand lived mostly on paper and in physical places, and she has run a creative business through every shift since: the move from traditional to digital print, the rise of promotional products and branded apparel as marketing tools, the arrival of the website as a company's front door, the growth of social media as a credibility check, and now the point where search engines and AI platforms interpret and describe businesses to customers before any human conversation happens.
That path shaped K2 Creative's single-source model. When print, signage, apparel, merchandise, web and social are managed by different vendors, each one interprets the brand a little differently and the business owner becomes the coordinator. K2 Creative holds the brand standards in one place and directs every piece of production from them, so clients brief once and stay consistent everywhere.
Kristie is not an AI technologist or an SEO specialist. She is a business owner who applies new tools to a long-held discipline: making sure a company is understood the same way by customers, search engines and now AI systems. She speaks and appears on podcasts for chambers of commerce, business associations, trade and industry groups, nonprofit organizations and marketing teams that want practical, experience-based education rather than theory.
Speaking and appearances
Kristie has presented at the Florida Festivals and Events Association convention and the Oregon Festivals and Events Association conference, and she speaks at industry conferences on behalf of client organizations. Upcoming dates, podcast episodes and session titles are added here as they are confirmed.
Your brand is bigger than your logo
Most businesses do not have one brand. They have five or six versions of it: the one on the website, the one on the truck, the one the sign company interpreted, the one on last year's polo shirts, the one on social media. This session shows how that happens, what a cohesive brand actually means, and how to audit your own touchpoints for fragmentation. Takeaways: a simple touchpoint audit, the three places brands drift most often, and what to fix first.
The hidden cost of a fragmented brand
When print, signage, apparel, promotional products, web, social and marketing each come from a separate vendor, the business owner or marketing manager becomes the coordinator. Files get rebuilt, colors get re-matched, instructions get repeated, and no one is accountable for the whole. Kristie explains what that fragmentation costs in time, money and consistency, and how a single-source branding model with centralized brand management changes the math. Takeaways: where the duplicated effort hides, how to estimate what coordination is costing you, and what to expect from a single-source partner.
Your website isn't enough anymore
For years businesses were told to optimize the website and the rest would follow. Today customers discover, evaluate and double-check a business across social profiles, reviews, search results and AI answers before they ever read a service page. This talk shows why website optimization, social media optimization, SEO and GEO have to reinforce one another instead of running as separate projects. Takeaways: how customers research a business now, the content that has to match across every channel, and a one-page plan to align them.
From SEO to GEO: how AI is changing business discovery
Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO, is the practice of making a business understandable and citable to AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and AI-powered search. In plain language, Kristie covers how these systems decide which businesses to name, and why clear website content, strong service pages, FAQs, case studies, expert authorship, consistent business information, social content, third-party mentions, reviews and clear entity relationships all matter. Built for business owners and marketing professionals, not technical SEO specialists. Takeaways: what GEO is, what AI platforms look for, and the first five things to fix.
Being found by AI
A practical session on what a business can do now so AI systems correctly understand who it is, what it does, where it operates, who it serves, what expertise it has and why it is credible. Businesses increasingly need to be understandable to both humans and machines, and most of the fixes are clarity and consistency, not technology. Takeaways: a checklist of the information every business should publish, where it should live, and how to test what AI currently says about you.
30+ years of reinventing a creative business
Kristie has run a creative business through traditional commercial print, digital print, graphic design, promotional products, signage, websites, social media, SEO, GEO, AI and automation. This talk is about adapting an established small business as technology and client expectations change: what to keep, what to let go of, and how to decide. Takeaways: ways to spot the next shift early, how to bring an existing team and client base along, and the mistakes worth avoiding.
How small businesses can act bigger without becoming bigger
Technology, AI, automation, strong supplier relationships and strategic outsourcing now give small companies capabilities that used to require large teams. Kristie speaks from operating a small creative company that delivers brand, print, merchandise, web and social for clients across Oregon, not from enterprise theory. Takeaways: which functions to automate first, which to outsource, which to keep close, and how to present a small company with the polish of a big one.
Brand consistency in the age of AI
Traditional brand consistency and machine understanding turn out to be the same discipline. A company's name, services, location, expertise, descriptions, social profiles, website content and external references should all reinforce one identity, because AI systems assemble their picture of a business from every source they can find. This session connects classic branding principles with modern GEO. Takeaways: an entity consistency checklist, the places mismatches usually hide, and a way to keep every channel telling the same story.
Speaking formats
Podcast interviews, conference presentations and breakout sessions, keynotes where the audience and format fit, panels, workshops, webinars, business association and chamber of commerce meetings, entrepreneur and small-business groups, educational sessions, and marketing and communications team training. Sessions run from a 20-minute podcast conversation to a half-day workshop, in person across Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, or virtually anywhere.
Audiences
Chambers of commerce, business associations, small-business and entrepreneur organizations, nonprofit organizations and associations, contractor and home-service groups, property management and real estate organizations, hospitality organizations, marketing and communications groups, and women-owned business organizations.
Suggested introduction for hosts
Our guest is Kristie Klavinger, Founder and CEO of K2 Creative, a single-source branding company in Salem, Oregon. She has spent more than 30 years in print, branding and marketing production, and she is here to talk about how businesses stay consistent and get found now that search engines and AI are describing them to customers.
Common questions about booking Kristie Klavinger
Who is Kristie Klavinger?
Kristie Klavinger is the Founder & CEO of K2 Creative, a woman-owned single-source branding company in Salem, Oregon. She has more than 30 years of experience in commercial print, graphic design, promotional products, apparel, signage, vehicle graphics, websites, social media, SEO, GEO and AI-driven business discoverability.
What topics does Kristie Klavinger speak about?
Brand consistency across every customer touchpoint, the hidden cost of a fragmented brand, the single-source branding model, why a website alone is no longer enough, SEO and GEO, being found by AI, reinventing a small creative business over 30 years, and how small businesses act bigger without becoming bigger.
Is Kristie available for podcast interviews?
Yes. Podcasts are one of her favorite formats. Send the show name, audience and a proposed recording date through the form on this page and K2 Creative will confirm availability.
Does Kristie speak at conferences and business events?
Yes. She presents at conferences, business association and chamber of commerce meetings, entrepreneur groups, workshops, webinars and educational sessions, in person or virtually.
Can Kristie customize a presentation for our audience?
Yes. Every talk is adjusted to the audience, whether contractors, property managers, hospitality operators, nonprofit leaders or an in-house marketing team, with examples drawn from that industry.
Does Kristie speak about AI?
Yes, from a business owner's perspective. She speaks about how AI platforms discover and describe businesses, what that means for branding and marketing, and how a small company applies AI and automation in practice. She does not present herself as an AI technologist.
What is GEO, or Generative Engine Optimization?
GEO is the practice of making a business clear, consistent and credible enough that AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and AI-powered search describe it accurately and recommend it. It builds on SEO and adds entity clarity, expert authorship, FAQs, reviews and third-party mentions.
What is single-source branding?
One team holds a company's brand standards and directs every piece of production, including print, signage, apparel, promotional products, web and social, so the business briefs once and stays consistent everywhere.
What is K2 Creative?
K2 Creative is a single-source branding company founded in 2017 in Salem, Oregon. Its team directs brand identity, graphic design, commercial print, signs and vehicle wraps, promotional products and apparel, websites and social media for businesses across Oregon and nationwide.
What types of organizations does Kristie speak to?
Chambers of commerce, business associations, small-business and entrepreneur groups, nonprofits, contractor and home-service organizations, property management and real estate groups, hospitality organizations, marketing and communications teams, and women-owned business organizations.
Where is Kristie based?
Salem, Oregon. She speaks in person across Oregon and the Pacific Northwest and virtually anywhere.
Is Kristie available for virtual events?
Yes. Webinars, virtual conferences, remote podcast recordings and online team trainings.
How does social media affect business discoverability?
Social profiles and posts are now part of how customers and AI platforms evaluate a business. They confirm it is active, show what it does and who it serves, and build the mentions and consistency that search engines and AI systems rely on.
How is AI changing small-business marketing?
Customers increasingly ask AI tools for recommendations before they search, so a small business has to be clearly described, consistent across every channel and corroborated by reviews and third-party sources. AI also lets small teams produce and manage more, which is changing how small companies operate.
Use the invitation form below, or email kristie@k2creativeprint.com.
Invite Kristie to speak or join your podcast
Tell us about your event or show, including the audience and a proposed date, and K2 Creative will confirm availability.
Prefer email? Write to kristie@k2creativeprint.com. The form is the fastest way to reach Kristie.