Explicit Research
Explicit Research
coined by Jason Barnard in 2025.
Description
Explicit Research is the clearest, most deliberate form of brand discovery that occurs when a potential customer actively seeks out a brand by name in a search engine or AI Assistive Engine.
The Explicit Research definition
Jason Barnard uses this term to describe the moment a user actively seeks out a brand by name, for example by typing its name into Google or asking ChatGPT about it. This is the clearest form of brand discovery and represents a high-intent, high-stakes moment at the bottom of the acquisition funnel. The user is no longer Browse; they are performing a final verification or due diligence check. The result of this Explicit Research is the brand's Brand SERP or its AI Résumé, which becomes the definitive impression at the point of decision.
How Jason Barnard uses Explicit Research definition
At Kalicube, optimizing for Explicit Research is the starting point of The Kalicube Process. We begin by engineering a brand's Brand SERP—its digital business card—to be Positive, Accurate, and Convincing. This foundational work, part of the Understandability phase, ensures that when a potential client performs this critical due diligence, the result turns their curiosity into conviction. Before a brand can win in broader, topic-based searches, it must first control the narrative when its own name is called.
Why Explicit Research matters to digital marketers
Years ago, Google's marketing teams, led by thinkers like Jim Lecinski, defined the "Zero Moment of Truth" (ZMOT)—the critical research moment that happens online before a consumer makes a purchase. Jason Barnard's concept of Explicit Research identifies the ultimate ZMOT for the modern era: searching for a brand's name. When a potential client or partner performs this search, they are verifying your credibility at the final step of their decision-making journey. If the result—your Brand SERP or AI Résumé—is chaotic, negative, or outdated, the deal can be lost in that instant. As Barnard teaches, marketers who neglect to optimize for this "last click before a decision" are effectively handing revenue to their competitors.
Posts tagged with Explicit Research
Online reputation in the AI era: Why explicit, implicit and ambient research all matter – and what to do about it
Online reputation in the AI era: Why explicit, implicit and ambient research all matter – and what to do about it Published on kalicube.com May 10,2025. People are researching you...
Why Modern Online Reputation Management Must Cover All Three Types of Research (and Be Proactive, Not Just Reactive)
Why Modern Online Reputation Management Must Cover All Three Types of Research (and Be Proactive, Not Just Reactive) Published on kalicube.com May 11,2025. AI has changed the ORM landscape Online...
Your reputation isn’t what you say it is – it’s what Google and AI say it is
Your reputation isn’t what you say it is – it’s what Google and AI say it is Published on kalicube.com May 14,2025. Why taking control of your digital brand is...
The Invisible Risk: When AI Defines Your Brand Without You
In the age of generative AI and ambient computing, your brand is being defined, interpreted, and recommended by machines that never asked for your permission. That’s not a metaphor. It’s...
Entity and search/AI glossary: Jason Barnard’s foundational lexicon for the new digital (AI) era
I’m Jason Barnard. I started working on Brand SERPs and the Knowledge Graph in 2012 - before most marketers had even heard the word “entity.” Before AI, before ChatGPT, before...
Related Pages:
No pages found for this tag.