TLDR MARKETING 2025-02-05

KENDRICK LAMAR'S CASH APP PARTNERSHIP SIGNALS A POWER SHIFT IN BRAND MARKETING

Kendrick Lamar's Cash App partnership marks a shift from cultural influence to infrastructural power, bypassing traditional banking gatekeepers. The collaboration highlights how brands can move beyond representation to create structural change, ensuring underserved communities gain real access. It sets a precedent for industries like fashion, sports, and film to prioritize community participation over financial privilege. Advancements in digital banking and blockchain enable direct artist-to-audience connections without reliance on traditional institutions. Marketers should rethink diversity efforts, prioritizing true collaboration with cultural leaders to build inclusive systems rather than just using them for promotion.

THIS SCRAPPY SEARCH UPSTART IS GETTING THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE TO GIVE UP GOOGLE

As AI-generated content floods search results, Kagi is attracting users with an ad-free, customizable search experience. With features such as site-blocking, custom search filters, and an emphasis on independent sources, Kagi's model aligns with user interests rather than advertisers. Its success hinges on proving that people will pay for a premium search experience in a market dominated by free options with ads.

REFERRALS ARE CONTAGIOUS

Customers coming from referrals make 27.65% more purchase trips than non-referred customers. They are also 36% more likely to refer others, creating a flywheel effect that drives growth. Incentives further boost referrals - reminding referred customers of their referral origin increased referrals by 21%, and pre-filled referral messages with incentives raised rates by up to 53%. In a study of 51.7 million customers, 19 out of 20 companies saw higher referral rates among referred customers when both parties received a reward. To maximize referrals, companies should use tiered incentives, track referral-based conversions, and time referral requests after positive customer experiences.

12 WAYS TO DO EFFECTIVE AUDIENCE RESEARCH

Audience research is at the heart of a good marketing strategy. You can uncover the language your audience uses to describe their experiences by stepping into their shoes and learning what drives them. Over 41% of marketers admit they don't conduct audience research “nearly enough,” while only 19% do it monthly. This lack of research has consequences, as a correlation exists between career satisfaction and audience research - those who rarely conduct it are less satisfied in their careers. To stay aligned with your audience, include social listening, competitor analysis, and surveys, as well as using tools like Google Alerts, SEMrush, and search intent analysis.

Explore the most effective ways sales and CS teams are using Loom

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OPENAI'S NEW DEEP RESEARCH AGENT CAN DO IN 5 MINUTES WHAT MIGHT TAKE YOU HOURS

OpenAI's Deep Research conducts in-depth research and generates comprehensive reports in 5 to 30 minutes. It can browse the web, analyze data, and synthesize findings into well-organized reports with citations. OpenAI positions Deep Research as a tool for knowledge workers in fields like finance, science, and policy. However, it still requires human review due to occasional hallucinations and difficulty distinguishing authoritative sources. Deep Research is currently available only to ChatGPT Pro users for $200 per month.

ICON

Icon.me streamlines the creation of advertising content. It analyzes users' video libraries, tags scenes (i.e. unboxing), and uses these clips as building blocks to generate ads. Users can input ideas into AdGPT, an AI tool that crafts ads with matching clips for each scene, producing content that's 80-99% complete. Further refinements can be made using AdCut, an editing tool.

LINKEDIN ROLLS OUT UPDATES TO VIDEO PRESENTATION AND DISCOVERY

LinkedIn is doubling down on video with expanded full-screen playback, a swipeable video search carousel, and profile enhancements for video creators. Video content is now displayed more prominently in the feed and new analytics provide deeper audience insights into watch time and engagement. LinkedIn has also introduced free courses covering video creation, editing, and repurposing strategies.

TWITCH HAS PLENTY OF COMPETITION IN THE LIVESTREAM ECONOMY

Twitch remains committed to strict content moderation, maintaining policies against hate, harassment, and crypto gambling. While some creators moved to Kick, financial incentives were a bigger factor than moderation policies. Twitch rolled back its exclusivity clause to support a creator-first approach, recognizing that viewers follow their favorite streamers rather than the platform itself. Twitch will continue to expand its creator base as livestreaming grows as it believes that attracting new talent will keep it competitive.

"BUY NOW, PAY LATER" INCREASES CUSTOMER SPENDING

IT'S TIME TO PAY ATTENTION TO BING

Bing is on the rise because ChatGPT uses the search engine's index and platform, while some companies see better performance from Bing ads than Google ads.

AI PROMPT FOR TURNING A MESSY TRANSCRIPT TO AN A+ OUTLINE

A templated prompt that converts transcripts into usable outlines.

9 THINGS WE TRIED VS. WHAT ACTUALLY WORKED

Default's head of growth shared 9 tactics he used to grow ARR by 42% in one month.