TLDR MARKETING 2025-09-19

LTK: THE CMO'S CREATOR GUIDE 2026

Creator marketing is now the top area for 2026 investment, ahead of AI-driven search, paid social, and gaming. 90% of brands use creators, and 97% of CMOs plan to increase budgets. Brands are scaling “creator armies” for always-on campaigns, with most working with 50+ creators. Creator content now spans display, CTV, content marketing, and retail media. LTK reports 2.1x higher click growth and 1.4x higher sales growth for brands boosting creator content compared to competitors.

MINI PRODUCTS ARE EVERYWHERE

Brands are releasing smaller versions of bags, snacks, and beauty items to attract price-conscious Gen Z and millennial shoppers. Sales of mini beauty products jumped 15% in H1 2025, nearly 4x faster than full-size items. Minis work as trial purchases, social media-friendly content, and impulse buys. Even tequila and spirits brands are getting in on the trend, turning miniature bottles into “affordable luxuries” that drive buzz.

HOW TO GET CITED IN AI ANSWERS

AI search rewards consistent authority and authentic brand signals. To increase visibility in AI answers, prioritize publishing high-quality, expertise-driven content on your own site or in respected industry publications. Another tactic is to actively participate in conversations on platforms like Reddit, LinkedIn, and niche forums to help AI models pick up real references. Beyond digital efforts, offline tactics such as presenting at industry conferences, collaborating with known influencers, and contributing data-backed research studies create real-world credibility that AI systems can pick up over time.

HOW ALDI REVAMPED ITS SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY — AND WHY IT'S WORKING

Aldi has shifted its social media strategy to presenting itself as a persona rather than a store. It's no longer focusing its socials on low prices and instead leans into playful, culturally relevant content and viral trends. This approach has driven double-digit growth in engagement on Instagram and TikTok, with some posts reaching over 600,000 shares and far outperforming competitors like Kroger and Whole Foods. Aldi's small social team, which consists of a manager and two associates, achieved this by staying consistent across platforms while balancing planned content with quick reactions to trends.

10 B2B NEWSLETTER TIPS

B2B newsletters work best as short-form, native content that teaches or inspires rather than just linking to blog posts. Send them consistently, monthly or bi-monthly, and from a real person, not a generic address. Avoid generic titles, focus on the reader, and keep copy skimmable. Reserve pitches for the PS, use images or videos sparingly, and publish on a newsletter platform for extra reach. Split dense content across multiple issues to keep them readable and engaging.

in action for yourself.

BUILD YOUR OWN AI-POWERED REDDIT INTELLIGENCE TOOL (WEBINAR)

This webinar shows how to turn Reddit's 50M+ daily conversations into actionable insights. It covers how to analyze customer pain points, map journeys, spot trending topics before competitors, and use AI to craft messaging in customers' own words. The webinar also explains how to build an always-on monitoring system with code templates and no-code workflows and provides tools to surface unfiltered customer insights and track real-time market movements.

YOUTUBE UPDATES

YouTube is rolling out new tools across Shorts, Studio, Live, Music, and Shopping to make creation faster. AI features from Google DeepMind's Veo help create video backgrounds, motion effects, auto-edits, and even turn dialogue into music. Studio gets Ask Studio, collaboration tools, A/B testing, auto-dubbing, and likeness detection. Live and podcast creators gain new ways to engage audiences. YouTube Music is adding countdowns, pre-saves, and fan rewards, while brand deals and Shopping get AI-powered enhancements.

WHAT 3 YEARS AT WIZ TAUGHT ME ABOUT B2B MARKETING

Wiz built its B2B brand by ignoring standard playbooks and adopting high-frequency experimentation. The team launched projects such as a toy store for CISOs and a Kubernetes course taught by puppies, intentionally choosing ideas a traditional enterprise would avoid. These “drops” helped differentiate Wiz in a crowded cybersecurity market and fueled a 10X growth in organic reach. Rather than relying on performance channels, it focused on unpaid attention.

PULL VS. PUSH MARKETING

Push marketing usually shows linear or diminishing returns and requires sustained spend to maintain reach. Pull marketing, by contrast, builds momentum over time but depends on audience discovery and organic engagement. Push efforts can risk brand fatigue and low-quality interactions when overused, while pull tactics may underdeliver without a clear path to distribution.

HOW TO PREDICT LTV FOR NEW CUSTOMERS (WITHOUT WAITING A YEAR)

Three methods to predict LTV for new customers: the 90-day curve method, cohort-based predictions, and predictive modeling.

YOU CAN NOW DIRECTLY CONNECT AHREFS TO CHATGPT FOR SEO ANALYSIS

You can now ask ChatGPT questions about your Ahrefs traffic trends, competitors, query drops, content themes, and more directly in the chat interface.

6 GO-TO CANVA TIPS

Canva hacks to create seamless carousels, glass effects, and gradients.