TLDR MarketingJanuary 28, 2026

TLDR MARKETING 2026-01-28

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01GENERAL

02NEWS & TRENDS

OXYGEN MONOPOLIES

Fast news cycles and rapid AI adoption mean startups win by owning a clear category narrative early, since attention spikes fast and hardens just as quickly. AI companies now reach $10M+ ARR in under a year, and some hit $100M ARR with fewer than 100 employees, which makes early brand positioning a real competitive advantage. Strong brand association lets one company suck up most of the oxygen, as seen when it becomes shorthand for its category, like Harvey for legal AI. Brand recall now matters more than awareness, since even Tide holds 41% market share but ranks 9th on Amazon search. Companies must make people think of it first or risk being forgotten.

digitalnative.tech9 min read

INTRODUCING INVISIBLE ENGAGEMENT AND WHY IT MATTERS

Most consumer interaction with brand content happens through invisible actions that platforms do not track, which makes visible metrics misleading. In a study of 12,855 social media posts, only 0.6% showed visible engagement, while 22.3% showed invisible engagement and 77.1% showed none. The most common invisible actions were ‘see' at 42% and ‘stop' at 41%, which signal attention without public interaction. Posts linked to invisible actions such as ‘see', ‘search', or ‘save' had a higher median shop engagement rate of 10.1% compared to 6.8% for posts that received a ‘like'. These findings show that invisible engagement is more closely tied to purchase behavior and should play a larger role in how marketers measure performance.

warc.com6 min read

03STRATEGIES & TACTICS

4 CTA BUTTON TESTS

Focus on first-person, personalized CTAs that reflect the user's role, interest, or goal, for example, “I want top HR tips” or “Save 25% on my wellness journey”. Use playful or contrasting button pairings, like “I hate learning new things” instead of “Save my seat”. Avoid generic verbs such as “Download” or “Submit”. Replace them with engaging, action-oriented phrases like “Get my discount” or “Let's go!” The goal is to make the CTA feel personal and clearly tied to user benefit.

linkedin.com2 min read

ASK USERS TO REGISTER AT THE START (NOT THE END)

Asking users to register at the start of shopping increases registrations, purchases, and long-term revenue. In a field experiment of over 75,000 users, early registration made shoppers 58.1% more likely to register and 10.9% more likely to buy. Those shoppers bought 16.8% more items and generated 13.2% higher total revenue over a year. Casual shoppers browsed 12.3% less after early registration prompts. Optional registration prevented short-term sales losses.

app.sciencesays.com3 min read

04RESOURCES & TOOLS

52 GTM SIGNALS

A screenshot that lists out 52 GTM triggers across 4 datasets. Start by segmenting your ICP and understanding their buyer journey. Use triggers from company activity, news, job postings, or tech changes to time outreach. Focus on high-quality, relevant data. Each signal should guide what to watch, why it matters, and how to craft your message. Right-click the screenshot and select “Open in new tab” to see a zoomed-in view.

linkedin.com2 min read

12 STEPS TO WINNING BRAND MENTIONS IN LLMS

This guide from Noble outlines 12 steps to winning LLM visibility. Start by identifying the questions your brand should appear for. Check what LLMs currently say and which sources they cite. Expand your list with high-ranking, relevant pages from Google. Clean and score all URLs to prioritize targets. Build a contact list for authors or content owners. Decide the type of mention or update needed. Craft personalized outreach at scale. Manage replies and negotiate terms or swaps. Provide easy-to-use content snippets. Implement any reciprocal mentions on your site. Verify that mentions go live and impact LLMs.

docs.google.com9 min read

05MISCELLANEOUS

HOW DO YOU COMPETE IN AGENTIC COMMERCE?

Agentic commerce is reshaking e-commerce by turning organic search into a verification gate for AI-driven purchases rather than a traffic channel. AI agents powered about 20% of retail sales during the 2025 holiday season, and major platforms now support direct checkout through commerce protocols that bypass traditional websites. Autonomous buying mainly works in a narrow-middle since high-priced purchases resist delegation and low-priced goods already rely on subscriptions, so the real value comes from conversational commerce that compresses an average 14-click journey into 1 or 2 steps. The protocols force merchants to optimize structured product data and APIs instead of pages. As a result, SEO shifts from driving clicks to feeding trusted, granular data into AI systems, favoring incumbents for broad intent and specialists for specific intent.

growth-memo.com5 min read

THERE ARE REASONS TO BE BULLISH ABOUT AI CHAT ADS

AI chat ads could reshape retail media, but their success is uncertain. OpenAI and Google are testing ads in ChatGPT and Gemini, while Amazon and Walmart explore AI-powered shopping. Experts say AI ads could combine strong intent and deep user knowledge, offering personalized experiences if they feel helpful rather than pushy. Retailers want to stay the merchant of record and control logistics, limiting AI's transactional role. Widespread adoption could disrupt retail media by capturing intent and transaction data, but user experience and partner balance remain key challenges.

mikeshields.substack.com4 min read

WHY SEARCH AND SHOPPING ADS STOP SCALING WITHOUT DEMAND

Search and Shopping ads capture existing demand but don't create it. Growth stalls when the audience or queries are limited, not because campaigns are broken. Broad match and AI Max can stretch coverage slightly, but they still rely on search activity. True growth requires creating demand upstream through content, SEO, social, and paid media.

searchengineland.com8 min read