Social apps remain the most downloaded and widely used. In-app purchases are growing significantly as platforms integrate more shopping features. Time spent on short-form video continues to rise, with US Facebook users increasing time on Reels by 17% in 2024. Global app usage trends show that downloads grew in many regions, while time spent on the top 10 apps decreased by 10% from 2021 to 2024. This reflects shifts in entertainment preferences like short-form videos and streaming.
Meta's recent Instagram updates reflect a shift back toward social connections and fundamentals. The introduction of Edits, a video-editing feature positioned as a CapCut alternative, aims to streamline creator workflows and capitalize on TikTok's uncertain US future. Changes like bringing back friend-based activity in Reels and testing vertical profile grids suggest a renewed focus on meaningful engagement. These updates hint at a strategy to blend transparency, community building, and creative collaboration.
Clay's go-to-market strategy started by focusing on a narrow ICP of cold email agencies, enabling rapid feedback and targeted growth. Its unique “reverse demo” approach put customers in control, building confidence in the product while generating insights on areas for improvement. From leveraging the halo effect of organic LinkedIn posts to creating new roles like GTM engineers, Clay demonstrated how unconventional decisions can sustain fast revenue growth across product-led and sales-led motions.
Poppi rebranded from “Mother Beverage” in 2020 and established itself in the functional beverage market with prebiotic sodas that promote gut health. Its marketing focuses on Millennials and Gen Z, leveraging social media, influencer collaborations, and experiential events like pop-ups to build a loyal community. Poppi's premium pricing reflects its high-quality ingredients, while its data-driven strategies refine its campaigns and offerings. The brand also uses educational content to build trust and highlight product benefits. These tactics have positioned Poppi as a leader in health-conscious beverages.
The halo effect is a cognitive bias where positive impressions in one area influence perceptions of the whole. For instance, if a brand produces engaging and high-quality free content, such as podcasts or case studies, prospects naturally assume its paid services are equally high quality. This is especially critical in 2025, where B2B buyers self-educate via social media, content platforms, and communities. By polishing key touchpoints that matter to customers, brands can use the halo effect to drive authority, trust, and sales more efficiently than traditional persuasion methods.
Annual financial and marketing planning requires detailed campaign, budget, and tactic preparation. Integrated campaigns, supported by tactic calendars, content maps, and high-level planning tools, should focus on themes that address buyer pain points and last at least six months. Effective budget planning combines initial allocation, ongoing tracking, and prioritization models like “how would we spend $100” to maintain flexibility for unforeseen demands. The article contains free templates for an annual plan-on-a-page, campaign planning, and campaign strategy.
Napkin acts as a digital notebook for brainstorming and note-taking, using AI to create links between related concepts and surface connections you might not initially see. Its intuitive interface allows for free-form input, while its AI-driven insights provide structure to scattered thoughts, making it useful for anyone managing complex ideas.
Customer feedback is unavoidable. 72% of customers share positive experiences while 13% amplify negative ones to larger audiences. For brands, the key lies in both listening and taking timely action, since 6 out of 10 customers can be won back with the right response within a week. Investing in CX teams to manage and respond across platforms not only protects brand reputation but also creates a competitive advantage as AI search increasingly integrates reputational data into query results.
Workamajig is a project management platform tailored for marketing and creative teams that offers tools for budgets, deadlines, and resource allocation. The company employs a targeted marketing approach, including SEO blogs, PPC ads, webinars, and industry sponsorships. It prioritizes consistency over flashy campaigns in order to steadily build its client base. Potential growth strategies for the company include leveraging review sites, offering templates as lead magnets, and showcasing successful client use cases.
PostcardMania noticed a slowdown in top-line revenue growth when a mistake caused postcard mailings to drop from 205,000 to 195,000 weekly. Restoring the volume and further increasing it to 260,000 resulted in over $1 million in new revenue, showing the effectiveness of a tried-and-true marketing tactic. This example highlights how growth can be achieved by identifying high-performing strategies from the past and adapting them to the new context instead of trying something completely new every time.
Slack's take on how to use preferences thoughtfully to empower users without adding unnecessary complexity.
The funding initiative ensures creators retain their revenue during platform migration while providing business strategy support and early access to new features.
Copy inspo from Notion, ClassPass, and HeadSpace.
Amazon, Shein, and Costco are among the 600 top-rated companies, scored based on friendliness, competence, accessibility, and solution speed. In this study, more than 67,000 U.S. customers evaluated companies across seven key categories of customer service to create the America's Best Customer Service 2025 list.
Rivals X, Bluesky, and Instagram have introduced features to capitalize on the uncertainty surrounding TikTok. X launched a US-only vertical video feed with casting and minimization options, while Bluesky debuted a customizable "Trending Videos" feed with swipe and pause functionality. Instagram added a tall grid for vertical media and announced a video-editing app called Edits to attract content creators. These moves highlight how platforms are prioritizing video-centric features to compete for TikTok's audience.
Storytelling helps brands move beyond transactional marketing by creating better connections with their audiences. The Hero's Journey framework mirrors the customer experience: brands identify problems (awareness), help customers navigate options (consideration), and offer solutions (decision), eventually creating brand advocates (advocacy). Complementing this structure, tactics like authentic messaging, addressing customer pain points, and showcasing value through storytelling tools such as blogs, social media, and UGC, create a cohesive and more impactful narrative.
Warmly grew from $1M to $3M ARR in 2024 by shifting from founder-led sales to a repeatable GTM motion. Its journey included scaling outbound efforts, doubling its SDR team, segmenting roles, and introducing partnerships, which now drive 12% of revenue. Despite early challenges like email deliverability and team inefficiencies, Warmly's experiments created a foundation for sustained growth beyond founder-led sales which was not scalable.
Slate helps social media teams create high-quality, on-brand content. It features an all-in-one editor for creating videos and images optimized for platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. The mobile app allows teams to produce content on the go, while the Brand Hub centralizes asset management to ensure brand consistency.
LinkedIn transitioned from rule-based to data-driven marketing attribution by combining top-down Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) and bottom-up Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) approaches. The new model uses transformer-based attention mechanisms to analyze customer journeys, enabling more accurate conversion predictions and improving marketing ROI. Initial results showed a 150x increase in credit for upper- and mid-funnel campaigns compared to traditional models, aligning with spending increases. The system is estimated to deliver a 5% lift in marketing-driven revenue for FY25 through in-quarter optimizations.
DoorDash succeeded by targeting suburban markets early, where delivery alternatives were limited, customers were affluent, and order values were higher. This created a strong competitive advantage. The company prioritized logistics to dominate customer demand, ensuring a wide selection of restaurants, even at the expense of speed and price. DoorDash focused on reliability, app usability, and customer retention, while also outpacing competitors in launching features and partnerships. It also rapidly expanded its market share by aggressively raising funds and investing over $3 billion in marketing and sales from 2019-2021. Favorable timing, such as competitors' constraints and the pandemic-driven demand surge, amplified its strategic and executional strengths.
Super Bowl spending and viewership hit $17.4B in consumer spending and over 123M viewers last year. Food and beverages dominated sales, offering D2C brands prime opportunities to tie campaigns to game-day excitement. Audiences increasingly value watching the commercials, with 42% tuning in specifically for the ads, which have become a cultural highlight. Ad revenue reached $650M, with 30-second spots costing $7M. Millennials remain the top viewers, but cross-generational appeal allows brands to target broader audiences.
The first episode of Lifecycle Pitch features Brian Sun, Drew Price, and Andy King presenting 5 email concepts for Netflix. These include Exclusive Content, My Top 10, What Friends Watch, Travel the Globe, and Biggest Fan. These ideas focus on improving engagement, conversion, and retention through automated, value-driven communication.
Strategically cut costs while investing in brand-building, actively listen to feedback for growth, and deepen your product knowledge to connect with customers more authentically.
Instagram's shift from its initial stance reflects changing user preferences for long-form content and competition with platforms like TikTok.
X has released an interactive content calendar with listings of key dates and events in 2025.
Meta is offering TikTok creators up to $5,000 in bonuses over three months for posting Reels on Instagram and Facebook. It is also granting select creators access to monetization programs, content deals, and a free one-year Meta Verified trial. Additionally, it is making changes to give Reels more prominence, like extending the maximum playtime for Reels up to three minutes and increasing their visibility.
The "tradwife" trend on social media features women portraying traditional homemaker roles while monetizing through brand deals and personal ventures. Creators like Nara Smith and Hannah Neeleman have gained millions of followers by blending nostalgic domestic aesthetics with modern entrepreneurship. Critics highlight the privilege behind their curated lives and caution against unrealistic expectations and the cultural implications brands may unintentionally support.
The "Immortal Newsletter" strategy involves recycling 50% evergreen content while including 50% fresh insights. This approach increases engagement and open rates, reduces workload, and avoids subscriber complaints about repeat content. It's faster to produce and more efficient, as many subscribers miss your best content, making it a better alternative to constantly creating new content.
Out of over 30,000 products launched annually, 95% fail due to poor timing. Research shows there are four timing scenarios based on firm coordination and stakeholder readiness. Antagonistic Timing, where both coordination and readiness are low, usually leads to failure due to misaligned product expectations. Synergistic Timing, with high coordination and readiness, maximizes chances of success. Flexible Timing occurs when stakeholders are ready, but firms lack coordination, requiring swift action to meet demand. Lastly, Inflexible Timing happens when firms are well-prepared but must invest heavily in educating and building trust among resistant stakeholders.
Using a hybrid approach of AI-generated and human-edited content improves SEO rankings while cutting costs and saving time. Research shows AI-assisted content outperforms human-only content in rankings, with 17 pages appearing in top search results daily compared to 2 for content created entirely by humans. This approach reduces labor costs by 91% and maintains similar readability and credibility. Companies can implement this by using tools like Ahrefs or Semrush to analyze keywords, training AI models on top-ranking content and ensuring human editing for tone and accuracy. The method is most effective for industries like IT and education, but may be applicable across sectors.
AlternativeTo is a free web-based platform for discovering alternatives to apps and services. Recommendations are based on user votes and submissions. You can filter results by platform, features, and privacy preferences. Many options are free or open-source. The site is easy to use, requires no sign-ins, and doesn't collect personal data.
A high-performing landing page converts visitors into leads by targeting a single action, unlike websites or product pages, which serve broader purposes. Landing pages minimize distractions by eliminating navigation bars and focusing on persuasive, goal-oriented content, such as strong headlines and visuals. Tools like Instapage and Leadpages offer drag-and-drop simplicity for building pages, while A/B testing and heatmaps can help refine to improve performance based on how customers are interacting with it.
A study by Ziff Davis shows that large language models like GPT prioritize data from authoritative, high-domain-authority (DA) publishers. Highly curated datasets, such as WebText and OpenWebText2, contain a higher concentration of URLs from these publishers. Companies like OpenAI have established partnerships with many high-DA publishers, such as News Corp and Vox Media, which align with the datasets used for training. To increase the likelihood of being included in AI-generated responses, brands should focus on securing links and mentions from high-DA publishers through digital PR and link-building strategies. However, content should prioritize engaging human readers, as machines are tools, not the ultimate audience.
Blue Monday, often called the "most depressing day of the year", began as a marketing gimmick in 2005 by UK travel company Sky Travel to boost post-holiday sales. The campaign used a pseudo-scientific formula that combined variables like weather and debt to sell the idea that January was the perfect time for a getaway. Despite lacking scientific credibility, the concept resonated, becoming a cultural phenomenon that continues to captivate media and brands. For marketers, it highlights the power of creating a catchy narrative to create buzz.
The high costs and licensing challenges kept custom tracks out of reach for most marketers until recently. Now, AI tools like Suno.ai and Udio make it more accessible, enabling marketers to produce original tracks for videos, ads, and podcasts in under two hours and for a much lower cost. Applications include creating customized jingles for specific campaigns, background music that matches brand tone, and even audio branding elements like signature sounds for app notifications.
Business remains a trusted institution, but is now operating in a “climate of grievance” in which 4 in 10 people endorse “hostile activism”.
To improve email deliverability, use plain text instead of complex HTML templates, simplify your signature to only include your name and title, and update your campaign copy every 2-4 weeks.
A font size guide to ensure your social media text is readable on mobile devices.
While TikTok has credited Trump for restoring the app, its long-term future is uncertain. ByteDance has resisted selling even though potential buyers have expressed interest, including groups led by Frank McCourt and Kevin O'Leary. Despite the temporary victory, TikTok's future hinges on negotiations, with some Republican lawmakers pushing for a complete sale before lifting the ban.
Research shows progressive advertising increases sales, loyalty, and brand pricing power. Authentic representation is growing, with brands like Vanish and Nike co-creating solutions that resonate with diverse communities. AI-driven bias audits support more inclusive messaging.
Use your audience's language to show you understand their world. Be mindful of cultural and social nuances, avoiding offensive symbols or language that could alienate customers. Segment your audience and personalize content. Highlight a shared challenge to create connection and alignment. Keep the tone conversational and avoid overly promotional language.
Buyers are experiencing ‘event fatigue'. The key to increasing attendance lies in audience strategy. Segment your list by key personas, test timing and channels, and follow up multiple times to secure registrations. Focus on what resonates with your audience, and adjust your approach based on what works best.
Sponsored
Up your marketing game and reach the next step in the career ladder with Quantic's modern MBA programs [8]. 66% of graduates are promoted within 6 months. The top employers? Google and Amazon. With tuition fees at just $960/mo (lower with scholarships), it's the best career investment you can make.
Relume lets users generate sitemaps and wireframes for sites in minutes. It offers over 1,000 components for Figma, Webflow, and React. Relume supports collaboration with features like feedback sharing and direct exports.
Patches make it much easier to implement SEO changes. To use it, install a piece of JavaScript on your site to allow Ahrefs to make client-side changes, then run your site through the "Site Audit" tool. After that's done you can identify issues with title tags, meta descriptions, and internal links that can be fixed on your website directly via Ahrefs.
CapCut, the video-editing app owned by ByteDance, remains inaccessible to US users. While TikTok was restored after efforts from President Trump, it's unclear if CapCut will return.
Minimizing choices reduces decision anxiety and increases conversions. Focus on high-value products, tailor messaging to customer goals or industries, and simplify decisions by narrowing options. Position your brand by identifying the problem you solve and your target audience. Guide customers with transparent pros, cons, and situations where your product may not fit.
Focus on Total Relevant Market (TRM) accounts to identify growth opportunities, pipeline growth rate to track customer engagement, and time-to-first value to demonstrate ROI quickly. Metrics like net revenue retention (NRR) highlight upsell potential, while the GTM efficiency ratio ensures resources are maximized.