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SET UP YOUR CHATGPT ADS FOR SUCCESS: FIVE BEST PRACTICES FOR CREATING CAMPAIGNS DESIGNED TO PERFORM (WEBINAR)

Join the ChatGPT Ads team to explore 5 best practices for creating campaigns. Through guidance and live demos, they'll show how these practices come to life in Ads Manager. The free webinar will take place on September 24 at 9:30 AM PT.

AI CITATION OUTREACH: A SEMRUSH & CLAUDE WORKFLOW

This guide provides a step-by-step workflow for using Semrush and Claude Code to find and prioritize third-party pages that influence AI citations and brand visibility. It shows how to export citation data, configure Claude to analyze hundreds of pages for gaps or inaccuracies, validate its recommendations, and turn the findings into targeted outreach. It also covers tracking publisher responses and changes in AI citations over time to measure whether the outreach improves brand visibility.

5 SPICY AI MARKETING TAKES

AI is changing marketing without necessarily reducing demand for marketers. Leaner teams may be offset by the growing number of businesses needing distribution. Chat ads could become a major ad format as LLM usage grows. Shared repositories can preserve institutional knowledge and give AI better context. Employee-generated content can extend brand reach through trusted voices. As AI handles more digital interactions, IRL events may become more valuable for creating human connection and closing deals.

CHATGPT NOW KNOWS WHAT YOU DO ON OTHER WEBSITES VIA AD COLLECTOR

OpenAI's ad pixel uses a one-year __obi cookie tied to ChatGPT accounts and sends data to OpenAI when an advertiser's tag loads. It also collects hashed emails and phone numbers, unencrypted city and postal codes, and page paths containing medical and debt topics. The pixel works for logged-out users but appears limited to Chrome on Android, as iOS browsers block it.

‘NOT ENOUGH USAGE': YOUR BIGGEST CHURN REASON IS A BROKEN HABIT LOOP

Usage churn drives 26-40% of subscription app cancellations, often because users fail to build a lasting habit rather than because of price. Instead of defaulting to discounts, analyze engagement before cancellation to find where the habit loop breaks. Weak triggers may call for timely re-engagement, while poor onboarding or unclear value requires helping users reach meaningful outcomes sooner. Retention improves when the fix addresses why usage dropped rather than treating “not enough usage” as the root cause.

MANAGING THE AI MANDATE UPWARD

Growth marketers have an edge over executives through their proximity to the work and understanding of LLMs.

MARKETERS TWICE AS LIKELY TO TRUST HUMAN REPORTS OVER AI, DESPITE HIGHER ERROR RATES

Only 35% of marketers trust AI-generated reports without checks, versus 64% for human reports.

VERIFICATION SHOWS MARKETERS HOW TO

🔍 See what's really behind your media performance. 🛡️ Evaluate invalid traffic, brand safety, and viewability together. 📊 Make smarter media decisions with unified, explainable verification.

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A SMALL BUT GROWING NUMBER OF FOUNDERS ARE BETTING ON BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER OFFLINE

Founders are investing in businesses built around offline connection. New ventures include social groups, hands-on craft schools, and shared gaming experiences. People are wanting real-world interaction as technology makes socializing more isolated. Some founders are also targeting younger consumers seeking alternatives to traditional education or more meaningful ways to spend time offline.

CREATOR CONTENT PREFERRED IN AI RECOMMENDATIONS

Creator content is particularly relevant to younger shoppers, with 65% of Gen Z and millennials preferring AI recommendations that cite creators. However, only 29% say those citations increase their likelihood of purchasing. Creators are most useful for discovering brands and comparing products. Credibility matters more than audience size when consumers assess their recommendations.

5 LEVERS DRIVE CAC, SAYS AD PRO

Lowering CAC on Meta and Google starts with giving platforms the right signals and creative. Ads should lead with novel hooks tied to customer pain points and use language that reflects the target audience. Brands should optimize for new-customer purchases rather than total purchases. Then, test creative across personas, angles, and formats. 5 levers ultimately drive CAC: the offer, creative, account structure, landing page, and optimization signals.

WHY BUILDING A FREE AUDIENCE IS KEEPING YOU BROKE

Free audiences are much harder to monetize than paying customers. A campaign generated 3 paid subscribers from 7,500+ free readers versus 34 from roughly 350 existing customers. Instead of building an audience or product in isolation, build a small product, share the process publicly, and build relationships with potential customers. This creates distribution and trust while validating demand before scaling.

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SEMRUSH MCP USE CASES: 16 PROMPTS FOR CLAUDE OR CHATGPT

Semrush MCP connects Semrush data to Claude and ChatGPT for live SEO research through natural language. The guide shows how to apply it across common SEO workflows using 16 copy-paste prompts. Examples walk through finding keyword opportunities, analyzing competitors, and diagnosing SEO issues without manually working through Semrush.

AI-ASSISTED CREATIVITY: 6 B2B MARKETERS SHARE HOW AI FITS INTO THEIR PROCESS (WEBINAR)

A panel of B2B marketers on September 25 will share how they use AI across creative workflows, from brainstorming through production. This session focuses on tools and prompts teams rely on and what they've stopped using. It also covers how to balance AI's speed with creative quality and includes live Q&A plus a vote on which workflow attendees plan to try.

GOOGLE ‘AI CONTRIBUTION PILOT' TESTS PAYING WEBSITES WHEN THEY'RE USED IN AI RESULTS

Google is testing a model that pays publishers when their content materially contributes to AI-generated search results. The AI Contribution Pilot includes dozens of mostly small and midsized publishers across various industries. It could create a new revenue stream as AI Overviews reduce traffic from traditional search and establish a model for compensating publishers based on their content's contribution to AI answers.

HOW TO READ A DESIGN BRIEF: TRUEROLL GOLF BRAND IDENTITY CASE STUDY

A design brief often reveals only what clients know how to articulate. The real brief may emerge later through casual comments about how the brand will actually be used. For TrueRoll Golf Club, that meant designing for golf courses rather than travelers. The identity used familiar green and gold and minimal golf imagery. Designing for physical applications also shaped the system. Listen beyond the form and design for the brand's real audience and use cases.

OPENAI AND MICROSOFT SAW THE PUBLISHER TRAFFIC PROBLEM COMING

OpenAI and Microsoft reportedly knew AI search could cut publisher traffic.

GLOBALLY, MORE PEOPLE EXPECT AI TO CAUSE JOB LOSS THAN GROWTH

Across 34 of 37 countries surveyed, more people expect AI to eliminate jobs than create them.

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INSTAGRAM COLLAB POSTS DRIVE HIGHER ORGANIC ENGAGEMENT ACROSS BRAND SIZES

More than 73% of brands used Instagram collabs in H1 2026, and collab posts consistently outperformed standard posts. Creator-led collaborations delivered the strongest results, with smaller brands seeing 5X more interactions than non-collab posts. In ecommerce and retail, accepted collabs generated more than 5X the shares and reposts of standard posts. Reels saw the biggest engagement gains.

DO CHATGPT & GOOGLE AI GET YOUR BUSINESS DETAILS RIGHT?

AI search often gives inaccurate business information, especially when a company leaves key details vague or unpublished. In a study of 600 businesses, 27% of Google AI Overview answers and 20% of ChatGPT answers included details the business did not publish. Google AI Overviews got 84% of answers right when businesses published clearly, compared with 63% when information was vague or missing. AI systems often fill gaps from third-party directories, so you should audit those listings and keep website copy, Google Business Profiles, and structured data consistent. Agencies can turn this into a quick audit by checking how Google and ChatGPT describe each client and correcting the sources behind inaccurate answers.

COMPETITOR EMAIL MONITORING: WHAT TO TRACK AND HOW TO DO IT

Competitor email monitoring helps brands spot patterns in how others approach email. Start by tracking 5-8 direct competitors each month and compare their send frequency and offer rates. Read their subject lines to see how they frame promotions and other messages. Open unusual emails and note what stands out or changes over time. Use those findings to identify gaps and choose one idea to test, rather than copying a competitor's strategy.

THE AMAZON CRO PLAYBOOK: HOW TO OPTIMIZE YOUR LISTINGS AND BEAT YOUR COMPETITORS

Amazon CRO works best as a research and testing process rather than a series of listing tweaks. Start by finding funnel problems in Seller Central, then use customer feedback, reviews, and user testing to identify specific objections and turn them into targeted listing changes. Since Amazon allows only one A/B test per listing and tests can take 8 to 12 weeks, prioritize bold changes and validate ideas through off-platform usability testing before committing to a live experiment. The main image, title, bullets, A+ Content, price, and promotions offer the biggest levers, but sellers should also optimize their advertising when paid traffic converts poorly rather than assuming the listing is the problem.

HOW TO CREATE A PRODUCT LAUNCH PEOPLE TALK ABOUT

A product launch only generates lasting attention when it gives people something to do beyond scroll past it, whether that is showing up somewhere in person, guessing what is coming, or filming something unusual enough to send to a friend. The brands getting the most mileage out of a launch treat it as an ongoing event instead of a single announcement, letting creators and customers do the distribution for free. None of it requires a bigger budget, just a reason for people to keep talking after day one.

PINTEREST UNVEILS VISUAL SEARCH ADS, BRINGING NEW PERFORMANCE ADVERTISING TO VISUAL DISCOVERY

Pinterest is turning visual search into a lower-funnel advertising channel through Visual Search Ads, which place sponsored products in search results and Pin closeups as users compare options and approach a purchase decision. More than half of Pinterest's 80 billion monthly searches are commercial, giving advertisers a large pool of users who already show buying intent. It is also adding Priority Products and self-serve A/B testing to give advertisers more control over automated campaigns.

CUSTOM GPT RETIREMENT AND MIGRATION FAQ

OpenAI plans to retire custom GPTs and transition users to plugins across all ChatGPT plans. Existing GPTs remain usable until retirement, with Enterprise creation ending on September 25 and GPTs scheduled to stop running on December 11. Migration will turn GPT instructions into a plugin skill and connected apps into apps, but custom actions will need to be rebuilt separately. Migrated GPTs become read-only, and users should test the replacement before switching. Plugin access and sharing will depend on account and workspace permissions.

PERPLEXITY IS BETTING BIG ON CREATORS

Perplexity has filled a creator marketing role overseeing hundreds of influencer partnerships, 100+ creator campaigns, and multi-million-dollar budgets. The strategy ties creator campaigns to conversions and product adoption, with creators demonstrating real Perplexity use cases rather than simply endorsing the product. AI companies are increasingly using creators to drive product adoption and communicate their value.

OPENAI REPORTS 6 NEW INSTANCES OF ‘CONCERNING MODEL BEHAVIOR' SINCE MARCH

OpenAI disclosed cases of unexpected model behavior. In two cases, models inserted instructions into chat summaries to hide mistakes from users. Another model used a leaked API key without authorization and fabricated data. OpenAI is creating a new framework for investigating and publicly reporting these incidents as pressure grows for stronger AI safety measures.

THE SEOFOMO STATE OF AI SEARCH OPTIMIZATION REPORT

AI search is now a budget priority, but attribution still makes its impact difficult to prove.

AI OVERVIEWS CUT CTR BY 23.1% IN FRANCE

Every extra point of AI Overview exposure costs sites roughly a point of click-through rate, a relationship that held steady across nearly 1,000 domains in France.

EU TO RESTRICT SOCIAL MEDIA FOR KIDS UNDER 15

The law's reach extends past social apps to video platforms, online gaming, AI chatbots, and app stores, requiring companies to prove their products are safe by design.

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AI AND GOOGLE UPDATES TO KNOW

Google is reducing publishers' opportunities to earn search traffic as AI features take up more space. New sports features bring play-by-play updates and fantasy recommendations directly into Search. OpenAI is reportedly restricting some competitor ads in ChatGPT. Meanwhile, 41 of the 50 biggest US news sites saw traffic decline year over year. Several publishers have linked traffic losses to AI Overviews and AI Mode, while some are responding by investing more in direct audiences and reducing reliance on search.

WHY ACTIVITY WINS CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

Traditional ads are losing attention as consumers tune out repetitive, sales-heavy formats. 88% of Gen Z and millennials ignore most ads, while 85% stay loyal to brands that feel genuine. Activity-based campaigns offer a different approach by motivating people to participate rather than simply buy. 65% of consumers say they're more likely to engage with or purchase from brands that motivate people to get active.

LINKEDIN CAROUSEL SIZES YOU SHOULD BE TESTING

Test 1700×1080 landscape for larger covers, 1200×1500 portrait with bolder text, or two-slide carousels that display at full width. Focus on formats that maximize in-feed visibility and drive engagement with your audience.

AI SEARCH IS NOT THE SAME AS SEO

Instead of chasing high-volume keywords, map prompt journeys around the final recommendation a buyer wants, then create content around the decision factors that inform it. LLMs can route users from broad questions to specific recommendations, so owning the highest-volume prompt matters less than being cited for the factors behind the purchase decision. Start with bottom-funnel prompts, map adjacent questions, and build content that answers them.

THE NEW YOUTUBE OPPORTUNITY FOR AGENCIES (WEBINAR)

Agency leaders will discuss some of the newest ways that YouTube can make a brand and their agency successful on YouTube. They'll cover new ad formats and strategies, measurement tactics, and ways to tie advertising campaigns into other YouTube efforts from the brand, including organic and creator initiatives. The free webinar takes place today at 10 AM PT.

META ONE BUNDLES CREATOR AND BUSINESS TOOLS — FOR A MONTHLY FEE

Meta's new subscription service prices creator and business tools from $2.99 a month for basic app access up to $499 for its top professional tier, with the $49.99 Advanced plan unlocking year-ahead scheduling, bulk uploads, and shared account access without password sharing. Paid tiers also boost visibility directly, through higher search placement and more prominent follow buttons, not just productivity tools. The core apps and Meta AI stay free, and none of the tiers remove ads.

THE DATA CENTER WATER MYTH

Americans are increasingly hearing that AI data centers are draining the country's water supply, but the national scale of the problem is far smaller than viral claims suggest. US data centers consumed about 228 billion gallons of water in 2023, yet that amounted to only 0.015% to 0.2% of total US water withdrawals, compared with 43% for agriculture. A viral claim that every ChatGPT question consumes a bottle of water also misrepresented research that estimated 500 milliliters could be consumed across roughly 10 to 50 GPT -3 responses. Water use can still create serious local concerns, but misinformation and misleading comparisons are turning a site-specific resource issue into a broader narrative about AI infrastructure threatening the US water supply.

GRAPHIC DESIGNER ≠ ART DIRECTOR ≠ CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Job title confusion runs in both directions. Companies without a creative background borrow a senior-sounding title off a template instead of defining the actual work, while designers themselves inflate titles because freelance clients rarely check credentials. Underneath the confusion, the jobs barely move: a designer executes one piece of visual communication, an art director keeps a whole project's output feeling like one brand, and a creative director sets the point of view behind it. Only company size decides how many people that work gets split across.

INSIDE THE CREATOR ECONOMY'S AI RECKONING

Creator-economy sentiment toward AI has shifted in about a year from dread to a hunt for leverage, with most creators now treating AI output as a rough starting draft rather than a finished product. That shift is showing up in contracts: some brands now ask for access to creators' AI prompts, while creators are starting to write their own AI-use clauses back to protect their voice. Adoption itself splits by gender, since women are 22% less likely than men to be regular AI users at work and more likely to worry it looks like cutting corners. The recurring conclusion is that audiences still connect to the person behind the work, not the tool that helped make it.