Full-text search across article titles and summaries. Refine with sector, year, content type, and reading-time filters.
Sponsored
Building an integration that actually gets adopted is hard. But by integrating your app with CONTENTFUL [4], your product will get seen by customers who actively look for solutions like yours on the Contentful Marketplace.
👉 Create a free login [5] and download the guide [4] to get started.
AI is reshaping work from the bottom up, creating a widening gap between how individuals use AI and how organizations plan for it. Between 23% and 58% of employees bring their own AI to work, and 54% would use it without support, so informal usage is already shaping workflows and outputs. This shift makes judgment more important than skill and increases the cost of quality control as output rises and time spent falls. Marketers should treat emerging ‘vibes' as early signals of structural instability and prepare for new forms of debt created by AI-generated work that looks right, but is not actually right.
About 20% of US teens say they are on TikTok or YouTube almost constantly. 64% use AI chatbots, including roughly 30% daily. YouTube reaches nearly all teens, with TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat also widely used, though Facebook and X have declined. ChatGPT is the most popular chatbot at 59%, more than twice the use of the next most common options. Older teens, Black and Hispanic teens, and those in higher-income households report higher usage of both social media and AI chatbots.
1 in 3 podcast creators are quitting as video production demands outpace what many can sustain, driving a 32% churn rate even though getting started is easier than ever. Many who leave prefer audio-first consumption while feeling pressured to produce video, which raises workload and accelerates burnout. At the same time, video adoption keeps climbing, with 71% of active creators using it. Younger and multicultural creators are fueling most of the growth. The tension between rapid video expansion and strong audio habits is reshaping who stays, who leaves, and where platforms need to focus to keep creators engaged.
Airbnb doubled its revenue in one week by replacing low-quality host photos with high-quality images that reduced uncertainty and increased trust. The founders photographed 24 listings themselves, which sparked a program that later used 2,000 photographers to shoot 35,000 listings across 5,000 cities. Listings with professional photos earned 2.5× more bookings and $1,025 more per month. The strategy worked because it solved a major trust gap in an experiential marketplace and showed that hands-on, unscalable work can reveal root problems that code alone cannot fix.
This video explains how to create AI video ads using a real example for HiBob. It covers identifying pain points with Perplexity, developing visual hooks, generating key frames with Gemini, producing footage with Enhancor and Kling, writing voiceovers using the TPSA formula, and recording and directing AI voice actors with ElevenLabs. The video walks through the full process from research to execution.
Sponsored
Showing up in LLM answers matters - but search engines are still the #1 discovery channel. With Semrush One [12], you get both keyword-based SEO metrics and prompt-level AI search insights. Measure visibility across SERPs and LLMs, in the same place. Sign up through Dec 31st for 30% off an annual subscription (new customers only) [12].
Creators can now enable comments on ads, link directly to brand websites, and run ads on mobile web and TV. For ad creation, use vertical 9:16 videos. Keep clips under 60 seconds and make ads look natural and social-friendly. Include audio and text overlays, and use creator content or original material to boost engagement and conversions.
This reading list skips the usual filler and focuses on tactical insights across audience building, psychology, and product marketing. Highlights include Smart Brevity for writing that spreads and Traction for choosing the right growth channels.
Customer acquisition cost is rarely applied to SEO due to complex attribution and delayed results. This article shows a way to calculate SEO CAC using only direct costs such as content production, link-building campaigns, tools, and consultants. It uses first-touch attribution to connect organic search to conversions. Early CAC figures are typically high but decrease over time as content continues to generate conversions without additional spend. The model shows that SEO can achieve a lower CAC than paid channels if investment continues over multiple periods.
Consumers act on small business content differently depending on platform, content type, and generation. Facebook leads in discovery for 61% of adults, while Gen Z favors TikTok (76%) and Instagram (70%). UGC is the most trusted at 31%, while AI-generated content lowers trust for 48%. Reviews and customer testimonials drive purchases for 52%, and trend-driven posts influence 30% of Gen Z.
A look into why a recruiter is exclusively hiring V-Shaped marketers.
Keep your job by building a portfolio of experiments, maintaining an accomplishment doc, and sharpening strategic skills.
Instagram is giving users more control over their Reels feed with a new tool that reveals and customizes the topics behind individual recommendations.
Sponsored
Building an integration that reaches the right audience is hard. What if you had a way to reach thousands of global brands, at the moment they're looking for solutions?
Pinterest predicts next year's trends across home, fashion, beauty, food, and travel will be nostalgic and sensory-driven. Afrobohemian home decor searches are up 220% and adire fabric 130%, while men's maximalist accessories rise 105%. Cabbage-based dishes are gaining popularity, with cabbage dumplings up 110% and golumpki soup 95%. Gen Z and Millennials are driving alien-inspired makeup up 140% and avant-garde beauty up 270%, alongside adventure travel up 75% and whimsical destinations like the Scottish Highlands up 465%.
Instagram is producing search-optimized headlines and descriptions for public posts that appear in Google results without notifying users. These headlines are created by Instagram and served only to search bots, not to regular visitors. The practice has triggered backlash from creators who say the tone and messaging contradict their personal or brand identity. The generated content is distinct from Instagram's accessibility-focused alt text and appears to be created by a separate automated system.
Stella Artois activated an unconventional campaign by targeting Google Maps' Local Guides. The brand hosted top restaurant reviewers at over 40 dining locations where Stella was served as part of the meal. These guests organically posted photos and reviews, integrating the beer into discovery experiences for future diners. With no option for traditional ads on Google Maps, the strategy ensured Stella appeared in highly trusted, user-generated content at key decision points.
Sponsored
Marketers are feeling the pressure: launch more campaigns with fewer resources.
ChatGPT's Agent Mode can automate the process of comparing a page to an AI Overview and quickly reveal content gaps. In a test on the topic of ‘payroll tax vs income tax', it identified missing topics such as flat vs. progressive rate structure, separate paycheck line items, self-employment tax obligations, filing forms and responsibilities, and coverage of income types. This helps an SEO avoid manual review and speed up optimization work.
This folder contains a worksheet and checklist guide that helps marketing leaders through their first 45 days to assess and influence the GTM strategy. It starts with understanding the product, customer needs, strengths, gaps, and competitive traps. Brand positioning, customer advocacy, budget, systems, and revenue health are reviewed to spot blockers. By day 45, findings are documented, cross-functional alignment is secured, and a 6-month GTM plan is created.
Many open roles never appear on LinkedIn, especially at startups and tech companies that post first on ATS platforms like Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, or Workable. Recruiters use X-ray searches to find candidates, and job seekers can too. For example, search Google directly: ‘site:jobs.ashbyhq.com "Growth Marketing" "Series A" "Remote"' to uncover roles before they appear on LinkedIn. Customize searches by title, location, industry, or keywords to find hidden opportunities most applicants miss.
Wrapped emails don't need personal data to be effective. The key is presenting surprising or shareable stats that tell a story. Highlighting top products, company milestones, and community achievements makes customers feel part of the brand's success. Simple visuals, playful comparisons, and a clear narrative keep the email engaging and memorable. When done right, these emails validate customer choices and create a sense of collective impact.
Customer Advisory Boards are often misused when one board is expected to solve every problem for every audience. Strong CABs serve a specific purpose, such as retaining executive relationships, gathering product feedback, or hosting focused discussions. Companies should start small, build for exclusivity, measure relationship depth, and integrate CABs into a larger Customer-Led Growth system. CABs are one pillar of customer strategy, not a replacement for community, education, or lifecycle programs.
Effective blog types include pain-point content, industry-specific posts, and product-led guides.
Top PMMs build trust by layering updates frequently to show their impact.
Sponsored
Great marketers are agile, adaptable, and focused on getting results—and they deserve a work management platform that does the same. That's why Asana is built for the way marketing teams want to work today.
Internal comms teams are entering the new year with stronger foundations and clearer priorities. However, most still feel stretched as expectations outpace resources. Email remains the most reliable and effective channel, measurement continues to lag, and intranets are both the biggest challenge and top improvement priority. Manager communication remains the leading trend, AI is now part of daily workflows, and automation is the next big focus. Teams plan to elevate employee voices, strengthen channel ecosystems, and invest in tools that improve efficiency.
The Uber Intelligence tool helps brands combine their own customer data with Uber's location and delivery insights using privacy-safe clean room tech. This unlocks targeting options for behaviors like business travel or dining habits. With in-app placements, in-car screens, and loyalty integrations, Uber is positioning itself as a retail media network built on movement data. Companies can now tap into this “terrestrial data” to create contextual ad experiences and explore non-traditional partnerships, like hospitality or CPG, that align with users' real-world journeys.
Experiential rewards drive significantly higher engagement and spending than physical items. Customers were up to 4x more likely to choose an experience, spent 43.3% more before the reward, and spent 63.7% more after redeeming it. Framing items as experiences increased repeat purchase intent by 8% and boosted positive word of mouth by 9.2%. Group-based activities also increased reward redemption likelihood by up to 21%.
Many content programs fail not from effort but from misaligned focus. Common mistakes include undifferentiated content, overemphasis on top-of-funnel posts, weak thought leadership, poor LinkedIn and executive presence, and case studies that don't show real results. Teams also underuse repurposing, try to address all buyers, spread across too many topics, and lack the right strategy or expertise to integrate SEO, social, and messaging. To fix this, audit your content, address the biggest gaps first, and consider fractional strategists or specialists to build a program that drives leads, authority, and measurable results.
The Salvation Army turned sold-out items into a successful campaign by using AI to create urgency. Instead of promoting available products, the ads featured recently sold pieces, triggering FOMO. With Gemini and Nano Banana, raw inventory images became high-end editorial visuals in just 30 days. The campaign lowered cost per store visit by 138% and delivered a 2.6X higher CTR than Google benchmarks.
Sponsored
Complex workflows and clunky tools drag down productivity. Keep your campaigns on track and on message with Asana [10]:
A tutorial for creating high-quality images at scale by combining Screaming Frog with the Nano Banana Pro model through the Gemini 3 API. The process uses Screaming Frog as an easy access point for the “Gemini 3 pro image preview” model, which can generate accurate vector illustrations that match page titles. Limiting crawl speed to 2 to 3 URLs per second improves consistency, and exports provide all generated assets in one file. More specific prompts lead to stronger outputs and can outperform existing site images.
Gamma is a tool that turns short prompts into polished presentations, documents, and webpages. This page is a library of templates designed to speed up content creation. It organizes prompts by role and use case to simplify picking the right structure. Each prompt provides a clear starting point that can be tailored to specific needs.
Modern GTM is shifting from buying tools to creating custom internal systems that power growth. AI and low code now let teams build bespoke workflows and micro automations that sit beneath the visible stack and create differentiation that competitors cannot copy. This hypertail of custom logic is turning CMOs into system architects who must manage complexity, govern internal workflows, and decide where custom design drives advantage. Startups gain most by using fewer tools more deeply and extending them with purpose-built logic that improves activation and retention. The companies that win will focus on smart workflows and intentional AI rather than tool count.
Used responsibly, fear-based messaging can move audiences from indecision to action by surfacing existing concerns and offering immediate solutions. Examples range from pet insurance companies using real customer stories to cybersecurity firms offering fast resolutions to common threats. The tactic succeeds when tied to credible fears and clear next steps. Exaggeration, manipulation, and vague threats reduce trust and invite legal risk. Executing this approach well means listening closely to your audience, respecting their concerns, and delivering relief through simple, believable solutions.
10 questions every founder and marketing exec should obsess over.
Only 1% of users post, and the rise of intellectual influencers makes LinkedIn an open path for high-intent reach.
Sponsored
Marketers everywhere are feeling the pressure: launch more campaigns, ship them faster, do it all with fewer resources -- and prove that you're actually moving the needle on revenue.
Gen Z largely ignores traditional marketing. Brand prestige, polished ads, and big launch events have little impact. They prefer serialized content like “day 47 with this phone” over one-off campaigns. More than 80% of their purchase discussions happen in private DMs and group chats, so brands cannot track them. They trust creators more than brands or legacy media, and that trust now carries into offline meet-ups and hands-on events.
Digital wallets have become a primary payment tool as usage surges and regulation lags. About 77% of Americans used a top wallet in the past year, and global adoption is projected to hit 6B users by 2029. Monthly mobile payments in the US jumped from 4 in 2018 to 11 last year, showing a clear shift toward phone-based transactions. Regulators are scrambling to adapt, creating tension between rapid innovation, dense but uneven oversight, and growing consumer reliance on wallet ecosystems.
Re-engagement campaigns are a targeted fix for deliverability issues, not an ongoing list-shrinking tactic. They help identify abandoned inboxes, spam folder recipients, and true spam traps, which all show little or no measurable activity. Engagement signals vary across mailbox providers, and many users read email in untrackable ways, so senders need to be clear about their goals and selective about who enters a re-engagement flow. The priority is removing risky addresses rather than penalizing real subscribers who appear inactive due to image blocking or limited tracking. Re-engagement should only run when there is a concrete deliverability problem, since it always removes some legitimate users.
Blogging remains a powerful tool because AI relies on human expertise and credible content. Generic SEO content has lost trust, creating opportunities for practitioner-led blogs that drive direct search traffic and support broader business ecosystems. Strong blogs share real experiences and lessons, build an audience before publishing, and repurpose content across multiple platforms. Monetization comes through consulting, courses, software, and communities rather than display ads. The goal is to become a trusted destination that audiences actively seek out by name.
Sponsored
AI search created a new reality in 2025. Join us [9] and SEO leader Kevin Indig on 12/11 as we reveal what truly created visibility this year (and what didn't). Kevin also shares his bold predictions for 2026, and the changes every marketer must make to stay seen. Save a